GETTING BETTER

“You Can’t Do That” — Ezra and The Harpoons

(HT: Teibs / Festival Crashers.com)

The Beatles - “Getting Better”

The Beatles - “Getting Better”

The Kaiser Chiefs - “Getting Better”

GETTING BETTER

Jack Johnson - “Rocky Raccoon” (Live)

This song fits him perfectly, and he absolutely nails it.

GETTING BETTER

Joe Cocker covering “I’ll Cry Instead”

He nailed “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” and “With a Little Help From My Friends” and even made an appearance in the movie “Across the Universe”.  Joe Cocker may be the ultimate Beatles cover singer and he proves it here with a solid rendition of “I’ll Cry Instead”.

GETTING BETTER

Beck covering “I’ve Got a Feeling”

Cool version.  And even cooler video.

Update: This isn’t that Beck…it’s a different group.  Should have clarified earlier.

GETTING BETTER

Seether covering “Across the Universe”

I’m not a Seether fan…at all.  But I’ve gotta admit, the vocal on this is pretty stellar.  Sure there are plenty of other great covers of this song (Rufus Wainwright for one), but for them to jump genres so drastically is pretty impressive.

GETTING BETTER

Crosby, Stills & Nash singing “Blackbird”

Simply perfect.

GETTING BETTER

The Spiders performing “Daytripper”

The singing would easily make it a “Honey Don’t”, but the dancing more than made up for it.

GETTING BETTER

ELO covering “Day Tripper”

The actual cover of the song is just ordinary. But throw in the orchestral elements and little tangents here and there and it’s a pretty cool rendition.

Not to mention those suits are just spectacular.

GETTING BETTER

Aerosmith performing “I’m Down”

As much as I don’t care for Aerosmith, they actually did this Beatle tune some justice.  Steven Tyler has the perfect voice to adequately pull of the song and hit the freakishly high McCartney notes.  As good as it may be though, nothing will ever compare to the original.

GETTING BETTER

Greg Hawkes playing “Eleanor Rigby”

Love The Cars. Love The Beatles. So Greg Hawkes, formerly of The Cars, playing Beatles tunes is a pretty damn cool idea to begin with. Here he is, in a very bizarre video, playing “Eleanor Rigby.”

Also, check out Greg’s combination of “Just What I Needed” and “I Wanna Hold Your Hand.”

GETTING BETTER

Del Shannon singing “From Me to You”

It’s one of the great Beatle encounters of all time - Del Shannon running into John Lennon in April of 1963 and asking if he could record “From Me to You.” Shannon hoped it would help build the Beatles’ reputation in the states. In June, Shannon’s version of the song was released, but peaked at just #77 on the Billboard Hot 100 (despite being #15 in Chicago).

“From Me to You” has always been a beloved Beatles tune, but it certainly took a while for people to warm up to it.

GETTING BETTER

Richie Havens performing “Strawberry Fields Forever” at Woodstock

For those of you unfamiliar with him, Richie Havens is a terrific folk singer who made his name in Greenwich Village (two other notable folk singers named Bob Dylan and Joan Baez did the same).  His Woodstock performance was so popular that he continued to play encores until he finally ran out of songs.

Like so many others, Havens loved to cover Beatles songs. Check out his renditions of “Here Comes the Sun” and “Lady Madonna.”