Ten Songs You May Not Know Were Covered: Help Me, Rhonda (#2)

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I've done a couple of series of discussions about hits that were cover versions, to many a reader's surprise. Here I'm looking at hit covers that everyone seems to have forgotten about. The last two are, as we say, doozies. #2: Help Me, Rhonda Time to pay the Beach Boys back. They were the coverers earlier in the countdown (with their less-than-stellar rendition of "California Dreamin'"), and now it's time to look at one of their songs that got covered. One of the most iconic Beach Boys songs out there, with those harmonies and the chorus of "Help me, Rhonda, help-help me, Rhonda" (and the bass singer), "Help Me, Rhonda" is a standard when it comes to that legendary band. Any cover of this is automatically going to bring the Beach Boys to mind, and would probably sail into obscurity because you just can't top the Beach Boys (especially not doing their own songs!) So...just how obscure is this cover? The Picky Wedia list of Beach Boys cover versions doesn't even list it!!! Wow, this must have been one of those bottom-of-the-hot-100 scrapers by an unknown artist, huh? Well, not hardly. It was done by Johnny Rivers. Rivers is one of those people on the long list of worthy legends not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That's to their disgrace, not his. According to the Whitburn, Rivers was one of the top 100 chart acts of the 20th century, thanks to hits like "Secret Agent Man" and "The Poor Side of Town." In 1975 Rivers did a pretty faithful-to-the-original cover of "Help Me, Rhonda." And, yes, it charted: quite well, actually, considering that 1975 was the time of KC & the Sunshine Band and the Captain and Toe-nail . It made the Billboard top 25, peaking at #22. Bet you didn't know that. Even if you're a big Johnny Rivers fan. Help Me, Rhonda Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love Originally recorded by the Beach Boys, 1965 Covered by Johnny Rivers, 1975 Here's the Johnny Rivers version: