Play it Again, Sam #40b - "Crimson and Clover"

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For many musical acts, the best way to honor an artist or band that they grew up listening to is by covering one of their songs. We are at #40b, the "cover" portion of this morning's Play it Again, Sam: Joan Jett and the Blackhearts' cover of Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover." Joan Jett and the Blackhearts certainly have a way with covers. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band placed six of them on their 1981 album, I Love Rock and Roll, and all that album did was sell 10 million copies (did you know that the smash hit title track is itself a cover?) "Crimson and Clover" was one of those six cover songs, and was a big success in it's own right. Joanie and her band took Tommy James' psychedelic classic and basically rocked the hell out of it (while still managing to remain fairly true to the original. Those are the covers I like best, when the band puts their own stamp on the song that they are covering, rather than a vanilla, note for note remake.) Jett did keep the lyrics the same, refusing to change "love her" to "love him," because, as she said, it wouldn't rhyme. The Blackhearts took "Crimson and Clover" to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it charted in a total of ten countries. As befitting such a classic, the song has been covered numerous times, notably by Prince, Dolly Parton, Deadsy and Cher, and industrial music icon Blixa Bargeld. (Info verified by Wikipedia)