Favorite Beatles pastiche?

[HejiraHenry]

So many songs -- not covers, but originals -- that deliberately incorporate Beatles-like elements.

The collected work of the Rutles, of course, and my personal fave: "Mr. Blue Sky" by ELO.

Anybody else got any favorites?

 

[Huggy]

"Lies" by New Jersey's Knickerbockers is the best Beatles song the early Fab Four never did.

Another one I really like: "About A Girl" by Nirvana.

 

[Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell]

"Cheese and Onions" by The Rutles

 

[The Big Ragu]

The Dukes of Stratosphere, which was an 80s band that was really just the guys from XTC playing with a made-up name, did an album called Chips from the Chocolate Fireball. The album channels the Beatles psychodelic pop from Sgt. Peppers and Magical Mystery Tour better than anything yyou will ever hear, but is original enough in its own right that it blows most people I have ever played it for away. Like Peppers it has the strings and horns and harmonies, but you can also hear lots of other influences in it, including Pink Floyd, the Hollies and the Beach Boys. It's still one of my favorite albums--one no one seems to know--and I have been listening to it for more than 20 years.

 

[HejiraHenry]

"Cheese and Onions" by The Rutles

"A legend that will last a lunchtime ..."

 

[tyler durden 71351]

"When We Was Fab" - George Harrison
"Pennyroyal Tea" - Nirvana (it's "I'm So Tired" crossed with "Yer Blues")

 

[Football_Bat]

"Sowing the Seeds of Love" by Tears for Fears.

(What's a "pastiche?")

 

[Ronnie "Z-Man" Barzell]

The Dukes of Stratosphere, which was an 80s band that was really just the guys from XTC playing with a made-up name, did an album called Chips from the Chocolate Fireball. The album channels the Beatles psychodelic pop from Sgt. Peppers and Magical Mystery Tour better than anything yyou will ever hear, but is original enough in its own right that it blows most people I have ever played it for away. Like Peppers it has the strings and horns and harmonies, but you can also hear lots of other influences in it, including Pink Floyd, the Hollies and the Beach Boys. It's still one of my favorite albums--one no one seems to know--and I have been listening to it for more than 20 years.

I almost put "Brainiac's Daughter" instead of "Cheese and Onions".

 

[Dignan]

"Ain't It The Life" by Foo Fighters reminds me of "Across the Universe"

 

[PCLoadLetter]

The Dukes of Stratosphere, which was an 80s band that was really just the guys from XTC playing with a made-up name, did an album called Chips from the Chocolate Fireball. The album channels the Beatles psychodelic pop from Sgt. Peppers and Magical Mystery Tour better than anything yyou will ever hear, but is original enough in its own right that it blows most people I have ever played it for away. Like Peppers it has the strings and horns and harmonies, but you can also hear lots of other influences in it, including Pink Floyd, the Hollies and the Beach Boys. It's still one of my favorite albums--one no one seems to know--and I have been listening to it for more than 20 years.

I loved "25 O'Clock," which I think was on a different Dukes of Stratosphere record.

A couple more:

"Not The Girl You Think You Are" by Crowded House
"She Goes Out With Everybody" by The Spongetones

 

[The Big Ragu]

The Dukes of Stratosphere, which was an 80s band that was really just the guys from XTC playing with a made-up name, did an album called Chips from the Chocolate Fireball. The album channels the Beatles psychodelic pop from Sgt. Peppers and Magical Mystery Tour better than anything yyou will ever hear, but is original enough in its own right that it blows most people I have ever played it for away. Like Peppers it has the strings and horns and harmonies, but you can also hear lots of other influences in it, including Pink Floyd, the Hollies and the Beach Boys. It's still one of my favorite albums--one no one seems to know--and I have been listening to it for more than 20 years.

I almost put "Brainiac's Daughter" instead of "Cheese and Onions".

Great song. Listening to it as I type this because of you. Out of everything on that album, that is the one that could have slipped right into Sgt. Peppers without having to change anything on the rest of the album. My favorite Dukes song is Vanishing Girl, which reminds me of The Hollies if you crossbred them perfectly with the Beatles. This stuff makes me think of college.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I loved "25 O'Clock," which I think was on a different Dukes of Stratosphere record.

The Dukes did two albums in the mid to late 80s, and then in the late 80s they combined the two previous albums in their entirety to make Chips From the Chocolate Fireball. 25 O'Clock is the first song on the combined album.

 

[Full of Shit]

"Lies" by New Jersey's Knickerbockers is the best Beatles song the early Fab Four never did.

I agree on "Lies," Huggy. Do you happen to know who wrote it? Allmusic.com credits the Knickerbockers duo of Beau Charles/Buddy Randell, but I also read an item by a San Diego music critic named Gordon Hauptfleisch that credits Seals and Crofts. I find that hard to believe, but stranger things have happened (i.e. Hendrix opening for the Monkees).
???

 

[finishthehat]

Todd Rundgren and Utopia did an entire album of this called "Deface the Music." It was pretty good; some people love it.

 

[HejiraHenry]

Smithereens have a song-for-song cover of Meet the Beatles, which is another matter altogether.

 

[writing irish]

XTC were geniuses. A little prissy and English, but geniuses nevertheless. They always reminded me of the Beatles and I never even knew about the Dukes incarnation.

 

[tyler durden 71351]

Sonic Youth were rumored to have done a song-for-song cover of "The White Album" at one point in the mid-80s, which would have been f'n awesome. Thurston Moore said it was a hoax, but they did a cover of "Back in the USSR" which was never released.

 

[Bob Slydell]

Matthew Sweet, and well, almost every band since 1964?

 

[Bob Slydell]

Big Star, REM, Crosby Stills & Nash, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Mersey Beat bands, Byrds, just to name a few.

Oh, I forgot Wings!

 

[write then drink]

Day after Day
Badfinger