Results of last week’s battle: Who did it better? Jake Shimabukuro or Damon & Naomi?
In the last of our four Beatles editions of Who Did It Better, we’re listening to two very different versions of Ringo Starr’s “Don’t Pass Me By”. The first, a straightforward rocker by the Georgia Satellites, and the second, a very esoteric mishmash by Field Music.
Purchase links (where available):
“Don’t Pass Me By” – The Beatles (unavailable on iTunes)
“Don’t Pass Me By” – Georgia Satellites (
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“Don’t Pass Me By” – Field Music ()
I’m just waiting to hear from you. Who did it better?
Listen to the podcast featuring both songs:
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gotta say, i really enjoyed the G.S. version, but Field Music’s version takes the song and really makes it their own, really creative twist on it. thanks!
Tough call because I thought they were both great. I had to give the nudge to Field Music with extra points for innovation.
You didn’t make this one easy… Loved both of them! Unfortunately, one of them had to win.
I like what the Georgia Satellites said about this song in the liners notes to their Best Of collection. Something about how they wanted to cover the Beatles, but didn’t feel like they were worthy of doing a John/Paul or George song… but there were only two Ringo songs, and one of those was “Octopus’s Garden”. I love that they’re true to the song while doing it in their own style, adding energy to it. (And they don’t need to pull in melodies from other Beatles songs to do it.)
It felt like proof that going out of ones way to make a song “your own” isn’t always the best approach. Georgia Satellites may have done it fairly straight, but they also did it truly great.