Most bands start out as cover bands. And most of the all-time great rock 'n' roll bands were also great cover bands. Maybe not The Kinks, who were much, much better with their own stellar original compositions than they ever were with their few perfunctory covers (their boppin' takes on "Milk Cow Blues" and a few Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley numbers notwithstanding). But The Rolling Stones? The Who? The Ramones? Man, from The Flashcubes to The Isley Brothers, our rockin' pop history is loaded with great bands who could take on other people's stuff with vigor and accomplishment. And that certainly goes for the greatest rock 'n' roll band of them all, The Beatles.
The Beatles were a terrific cover band, their skills honed over the course of a gazillion hours on stage at the dingiest nightspots in Hamburg, playing before sweaty masses of drunken German hooligans who may not have understood a word of Liverpudlian-accented English, but who demanded and received a loud 'n' fast WHOMP! of pure rock 'n' roll energy, courtesy of these five young men from Liverpool who called themselves The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Pete Best. The Germans screamed Mach Schau! Lennon responded by wearing a toilet seat around his neck, baiting his audience with Seig Heils! and Nazi salutes, and piloting his band through some Chuck Berry or Arthur Alexander. Sutcliffe left the band, and then died too young. Best was sacked, replaced by Ringo Starr. John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The band got tighter. They conquered Liverpool. They conquered England, then the rest of Europe. America! The world.
I'm gonna take a leap of faith here: I betcha you already know that Lennon and McCartney evolved into better-than-decent songwriters, and Harrison did, too. The Beatles used cover tunes to help fill in their early albums, a "Baby It's You" or a "Chains" nestled in amongst your "I Saw Her Standing There" and your "Please Please Me." As they wrote more and more of their own material, there was less LP space for dips into the Motown or Buck Owens songbooks; by the end of 1965, cover tunes vanished entirely from Beatles albums (though Capitol in the U.S. held on to Ringo's warbling of Owens' "Act Naturally"--a track which had been on the British Help! LP in '65--until the 1966 American hodgepodge album Yesterday And Today). The Beatles later messed around in the studio with a number of other covers during the ill-fated Get Back sessions in 1969, but only their take on the traditional hometown number "Maggie Mae" was deemed fit for release (on 1970's Let It Be).
For this celebration of The Beatles' prowess as a cover band, we've selected 14 of the group's best studio recordings written by folks other than Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, or Starr. These 14 tracks, sequenced for maximum punch, form a hypothetical all-covers LP we're calling Leave My Kitten Alone! We are only considering finished studio recordings by The Beatles; no BBC performances, no Decca demos, no live tracks, not even the live-in-the studio "Shout" (though I was really tempted to include that). And sure, most of the covers The Beatles recorded amount to a decidedly minor part of their body of work. Let's celebrate 'em anyway! Remove the platter from its sleeve. Place it on the turntable. Set needle to groove. And listen as The Beatles cry out: WAIT!
SIDE ONE
1. Please Mr. Postman
Oh yes, wait a minute Mr. Postman. The early Beatles fancied themselves (in part) as an R & B band, their taste in that realm reflected by covers of the great Arthur Alexander and such Motown stalwarts as The Marvelettes. The Marvelettes' original "Please Mr. Postman" is a girl-group delight, and The Beatles transform it into a prototypical power pop juggernaut. George Martin's production makes it snap. WAIT! For just about any other group, this track and this performance could be a career-defining moment; for The Beatles, it was just another day at the office with George.
2. Words Of Love
Buddy Holly and his boys The Crickets provided the working template for The Beatles and all subsequent guitars/bass/drums beat combos. Holly's "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" was a favorite, covered by The Beatles (with quite winning lead vocals by George Harrison) on the radio and in their Decca audition tapes. "Words Of Love" is the only Holly tune ever given a fully fab studio treatment by The Beatles, and my God, it is exquisite: pure pop that vies with The Rolling Stones' raucous take on "Not Fade Away" for the title of Best Holly Cover Ever.
3. Long Tall Sally
As our virtual listening party moves on, you will notice that John Lennon scores the bulk of the lead vocal duties on this imaginary covers album, singing lead on nine of the 14 tracks. This might play into the familiar (and debunked) viewpoint that John was the rocker and Paulie the pretty-boy balladeer. That's nonsense. Granted, it was Paul who crooned trad stuff like "A Taste Of Honey" and "Till There Was You," but the lad could and did rock when he felt like it. Nobody could channel the a-wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom-WOOOO! of Little Richard with greater authority than Paul McCartney, as evidenced by his barn-burnin' take on "Long Tall Sally."
4. Rock And Roll Music
Chuck Berry is the only artist in rock 'n' roll history that I would regard as even more important than The Beatles. Elvis Presley should be in the discussion too, but that's the rock trinity right there. Many years later, Lennon and Berry did a duet of "Johnny B. Goode" on an episode of The Mike Douglas Show, and Lennon looked as if he'd just been granted all of his rock 'n' roll dreams, all at once. Perhaps he had. "Rock And Roll Music" is one of only two Chuck Berry songs The Beatles recorded, and it is the definitive version of an all-time classic.
5. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
Would the general public even remember any of Larry Williams' songs if they hadn't been covered by The Beatles? One suspects not. The Beatles recorded no less than three Larry Williams nuggets, and [SPOILER ALERT!] they're all included on this covers LP. "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" is likely the best-known of the lot, and although I have a different favorite among the three, it's hard to argue against "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" taking its rightful place among great Beatle performances.
6. Boys
The drummer's turn. The Beatles' above-mentioned fondness of R & B also expanded to the girl-group sound, evidenced by covers of The Marvelettes, The Cookies, The Donays, and The Shirelles. Ringo just sings the hell out of this Shirelles cover, and how often do you have the chance to say that Ringo sang the hell out of anything?
7. Bad Boy
Another Larry Williams song, and arguably one of The Beatles' most badass performances. God, I love this track so much that I'm having second thoughts about my choice for The Beatles' best Larry Williams cover. Now junior, behave yourself.
SIDE TWO
1. Leave My Kitten Alone
The Beatles recorded their cover of Little Willie John's "Leave My Kitten Alone" while working on Beatles For Sale (my favorite album!) in 1964. It was not released until Anthology 1 in 1995, but it's such an essential John Lennon rocker that it not only has to be here, it has to be the title track.
2. Roll Over Beethoven
"Roll Over Beethoven" is The Beatles' only proper Chuck Berry cover beside the previously-mentioned "Rock And Roll Music." George Harrison's vocal isn't really Lennon's equal on this sort of stuff, but his sheer enthusiasm shines through nonetheless.
3. Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!
McCartney returns to the right Reverend Richard Penniman for a little more Little Richard inspiration. One could argue with some conviction that Paul's own magnificent rocker "I'm Down" owes a significant debt to that same inspiration. Hey-hey-hey-hey!
4. Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
This was the last track in, chosen over John Lennon's expressive and effective take on The Miracles' "You Really Got A Hold On Me" only to avoid a tenth Lennon vocal out of 14 tracks. Carl Perkins was another significant influence on The Beatles, and Ringo's interpretations of "Matchbox" and "Honey Don't" were strongly considered before ceding this space to George Harrison and "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby."
5. Slow Down
Yeah, still my favorite performance of a Larry Williams song. When I was truly re-discovering The Beatles as a young teen in the early '70s, I would hear "Slow Down" on the radio and presume it was a Lennon-McCartney song. In its own way, it meant as much to me as "Day Tripper" or "We Can Work It Out," or any other Fave Rave from my favorite group. "Slow Down" satisfies the basic criteria I seek in a great rock 'n' roll record: it sounds kickass on the radio.
6. Twist And Shout
Without a doubt The Beatles' most famous cover, "Twist And Shout" is far and away the group's highest-charting cover, a # 2 U.S. hit in 1964 and--buoyed by its inclusion in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off--a # 23 hit again in 1986. Just as I thought of "Slow Down" as a Beatles song, many likely regard "Twist And Shout" as coming from the pen of John and/or Paul, without regard to the original (and forgettable) version by The Top Notes, nor the fantastic Isley Brothers recording that inspired our lads from Liverpool. There are days when I think The Isley Brothers' version is definitive. There are days when the Fab Four rule. Shake it up, baby.
7. Money (That's What I Want)
The best Motown records were perfect to begin with. You can't improve The Four Tops' "Reach Out I'll Be There," or Stevie Wonder's "Uptight," or The Tempations' "My Girl." Or Martha & the Vandellas'...anything. I can't think of anyone who ever did a better job than The Beatles on a cover of a Motown song. I mean, The Beatles wrestle the freakin' Miracles to a draw on "You Really Got A Hold On Me." They mercilessly outshine The Marvelettes on "Please Mr. Postman." And they flat-out own Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)." Strong's record was Motown's first hit, and it simmers superbly. But The Beatles' take? Lennon sneers, swaggers, screams, 'n' wails, and you'd best turn over the long green right away. They're gonna get your money one way of another.
And that's Leave My Kitten Alone!, our 14-track victory lap through The Beatles' best covers. I regret the omission of Arthur Alexander, but The Beatles' cover of "Anna" is nowhere near as great as the original; their best Alexander covers, "Soldier Of Love" and "A Shot Of Rhythm 'n' Blues," were only recorded for BBC audiences, not as potential album tracks for Please Please Me or With The Beatles. I'm very fond of The Beatles' much-maligned version of Dr. Feelgood's--THUMP!!--"Mr. Moonlight," and I came very, very close to including it instead of "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby." Suck it, haters.
What else? I guess the Mitch Murray composition "How Do You Do It" counts as a cover, although The Beatles were the first to record it (and their lack of enthusiasm for the tune shows), and it remained deservedly unreleased until Anthology 1; Gerry & the Pacemakers did it with more oomph, and had the hit. That leaves The Cookies' "Chains," The Shirelles' "Baby It's You," The Donays' "Devil In Her Heart," and Buck Owens' "Act Naturally" (as well as the above-mentioned "Till There Was You," "A Taste Of Honey," "Matchbox," "Honey Don't," and "Maggie May") beneath "Anna" and "Mr. Moonlight" on the cutting room floor.
Fine. As a real-world album, Leave My Kitten Alone! would have no reason to exist. Consider this a fresh 14-track playlist for your car or your workout, your picnic, or your random pleasure. But give it a listen. The Beatles were a pretty good band. And they were indeed a pretty good cover band. Mach Schau! Just let me hear some more of that rock 'n' roll music.
THE BEATLES: Leave My Kitten Alone! (Carlgems 006)
Side One
1. Please Mr. Postman
2. Words Of Love
3. Long Tall Sally
4. Rock And Roll Music
5. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
6. Boys
7. Bad Boy
Side Two
1. Leave My Kitten Alone
2. Roll Over Beethoven
3. Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!
4. Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
5. Slow Down
6. Twist And Shout
7. Money (That's What I Want)
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