They Did It Their Way - G and H

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.

G

Garbage - I Just Wanna Have Something To Do
Gnarls Barkley - Gone Daddy Gone
Joel Grey - White Room
Andy Griffith - House Of the Rising Sun
Nanci Griffith - Across the Great Divide
Nanci Griffith - From a Distance
Nanci Griffith - I Fought the Law
Nanci Griffith - If I Had a Hammer
Nanci Griffith - Speed Of the Sound Of Loneliness
Nanci Griffith - Bluer Than Blue
Nanci Griffith - When I Dream
Nanci Griffith - Ruby's Arms
Nanci Griffith - If These Walls Could Speak


H

Nina Hagen - Ave Maria
Nina Hagen - Fever
Nina Hagen - Las Vegas
Nina Hagen - Move Over
Nina Hagen - My Way
Nina Hagen - Pillow Talk
Nina Hagen - Sonntagmorgen
Nina Hagen - Spirit In the Sky
Nina Hagen - Sugar Blues
Nina Hagen - TV Glotzer (White Punks On Dope)
Nina Hagen - Wir Leben Immer...Noch (Lucky Number)
Jennifer Hudson - Easy To Be Hard


Garbage covers the Ramones. Not the best cover in the history of the world, but (a) Garbage rarely does covers, and (b) people don't cover the Ramones very often.

Gnarls Barkley covers Violent Femmes. You have to give points to anyone who covers Violent Femmes successfully.

Joel Grey and Andy Griffith dip into the "Golden Throat" collections again. This particular CD is called "The Great Celebrity Sing-Off," and apparently is not out of print.

Nanci Griffith has recorded two albums of her favorite folk songs -- "Other Voices, Other Rooms" and "Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful)." "Across the Great Divide" and "Speed of the Sound of Loneliness" are from the former, while "If I Had a Hammer" is from the latter. Her most recent album, "Ruby's Torch," is full of her favorite torch songs, though I might take issue with categorizing some of these songs as "torch songs." "Bluer Than Blue," "When I Dream," "Ruby's Arms" and "If These Walls Could Speak" are all from this album. Nanci Griffith also recorded "From a Distance" long before Bette Midler did, and it was a best-selling single in most countries except the US. Her US label wouldn't release the single because they thought people wouldn't like her singing voice. I included her version of "I Fought the Law" because it stands out in contrast to other versions, such as the one by The Clash. Nanci does it as a sort of a cross between Buddy Holly and Hank Williams.

Nina Hagen might be the queen of covers. I don't believe she's ever released an album that didn't include at least one cover song.(except maybe "Om Namah Shivay," which is an odd album even by Nina Hagen's standards). And, remember, Nina's cover of Sid Vicious's cover of "My Way" is where I got the name for this collection. "TV Glotzer (White Punks On Dope)" and "Wir Leben Immer...Noch (Lucky Number)" are from early in her career, first available in the US (to my memory) on a 10" EP. "My Way" and "Spirit In the Sky" were both on "Nina Hagen in Ecstasy" ("Nina Hagen en Ekstase"). :"Move Over," :"Las Vegas" and "Ave Maria" were all on "Nina Hagen" in the late 80s. Only Nina can get away with doing "Ave Maria" as a guitar ballad interpolating "Maria" from "West Side Story." "Pillow Talk" was on "Revolution Ballroom" in 1993. "Sonntagmorgen" was on "Freud Euch" (English version on "Bee Happy"). And "Fever" and "Sugar Blues" were on "Big Band Explosion," which I discussed in an early posting.

Jennifer Hudson's version of "Easy To Be Hard" is from the previously mentioned "Hair" benefit recording.