The Rolling Stones - Who Did They Cover?
28/3/2016
For the last few years I have been buying a lot of compilation CDs of old recordings, and I have found one genre in particular that appeals to me: - Rhythm and Blues!
I kept hearing numbers by black American artists, recorded from about the mid-Forties through to the mid-Sixties, and finding myself thinking, "Hey, this is pretty good. I like the beat, I like the gritty lyrics, I like the guitar, and even the sax." (I used to rate the saxophone as to be avoided because it was old people's music from my parents' generation. Oh, the innocence of Youth!) Then it dawned on me why a person of my generation would find this music so appealing. This is the music the Pop idols of my generation were absorbing, repackaging and reselling with great success to my peers and those a little older than me. |
Yes, I am talking about The Rolling Stones, Manfred Mann, The Animals, The Yardbirds, Them, the Spencer Davis Group, early Who & Small Faces, Long John Baldry, and even early Rod Stewart & Elton John.
I ran across a few that had been covered by The Rolling Stones and, considering I have already carried out a similar exercise with my blog post "The Beatles - Who did they cover?", decided it was time to hunt down and gather together the original versions of numbers covered by The Stones. A pretty comprehensive list goes to over 70 numbers, but I decided to concentrate on their early days; the 45 done between 1963 & 1966. This is because after 1966 they mostly wrote their own, and for the thirty-odd years from 1967 to 1998 they only averaged under one cover per year.
I ran across a few that had been covered by The Rolling Stones and, considering I have already carried out a similar exercise with my blog post "The Beatles - Who did they cover?", decided it was time to hunt down and gather together the original versions of numbers covered by The Stones. A pretty comprehensive list goes to over 70 numbers, but I decided to concentrate on their early days; the 45 done between 1963 & 1966. This is because after 1966 they mostly wrote their own, and for the thirty-odd years from 1967 to 1998 they only averaged under one cover per year.
Playlist of Rolling Stones Covers' Original Versions
A few notes first.
These are the probable original versions of early Rolling Stones covers - I am happy to stand corrected, but the point is not to be pedantic, but to enjoy some great music.
I thought back then that they were covering gnarly old American records, but most of these were only a few years old at the time.
I tried to include a table with the Title, Covered Artist, Composer, Original's Release Year, Stones record, Side & Track #, Release Year; but it doesn't display well on the site. (If you are keen, there is a link to a file that can be downloaded. It was an Apache OpenOffice freeware .ods document, but just for you I have converted it to Microsoft's Excel format .xls.)
Since there are only a few of them, I have included the earlier versions covered by the artist who was covered by the Stones.
Some notes on the music.
I Wanna Be Your Man - The Beatles: Not strictly a cover, as it was written for The Stones by Lennon & McCartney, only later recorded by The Beatles. The Beatles never covered The Rolling Stones, but I did find this! The Rolling Stones Sing the Beatles’ “Eight Days a Week” in a Hotel Room (1965)
Chuck Berry - I'm Talking About You: Title misspelled by The Stones. Bass riff stolen by McCartney for "I Saw Her Standing There".
Ray Charles - I'm Movin' On: I'm guessing they covered Ray Charles version, not the original Hank Snow single B-side.
Don Covay and the Goodtimers - Mercy Mercy: Features a very early Jimi Hendrix on guitar!
The Staple Singers - This May Be the Last Time: The Stones completely redid this, but the Staple Singers' version of this traditional gospel-style song with its moody tremolo guitar is really great.
Chuck Berry -You Can't Catch Me: Chuck Berry led the way as a Rock showman, note his well-practiced stagecraft.
Chuck Berry - Down The Road Apiece: I was surprised to find this one goes waaay back. Chuck got it from Amos Milburn, 1947, there were other recordings before that, and the original by Freddie Slack and Will Bradley Trio is from 1940
These are the probable original versions of early Rolling Stones covers - I am happy to stand corrected, but the point is not to be pedantic, but to enjoy some great music.
I thought back then that they were covering gnarly old American records, but most of these were only a few years old at the time.
I tried to include a table with the Title, Covered Artist, Composer, Original's Release Year, Stones record, Side & Track #, Release Year; but it doesn't display well on the site. (If you are keen, there is a link to a file that can be downloaded. It was an Apache OpenOffice freeware .ods document, but just for you I have converted it to Microsoft's Excel format .xls.)
Since there are only a few of them, I have included the earlier versions covered by the artist who was covered by the Stones.
Some notes on the music.
I Wanna Be Your Man - The Beatles: Not strictly a cover, as it was written for The Stones by Lennon & McCartney, only later recorded by The Beatles. The Beatles never covered The Rolling Stones, but I did find this! The Rolling Stones Sing the Beatles’ “Eight Days a Week” in a Hotel Room (1965)
Chuck Berry - I'm Talking About You: Title misspelled by The Stones. Bass riff stolen by McCartney for "I Saw Her Standing There".
Ray Charles - I'm Movin' On: I'm guessing they covered Ray Charles version, not the original Hank Snow single B-side.
Don Covay and the Goodtimers - Mercy Mercy: Features a very early Jimi Hendrix on guitar!
The Staple Singers - This May Be the Last Time: The Stones completely redid this, but the Staple Singers' version of this traditional gospel-style song with its moody tremolo guitar is really great.
Chuck Berry -You Can't Catch Me: Chuck Berry led the way as a Rock showman, note his well-practiced stagecraft.
Chuck Berry - Down The Road Apiece: I was surprised to find this one goes waaay back. Chuck got it from Amos Milburn, 1947, there were other recordings before that, and the original by Freddie Slack and Will Bradley Trio is from 1940
rolling_stones_covers_-_for_youtube_playlist_of_those_up_to_1966.xls | |
File Size: | 14 kb |
File Type: | xls |