Artists Outside Their Comfort Zones, 1.0

Who knew Ella Fitzgerald did "Sunshine of Your Love"?

Today Sean Ono Lennon (yes, he’s the son of Yoko Ono and John Lennon) posted this:

One of the original hard rock numbers, and there she is, the queen of The Great American Songbook and the greatest jazz singer who ever lived, knocking it out of the park!

So that inspired me: what other famous artists have done things that are not even remotely like the work that made them famous?

I could do some artists (e.g. The Ventures) for every song, but I’m imposing a rule of one appearance per artist.

Operatic Arias

We’ll show a standard rendition of the aria, followed by some brave versions by people who don’t typically sing opera.

Lest it look like I’m making fun of the latter: no, not in the slightest. Music is music, they’re giving us their own version of it, and I salute them.

Nessun Dorma

This is the climactic aria from Turandot, a Puccini opera set in China, where the lead tenor sings “no one sleeps” (which was used in a mattress commercial, LOL) so he can win the heart of a princess in the morning.

Here’s the standard version, by Pavarotti.

Luciano Pavarotti

Aretha Franklin

This is not Aretha trying to sound like Pavarotti; it’s Aretha giving us her own interpretation.

Paul Potts

Paul Potts won his round on Britain’s Got Talent. He came out of nowhere to blow everyone away. The judges’ and audience’s reactions are priceless.

Jeff Beck

I’m breaking my rule of only one appearance of each artist, but hey, this is Jeff Beck.

Marie Osmond

And now for some comic relief.

Beatles Songs

No Yesterday covers here. That’s shooting fish in a barrel. Everyone’s covered that. Also Here Comes the Sun and Something: too easy.

No, we’re going after artists who would not be the first ones you think of.

Eleanor Rigby

Everyone knows the Beatles version, so I won’t include it here.

Johnny Mathis

Vanilla Fudge

The Ventures

I could include a Ventures of every song here, probably, because they covered everything.

A Day in the Life

You know the Beatles version, so I don’t need to include it.

Frankie Valli (of The Four Seasons)

Jose Feliciano

Jeff Beck

Jeff was the master. No one could imitate his sound, because it was all in his hands.

Steely Dan

Do It Again

The original:

Waylon Jennings

Why did Waylon cover this one? Who knows?

Other Rock Standards

Black Magic Woman

For reference, here’s Santana doing it live.

Percy Faith

If you haven’t heard of Percy Faith: he was, let’s say, not rock ‘n’ roll.

Mrs. Robinson

Made famous by its use in The Graduate.

Frank Sinatra

Although Frank hated rock, he did do a few rock covers.

The Ray Conniff Singers

If this video doesn’t show up below (for copyright reasons), try copying this link into a YouTube window and taking out the spaces. Or just search “mrs robinson ray conniff singers.”

https://. www.youtube. com/watch?v=rUHWcEeAGtg

Spooky

A great song from the late 60’s. I have no idea why Lawrence Welk and Andy Williams thought it was a good song for them to cover, but they did.

Lawrence Welk

Andy Williams