Muddy Waters made the first recording and split the credit with Bo Diddley and Mel London, and the Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix both followed him into it. Shatner came in at the far end of a very long line.
William Shatner took on the blues standard "Sweet Home Chicago." Who wrote it and put out the first recording, long before Shatner got to it?Robert Johnsonlearned
Robert Johnson wrote it and put it out in 1936, and Clapton, the Stones, Fleetwood Mac and the Blues Brothers have all walked it home since. Shatner just got in the same line, so hear where it starts.
William Shatner took on I Can't Quit You Baby, the same blues Led Zeppelin and John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers played. Who wrote it?Willie Dixonlearned
Shatner, Led Zeppelin and Otis Rush all walked through the same Willie Dixon song, which is a strange guest list for one tune. Put on the Otis Rush take first, then go dig into whatever else Dixon wrote.
William Shatner took on "Cross Road Blues," a song Cream and Eric Clapton also played. Who wrote it and put out the first recording?Robert Johnsonlearned
Robert Johnson wrote it and released the first one in 1936, and Cream, Clapton and Rush all found their way back to it. Start with his, then hear what Shatner did at the same crossroads.
William Shatner took on Space Oddity. Who wrote it and put out the original recording he was reaching back to?David Bowieknew
Shatner has spent this whole stretch borrowing other people's songs, and this is the one where the source is a writer singing his own work, the 1969 original. Go hear Bowie play it straight, then decide whose spaceman you trust more.
Before William Shatner released his "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds," which act already had the Lennon and McCartney song on record?Gábor Szabólearned
Gábor Szabó had "Lucy" on a record that came out in 1967, a year before Shatner's turn at it. Play them back to back and see how far one Lennon and McCartney tune can stretch.
William Shatner gave his own reading of "Mr. Tambourine Man," a song The Byrds and Crowded House also took on. Who wrote it?Bob Dylanknew
Shatner is in good company on this one, sharing the song with The Byrds, Melanie, Crowded House, even the James Last Band, who had it on record before him. Start with the man who wrote it singing it himself, then decide whose version you'd keep.
After all those blues and Beatles detours, here's a membership card: which band lists William Shatner himself as one of its members?The *uckerslearned
The *uckers
· via William Shatner
All the file gives me is a band name with an asterisk doing a lot of work and Shatner on the roster. Thin paperwork, but some cuts end at a door you knock on yourself.
