![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seedarklyxeroWelcome to SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies:
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
This week our Third Sunday Throwback to the 20th century features a prominent peroxide pop-punker, admittedly way less dark than the typical intent of this blog in general, though perhaps a guilty pleasure on the fringe that even a purist can appreciate. (I mean, rumor has it he was ever so briefly an unsung member of Siouxsie & The Banshees!) Today's edition is also a special cross-promotional tie-in to the Jukebox Zeroes podcast (being recorded today and released later this week) hosted by Lee Martin (aka Sawtooth) and Patrick Barry. with myself as a guest commentator. On the podcast we'll review, with some humorous displeasure, what is possibly the worst album in this artist's discography. However, I'm loathe to do such negative-style commentary without something more positive to offer, so rather than feature the regrettable cover from that album (tune in to find out which) I'm choosing instead a cover from earlier in his career, which may be familiar to some, but not significantly recognized as being the remake it is.:
Billy Idol - [I Forgot] To Be A [Your] Lover (William Bell)
Southern soul singer William Bell released his R&B ballad I Forgot to Be Your Lover in late 1968. The track, co-written with Booker T. Jones, was included the following year on his second full length album, Bound To Happen. They were constantly on the road touring with their label-mates from Stax Records, one year doing almost three hundred nightly gigs. Bell said the song was inspired when he witnessed Jones with his son gripping tight on his leg, upset that his father was about to go on tour again. “The road is really hard on our wives," Bell explained in one interview. He continued, "You missed your family so much, but you had to do it to keep your name out there and your songs out there. I wrote that song to try to soothe a lot of entertainers’ families.”
The track was his biggest hit at the time, breaking the top ten of the R&B charts, and eventually became the second most successful single of his career.
The song has been covered at least a dozen times. One version was a more uptempo reggae take by George Faith, who modified the title to, To Be a Lover (Have Mercy), released in 1977.
The next recorded cover after that would come from new wave/pop punk rocker Billy Idol. Reducing the title to just To Be A Lover, Idol released the single in September 1986, a month before his third solo studio album, Whiplash Smile. One of the likely early influences for covering the song came from a night of passion years earlier with his then partner, dancer and actress Perri Lister. According to Idol's memoir, he claims they had gone to see Apocalypse Now, came home, and made love all night with George Faith's To Be A Lover album playing.
Such influence might seem initially at odds with his "punk" image, such that it was, but Idol had started his career with Generation X covering John Lennon's Gimme Some Truth, sneering at punks generally with changes to the lyrics specifically mocking them. He then went on to cover two songs by David Bowie, another written by Booker T. Jones that was performed by Albert King, Led Zeppelin, Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, and Gary Glitter. After Gen X ended and his solo work began, he also made a high profile hit of Mony Mony by Tommy James & the Shondells. But his non-punk influences begin to make all the more sense after an interview in which he revealed, "the whole band was really just a joke because at the time punk was the thing to hate. It was considered dirty and anti-social. So being bored we got dressed up in leather and put some kind of act together." Idol came to feel somewhat stifled by the image he had made for himself, though taking advantage of it led him to a profitable if unintentional career.
To Be a Lover marked a decidedly different direction for him musically. In the video for what the music press called a "techno-rockabilly dance hit," Idol is noted for smiling and being playful. Idol confided, "I was feeling so pent up inside before that I wasn't able to show my real self. It has sort of taken until this record to get what I really feel... to sing love songs and stuff. Before, I was even battling that side of myself... the whole punk rock thing was so anti-love that it took a long time to free me from the inhibitions of England and start realizing that I've got to totally follow what I believe in... and that's not destruction."
It's evident from his choice of title and the soulful back-ups singing "have mercy" that Idol drew a lot from Faith's version, with a few other minor lyrical tweeks here and there, but he did accurately credit Bell as the song's originator. Synthetic rhythms give it an uptempo drive while gospel-style piano riffs and his Elvis-inspired presentation "spike" the realization that Idol is definitively not the punk he seemingly never wanted to be.:
The Cover:
The Original:
To find out what more I've discovered about Idol, in probably more detail than you'd ever need about an album you'll likely never otherwise care about, listen in to the Jukebox Zeroes podcast later this week!
Next week:
It's been a while since I've done "Four by Four" so since it'll be the fourth Sunday of the month, let's explore four other covers of a previously featured DisCOVERy! (I have a new release specifically in mind, so the choice may depend on availability.)
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Aug 12 - Noctronyx - Wreath of Barbs (:wumpscut:)
Aug 05 - Das Projekt - Monday, Monday (The Mamas & The Papas)
Jul 29 - Menschliche Energie - New Dress (Depeche Mode)
Jul 22 - Acidrodent - illisiT (Skinny Puppy)
Jul 15 - Laura Branigan - Self Control (Raf)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
This week our Third Sunday Throwback to the 20th century features a prominent peroxide pop-punker, admittedly way less dark than the typical intent of this blog in general, though perhaps a guilty pleasure on the fringe that even a purist can appreciate. (I mean, rumor has it he was ever so briefly an unsung member of Siouxsie & The Banshees!) Today's edition is also a special cross-promotional tie-in to the Jukebox Zeroes podcast (being recorded today and released later this week) hosted by Lee Martin (aka Sawtooth) and Patrick Barry. with myself as a guest commentator. On the podcast we'll review, with some humorous displeasure, what is possibly the worst album in this artist's discography. However, I'm loathe to do such negative-style commentary without something more positive to offer, so rather than feature the regrettable cover from that album (tune in to find out which) I'm choosing instead a cover from earlier in his career, which may be familiar to some, but not significantly recognized as being the remake it is.:
Billy Idol - [I Forgot] To Be A [Your] Lover (William Bell)
Southern soul singer William Bell released his R&B ballad I Forgot to Be Your Lover in late 1968. The track, co-written with Booker T. Jones, was included the following year on his second full length album, Bound To Happen. They were constantly on the road touring with their label-mates from Stax Records, one year doing almost three hundred nightly gigs. Bell said the song was inspired when he witnessed Jones with his son gripping tight on his leg, upset that his father was about to go on tour again. “The road is really hard on our wives," Bell explained in one interview. He continued, "You missed your family so much, but you had to do it to keep your name out there and your songs out there. I wrote that song to try to soothe a lot of entertainers’ families.”
The track was his biggest hit at the time, breaking the top ten of the R&B charts, and eventually became the second most successful single of his career.
The song has been covered at least a dozen times. One version was a more uptempo reggae take by George Faith, who modified the title to, To Be a Lover (Have Mercy), released in 1977.
The next recorded cover after that would come from new wave/pop punk rocker Billy Idol. Reducing the title to just To Be A Lover, Idol released the single in September 1986, a month before his third solo studio album, Whiplash Smile. One of the likely early influences for covering the song came from a night of passion years earlier with his then partner, dancer and actress Perri Lister. According to Idol's memoir, he claims they had gone to see Apocalypse Now, came home, and made love all night with George Faith's To Be A Lover album playing.
Such influence might seem initially at odds with his "punk" image, such that it was, but Idol had started his career with Generation X covering John Lennon's Gimme Some Truth, sneering at punks generally with changes to the lyrics specifically mocking them. He then went on to cover two songs by David Bowie, another written by Booker T. Jones that was performed by Albert King, Led Zeppelin, Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, and Gary Glitter. After Gen X ended and his solo work began, he also made a high profile hit of Mony Mony by Tommy James & the Shondells. But his non-punk influences begin to make all the more sense after an interview in which he revealed, "the whole band was really just a joke because at the time punk was the thing to hate. It was considered dirty and anti-social. So being bored we got dressed up in leather and put some kind of act together." Idol came to feel somewhat stifled by the image he had made for himself, though taking advantage of it led him to a profitable if unintentional career.
To Be a Lover marked a decidedly different direction for him musically. In the video for what the music press called a "techno-rockabilly dance hit," Idol is noted for smiling and being playful. Idol confided, "I was feeling so pent up inside before that I wasn't able to show my real self. It has sort of taken until this record to get what I really feel... to sing love songs and stuff. Before, I was even battling that side of myself... the whole punk rock thing was so anti-love that it took a long time to free me from the inhibitions of England and start realizing that I've got to totally follow what I believe in... and that's not destruction."
It's evident from his choice of title and the soulful back-ups singing "have mercy" that Idol drew a lot from Faith's version, with a few other minor lyrical tweeks here and there, but he did accurately credit Bell as the song's originator. Synthetic rhythms give it an uptempo drive while gospel-style piano riffs and his Elvis-inspired presentation "spike" the realization that Idol is definitively not the punk he seemingly never wanted to be.:
The Cover:
The Original:
To find out what more I've discovered about Idol, in probably more detail than you'd ever need about an album you'll likely never otherwise care about, listen in to the Jukebox Zeroes podcast later this week!
Next week:
It's been a while since I've done "Four by Four" so since it'll be the fourth Sunday of the month, let's explore four other covers of a previously featured DisCOVERy! (I have a new release specifically in mind, so the choice may depend on availability.)
Feel free to tell me what you think about today's cover! Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Aug 12 - Noctronyx - Wreath of Barbs (:wumpscut:)
Aug 05 - Das Projekt - Monday, Monday (The Mamas & The Papas)
Jul 29 - Menschliche Energie - New Dress (Depeche Mode)
Jul 22 - Acidrodent - illisiT (Skinny Puppy)
Jul 15 - Laura Branigan - Self Control (Raf)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies