The Beatles: the best cover band ever.

The Beatles appearance on the Ed Sullivan show is one of the greatest moments on television, and one of the greatest moments in the history of popular music.

If you haven't seen it, do yourself a favor and watch the video below.  It's thrilling.

The first song they do is "All My Loving". 

The second song they do for this monumental moment?

"Til There Was You" from The Music Man.

Oh how things have changed.

Wouldn't it be cool if The Jonas Brothers covered "Mamma Who Bore Me" on The Tonight Show?  Or if 50 Cent covered a song from Curtains on SNL?

That doesn't happen anymore.  In fact, what's ironic is that pop music used to look to us for material. 

And now, with the advent of the jukebox musical, we look to pop music for material.

Come on, pop singers, watch below and see how cool the Beatles look while singing Meredith Wilson.  If they can do it at the beginning of their careers in this country, surely you can too.

Comments

[Rick]

I was all of 6 when I saw The Beatles first appearance on Ed Sullivan. I remember "Till There was You" standing out on an album filled with rock and roll (and r&b) covers along with some of the Beatles' vintage original songs ("I Saw Her Standing There"). As a kid, I always though he was counting off "One, Two, Three, FIRE!"

I had thought that it might've been George Martin's more fatherly influence that got the Broadway tune tucked onto the first album (the only song of its type the band ever recorded) but it was actually a favorite of Paul's, introduced to him by his older cousin who played him Peggy Lee's version in 1961. The Beatles began performing it in 62. And even at that early age, my ears gravitated towards the sublime and uniqueness of a Broadway show tune. Shoulda known back then (or at least the "mama who bore me" should have!)

[Lauren]

Ken, I think that you should write to the Jonas Brothers and ask them to do a cover of Mama Who Bore Me. I think that it would quite funny to see. But you are right in the sense that broadway is now looking to pop music, it's a bit sad but it's true. If only there was a way to reverse it....

[jwa]

Seems like American Idol's cover of "Seasons of Love" from last week's show falls right into this category. And the video is even for sale on iTunes. Not sure how many people realize it's from a show, though - whereas most people would probably have recognized "Til There Was You" in the 60s.