Version City #62 - Ella Fitzgerald sings The Beatles

It was good to see so many acknowledgements of Ella Fitzgerald's centenary on April 25th, online and elsewhere. I had intended to post my own humble tribute to the first lady of song last week too, but, as ever, life got in the way. Here it is though, better late than never. In 1969 Ella issued a self-titled, Richard Perry produced  LP on the Reprise label, consisting of her interpretations of contemporary pop songs. Lennon and McCartney were represented by 'Got to Get You Into My Life' alongside the music of Smokey Robinson, Bacharach & David, Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson. George Harrison's odd ode to Eric Clapton's chocolate addiction, 'Savoy Truffle', also got the nod. It's amazing to think that the original was less than a year old when Ella took a run at it.

Ella Fitzgerald - Savoy Truffle

Version City #46 - Junior Parker sings The Beatles

Junior Parker's 1970 LP, 'The Outside Man', included no less than three Beatles covers. 'Lady Madonna' was pulled from the album as a single, but for me it's the versions of the less obvious 'Taxman' and 'Tomorrow Never Knows' that really hit the spot. What a voice the man had.

('The Outside Man' was reissued in 1971 under the new title of 'Love Ain't Nothin' But a Business Goin' On'.)

Meet the Beetles

Back in the day (the day being a couple of hundred years ago), the walls separating our gaff from next door didn't exist and it was all one house. For the past 120 years or so, the building has been divided roughly 2/3 & 1/3, with internal doors still linking them both on each floor. When we moved in nearly 3 years ago, these final connections were boarded over and sealed up for good. Needless to say, we live in the 1/3 bit and recently a young couple moved in to 'the big house' next door.

Over the past couple of weeks our new neighbours have been doing some serious demolition of internal walls, ceilings and staircases, as part of a major renovation of the old place, causing occasional dust storms to surge up through our floorboards. The banging and crashing has also disturbed other residents of both properties. We've noticed higher numbers of spiders and beetles than usual hanging out in our pad, many presumably seeking refuge from the temporary chaos next door. Here's one I escorted from the premises earlier.

Any excuse to spin the Fabs... (Belated birthday greetings Sir Macca!)

Version City #23 - Broken Bells play The Beatles

Broken Bells, the band comprising Danger Mouse and Shins front man James Mercer, turned in a dark, mesmerising reading of 'And I Love Her' on David Letterman's show a couple of nights ago. To add authenticity, they used a looped drum passage from 'I Am the Walrus' as the bed of the tune and then cleverly featured Ringo himself as part of their on-screen performance.