I Fought The Law

Cover version of the month #96
The Clash cover The Bobby Fuller Four / The Crickets

As is often the case when delving into the history of songs, I have uncovered information I wasn't previously aware of when researching The Clash covering The Bobby Fuller Four's I Fought The Law.

It turns out that the song was originally written in 1958 by Sonny Curtis who then joined The Crickets in 1959, taking the place of the legendary Buddy Holly following his death in the tragic aeroplane crash in February of that year. In 1971, Don McLean released the classic American Pie where he repeatedly refers to the crash as the day the music died. Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP Richardson (AKA The Big Bopper) all lost their lives alongside pilot Roger Peterson.

I Fought The Law was released on the 1960 album In Style With The Crickets, also appearing as the b-side to 1961 single A Sweet Love.

Coming in at 2-minutes 15 seconds, this is the classic 3 chord trick of G, C and D ... making it absolutely perfect for The Clash in 1979. Each verse is one line followed by the hook (the title), followed by a middle eight where the hook is hammered home again. As a result, the song really just feels like it's the chorus (with slightly different lines at the start) that is sung throughout.

Chiming guitar, (almost) primitive beats and a vocal that is front and centre singing of love lost - possibly as the result of a robbery, judging from lyrics spread throughout the song; breakin' rocks in the hot sun / robbin' people with a zip gun / I needed money 'cause I had none.

The Bobby Fuller Four reached the top 10 with their cover version which was released as a single in 1965. I always thought this was the original. The Fuller Four don't stray far from The Crickets original, the beat is maybe a little more prominent in the mix while there is, ironically, more than a little bit of Buddy Holly in the vocals.

Over a decade (1978) down the line, The Clash heard The Bobby Fuller Four version of the song on a jukebox in San Francisco. This prompted them to record the song for The Cost Of Living EP, released in May 1979. 

The Clash's eponymous debut album, released in 1977, never had an official release in America. It was only available as an import, until it was eventually released in 1979 with an extensively different tracklisting - including I Fought The Law. CBS deemed that the original album wasn't radio friendly enough, so they replaced a whopping 4 songs! 

Of course many punk bands had an ear for melody, hooks and pop and that shines through in The Clash's version of I Fought The Law. The song really does fit them like a glove. Strummer and co add on an extra 30-seconds, giving time for a big intro before Strummer comes in sounding super cool, backed up by his mates on the hook.

I left my baby and it feels so bad

I guess my race is run 

She's the best girl that I ever had

I fought the law and the law won

I fought the law and the law won

The Clash version has an extra (punk) zip to it. Despite the extended intro, they still hit the guitar solo before The Crickets and Fuller versions! Handclaps are added after that, there is time for another guitar solo and the band break things down for the outro. All in all it sounds like they are having glorious fun as they romp through the song.

All three versions of I Fought The Law are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs (originals and covers) below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE

Previous covers of the month blogs

1. You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' 

2. Going Back To My Roots

3. Nirvana play The Vaselines

4. Slip Inside This House

5. Top 10 covers by Teenage Fanclub

6. Only Love Can Break Your Heart

7. Time For Livin' 

8. Sound and Vision 

9. All Along The Watchtower

10. I Am The Walrus 

11. Guiding Star

12. You’ll Never Walk Alone

13. Hurt

14. This Guy's In Love With You

15. I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine

16. California Soul

18. Wonder wall 

19. Dancing In The Dark

20. Always On My Mind

21. Ceremony

22. Heroes

23. Different Drum

24. Wild Horses

25. Respect

26. Mr Tambourine Man

27. I Heard It Through The Grapevine

28. Superstar

29. Twist and Shout

30. Purple Rain

31. Baker Street

32. Not Fade Away

33. Stop Your Sobbing

34. I Don't Want To Grow Up

35. Serious Drugs

36. Dancing With Myself

37. How Does It Feel To Feel?

38. Love Buzz

39. ABBA-esque
40. Jumpin' Jack Flash

41. Discoland

42. Varshons 2 by The Lemonheads

43. The Langley Schools Music Project
44. Witchi Tai To
45. Our Lips Are Sealed
46. Sunshine Of Your Love
47. Here Comes The Sun
48. I Think We're Alone Now
49. Don't Let Me Down 
50. It's Oh So Quiet
51. Alcoholiday 
52. Summer Holiday
53. Who Do You Think You Are?
54. Head On
55. Nothing Compares 2 U

56. Hey Jude

57. Seven Days Too Long

58. L.O.V.E Love

59. Into Your Arms

60. Heart Of Glass

61. Take Me To The River

62. We Can Work It Out 

63. Talking In My Sleep

64. Lola

65. Lost In Music

66. My Little Red Book

67. Isn't It A Pity

68. Walk On By

69. Walk Away Renee

70. Tainted Love

71. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

72. Listen The Snow Is Falling

73. Mrs Robinson

74. He's Gonna Step On You Again

75. In My Life

76. Caravan Of Love

77. The Only Way Is Up

78. Dancin' Round & Round

79. With A Little Help From My Friends

80. Killing Me Softly

81. Ain't No Mountain High Enough

82. Drop

83. Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay

84. Sympathy For The Devil

85. I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor

86. Love Will Tear Us Apart

87. Indian Rope Man + bonus Strawberry Fields Forever + This Wheels On Fire

88. Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You

89. Love The One You're With

90. Cum On Feel The Noize

91. Addicted To Love

92. Valerie

93. Ride On Time

94. Let's Dance

95. It Must Be Love

Never Ending Mixtape Part 2

Welcome to the second instalment of the Never Ending Mixtape that you can check out on Spotify.

14 songs are added to the mixtape and it is an eclectic collection ranging from Nick Drake to The Clash with Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, Nirvana, The Undertones, long lost bedroom romantics Alfie and hmmmm Scarlett Johansson in between.

Time Of No Reply (orchestrated version) - Nick Drake
Just beautiful. I'd only really listened to the classic Pink Moon album until earlier this year. There is a treasure trove of wonder to delve into.

Let Me Get There - Hope Sandoval and Kurt Vile
My friend Alan Clarke turned me on to this. I adore Hope Sandoval, her voice is stunning and I love loads of her stuff; solo, with Mazzy Star and guesting on songs with the likes of the Marychain and Death In Vegas.

Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler) - Marvin Gaye
What a groove, Marvin sounding exceptional. Incredible political and socially conscious lyrics.

Hercules - Aaron Neville
Listen to this on headphones, you can just make out an audible groan of satisfaction right at the start when the groove kicks in. And what a groove! And Aaron Neville just flows with his melody, delivery and poetic genius.

Little Wing - Jimi Hendrix
So yeah, this was released in 1967. Far out, gorgeous, funky, soulful, genius. It sounds mind blowing in 2016, imagine what it was like back then?

Buttermilk - Captain America/Eugenius
Eugene Kelly has written some incredible songs in his time. Captain America was his short lived post Vaselines band, changing names to Eugenius after a legal threat from Marvel Comics. Much loved by Nirvana. I love the guitar riffs and the urgent vocal melody.

Lounge Act - Nirvana
Speaking of guitar riffs and urgent vocals (and flow melody) - what about this gem from Nirvana's classic Nevermind album?! Kurt just gets to the stage where he injects extra ferocity and speed into his guitar and screams his heart out. Just listened to this for the first time in a few years - sensational.

Teenage Kicks - The Undertones
Teenage angst in purest punk pop form.

When You Walk In The Room - The Searchers
Speaking of teenage angst - this is wonderful loving pop music. I first heard this when my friend's Ben and Annisa had it as their first dance at their wedding. A Jackie DeShannon song - well worth tracking down some of the compilations of her songs.

If You Ever Get Your Hands On Love - Gladys Knight and the Pips
Motown at its best - beat, groove, melody, hooks, soul and advice.

It's You - Chris Grant
Recorded in his garage in Liverpool. This is a beautiful lofi love song that deserves to be recorded in Abbey Road with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His It's Not About War album from 2013 contains several other stunner; particularly I Am The One and Like A 45.

Don't Wanna Grow Up - Scarlett Johansson
Scarlett Johansson does synth pop with childish charm - superb.

It's Just About The Weather - Alfie
I caught Alfie (from Manchester) at King Tut's one time and fell for their lazy charm. They looked like they had just got out of bed and produced gems like this.

The Magnificent Seven - The Clash
Surely one of the best opening tracks on an album ever. The Clash released a triple album with Sandista! and guaranteed that it would sell at normal price! Incredible value for fans and there is so much to take in - reggae, dub, punk, pop.

Catching up with the Velveteen Saints

A year ago I blogged about a young Scottish band by the name of the Velveteen Saints after they contacted me about their song ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Dead’ and invited me to their second ever show. Their energetic guitar pop punk sound with echoes of The Clash, Jesus & Marychain and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club won me over and I have been following them ever since.  

The band has had a productive 12-month, working hard – playing lots of their own shows, supports and festivals. Their hard work has recently been rewarded with a support slot on The View’s extensive European tour stretching through October, November and well into December culminating in shows in Glasgow and Edinburgh. It seems that I am far from the only one to have fallen for the band. I caught up with bass player Mark Thomson to find out how things are going and I ended up getting an exclusive about the bands first release! Read on to find out more. 

Well done to the lads and all the best for the tour. 

Mark Thomson in action

1. It has been quite a 12-months for the band. Could you pick out 3 highlights?

There have been that many highlights in the last year, but if I had to pick 3, it would have to be playing at the Isle Of Wight Festival, headlining the T-Break Stage at T In The Park and being asked to support The View on their European & UK tour.


1.b How did the support slot with The View come about?

We'd supported Tim Burgess on the Scottish dates of his solo tour. He had his own venue, Tim Peaks, at the Isle Of Wight and he asked us to play there too. It was brilliant! From that, Tim asked us to play before The Charlatans at their gig in front of 5000 people in Delamere Forest. The View were on too - we got talking and spent the day with them. By Midnight, we down to support them on their European tour. It's was mental.

Velveteen Saints at Delamere

2. You’ve supported loads of fantastic and experienced bands over the last year. Have any of them offered advice that you have taken on board?

No one has really offered any advice as such, but, there is so much to learn from these bands just by watching them and how they go about their business. There is a lot to be learned in just watching bands do what they do.

3. You have just been announced as support for The View’s winter tour. Are you ready for it? Will you be able to keep up with them?

Well, we're travelling on the same tour bus, so we're just going to have to! Aye we're ready for it. It's such a great opportunity to play such a big tour, and to play to so many people in so many different countries so early on in our career. We're absolutely buzzing for it to start.

4. Are there any particular cities on the tour that you are looking forward to playing?

We're all looking forward to playing in different cities, Shaun is looking forward to playing Berlin, Martin is looking forward to playing Paris and Michael is looking forward to playing Amsterdam. I'm particularly looking forward to playing Stockholm. The London gig will be a special one for us though, as it will be the first time we've played there, it'll also be good to see how the band goes down with the audience down there.

5. How did the band get together?

We're all from Coatbridge, so we've known each other for a while from playing in different bands and stuff.. Martin and Shaun were looking for a bass player, so the three of us got together, started writing and playing together and moved into a flat in Glasgow. When it came to looking for a drummer, Shaun had seen Michael playing at a gig, asked him along to a rehearsal and that's it, we just went from there.

6. You are definitely a band that wear your influences on your sleeve, what are you currently listening too - old and new?

It's clear we're influenced by Soul, 50's & Garage Rock 'n' Roll, 60's Girl Groups, and Punk - The Clash, The Ramones, BRMC, The Raveonettes, Jesus And Mary Chain, Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Black Keys etc. We still listen to all those bands. I've been listening to a lot of old vinyl too, lovin' Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti right now.

As for new bands we've been listening to, there are some great new bands coming through with some great new records and great sounds.  Crocodiles new album "Crimes Of Passion" is a great album, Baby Strange new single "Friend" is a belter of a track. Then there's Twisted Wheel, Charlie Boyer & The Voyeurs, Casual Sex, and Childhood who are all cracking new bands coming through too. There are loads!

7. Your early shows saw you hand out promo cd’s to fans – how important was that in establishing a connection?

It was really important at the start, as it engaged the audience and it became really personal for them and us. People would contact us on Facebook and Twitter after gigs saying they loved meeting us, loved the tunes and would spread the word around about the band, which is great.

8. Can we expect an official release in the near future?

We're looking to release our first single in early February 2014 on O Genesis Records, Tim Burgess's label. It'll be released on 7" and download format. We can't wait. To be honest, we're not sure if Tim's announced that yet, so we might have just let the cat out of a bag. You can keep a secret though, right?

Hmmmm....kidding I did check it was OK to publish this :-)

Velveteen Saints at Broadcast, 29.12.12

I ventured into town last night for my last gig of 2012 to catch the Velveteen Saints at Broadcast. It was the third time I had seen them live in a matter of months and by far their most impressive performance to date. 

They had clearly (well from my eyes and ears) been spending considerable time rehearsing and watching a few classic rock'n'roll videos as they blasted through a 30-odd minute set of punk paced guitar pop.

They have already been likened to The Clash in numerous reviews and whilst I likened them to BRMC and the Marychain in previous blogs, it was Hamburg era Beatles, The Ramones and the glorious pop of The Monkees that came to mind last night.

Top marks to the bands mate who was DJ-ing as he blasted though a great mix of funk, soul and classics to get the crowd in the mood. The band came on an hour later than scheduled, so the extra alcohol consumed also helped.

The drummer took to he stage first and launched into a drum solo before the rest of the band came on and charged immediately into the opener 'Always Gonna Be'.

The Monkees reference earlier could be applied to the 3 frontmen - Martin (guitar), Sean (guitar - picture from another gig) and Thommo (bass) who all share a flat together, so they are tight on and off the stage.

Martin brings a raw edge in his look and vocals, whilst Sean is the poster boy frontman with a perfect quiff that he must have spent a good bit of time on. Thommo anchors things together and their 3 voices combine in a razor coated sugar manner, their on stage chemistry looks good - sharing a mic at times a-la Jagger and Richards or bumping into each other a-la Doherty and Barrat.

'Wake Me Up' is just glorious guitar pop that flows superbly well, a real stand out, but the band were confident enough to drop it only three songs into their set. I caught up with Thommo before the show and he said they were going into the studio to record 5 or 6 songs in the near future. If a couple of them are up to this standard then people will really begin to take notice.

Another song had a real Ramones style hook and 'Juliet' and 'Janey' were blasted through before 'Rock 'n' Roll Is Dead' closed things, another stand out and the song that brought them to my attention.

There was time for an encore of 'Red Wine' (not UB40) before people went into the cold night with a warm glow that only guitar pop can provide.

Some great tunes

William de Vaughn - Be Thankful For What You Got
Much sampled by the Bristol scene in the 90's

I am currently digesting The Clash's triple album 'Sandista'. This is a belter!

So we've lost Donna Summer and Robin Gibb during the last week. Incredible talent, both have soundtracked many a post club party.

Fancy the 16-minute Patrick Cowley mix of 'I Feel Love'?

Or how about some classic Bee Gees?

I will now sell 5 copies of The Three EP's by The Beta Band

I read something recently that made me go hunting for my old Beta Band cd's. I do have a couple of Beta Band 7-inches, but it was the 3 EP's compilation that I was after and anyone who has that on vinyl is extremely lucky indeed.


I couldn't find them. I used to have all my cd's in alphabetical order. Now they are all over the place in the racks and on shelves, in piles on the floor. I need to spend a pleasant evening getting them into some sort of order. I'm pretty lazy, I've still not transferred all my cd's to my laptop and itunes as I still like to have an excuse to browse through them.


So I went on to YouTube and searched for 'Dry the Rain', my favourite Beta Band song. I was a bit shocked to discover that there isn't a video for it. Now the Beta Band were very careful with their art, they liked to be underground, not sell out etc etc. But this still surprised me.


There are some home-made efforts and there is a live performance from the Beta Band, but no video. Anyway, I'm blabbing on. The purpose of this blog was to highlight what a f**king brilliant song 'Dry the Rain' is and for me to reminisce about going to their last gig at the Liquid Rooms in Edinbugh. It may well be in my top 10 gigs of all time.

The Beta Band were suitably charged for a gig in their home city. They jammed, went off at tangents and when they played 'Dry the Rain' the place went nuts. My sister and I were down near the front and it turned out quite a large contingent of the bands girlfriends and close friends were too. So when the song finished we all kept singing the refrain/mantra.

'if there's something inside that you wanna say, say it out loud it will be OK'

'i will be alright, I will be alright, I will be alright, I will be alright.'

It was an absolutely spine tingling, magical moment with people punching the air, hugging and the band looking genuinely pleased, a little shocked and possibly wondering if they should stay together. The same thing happens in the live recording above, glorious....and I thought it was just at the Edinburgh gig! I still have my ticket....They didn't want to come off and Steve Mason ended up freestyle rapping!

Of course when I went on YouTube and typed in The Beta Band, the famous scene from High Fidelity came up near the top and I couldn't resist watching it. I'll need to order it from Love Film as well, I used to have it on video tape! Check it out below;

Jack Black (Barry) on top form (in the film that made him unless I missed something) pushing a Jesus & Marychain album and bringing out Dylan's Blonde on Blonde and saying 'it's gonna be OK', Dick flirting with a girl over Green Day and pushing The Clash, and then Rob saying 'I will now sell 5 copies of The Three EP's by The Beta Band.' Just brilliant, I imagine Stephen Pastel and Dep in Monorail having conversations like that.

So there you have it, a glorious song. It's DIY indie, punk, folk, pop, euphoric, shambolic, funky, groovy....I love it. Check it out.