They Did It Their Way - F

If you're seeing this for the first time and wondering what this "They did it their way" thing is about, read here for the background and full listing of this personal game of mine.

F

Marianne Faithfull - As Tears Go By
Marianne Faithfull - Blowin' In the Wind
Marianne Faithfull - First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Marianne Faithfull - Monday, Monday
Fine Young Cannibals - Ever Fallen In Love
Fine Young Cannibals - Suspicious Minds
Flying Lizards - And Then He Kissed Me
Flying Lizards - Dizzy Miss Lizzie
Flying Lizards - Great Balls Of Fire
Flying Lizards - Money (Single Mix)
Flying Lizards - Summertime Blues
Tennessee Ernie Ford - Let It Be
Aretha Franklin - Somewhere
Fun Boy Three - Our Lips Are Sealed
Fun Boy Three - T'Aint What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)


I include Marianne Faithfull's "As Tears Go By," but probably not the one you're thinking of. She had a hit with this in the sixties, so she could be considered the original artist, even though the song was written by Mick Jagger. The one I'm including is her more gentle re-recording of the song on her 1987 album, "Strange Weather." Here's a video of her singing this version in 2007. The other tracks are ones she made in the 1960s. The ones I wish I could include but don't have CDs of are her recordings of "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" and "Working Class Hero".

Okay, I'll be honest. Roland Gift's voice does bug me a little. But virtually no one ever covers the Buzzcocks. And, like the Beatles, Elvis covers need to be represented as broadly as possible. So I included "Ever Fallen In Love" and "Suspicious Minds".

Flying Lizards album "Top Ten" is on my list of all-time favorites. Their breakthrough hit was "Money (That's What I Want)" and is probably the only thing anyone remembers about them at all. But they also did a fun version of "Manadalaysong" ("Song from Mandalay" sung auf Deutsch) and "Summertime Blues" on that same album. On their album, "Fourth Wall" (with a different singer), they did a cover of "Move On Up" (I've never been able to find a CD of "Fourth Wall," though). Finally, they did an album of nothing but covers, called, "Top Ten". That's where "Dizzy Miss Lizzie," "And Then He Kissed Me" and "Great Balls of Fire" came from, as well as "Get Up (Sex Machine)," "Purple Haze" and one of the most interesting versions of Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne" that I've ever heard.

The Tennessee Ernie Ford track is another visit to the "Golden Throats 4: Celebrities Butcher the Beatles" CD (out of print).

Aretha Franklin's version of "Somewhere" was on the soundtrack to the Quincy Jones documentary, "Listen Up" (also out of print, I believe). But here's a video of her singing "Somewhere" at the Kennedy Center Honors for Stephen Sondheim.

Here's a "One Degree of Separation" story: On the Specials second album, their back-up singers were these unheard of women calling themselves "The Go-Gos". Within a year or two, the Go-Gos had recorded their own album and had a smash hit with "Our Lips Are Sealed," a song that was co-written by singer Belinda Carlisle and Specials member Lynval Golding. The Specials split up. Three members of the Specials, Terry Hall, Lynval Golding and Neville Staples, formed a new group called "Fun Boy Three," who recorded their own version of "Our Lips Are Sealed."

And, in a parallel to the Specials' relationship with the Go-Gos, Fun Boy Three's first album had back-up vocals provided by a then-unknown group called "Bananarama." The opening track on Fun Boy Three's first album was "It Ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)".