When the Beatles released Revolver, it revolutionised rock music as people knew it, and inspired generations of innovative musical experimentation – as well as hundreds of cover versions of each of its tracks. Below, we bring you six of the best of those covers.
The Black Keys – She Said She Said
Sticking to the structure – if not the sonics – Dan Auerbach dirties up the chiming intro riff, ladles on the fuzz, adds a lick of tempo and gives the original’s lush harmonies a butch Midwest twang.
Hear it on: The Big Come Up (2002)
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – Taxman
A highlight of the Concert For George, recorded a year after Harrison’s death. Fellow Traveling Wilbury Tom Petty revs up the choppy rhythm and adds a drawled vocal, Mike Campbell’s smash-and-grab take on McCartney’s solo steals it.
Hear it on: Concert For George (2003)
Jimi Hendrix – Tomorrow Never Knows
Not so much a straight cover as a supremely loose 1968 jam at New York’s Scene club, with Hendrix and an impaired Jim Morrison stumbling in and out of the song’s motifs. Less than the sum of its parts.
Hear it on: Woke Up This Morning And Found Myself Dead (1980)
Ted Nugent – I Want To Tell You
Nugent gave this song the hard-rock treatment, cranking everything one louder, applying shred-style harmonics and generally turning Harrison’s barrelhouse gem into pure roadhouse fodder.
Hear it on: State Of Shock (1979)
Chicago – Got To Get You Into My Life
As the pack-leaders of mid-70s horn-rock, Chicago often closed their sets with Macca’s brassy belter. More than just a cracking cover, the song had been the band’s touchstone for years, prompting their formation and inspiring their sound, and featured in live sets as early as 1967.
Hear it on: a bootleg
Alice Cooper – Eleanor Rigby
A long list of artists have taken a swipe at the most strikingly sad song in the Fabs’ songbook, but Alice caught the ache on this version on tribute album The Art Of McCartney. “You’ve got to put your own little spin in there,” Alice notes, “because you can’t ever do it better than Paul McCartney.”
Hear it on: The Art Of McCartney (2014)
The top 10 best Beatles songs written by George Harrison
Buyer's Guide: George Martin – the legendary producer of The Beatles and more...
