Alternate History

An uptempo "Suzy-Q". James ""Master Of The Telecaster" Burton on guitar:



A franticly hurried version of "You Talk Too Much":



The original version of "Sheila", released in 1960, two years before Roe's own remake would go to #1. Thia version isn't quite such a blatant "Peggy Sue" cop:

Josephine Siao -- "Shakin' All Over" (1967)

From a Hong Kong film called The Lady Killer. Sung in Cantonese, with helpful Mandarin subtitles:

Jonathan Richman -- "Velvet Underground"

An acoustic version of Jonathan's classic tribute to the Velvets, recorded in Cleveland  in 2009 .

Prophet Motive

The Prophets were from Iowa. In early 1967 they went to Chicago to record for the new Twin-Spin label. The single that resulted, "Yes I Know", is one of greatest rave-ups of the era, a magnificent if blatant cop from Them's "Gloria".

The flip side of "Yes I Know" was "Sad On Me", a delightfully catchy bit of sunshine-pop harmony rock reminiscent of Chicago's New Colony Six -- not surprising, as the producer was NC6 member Ray Graffia.



This 45 constitutes the entire Prophets released oeuvre, although they allegedly recorded at least one other track (as yet unreleased), called "Twelve"

Bill Hayes - "Message From James Dean" (1956)

This tasteful tribute from Bill "Ballad Of Davy Crockett" Hayes was released only a few months after the accident.

Harry Warren & Ian Whitcomb - "Home in Pasadena"

Legendary songwriter Harry Warren ("I Only Have Eyes For You","On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", "That's Amore", "Chattanooga Choo Choo"), performing with British Invasion hitmaker ("You Really Turn Me On") and musicologist Ian Whitcomb on Warren's 1920s composition "Home in Pasadena" (a spoof of "Home In Indiana"?),  at Warren's home in the 1970s.