Listening to Counting Crows new covers album, I went on to a Facebook Page I'm a member of, Steve Crawford's "45 Revolutions Per Minute" and asked for people's worst covers ever. While lead to me and Bill Holdship discussing best covers, which lead to the Beatles and finally Paul McCartney's Run Devil Run where McCartney covered Larry Williams "She Said Teah". Which got me listenning to Williams.
Here is some random info about Larry.
1. He is a rocker, not a blues or r&b guy. he does both, but he is a rocker in the same way Chuck Berry is a rocker.
2. He is a pinanist and when the British Invaders used his catalog, they re-arranged it.
3. John Lennon's upper register is a dead ringer for Larry's. Which is probably why Lennon covered him so much.
4. How much? Probably second only to Arthur Crudup. The centerpiece (if a center can be a finale) of Lennon's Rock And Roll is Williams "Just Because".
5. Wlliam's was heavy into drugs and derailed his career.
6. How much? He was shot to death at the age of 45.
7. "Dizzy Miss Lizzie", "Slow Dow Down", "Bony Maronie"… more.
8. He has a great rock and roll voice, tenor not bass, but with a wide range and with so much character. There is a twinge of pain to him and it adds depth to everything,.
9. A lot of his songs are about fucking.
10. Latty was excellent at gibberish. "Dum de de do dum dum…" was typical.