Ten Cover Songs I Love: I Fought the Law (#4)

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Friday is here! And it's payday to boot! If I were The Horse I'd tell you how myLot helped me make $1,005 this month. If I were The Horse I could probably sing "Paradise" by John Prine well, too. But I'm not, so I'll stick with letting the professionals do the covers. Speaking of which, here's another great cover. Today's a two-for-one special! #4: I Fought the Law - The Clash I used this in the "songs you didn't know were covers" series. Even the Bobby Fuller Four version was a cover. This was originally recorded by Buddy Holly's backing band, the Crickets, about a year after Holly's death. In 1966 Fuller made it a classic. But leave it to The Only Band That Matters to turn a nice pop ditty into a legendary punk tune. And better, they managed to do it without much in the way of altering the arrangement of the song! I have all three versions of the song (Crickets, Fuller, Clash, I guess I should say: this song's been covered almost as much as "Twist and Shout") on my iPod. Three great versions of one great song, with the Clash's 1979 rendition winning out ever so slightly. I Fought the Law Written by Sonny Curtis Originally recorded by the Crickets, 1960 Covered by the Clash, 1979 Also covered by the Bobby Fuller Four, 1966 Breakin' rocks in the hot sun: