Cover Wars: (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding (Nick Lowe)
I’ll admit it, until about two weeks ago, I thought this was a Elvis Costello original. Often times a cover can be so well known that people often mistake if for the original, but in the case of Nick Lowe’s (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding, there is an extra wrinkle in the mix – Elvis Costello actually recorded his cover under the name of Nick Lowe & His Sound. Talk about confusing. Anyways, it’s a frequently covered song and we’ve narrowed it down to six must-hear covers this week. Have a listen and place your vote for the best at the bottom of the piece.
The Contestants:
Artist: A Perfect Circle
Album: Emotive
The Skinny: If you’re familiar with the band A Perfect Cirlce then this cover is going to sound exactly how you think it would – which is really quite a unique reading of the song.
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READ ON for more covers of (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding by Nick Lowe.
Artist: Bruce Springsteen with Eddie Vedder, Jackson Browne and John Fogerty
The Skinny: Woah, that’s a lot of talent on stage at this 2004 concert in New Jersey. I love seeing legends trade off verses (or lines of verses in this case). One of my favorie instances of this is My Back Pages from the Dylan 30th Anniversary concert, check it:
Artist: Charlie Hunter
Album: Solo Eight-String Guitar
The Skinny: As the album states, this is a solo performance from virtuoso Charlie Hunter playing his signature Eight-String Guitar, where he acts as a bassist and guitar player simultaneously. A mind-blowing talent, if you have never seen him play live – add him to the top of your list.
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Artist: Chris Cornell & Maynard James Keenan
The Skinny: This duo performance was recorded for the live album Axis of Justice: Concert Series Volume 1.
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Here’s a video of a solo performance from Cornell in the back of a limo?
And just because it’s incredibly cool, here is a photo I took a couple weeks ago of Chris Cornell performing a solo acoustic rendition on a make-shift stage built on top of the pool of Symantec CEO John Thompson. Cornell and Bruce Hornsby were both performing at a private fundraiser for President Obama – an event I was fortunate enough to volunteer at and an experience I will never forget.
Artist: Curtis Stigers
Album: The Bodyguard: Original Soundtrack Album
The Skinny: This uptempo cover comes from the soundtrack to the 1992 film The Bodyguard which is most well known for having Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You on it.
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Artist: Elvis Costello
Album: Armed Forces (Dig) (Spkg)
The Skinny: As discussed in the intro, Costello’s version was originally released as a B-Side to a Nick Lowe single but was then also included on the US version of the Costello album Armed Forces. A classic cover if there ever was one.
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Lots of good YouTube’s of Costello playing this one. Here’s a funny clip from Letterman of Elvis introducing himself:
This one is gonna be a landslide for Mr. Declan MacManus
no flaming lips…..
The Slip