I did mention that Mac Davis would eventually cover his own song - and it's this song, which was really his first big hit, that probably allowed him to move forward with a music career. This is the version I grew up with.
It's more than a heartbreaking story, though. It's a call to action. And I think Mac Davis makes that more clear than Elvis Presley could.
The Cranberries covering the Mac Davis-penned Elvis Presley classic song is something to behold. It's almost as if they understand the poverty and cycle of violence that led to this song.
After Mac Davis, who wrote this song (made famous by Elvis Presley), passed away in 2020, it was appropriate to honor such a prolific songwriter who had a pretty solid recording career in his own right.
On November 11, 2020, at the County Music Association Awards, Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker did exactly that - and they did so beautifully. They would immediate release this as a single.
This Monkees cover was the b-side to "You Don't Love Me Yet". How this gem was hidden on a b-side is beyond me. Ann Magnuson is no Mickey Dolenz, but she clearly understands the spirit of the original.
This song was my first exposure to Bongwater AND to the music of Roky Erickson.
Originally released as a non-album single in 1988 and then rereleased as part of a tribute compilation called Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye, On its surface, it's a beautifully performed song by the band, with Ann Magnuson bringing a vulnerability to the song that even Roky Erickson didn't in the original.
If you watch this video - which includes what seems like a non-sequetor intro by Screamin' Jay Hawkins - you see that Bongwater was far more than a simple band, but were just as much about performance art as they were about the music. The band - which was Magnuson and the mononymous Kramer - are also joined by Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead for this performance.
The Linda Lindas are a band that was started on kind a whim in a backyard, and grew into a pretty solid punk band.
This performance, recorded as a benefit, occured in 2021. The band members ranged from ages 11 to 17 at the time. To hear The Muffs played so credibly and with such passion by such a young band is impressive. This performance came soon after the release of the Amy Poehler movie Moxie!, in which the band appears and performs a couple of songs, including this one.
So, I was impressed with their age until I found this performance of the same song from two years earlier - in 2019, a little more than a year into the band. Do the math (band members were aged 8 to 14 at its inception). Their parents are raising them right.
There's a project out of LA called the Wild Honey Orchestra, which features a lot of Los Angelas-based musicians. Unusual collaborations aren't... well, unusual.
This is from a 2014 autism benefit concert, and you can see three Bangles on the microphone on the side - but this Beatles cover is the Kim Shattuck show (although Debbi Peterson and Susanna Hoffs both provide audible tambourine as well).
