Girl U Want
Part of the Multiple Versions Monday playlist series ...
Good morning. Happy (ish) Monday. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve shared a Multiple Versions Monday playlist, so I thought we’d dive into a rather fun one this week.
Girl U Want
Devo is a band I’ve loved for years, since I was first introduced to them in the early-mid eighties. We moved to the Santa Cruz Mountains at the end of 8th grade, and it involved a LONG bus ride down the mountain. Those bus rides held a group of kids all interestingly into music, and it was on one of those trips that Chris G. introduced me to deeper Devo cuts.
While “Girl U Want” is not one of my favorite tracks, it is one of the Devo tracks I could find with the most, and the most interesting, covers, so I knew I had to queue it up for a Multiple Versions Monday share. I’ll put together either a starter list or a deeper cuts playlist to showcase my absolute favorites, soon, if I haven’t shared one already (it’s early, and my search is being wonky).
The Playlists
Listen with Apple Music
https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/girl-u-want/pl.u-76oNErpuvX23KaV
Listen with Tidal
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/714e8589-0505-4b62-8034-d7b91f02e513
After too many weeks sans collectiove covers, I’m back with a multiple versions playlist. What say you? Did a cover stand out as a contender? While the original is the ultimate listen, I am quite fond of the Superchunk version. But I tend to be a big fan of most of their covers, so take that as you will.
I’d love to hear what you think. And if you have any suggestions for a future Multiple Versions Monday song or artist, please let me know. I have a decent list going, but I don’t have set dates, so a fun recommedation is always welcome!
I agree with a lot of what Steve says here. This is one of my favorite Devo songs and I had no idea these covers existed! I like the Sonic Youth version best because I think it most captures the spirit of the original. The Soundgarden is just too slow and the Robert Palmer version is oddly noisy. Thanks for sharing these!
Wow - I'm a huge DEVO fan and hadn't heard any of these before! I loved all of these covers, and have only listened to each once, so picking a favorite is fully a first impression choice. And I go with....Yonic South! Maybe it's partly because I love wordplay as well as Sonic Youth, but I love what they do with the chorus. It also has a King Gizzard-like energy. That said, the Robert Palmer version is nuts in all the right cheesy-80s ways. I just read that Nuno Bettencourt of Extreme plays guitar on this, which makes total sense.