Imagine - Madonna
Yes, we kick off with the Big M covering the Big J's Big One. This was recorded live for Tsunami Aid and it is not half bad. You can see and listen to it for yourself on YouTube. There again you can see and listen to pretty much any song for yourself on YouTube. How do they get away with that ?
Crippled Inside - The Ballroom Quartet
It is very rare that a cover makes you want to hear more of the band doing it - but this is definitely an exception. The vocals are provided by Joy Simar, who can be viewed on YouTube singing (though not this), and who is quite a looker. I have found a review of the song on a Dutch site automatically translated by Google, so I shall leave you with the benefit of this analysis:- "Crippled Inside may not provide for pain shoots (as opposed to the original song), but makes up by far the bittersweet vocals of Joy Simar and high kabbelgehalte". My thoughts entirely.
Bryan Ferry's Roxy Music took this to the top of the UK charts in the aftermath of John's death and that fact alone makes it a shoe-in for this album. Ferry delivers his usual distinctive vocal and also delivers his far less usual, and less distinctive, whistling.
It's So Hard - Masters Of Reality
It certainly is quite hard to find covers of this minor Lennon classic and it's pretty hard to understand why, such a good song is it. In fact this is the only one I have. Very like the original.
I Don't Want to be a Soldier Mama - Mad Season
Another example of a song I only have one cover of. And it's not so hard to see why, on this occasion. John in uninspired form on the original, and Mad Season do nothing to improve it.
Gimme Some Truth - Generation X
Generation X punk this up, which I suppose is to be expected, and it sounds pretty authentic as a punk number. Part of me thinks this is quite inventive. But the other part of me thinks that every punk song sounds like this, so maybe it is uninventive. Could it possibly be both of these things at the same time ?
Oh My Love - Elvira Nikolaisen
I was torn between this and the version by Yellowcard, both on the Amnesty Darfur compilation. Elvira's is quiet with quirky vocals and piano. Yellowcard's becomes a raucous rock anthem (by the end). It is more daring, but in the end the ballad version is so nice I plumped for it.
How Do You Sleep ? - Moska
Forget sitting in bed for peace, planting acorns and imagining no countries. Here Lennon has a right old caustic bitch about McCartney, who he has temporarily concluded is rubbish. It works quite well as a song and Moska, from Brazil, do it justice with a semi-funky sort of a treatment. McCartney's best bitching in song came years later with the masterful Riding To Vanity Fair, though that was not about John of course.
How ? - Morgan Fisher
Imagine "How ?" played slowly on a mouth organ. Now imagine it slower. Now slower still. You're pretty much there.
Oh Yoko ! - Barenaked Ladies
The Barenaked Ladies declare their undying love for Mrs Lennon. Sounds titillating, n'est-ce pas ? But, alas, the Barenaked Ladies are all men, so not as titillating as you might think. The dirty teases. We do not know whether Yoko reciprocates their affection - if she releases a tune called Oh Barenaked Ladies! then we will know. Until then we will have to content ourselves with this ditty - very similar to the original so a jolly way to end the album.