Inspiration?
Probably my favorite Stones song if I don't think too much about it. Yet, I've never seen the Stones pull off a good live version. Maybe that's not fair. How about this? That opening guitar, that sound, just hasn't been replicated live and man, that's what makes it for me. The rest is pretty good, too. But no one, not even the Stones has been able to get that sound. Guitar players always point out the tuning, but I think it is more than that.
Have fun with these!
15 comments:
What I wouldn’t give for a Steve Earle version.😃
Sheesh, that spoken intro, about how working class the Stones were, to the Lucinda Williams version is spectacularly dopey.
Earth to Lucinda: Mick went to the London School of Economics. The song is not meant as revolutionary -- it's ironic. Look into it.
Agree about the intro on the original. It's superb. Also, the original is so good that covering it is mostly pointless. I couldn't get through any of the versions posted.
- Paul in DK
The single version has a different mix
Rod Stewart did a nice version on An Old Raincoat.
Out here in the desert, when my wife and I walk our dogs in the morning we often run into packs of javelina, which look like pre-historic pigs. They don't see very well and are extremely nasty. They think are dogs are coyotes and will go after them. A couple of times they have chased us down the street. Then, I found the perfect repellent, "Street Fighting Man," the original version . I blast it on the iphone and wouldn't you know it, they just turn and run. No other Stones song has had the same impact.
All good in their own way but I'm gonna go with Oasis with best of the bunch. Maybe it's a limey thing.
oh can i say that. oy vey (i can say that)
I think Oasis got the closest.
I think the story goes, they could not recreate the acoustic guitar sound heard on Keith's demo, so they used the demo as the foundation and built the track up around it. It's a super-dense mix, that's for sure, you can almost dive in and swim around in it.
Ramones - exactly what I expected when I hit 'play.' Sounds like everything else they ever did. Some people enjoy this.
Bruce - not usually a fan of his covers but gotta admit he kills this one - sounds like it was written for him.
Rage - I don't get it. At all. The construction noises outside my window are more listenable.
Oasis - hard pass. I live in a happy imaginary world where that band does not exist.
Lucinda - only one who understands the push and pull relationship between the rhythm
section and the vocal line that gives the song its tension.
I doubt the original will never be topped. It's a song that you can never play quite loud enough.
Today's cover version, the Richard Thompson cover of Oops I Did It Again by Brittany Spears is one of my favorite covers of any song ever. And Thompson clearly knows how surprising and funny it is for him to do it.
Yes, Lucinda gets the backstory of the Stones wrong, but she does an OK job on the song, and the record it comes from (Lu's Jukebox Vol. 6 – You Are Cordially Invited...A Tribute to the Rolling Stones) is a surprisingly good one from her series of Covid live in studio covers records.
The original's toy snare drum is a big part of the magic.
Have to say those insufferable gits of Oasis did best in this round-up. I love the Ramones, count Lucinda in her vocal prime as one of my all-time fave singers, but Oasis' crunchy take takes the prize. While I respect Tom Morello, I never could take even a minute of RATM, and this version of 'SFM' does nothing to dissuade my sense of their unlistenability.
C in California
If a band really wanted to duplicate that guitar sound it could be done. It's all acoustic instruments other than bass. The oversaturated and strained acoustic guitar sound is captivating with a touch of wow and flutter.
The Stones version on Stripped is pretty cool, though not as exotic.
Don't care that much for any of the covers posted.
I somewhat like the Chesterfield Kings' version.
I wrote an essay for a history class at UCLA about Oliver Cromwell. Somehow I wove the Stones "Street Fighting Man" into the text. As stupid as that sounds, and it was stupid, the professor gave me an A. I wrote it in an overnight cram while coming down from acid. Joel, the professor and recent PhD from Johns Hopkins, thought I was brilliant. He ended up asking me out a few times. The guy was so straight and academic he made me feel like Sugarpuss O'Shea. Other than my grades, there were no happy endings.
Banned on many radio stations, it was a Top Ten single in Berdoo. I snagged a pix sleeve when I cleaned out KOLA's record library. Not for sale.
VR
All worthy covers, except for RATM, which starts out irritating and gets worse.
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