Category Archives: Reproductions

Cover songs that are loving reproductions of their predecessor.

I Go To Sleep

I forget how the conversation started, but a friend remarked that he found an interesting Pretenders cover of the Sia song “I Go To Sleep.” Unfortunately, he got things a bit inside-out. While the Sia version is incredible, it’s not original to her. And, no, it wasn’t a Pretenders original either, although they are known […]

Rudy, A Message To You

Most folks my age are more familiar with “A Message to You, Rudy” in the form of a 1979 cover version by The Specials. Little do we realize that it was originally a 1967 rocksteady song by Dandy Livingstone. Livingstone’s original never really made it on the charts, but the nearly identical version by the […]

Jump Jive an’ Wail

Take a gifted performer from the 50s (Louis Prima), cross it with a TV commercial (Gap’s 1997 “Khakis Swing” spot), and you get a winning brand, musical revival, and lifestyle all in one. I’m talking about Louis Prima’s “Jump, Jive, an’ Wail.” Originally released on Prima’s 1957 album The Wildest!, Brian Setzer did a spectacular […]