They Did It Their Way - R and S

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.

R

Bonnie Raitt - Home
Bonnie Raitt - Runaway
Joey Ramone - What a Wonderful World
Ramones - Do You Wanna Dance?
Ramones - Needles And Pins
Ramones - Surfin' Bird
Roches - Hallelujah Chorus



S

Sherie Rene Scott - Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters
Shaggs - I Love
William Shatner - Mr. Tambourine Man
William Shatner - Spleen / Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds
Shriekback - Get Down Tonight
Simon & Garfunkel - Bye Bye Love
Simon & Garfunkel - Red Rubber Ball
Siouxsie & the Banshees - Dear Prudence
Mindy Smith - Jolene
Mindy Smith - Word
Patti Smith - Boy In the Bubble
Patti Smith - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Patti Smith - Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Patti Smith - Gimme Shelter
Jo-El Sonnier - Jambalaya
Jo-El Sonnier - Louisiana 1927
Squirrel Nut Zippers - I've Found a New Baby
Stranglers - White Room


Bonnie Raitt's versions of Karla Bonoff's "Home" and Del Shannon's "Runaway" are both from her album, "Sweet Forgiveness," which is still one of my favorite albums.

Joey Ramone covered What a Wonderful World on his last album, "Don't Worry About Me." And he covers it like only Joey Ramone could.

The Ramones Do You Wanna Dance? and Surfin' Bird are from their album "Rocket to Russia," while their cover of Sonny Bono's Needles And Pins comes from "Road to Ruin." If you don't know the Ramones's version of Surfin' Bird, here's the album version (just to prove there is a song underlying this, since most of their live versions of this song don't seem to have actual lyrics).

The Roches opened their album, "Keep On Doin'," with Handel's Hallelujah Chorus.

Sherie Rene Scott did an album (under the name "Sherie Rene") called "Men I've Had," a sort of concept album of songs by male artists she has worked with, such as The Who's "Squeezebox," and Eric Clapton's "Let My Love Open the Door." I'm afraid it's largely a forgettable album (IMHO), but I included Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters here.

The Shaggs recorded I Love on their second album, "Shagg's Own Thing." It sounds like they got some music lessons, but not enough.

As previously mentioned, William Shatner's recordings of Mr. Tambourine Man and Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds can be found on the "Golden Throats" collections, if you can find them. "Spleen" is a dark and troubling narration that leads into "Lucy In the Sky" and just about makes the experience unbearable.

Since Barry Andrews left XTC in 1978, one of his projects has been a band called "Shriekback" with Dave Allen from Gang of Four. One of their more popular tracks in the late 1980s was their cover of Get Down Tonight by K.C. and the Sunshine Band.

Simon & Garfunkel somewhat famously recorded the Everly Brothers' Bye Bye Love on the album "Bridge Over Troubled Water." They less famously recorded a live version of Paul Simon's song, Red Rubber Ball, which was a hit for The Cyrkle. This recording I found as a track on the "Old Friends" collection.

Siouxsie & the Banshees covered Dear Prudence on their album, "Hyaena." One of my favorite Siouxsie tracks.

Mindy Smith's two contributions are from previously mentioned and re-mentioned collections. Jolene is from the Dolly Parton tribute album, "Just Because I'm a Woman" (though she also included it on her own album that came out about the same time), and The Word comes from "This Bird Has Flown," the Rubber Soul re-enactment album.

All of Patti Smith's tracks here, Boy In the Bubble, Smells Like Teen Spirit, Everybody Wants to Rule the World and Gimme Shelter, come from her covers album, "twelve" (there are 12 tracks on the album).

Squeezebox prodigy Jo-El Sonnier recorded Jambalaya on his Rounder album, "Cajun Life." He recorded a wonderful version of Randy Newman's Louisiana 1927 on his major label debut. Here's a video I stumbled across of Jo-El doing "Whiter Shade of Pale." His label never succeeded in pigeon-holing him successfully into Country or Blues, so he's now not exceedingly well known.

Squirrel Nut Zippers recorded I've Found a New Baby, but no one seems to care enough to post anything on YouTube. So here's one of their music videos as a substitute.

I got the Stranglers's version of White Room as a 7" single tucked into the album, "Stranglers IV." The four tracks on this promo single were included on the CD version of this album. Again, no YouTube video. So here's Golden Brown instead.