Dear listeners,
Let’s begin today with some trivia. Who is the only performer to receive a separate guest credit on the label of a Beatles single?
You, the one yelling “Billy Preston!” loudly at the screen: You are correct. The 1969 “Get Back/Don’t Let Me Down” single is credited to “The Beatles With Billy Preston,” in honor of the virtuosic keyboardist responsible for that indelible Fender Rhodes solo.
Preston has been on my mind since the 2021 release of Peter Jackson’s docuseries “The Beatles: Get Back,” which served, among other things, as a reminder just how crucial the Texas-born keyboard prodigy was to the “Let It Be” sessions. (Given his effortless playing style and the good-natured way he diffused tension on the studio, John Lennon basically asked him to join the band.) But I’ve been listening to Preston, and specifically his Beatles covers, after catching a preview screening of Paris Barclay’s documentary about his charmed but troubled life, “Billy Preston: That’s the Way God Planned It,” which will be playing in New York later this month.
Preston’s covers got me thinking about how many fantastic — and in many cases, radically reworked — covers of Beatles songs have been recorded by Black musicians: Stevie Wonder’s “We Can Work It Out,” Al Green’s “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and Nina Simone’s “Here Comes the Sun,” to just scratch the surface. So in honor of Preston — and of Black History Month — today’s playlist is a baker’s dozen of tracks on which Black artists reinterpret, revise and reimagine the Beatles.
Like just about every other white rock band in history, the Beatles drew upon pre-existing Black musical traditions; they were particularly inspired by the Motown sound and early rock pioneers like Little Richard and Chuck Berry. But as the Beatles built up a formidable songwriting catalog, some of the artists who had inspired their early work, like the Supremes and Ray Charles, started putting their own spin on the Fab Four’s material, too. The result was a rich and reciprocal musical conversation.
This is just a sampling, especially because I limited myself to one song per artist. But still, if I left out your favorite, let me know.
Get back, Loretta,
Lindsay
Listen along while you read.
1. Billy Preston: “Get Back”
When you are responsible for one of the coolest Rhodes solos in rock history, you are entitled to cover the Beatles in the most self-indulgent way possible. But on his taut, fiery 1969 version of “Get Back,” Billy Preston instead cuts right to the chase.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
2. Stevie Wonder: “We Can Work It Out”
On one of my favorite Beatles covers ever, Stevie Wonder — who, of course, would later duet with Paul McCartney on “Ebony and Ivory” — completely transformed this bittersweet “Rubber Soul”-era single on his 1970 album “Signed, Sealed & Delivered,” turning it into something ecstatic, energized and thoroughly groovy.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
3. The Supremes: “A Hard Day’s Night”
The day the Beatles met the Supremes — Aug. 16, 1965, the day after the Shea Stadium show — is somewhat infamous in Fab Four lore. Apparently it was quite awkward, either because the two groups had little in common, or because the Beatles were stoned. (Most likely it was both of those things.) The Supremes were more connected to the Beatles musically, though, and had covered them often, and quite well. Here is one of several Beatles covers on their appropriately titled 1964 LP “A Little Bit of Liverpool,” which also featured the Motown group’s takes on “Can’t Buy Me Love” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
4. Al Green: “I Want to Hold Your Hand”
Speaking of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” I love the playfulness, the swagger and — above all things — the soul that Al Green brings to his take on that early Beatles classic. Thanks to its performance on a certain landmark episode of television, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” was one of the Fab Four’s first breakthrough hits, and when he released his own rendition in 1969, it worked similar magic for a then up-and-coming Green. In 2010, Paste ranked this as No. 1 on a list of the 50 best Beatles covers of all time, and it’s certainly a worthy choice.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
5. The Temptations: “Hey Jude”
About a year after the original came out, The Temptations released this buoyant cover of “Hey Jude” on the 1969 LP “Puzzle People,” a highlight from the group’s psychedelic soul era. The bass vocalist Melvin Franklin really gets his moment to shine here.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
6. Junior Parker: “Taxman”
Oh, I love this one. The blues great Junior Parker turns George Harrison’s jaunty, mod-pop case against taxation into a wonderfully languid Southern-funk groove full of conversational asides (“Now dig this”) and personalized emphasis. It’s also one of three Beatles covers on his excellent 1971 LP “Love Ain’t Nothin’ but a Business Goin’ On.” If you like this, check out what he does with “Lady Madonna” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
7. Ray Charles: “Eleanor Rigby”
The Beatles were heavily influenced by Ray Charles (among many other Black R&B artists), so it must have delighted them to hear his impassioned cover of “Eleanor Rigby.” In 1968, he memorably performed it on a television program that meant something special to the Fabs: “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
8. Tina Turner: “Help!”
By the time she embarked upon her triumphant solo career in the late 1970s, Tina Turner had already proved that she knew what to do with a Beatles cover; she and her ex-husband, Ike, had released blistering interpretations of “Come Together,” “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” and “Let It Be,” among others. But there is a liberatory power to her 1984 cover of “Help!,” which appeared on her 1984 blockbuster album, “Private Dancer.” The Beatles conceived of this tune when they were young lads in their 20s, but Tina sings it like a grown woman, drawing out the depths of its feeling with a lived-in grit, pathos and resilience.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
9. Beyoncé, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts: “Blackbiird”
On her Grammy-winning 2024 album “Cowboy Carter,” Beyoncé asked four Black country artists to join her on a faithful cover of “Blackbird,” which McCartney originally wrote as a message of hope amid racial tensions. Said McCartney after the cover was released, “I think she does a magnificent version of it and it reinforces the civil rights message that inspired me to write the song in the first place.”
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
10. Roberta Flack: “Here, There and Everywhere”
In 2012, the great Roberta Flack released an entire album of Beatles covers, “Let It Be Roberta: Roberta Flack Sings the Beatles.” Though most of that album — the last LP Flack released in her lifetime — featured fresh interpretations with modern production, its final track was this gorgeous 1972 live recording of Flack transforming a “Revolver” song into a timeless and stunningly romantic piano ballad.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
11. Nina Simone: “Here Comes the Sun”
With her wearied but gently luminescent vocal performance at the center of this 1971 cover, Nina Simone beautifully conjures the twinkling, hard-won hope that courses through one of Harrison’s greatest compositions.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
12. Earth, Wind & Fire: “Got to Get You Into My Life”
Although it is a general rule that the less said about the ill-conceived 1978 jukebox musical “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” the better, Earth, Wind & Fire’s funky, Grammy-winning cover of this “Revolver” cut is an undeniable highlight of the soundtrack, and even gives the original a run for its money.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
13. Aretha Franklin: “Let It Be”
And, finally: Man, could Aretha Franklin cover the Beatles. She turned “The Long and Winding Road” into a gospel number about the rugged path to heaven’s gate. She personalized “Eleanor Rigby,” heartbreakingly, by singing it in the first person. But she really sings “Let It Be” like it was written for her — and, well, it probably was. In 1969, McCartney sent a demo of this soon-to-be standard to Aretha’s frequent producer Jerry Wexler in hopes that she’d consider recording it. She did, and her rendition was released in January 1970 — two months before the Beatles’ own version. Does that make this a Beatles cover? Or does it mean that the Beatles’ “Let It Be” is just a humble cover of the Queen of Soul? You be the judge.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
The Amplifier Playlist
“13 Transcendent Beatles Covers by Black Musicians” track list Track 1: Billy Preston, “Get Back” Track 2: Stevie Wonder, “We Can Work It Out” Track 3: The Supremes, “A Hard Day’s Night” Track 4: Al Green, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” Track 5: The Temptations, “Hey Jude” Track 6: Junior Parker, “Taxman” Track 7: Ray Charles, “Eleanor Rigby” Track 8: Tina Turner, “Help!” Track 9: Beyoncé, Tanner Adell, Brittney Spencer, Tiera Kennedy and Reyna Roberts, “Blackbiird” Track 10: Roberta Flack, “Here, There and Everywhere” Track 11: Nina Simone, “Here Comes the Sun” Track 12: Earth, Wind & Fire, “Got to Get You Into My Life” Track 13: Aretha Franklin, “Let It Be”
Read past editions of the newsletter here.
If you’re enjoying what you’re reading, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up here.
Have feedback? Ideas for a playlist? We’d love to hear from you. Email us at [email protected].
Lindsay Zoladz is a pop music critic for The Times and writes the music newsletter The Amplifier.
The post 13 Transcendent Beatles Covers by Black Musicians appeared first on New York Times.
