Un-Covers

A few years back, I got a wild hair (am I using that term right, old-timey prospectors?) to start collecting original versions of songs that later became big hits for other people. Situations where the student surpasses the master, or something like that. I first got the idea at a party I was hosting. I had one of my beloved party mixes going and was sitting there nursing my drink when a woman I know said, the scorn dripping from her voice, "Who's this butchering Blondie?"

"Uh, it's the Paragons," I said, perhaps a bit too defensively, "They recorded it first, in the '60s. Blondie's version is the cover.

Her stony silence led me to believe I should probably opt out of the conversation. In retrospect, I suspect this woman was not fond of me. But it give me this idea, and a pretty cool mix disc that I'll be sharing with you in weeks to come. Let's start things off with the "Un-Cover" that got the ball rolling for me -- the Paragons' 1967 rocksteady classic, "The Tide Is High."

To my way of thinking, each generation of white rockers has a black music styling that they adopt and adapt in their own way. British rockers of the '60s took the blues to heart, while garage rockers loved Southern soul. For new wavers and punks of the '70s, though, it was the sounds of Jamaica. I can't really explain it. It may have to do with the crappy weather so prevalent in England and New York City. At least that's what I'd prefer to think -- the answer is probably more weed-related. Oh, sorry, spliff-related.

At any rate, I've been enjoying the original version for so long (I think this little hobby of mine dates back to 2002), I forget that other people might not have heard it. Actually, that's the case for a lot of the songs I'll be presenting. Record collectors' tend toward the really obscure, and these songs turn up on compilations fairly frequently. But that's not the same as hearing in your local produce section, so if you haven't heard it, here's the Paragons butchering Blondie performing the Un-Cover of "The Tide Is High."

The Tide Is High.mp3