Tune du Jour: “Here Comes My Baby” – The Tremeloes
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes: Yo La Tengo vs. The Jags vs. Josie Cotton
VOTE, COMMENT, then SELF-ACTUALIZE
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The Guy Who Wrote It
Cat Stevens:
Most Popular Cover
The Tremeloes:
THE CLASH of Cover Tunes
Yo La Tengo vs. The Jags vs. Josie Cotton
Yo La Tengo:
The Jags:
Josie Cotton:
SPACE
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. It is your solemn responsibility to decide which cover song prevails. In other words … Which Side Are You On!??!
Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.
cover me impressed 
Such a cool little tune. Catchy, unpretentious and fun. Very un-Cat Stevens like. Interesting that he wrote it.
Love The Tremeloes live cut. They’re obviously having a lot of fun with it.
All three covers are superlative. Love them all. Hard to distinguish between them. But, for whatever reason, I’m voting for Josie Cotton.
The Jags had one big hit in the early 80’s. I remember liking it a lot. But I can’t remember what it was. Can anyone name their hit without looking it up?
I have loved this song since Yo La Tengo put out Fakebook. I subsequently bought this Cat Stevens album and two collections by The Tremeloes. There is something to like in all versions. I chose the straightforward YLT version. The harmonies between Ira and Georgia sound great. Simple and just the essentials. I remember The Jags from Back of my Hand which The Kid’s used to cover. I noticed then as with this song the vocalist sounds like he is imitating young Elvis Costello with a slight case of the new wave hiccups. Josie Cotton’s vocal also seemed affected. Nervous girl doing whippets comes to mind.
The Jags song you’re thinking of is Back of My Hand, as in “I got your number written on the back of my hand.”
I’ve always liked this song. Nice melody, catchy pop song. If Cat Stevens ever equalled or surpassed this, I never found out about it.
The Tremeloes distracted the heck outta me by shouting “Hey!” every eleven seconds. Someone must’ve thought it added something of value to the song, although I’m not sure why.
Love Yo La Tengo. Facebook was the first thing I bought by them, and it remained my favorite album of theirs until they came out with I Can Hear The Heart Beating as One. They got my vote today.
The Jags’ version was better than I expected. I didn’t notice the singer’s resemblance to Elvis Costello on first listen, but after it was pointed out, I don’t know how I missed it the first time.
I didn’t care for the Josie Cotton version, and I’m surprised you guys did.
Wow, that’s a pretty old song for it to have been written by Cat Stevens. I looked it up, and sure enough, he wrote it when he was 18! Impressive. Someone said he wrote Holiday in Cambodia, but I don’t think that’s correct.
I remember that Jags song “Back of My Hand” very well. It came out around the time of My Aim is True, and they got accused of being Elvis Costello soundalikes. It was the only song of theirs I had ever heard until this one, and yeah, they still sound like Elvis soundalikes.
I have a couple of Yo La Tengo albums. I always liked them, and they’re known for doing a lot of cover songs. I like their version best, of the three today.
Didn’t like the Josie Cotton version much at all. a
Cat Stevens did not write Holiday in Cambodia. It was written by the Dead Kennedys. I never appreciated their name. Trying too hard to be provocative. I just found it in poor taste and deplorable.
I agree. It’s a vile name, designed for shock, like the Butthole Surfers. But that’s what we were drawn to back when we were young and stupid. Truth be told, although I was open to it, and accepting of it, I never liked any of that hardcore stuff. Even the so called “classic” stuff like Black Flag. You listen to it now, and it’s just garbage. Henry Rollins is a smart guy and his comments about punk are brilliant, but I don’t think he’s ever created a decent piece of music in his entire career. It’s all noise and aggression. Zero talent. The Dead Kennedys music was bad. His voice was annoying. I was fine with his politics, but it was hard to get behind a band that sounded so mediocre.
I agree that Rollins never made music that I liked. I did like some but not most of the Black Flag that preceded him. I think he was the third lead vocalist for Black Flag. I think the Dead Kennedys were better. More intelligent and provocative lyrics but also not a fan. These two bands were relatively early in the hardcore scene and perhaps more famous but that doesn’t dismiss the genre. It can be hard to quantify talent, especially when hardcore was purposefully doing away with basic elements that made music appealing to previous styles. No longer trying to be catchy, foregoing instrumental passages, hooks etc.