Most obscure covers your band plays

[10cc]

Maybe not too obscure for the genre, but little known by a lot of people:
Slaid Cleaves- Hard to Believe
Doug Sahm- Give Back the key to my heart
Townes Van Zandt- White Freightliner Blues

Love Key to my heart. Played that one not too long ago. People that have never heard that song can get with it by the second chorus. Nice call!

 

[Gasman]

Not current band, but used to play "Andy Warhol" by Bowie and "Satellite of Love" by Lou Reed in a band many moons ago. The way we did the Bowie tune was flat out awesome...rocked out on that cool riff with a full band. People loved it, but never met anyone who recognized it

 

[two fingers]

Two More Bottles Of Wine - Delbert McClinton
Monkey Around - Delbert McClinton
(Guess who one of the guitarists favorite artist is?)

Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You - Bob Dylan
Locomotive Breath - Jethro Tull
(OK, not so obscure but rarely covered)

Do You Know What I Mean - Lee Micheals
A Pirate Looks At 40 - Jimmy Buffet
Beginnings - Chicago
Bottle Of Wine - Fire Balls
Shipping Up To Boston - Dropkick Murphys
I Got A Line On You - Spirit
Lie To Me - Jonny Lang

(We play a wide variety of eclectic music!)

I need to see your band.

Years ago a band I was in the Cowboy Song by Thin Lizzy. It was so obscure back then people thought we wrote it. But it went over well. It's really fun to play.

 

[Chad Bennett]

Love Key to my heart. Played that one not too long ago. People that have never heard that song can get with it by the second chorus. Nice call!

Not anything to write home about as far as musical acrobatics, but nice to just lay back and listen to the great lyrics in those songs.

 

[buldog5151bass]

We don't do obscure covers, as we don't see the point.

It's fun to pull out a song, and hear someone say, "I rememer that song - love it".

 

[Gasman]

Almost forgot...I played bass and sang this one in another band. Crowd pleaser

 

[10cc]

Pulled this one out before as well

 

[10cc]

One more

 

[nixdad]

I need to see your band.

Years ago a band I was in the Cowboy Song by Thin Lizzy. It was so obscure back then people thought we wrote it. But it went over well. It's really fun to play.

Cowboy Song has a killer groove. I heard that tune on the radio for the first time about a year ago, and liked it immediately. Nice choice.

 

[JimmyM]

It's fun to pull out a song, and hear someone say, "I rememer that song - love it".

Not if the rest of the audience shrugs their shoulders and leaves

You should think about it. The only cover bands that get more than a walk away from me are the ones that go the obscurity route. I can't be the only one. Or am I?

 

[ianuaditis]

This is as obscure as we've gotten so far in my 50s rock 'n roll band:

Stagger Lee (Lloyd Price, 1959)

I'm working on them!

I would say for a 50s rock and roll band that's not very obscure. When the oldies station was still a thing, family members would have it on almost constantly, and they would play that on CBS FM once a day at minimum.

It was covered by a bunch of 60s R&B artists and reinterpreted by the Grateful Dead and the Clash as well.

But to be fair, my knowledge about what's current or obscure in the realm of 50s cover bands is minimal at best.

 

[10cc]

Not if the rest of the audience shrugs their shoulders and leaves

 

[Burwabit]

Feva for the Flava - Hott Action Cop.

What I was gonna say haha

 

[Matthew Fisher]

I would say for a 50s rock and roll band that's not very obscure.

Yes, that was my (understated) point. We don't get very obscure. Mighty white we are. But I enjoyed reading what you wrote about how popular Stagger Lee was back then.

The Clash didn't really cover reinterpret Stagger Lee. They covered "Wrong Em Boyo" by The Rulers. It's a great song either way.

London Calling was one of my first two vinyl records, both purchased the same day. The other album was End of The Century, by The Ramones.

[Edit: I know this thread will inevitably be an obscurity contest, and it's cool for me to see how the other half lives. But the thread title is simply "Most obscure covers your band plays". On my home planet, Boring World, "Stagger Lee" really is as obscure as we get.]

 

[Juststanley]

We do...

Vehicle-Ides of March
Stealin'-Uriah Heep

 

[fhm555]

Tom Waits
Clap Hands
Jockey Full Of Bourbon
Chocolate Jesus
Walk Away
Get Behind The Mule
John Campbell
When The Levee Breaks
Down In The Hole
Devil In My Closet
A Johnny Cash Medley that sounds like Cash meets the Clash
Soul Asylum
Somebody To Shove
Bobby Bland
This Time I'm Gone For Good
ZZ Hill
Shade Tree Mechanic
Someone Else Is Steppin In
Joe Simon
It Be's That Way Sometimes
Drowing In The Sea Of Love
Boz Scaggs
Loan Me A Dime

 

[FrankLowend]

On the hunt from Lynyrd Skynyrd

 

[interp]

Hot Smoke and Sassafras by Bubble Puppy

 

[asands]

To go with the over played list.
We got:
DOA -Van Halen
In the mood -Rush
and one that surprises people in it's Led Zepplin sounding ways:
Say what you will -Fastway

I've been trying to get my band to do that Fastway tune for a long time. So simple but I just love it! Good choice

 

[morgansterne]

My cover band often plays "In The Meantime" by Spacehog. Great song, few people ever recognize it but we love to play it!

your audience is full of heathens! my friend's band does that one -- they do a ton of 90's material.
we do

Roxy Music -love is the drug
talking heads - and she was
bowie: suffragette city and moonage daydream
the doors: soul kitchen