Although Don Covay is best known as the composer of numerous R&B standards, his voice should be familiar to almost everyone on Earth since a Rolling Stone has been using it for nearly two hundred years. Here is yet another exhaustive singles compilation to satisfy a persistent personal need, this one covering two decades. In that time Little Richard's one-time chauffeur went from doo-wop to black rockabilly to dance craze novelty to classic Atlantic R&B to sixties revival blues to slick Philly disco to Ohio Players funk. Selections have been scrounged from vinyl and CD as well as numerous YouTube posts with bitrates likely to drive sensitive listeners crazy. In addition to early singles as Pretty Boy (Penniman's term of endearment) and stuff released under Covay's own name; here are covers by Little Richard, Gladys Knight, Wanda Jackson, Wilson Pickett, Gene Vincent, Joe Tex, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Otis Clay, The Staple Singers, Small Faces, Shirelles, Capitols and many others. Still missing is Landa 704 b-side Truth Of The Light. Jimi Hendrix appears on both sides of Rosemart 801 as well as Little Richard's amazing I Don't Know What You've Got (But It's Got Me) while Wilson Pickett's I'm Gonna Cry features Ohio Untouchables' Robert Ward and his watery Magnatone. It's a shame that an exhaustive anthology with pages of notes and rare photos wasn't released before Covay's death on January 30, 2015. This 2020 quarantine edition adds a couple dozen files and upgrades others to lossless. DC3 consists of stuff I wasn't crazy about although your mileage may differ. DC2b has been blessed with a better rip of Soul Stirrer as of 01/09/21.
01 [Pretty Boy] Bip Bop Bip (Covay/Pedas/Perri) - Atlantic 1147a 1957
02 [Pretty Boy] Paper Dollar (Covay/Pedas/Perri) - Atlantic 1147b 1957
03 [Pretty Boy] Rockin' The Mule (Prosen) - Big 617b 1958
04 Ooh My Soul (Penniman) [alt]
05 [Pretty Boy] Mary (Ting-A-Ling) (Covay) - Norton EP-118 2004
06 [Pretty Boy] Switchen In The Kitchen (Covay) - Big 617a 1958
07 Believe It Or Not (Randolph/Murray) - Sue 709a 1958
08 Betty Jean (Randolph) - Sue 709b 1958
07 Believe It Or Not (Randolph/Murray) - Sue 709a 1958
08 Betty Jean (Randolph) - Sue 709b 1958
09 Ooh My Soul (Penniman) - Firefly 313b 1958
10 Wanda Jackson - There's A Party Goin' On (Covay/Berry) 1958
10 Wanda Jackson - There's A Party Goin' On (Covay/Berry) 1958
11 I'm Lonely Too (Holloway/Summers) - Blaze 350b 1959
12 Lillian Briggs - Diddy Boppers (Covay/Berry) 1959
13 Jimmy Jones - I Just Go For You (Covay) 1960
14 Sheiks - Please Don't Take Away The Girl I Love (Covay/Berry) 1960
15 Gene Vincent - Big Fat Saturday Night (Covay/Berry/Dixon) 1960
16 Comin' Down With The Blues (Covay) - Big Top 3060b 1960
17 Pony Time (Covay/Berry) - Arnold 1002a 1961
16 Comin' Down With The Blues (Covay) - Big Top 3060b 1960
17 Pony Time (Covay/Berry) - Arnold 1002a 1961
18 Hank Ballard - The Continental Walk (Conrad/Covay/Ballard/Berry) 1961
19 [Big Charlie & His Lemon Twisters] - Twist It Up (Berry/Covay) 1961
20 Every Which A-Way (Covay/Berry) - Columbia 41981b 1961
19 [Big Charlie & His Lemon Twisters] - Twist It Up (Berry/Covay) 1961
20 Every Which A-Way (Covay/Berry) - Columbia 41981b 1961
21 Wanda Jackson - Tongue-Tied (Covay/Berry/Lewis) 1961
22 Shake Wid The Shake (Covay/Berry) - Columbia 41981a 1961
22 Shake Wid The Shake (Covay/Berry) - Columbia 41981a 1961
23 See About Me (Covay/Porter) - Columbia 42058a 1961
24 Mary Ann Fisher - Give (Covay/Berry) 1961
25 Teen Life Swag (Randolph) - Columbia 42197b 1961
26 Where Are You (Now That I Need You) (Loesser) - Columbia 42197a 1961
27 Gladys Knight & The Pips - A Letter Full Of Tears (Covay) 1961
26 Where Are You (Now That I Need You) (Loesser) - Columbia 42197a 1961
27 Gladys Knight & The Pips - A Letter Full Of Tears (Covay) 1961
28 Stereos - Big Knock (Covay/Blackwell/Berry) 1961
29 Twistin' Train (Covay/Berry) - Epic 9484b 1961
29 Twistin' Train (Covay/Berry) - Epic 9484b 1961
30 Soldier Boys - You Picked Me (Covay/Spencer) 1962
31 Solomon Burke - I'm Hanging Up My Heart (Covay/Berry) 1962
31 Solomon Burke - I'm Hanging Up My Heart (Covay/Berry) 1962
32 Wade Flemons - Welcome Stranger (Covay/Berry) 1962
33 Gerri Granger - Castle In The Sky (Covay/Berry) 1962
34 Sam Cooke - Hold On (Covay/Berry) 1962
34 Sam Cooke - Hold On (Covay/Berry) 1962
35 Jerry Butler - You Can Run (But You Can't Hide) (Covay/Dennison) 1962
36 One Little Boy Had Money (Mann/Appell) - Cameo 239b 1962
37 Gladys Knight & The Pips - Come See About Me (Covay/Porter) 1963
38 Do The Bug (Mann/Appell) - Cameo 251b 1963
39 Did You Hear (Covay) [demo] 1963
39 Did You Hear (Covay) [demo] 1963
40 Marie Knight - I Was Born Again (Ott/Covay) 1963
41 Sandy Selsie - Don't Destroy Me (Covay) 1963
42 Bertha Colbert - Teardrop Avenue (Ott/Covay) 1963
43 Dee Clark - I'm Goin' Home (Covay) 1963
43 Dee Clark - I'm Goin' Home (Covay) 1963
44 Turn It On (Jackson/Covay/Wisner) - Parkway 910b 1964
45 Three Time Loser (Covay/Miller) [demo] - Versatile NED 1123 c.1964
46 Your Love Has Got To Me (Covay) [demo] - Versatile NED 1123 c.1964
46 Your Love Has Got To Me (Covay) [demo] - Versatile NED 1123 c.1964
47 Bette Boothe - Teardrop Avenue (Ott/Covay) 1964
48 Tommy Tucker - Long Tall Shorty (Covay/Abramson) 1964
48 Tommy Tucker - Long Tall Shorty (Covay/Abramson) 1964
49 Shirelles - Doomsday (Covay/Abramson) 1964
50 Meridians - Blue Victory (Ott/Covay) 1964
51 Wilson Pickett - I'm Gonna Cry (Covay/Pickett) 1964
51 Wilson Pickett - I'm Gonna Cry (Covay/Pickett) 1964
52 You're Good For Me (Covay/Ott) - Landa 704a 1964
53 Mercy Mercy (Covay/Miller) - Rosemart 801a 1964
54 Can't Stay Away (Covay/Ott) - Rosemart 801b 1964
53 Mercy Mercy (Covay/Miller) - Rosemart 801a 1964
54 Can't Stay Away (Covay/Ott) - Rosemart 801b 1964
55 Please Don't Let Me Know (Terry/Smith) - Rosemart 802b 1964
56 Take This Hurt Off Me (Covay/Miller) - Rosemart 802a 1964
57 Come See About Me (Covay/Porter) - Atlantic SD 8104 1965
58 Can't Fight It Baby (Covay/Ott) - Atlantic SD 8104 1965
56 Take This Hurt Off Me (Covay/Miller) - Rosemart 802a 1964
57 Come See About Me (Covay/Porter) - Atlantic SD 8104 1965
58 Can't Fight It Baby (Covay/Ott) - Atlantic SD 8104 1965
59 You Must Believe Me (Curtis Mayfield) - Atlantic SD 8104 1965
60 You're Good For Me (Covay/Ott) - Atlantic SD 8104 1965
61 Please Do Something (Covay/Miller) - Atlantic 2286a 1965
60 You're Good For Me (Covay/Ott) - Atlantic SD 8104 1965
61 Please Do Something (Covay/Miller) - Atlantic 2286a 1965
62 Little Richard - I Don't Know What You've Got (But It's Got Me) (Covay) 1965
63 I Never Get Enough Of Your Love (Covay/Cropper) - Atlantic 2301b 1965
64 See-Saw (Covay/Cropper) - Atlantic 2301a 1965
65 Everything Gonna Be Everything (Covay/Miller) - Atlantic SD 8120 1966
65 Everything Gonna Be Everything (Covay/Miller) - Atlantic SD 8120 1966
66 Sookie Sookie (Covay/Cropper) - Atlantic 2323a 1966
67 Watching The Late Late Show (Covay) - Atlantic 2323b 1966
68 Ben E. King - Don't Drive Me Away (Covay/Ott) 1966
68 Ben E. King - Don't Drive Me Away (Covay/Ott) 1966
69 Solomon Burke - Tonight's The Night (Covay/Burke) 1966
70 Iron Out The Rough Spots (Jones/Porter/Cropper) - Atlantic 2340b 1966
71 You Put Something On Me (Covay) - Atlantic 2340a 1966
72 Wilson Pickett - Mercy Mercy (Covay/Miller) 1966
70 Iron Out The Rough Spots (Jones/Porter/Cropper) - Atlantic 2340b 1966
71 You Put Something On Me (Covay) - Atlantic 2340a 1966
72 Wilson Pickett - Mercy Mercy (Covay/Miller) 1966
73 Percy Sledge - I'm Hanging Up My Heart For You (Covay/Berry) 1966
74 Somebody's Got To Love You (Covay) - Atlantic 2357a 1966
75 Temptation Was Too Strong (Covay) - Atlantic 2357b 1966
74 Somebody's Got To Love You (Covay) - Atlantic 2357a 1966
75 Temptation Was Too Strong (Covay) - Atlantic 2357b 1966
76 Wilson Pickett - Three Time Loser (Covay/Miller) 1966
77 40 Days 40 Nights (Covay) - Atlantic 2407a 1967
78 The Usual Place (Covay/Randolph) - Atlantic 2407b 1967
78 The Usual Place (Covay/Randolph) - Atlantic 2407b 1967
79 Small Faces - Take This Hurt Off Me (Covay/Miller) 1967
80 Percy Milem - I Don't Know What You've Got (But It's Got Me) 1967
81 You've Got Me On The Critical List (Covay) - Atlantic 2440a 1967
82 Never Had No Love (Covay) - Atlantic 2440b 1967
83 Otis Redding - Demonstration (Covay/Redding) 1967
84 Otis Redding - Think About It (Covay/Redding) 1967
85 Aretha Franklin - Chain Of Fools (Covay) 1967
86 Little Richard - Try Some Of Mine (Covay) 1968
81 You've Got Me On The Critical List (Covay) - Atlantic 2440a 1967
82 Never Had No Love (Covay) - Atlantic 2440b 1967
83 Otis Redding - Demonstration (Covay/Redding) 1967
84 Otis Redding - Think About It (Covay/Redding) 1967
85 Aretha Franklin - Chain Of Fools (Covay) 1967
86 Little Richard - Try Some Of Mine (Covay) 1968
87 Etta James - I'm Gonna Take What He's Got (Covay) 1968
89 Gladys Knight & The Pips - Letter Full Of Tears (Covay) 1968
90 Otis Clay - That Kind Of Lovin' (Covay) 1968
90 Otis Clay - That Kind Of Lovin' (Covay) 1968
91 It's In The Wind (Covay) - Atlantic 2494b 1968
92 Gonna Send You Back To Your Mama (Covay) - Atlantic 2521a 1968
93 House On The Corner (Covay) - Atlantic 2521b 1968
94 Soul Clan - Soul Meeting (Covay) - Atlantic 2530a 1968
95 Soul Clan - That's How It Feels (Covay/Womack) - Atlantic 2530b 1968
92 Gonna Send You Back To Your Mama (Covay) - Atlantic 2521a 1968
93 House On The Corner (Covay) - Atlantic 2521b 1968
94 Soul Clan - Soul Meeting (Covay) - Atlantic 2530a 1968
95 Soul Clan - That's How It Feels (Covay/Womack) - Atlantic 2530b 1968
96 I Stole Some Love (Covay) - Atlantic 2565a 1968
97 Snake In The Grass (Redd/Martin) - Atlantic 2565b 1968
98 Aretha Franklin - See-Saw (Covay/Cropper) 1968
99 Etta James - You Got It (Covay) 1968
99 Etta James - You Got It (Covay) 1968
100 Sweet Inspirations - Watch The One Who Brings You The News (Covay) 1968
101 Capitols - Up On Top Now (Covay) 1968
102 Sweet Pea (Covay) - Atlantic 2609a 1969
103 Mad Dog Blues (Covay/Richardson) - Atlantic SD 8237 1969
104 Lou Johnson - I Can't Change (Covay) 1969
105 Wilson Pickett - Night Owl (Covay) 1969
106 Joe Tex - She Said Yeah (Covay/Nash/Pickett/Stevenson) 1969
107 Everything I Do Goin' Be Funky (Allen Toussaint) - Atlantic 2725a 1969
102 Sweet Pea (Covay) - Atlantic 2609a 1969
103 Mad Dog Blues (Covay/Richardson) - Atlantic SD 8237 1969
104 Lou Johnson - I Can't Change (Covay) 1969
105 Wilson Pickett - Night Owl (Covay) 1969
106 Joe Tex - She Said Yeah (Covay/Nash/Pickett/Stevenson) 1969
107 Everything I Do Goin' Be Funky (Allen Toussaint) - Atlantic 2725a 1969
108 Soul Stirrer (Covay/Whyce) - Atlantic 2742b 1970
109 Brook Benton & Dixie Flyers - Shoes (Covay/Soule) 1970
110 Sweet Thang (Covay) - Janus 164a 1971
111 Standing In The Grits Line (Covay) - Janus 164b 1971
110 Sweet Thang (Covay) - Janus 164a 1971
111 Standing In The Grits Line (Covay) - Janus 164b 1971
112 If There's A Will There's A Way (Covay/Hathaway) - Janus 3038 1972
113 Staple Singers - This Old Town (Covay/Pickett/Stevenson) 1972
113 Staple Singers - This Old Town (Covay/Pickett/Stevenson) 1972
114 King Floyd - Think About It (Covay/Redding) 1973
115 I Was Checkin' Out, She Was Checkin' In (Covay) - Mercury 73385a 1973
116 Money (That's What I Want) (Barrett Strong) - Mercury 73385b 1973
117 Somebody's Been Enjoying My Home (Scott/Darby) - Mercury 73430a 1973
118 Bad Mouthing (E. Darby/N. Jean) - Mercury 73430b 1973
119 We Can't Make It No More (Covay/Von) - Mercury 73468b 1975
120 Travelin' In Heavy Traffic (Covay/Wansel) - Philadelphia Intl. 3602a 1976
121 Once You Have It (Covay) - Philadelphia Intl. 3602b 1976
DC1 '57-65
115 I Was Checkin' Out, She Was Checkin' In (Covay) - Mercury 73385a 1973
116 Money (That's What I Want) (Barrett Strong) - Mercury 73385b 1973
117 Somebody's Been Enjoying My Home (Scott/Darby) - Mercury 73430a 1973
118 Bad Mouthing (E. Darby/N. Jean) - Mercury 73430b 1973
119 We Can't Make It No More (Covay/Von) - Mercury 73468b 1975
120 Travelin' In Heavy Traffic (Covay/Wansel) - Philadelphia Intl. 3602a 1976
121 Once You Have It (Covay) - Philadelphia Intl. 3602b 1976
DC1 '57-65
I thought I would get it
From a missile flying through the sky
I thought it would be a hundred years
Before I turned over and died
Surely the end will come
I thought it would be an atomic bomb
But if you take your love away
Doomsday
Sha-la-la-la-la
From a missile flying through the sky
I thought it would be a hundred years
Before I turned over and died
Surely the end will come
I thought it would be an atomic bomb
But if you take your love away
Doomsday
Sha-la-la-la-la
26 comments:
Wow! Nice one, thanks! My band Midnight Woolf do a cover of Don Covay's version of "Ooh My Soul".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9QDlkzEutE
Thanks but I can't get anything for parts 1 or 3 when I try to unzip them. Parts 2 and 4 seem to work ok.
Sorry, but I'm not having a problem with any of the downloads, although mysterious things happen all the time. If you happen to be on a Mac, try an unzipper called keka. Otherwise, try, try again?
Wonderful. Thank you!
This is fantastic!
ooh, la-la reservatory, this is sweet!
Very good, and you are always my good friend.
Man, you are so right about the similarities....
many thanks
Black rockabilly! Wtf? Rockabilly is a worthless term used to describe whites playing jump & jive or jump blues, don covay plays a myriad of black musical genres.
Dear WTF - The twangy guitar on Ooh My Soul made me do it. Call me worthless. No argument here.
well, don covay is great, no doubt, and mick jagger did manage to do a couple of near perfect copies. but that, as far as i can see, is about the size of it. i mean, jagger is or WAS a very talented imitator of all sorts of people, with, at the same time, quite a flair of his own, or the stones would have been nowhere. imagine them with a bill wyman or keith richards as vocalist! jagger is a super star. the point is though, that jagger actually has nothing to say, he is essentially an actor without a script, except for a few tics, such as his pronounced misogynism, and that's hardly even funny. don covay is a much more lovely personality and a truer artist. comparing him to jagger does nothing for either of these two people. jagger remains a cosmic phenomenon, and covay deserves to be recognised on his OWN merits, BTW-- i'm not "anyonymous" but what choice do i have???
adding to my earlier comment, i've listened to these songs for some days now, so many more than i ever knew before. this is really a beautiful body of work. you can see how it is poetry born on the street, coming from among real people and real life, real pain, real experiences. keith richards' "life" struck me as a series of calamities, but the guy seemed never to actually talk about the music. well, never mind, the stones played the background or fairground music to a lot of people's lives, but THIS stuff is really nice to discover. i wonder if the stones ever went to see don covay -- he's still living -- to shake his hand or buy him a cadillac or anything like that??? ha ha, it would BE a joke, wouldn't it???
Actually, it seems the Stones did acknowledge their debt to the master. There's a studio jam called 'Invitation' from around 1989 that features Covay as well as Bobby Womack. So Mick & the boys were at least a bit less shady than Led Zeppelin, who routinely denied their theft from various blues masters as feebly as Vanilla Ice when confronted about his Bowie steal. As I suggest in the post, it seems criminal that all this stuff is out there in the ether, uncollected and largely unheard.
That's nice music.
Hey Reservatory, great stuff with Don Covay. However I do think it is offensive to call him Mick Jagger. To me, Don Covay has always been a much bigger star than the whole MJ.
All the best, ;-)
Moos - nice to hear from an old familiar face. My intended dig was badly presented. What I really mean is that Jagger's world-renowned vocal style was actually lifted verbatim from Covay, and that the Stones' nearly 300 years of fame and fortune might never have happened without that theft. As I say in another comment reply, at least Jagger seems to acknowledge his debt. No offense was intended DC, whose work speaks for itself when people get the chance to dive into it. Anyway, glad that you hung on after all the chaos of early 2012.
thanx so much for this. incredible and the zippy finally worked.
Thanks Reservatory - Look forward to getting my ears around these sounds
What an amazing concept to combine all the great Covay performances with those by the other artists! Any chance of re-posting DC2? Thanks and peace.
A great project. Thank you!
Wow Glad to find this blog
First it's about giving credit where it's
due, which the greats like the Stones have.
Recall it was young Mick and Keith who brought their blues ancestors to england giving them a broader exposure.
On the other hand, I tremble when I realize the source becomes obscure, and a thin distillation becomes obscenely wealthy.
Blind Willie McTell.? See! Never heard of em have ya?
Well you know his "son" Robert Zimmerman, ie Bob Dylan; whose potency ebbed coinciding with the death or obscuration of such.
Peace
Many thanks for this great share !!
But DC2a is declared "corrupted" by WinRAR ....
Are you still here ???
On my side, I've solved the probem by downloading each track, one by one !!! :-)
now if we can only get people to know who sis Rosetta Tharpe is.
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