[Originally Published: May 19, 2009]

This three-chord ditty, loosely based on Hernán Cortés, is originally off the 1970 Neil Young & Crazy Horse album Zuma. The simplicity and shear length of the tune makes it a prime candidate for cover renditions, and more of then than not… guest appearances. Often times those sit-ins include Neil Young himself as Neil has played Cortez with two of this week’s contestants.

Cover Wars

Fun fact: the original take had an extra verse at the end that was lost due to a problem in the studio. When Neil was informed of the glitch he simply responded, “I never liked that verse anyway.” Checking in on last week, moe. and Umphrey’s McGee are still battling it out in the Can’t You Hear Me Knocking Cover Wars, so head on over there and help settle the score.

The Contestants:

Built To Spill: Single. Double. No, Triple Guitars! This twenty-minute romp was recorded during the 1999 Keep It Like A Secret Tour. We’ve got a lot of distinct voices this week, but perhaps none more unique than Built To Spill’s Doug Martsch. Source: Live

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READ ON to hear and vote on the rest of this week’s contestants…

Dave Matthews Band: The first time DMB played it, it was with Neil Young at the Bridge School Benefit in 2000. Dave & Band have played it a few times since without any guests, but it normally involves either Neil or Warren Haynes sitting in. The audio below is from a show in 2000 and the video is from Central Park 2003, which was released on DVD. Warren plays on both. Source: 12-13-2000

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Gov’t Mule: Speaking of Warren, he’s been singing about Cortez since the late ’90s and the song is still in the Mule repertoire (normally involving guest sit-ins). Source: 7-2-1999

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Grace Potter w/Steve Kimock, Joe Satriani, Reed Mathis, Willie Waldman, and Stephen Perkins: With a great lead vocalist and two living guitar legends onstage, some might say that having a trumpet player is a bit of overkill – but isn’t that what the Jammy’s are all about? I was there and this was definitely one of the top performances of the nights. How about the crazy eyes on Joe Satriani circa the four minute mark? Overall it’s a pretty hectic interpretation and they somehow still omit two verses. Grace has since played the song with her own band as well.

Matthew Sweet: The man that brought us Girlfriend makes his Cover Wars debut with a little help from Amy Ray of The Indigo Girls. This was a bonus track on the 2006 Legacy Edition of the album. Source: Girlfriend

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Widespread Panic: Widespread has played the tune four times starting with Halloween 2001 featured below. It’s a solid enough interpretation, but John Bell definitely has some problems with lyrics…
I think he said something about “colored horses” in there. Source: 10-31-2001

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