4 Worst Covers of Beatles Songs
The Beatles‘ songs have been covered over and over. Some of those Beatles covers are horrible. For example, a famous comedian took a stab at a song from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and the results were catastrophic.
4. Bill Cosby’s ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’
Bill Cosby was successful in the worlds of television, advertising, and film, but music was not his forte. It really, really, wasn’t his forte. His cover of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” is some of the most embarrassing noise you’ll ever hear.
Cosby doesn’t sing the song so much as speak it in a coarse voice. It sounds like someone doing a strained Cosby impression. The backup singers here sound like The Supremes all suffering from strep throat. The cover is less than three minutes long but feels like an eternity.
3. The Flaming Lips’ ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ featuring Miley Cyrus and Moby
Following the career renaissance of her album Bangerz, Miley Cyrus worked on music with The Flaming Lips, a psychedelic rock band. One of the more famous songs they worked on together was a cover of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” The cover appeared on With a Little Help from My Fwends, a track-by-track cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The With a Little Help from My Fwends version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” follows The Flaming Lips’ ethos of being off-kilter and abrasive. It’s terrible. Some of the audio is distorted to the point where it doesn’t sound like a professional recording. Cyrus has shown she’s willing to experiment but this was a lab experiment run amok.
2. William Shatner’s ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’
William Shatner has a second career making campy music, most famously covers of popular songs like Bob Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man,” Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” and The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” When the latter cover appeared on Shatner’s album The Transformed Man, his musical style was painfully sincere.
Shanter turns “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” into a psychedelic spoken-word track with an overly dramatic reading of the lyrics. The perky background vocals are bizarre. Given that “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” doesn’t have the obvious pop appeal of “Yesterday” or “Let It Be,” it’s surprising it inspired so many covers by celebrities.
1. Bing Crosby’s ‘Hey Jude’
Rock ‘n’ roll made Bing Crosby seem a little behind the times. Despite this, it’s not like he has a bad reputation as a musician. Every year, everyone in the Western world hears some of his smooth Christmas songs and nobody seems to mind much.
That’s why it’s shocking his cover of “Hey Jude” is so messy. Crosby’s vocals barely fit the rhythm of the song. It sounds like he was woken up after getting just a few hours of sleep and asked to record “Hey Jude.” The backup singers are so out of sorts it feels like they never heard the original song. Also, is someone hitting a trash can in the background? The cover appeared on the album Hey Jude/Hey Bing!, which reached No. 162 on the Billboard 200.
