Added: 5 years ago
From: mddawson1
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  • Who's in this line up? Is John D'Arcy?

    Anyone?

    I bought my house from John when his mother died. Ah, the people who may have been through my front door.

  • Z-ANY

    O-RGASMIC

    O-UTSTANDING

    T-OP.

  • The B EST cover of a Beatles song by FAARRRRRR. Well done guys and yes it was a great time to be involved in music in Aus

  • Not many artists can claim to have improved upon a Beatles original. These guys sure can, as can Doug Parkinson (Dear Prudence) and maybe Joe Cocker. Thanks for posting.

  • Darryl lived not far from me, a nice guy. He, Rick, Beeb and Rick accomplished the "unthinkable", a fantastic copy of a Beatles song. This along with the "FREAK" were Australia's top 'Heavy Metal' songs.

  • I am thrilled, personally............I was raising children [4]

    i am catching up! Brilliant.........Brian Vaughton. Drummer and foundation member...'The MAsters' Apprentices'...........Very Well Executed...........If you need a old piano player, I am available!!!!!!!!!!! well Done... Brian .v.

  • @bvaughton Ah, the Masters, Zoot, Easybeats, Thorpie, Coloured Balls, etc etc etc...Australian really rocked in those days, and band comp's such as Hoadleys Battle of the Sounds were not to be missed. Whereas, today......

  • great song and Rick Springfield is cute.

  • I love the beginning of this song...

  • Gold !

  • I appreciate this. I saw Darryl Cotton, Jimmy Keays and Russell Morris when I was 14. I loved it. I wish I was around when all this stuff was massive. Darryl Cotton is still GORGEOUS! (I'm 19 now, lol)

  • I could see Rick Springfield heading for stardom even back then.Anyway this song is great and its nice to hear it again.

  • Rick Springfield, yes indeed........hot.

  • hallelujah!

  • u have to be original to start with rick b

  • I heard on the radio recently that Zoot were reforming for a local (Australian) tour. 

  • This is quite heavy for 1970.

  • Zoot beat my Dad's band in a battle of bands comp at Roselands Shopping Centre, Sydney back in 1969 or 1970 lol.. he said they knew they had no chance when they belted this out great cover =) Dad says he can't help feel a bit jealous when he hears this song as his band was runner up to them ;)

  • @LilyMc82 -Hey what was your Dad's band called ? I probably saw them back in the day ! Roselands was the 1st shopping mall built in Australia - was a golf course before-my grandmother lived down the road !

    

  • @ReedBender1 His band was called "Spice of Life" around that time.. he was also in another band called "Jango" (not 100% how to spell it.. whoops!).. Oh I didn't realize that Roselands was Australia's first shopping centre! Interesting fact =) It is really quite small compared to other shopping centres these days =) haha Dad was telling me when Zoot came on stage everyone was speechless as they had the best equipment and looked like superstars. My Dad said he turned up in ripped jeans lol

  • @LilyMc82 Hi, just read your comment. Just curious who your Dad is? A good friend of mine played in "Spice Of Life" and I met all of them at a reunion in Seaford back in '94. I even supplied the drumkit...lol.

    Cheers, Dave .

  • @LilyMc82 cool story, bro

  • Considering that "Eleanor Rigby" is my favorite song, this was a really good cover. It's the guitar solos alone that make it worth listening to.

  • shut up abut it being better than the beatles. its a cover for christs sake. zoot could never fully write something this good. by the way does anyone know a place where i could get a bass tab for this?

  • shut up about it being better than the beatles. its a cover for christ sake. zoot could never write a song this good

  • Is it just me, or does the riff after the first "Ah, look at all the lonely people!" sound like something out of a famous metal song?

  • What a Fucking Fantastic Guitar Riff and Lead Guitar Work! Magic Stuff, Love the Agression of this Aussie Classic!

  • this blows the beatles version right the fuck out the window! i like the beatles ,but this is far,far better....don't like it,too bad!!

  • This is just pure awesomeness. I love the guitar riffs and tone. 2 thumbs up.

  • This is up there with Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower as my favorite ever cover...

  • Beeb Birtles and Springfield LOL...but geez they weren't too shabby!

  • Hey look at the lead guitarist.......remember Rick Springfield (Jessie's Girl)?

  • wow really good, nice to see rick springfield when he still spoke 'strine'

  • one of my all time faves xxx

  • This is badass

  • To those who didn't live through the era, to do a cover version of a Beatles song was courageous in the extreme. Very few tried it, and even fewer succeeded. This was one of the best.

  • One of the all-time best (and least known) covers.

  • There is a cool new version of Eleanor Rigby by Voltaire 7. Check it out on Voltaire 7 website or itunes

  • Check out Elliott Smith's cover of "Because"

  • but do u remember they were a bubble gum band till springfield took this song apart and its a great version doug parkison I knew his sister in the 60;s she looked like him no mo though

  • who's the drummer ? thanks

  • @ttfozgreen Rick Brewer - Wikipedia is your friend.

  • @ttfozgreen

    Rick Brewer went on to play with THE MOTIVATORS.

    Their record is very rare but there's a copy on eBay with two other Australian bands, the Eighty Eights, and The Aliens.

  • @lonsktube hey thanks for that, your time and effort are appreciated, funny thing, i'm an aussie rock fan, from day one, i'm 49, the eighty eights had a couple of newcastle lads in their ranks, and the aliens song confrontations was a fave from countdown days, got saved on my pute, hahaha, thanks again

  • Gotta love Rick Springfield

  • To all the people that say rick springfield is a "soap actor", bubble gum musician...........F. O.  this is good

  • great cover check out elenor rigby by father pretty good cover here's the link

  • I remember when they wore pink outfits and the slogan was " Think Pink Think Zoot"

    Those were the days

  • i grew up listening to rick springfield in the early 80's, i wan't aware of this band, or the fact that he was this good of a guitar player. this is a sweet cover.

  • Wow its like the Original Muse! Im in love with music again!

  • This flogged the hell out of the beatles meek crappy song.. the way it should have been done originally.. thanks so much for this version..Does anyone have a vid of the b-side of this..

  • this just kicks the shit out of all that pussy music they serve up today

  • no dis to the beatles, but this is killer !!!

  • Showing my age...... I saw these guys play this live in Brisbane way back when.

  • @owling9 I envy you - would have loved to seen Zoot in their heyday!

  • @frovil ..... definitely were a high energy, hard rocking band. Unforgettable. Have a good one.

  • See Darryl Cotton perform Zoot's 'Eleanor Rigby' live this October 5th at the Melbourne Town Hall as part of 'The Beatles "Let It Be" 40th Anniversary Celebration Concert'. Tickets available through Ticketek.

  • See Darryl Cotton perform Zoot's 'Eleanor Rigby' live this October 5th at the Melbourne Town Hall as part of 'The Beatles "Let It Be" 40th Anniversary Celebration Concert'...

  • BRILLIANT composition of the original!!

  • we got the origina singlel 45rpm record

    sounds just as good

  • absolutely awesome...remember listening to it vividly....bring back the 60s and drugs sex and RnR

  • this song brings back happy memories..... but I do remember Molly (I think) playing it to the Hollies when they were out here and asking them what they thought of it ..... "what utter rubbish" was the reply and scoffing laughter all round.

  • paul mccartney actually said that this is the way the beatles should have played it

  • oh man thats insane. jst stumbled accross it what an awsome cover!

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  • I remember seeing this very clip (I think) on GTK and being totally blown away and forever changed by the treatment Zoot gave to the song. I've carried this song note for note (sort of) in my head for 40 years now, and I still get a power surge when I hear it in my ears. For me perhaps the definitive example of when acid rock started turning into early heavy metal power-riff sound. Thanks heaps.

  • I am so impressed once again...You have chrystal clear voice!!! Brilliant vocals!! Love this very much!!! Roses

  • This is what you get when Led Zeppelin & the beetles have a love child.

    I really like the kid, had a lot of potential.

  • Wow! I'd never thought to look up a clip of them....rage is having a covers night 2moro & I saw this on the playlist.

    SUCH a great cover...It holds up to this day!

  • saz!

    es el mejor cover que eh oido

  • TOTALLY agree 60srocker46. THE best ever version and I'm SO glad it's on YouTube!

  • Fun to see what Rick Springfield was up to way before he became "Rick Springfield" :)

  • the only other Beatles cover that comes close to being this good is Joe Cocker's She Came in through the bathroom window (I think)

  • @jvsin50 Check out Dear Prudence performed by Doug Parkinson (there are two vids, his original release in the 70s & a recent live performance)

  • @jvsin50 The movie Across The Universe does most of the songs better in my opinion

  • @jvsin50 -I'd put Doug Parkinson's "Dear Prudence" up there as well, although Cocker scores extra point because his arrangement (like Zoot's) is a big departure from the original.

  • @jvsin50 Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help From My Friends" should also be mentioned - along with John Farnham's "Help". Both excellent Beatle covers.

  • @userexists123 I *hate* the Joe Cocker cover.Can't stand it...

  • That was fantastic good!!!! Your performance is awesome!!!! I am sending many, many shining stars!!!!!!!********* Nicest regards from Germany!!!! Roses

  • i can remember when this song first came out , i, along with the other buying australian public where blown away by the way the zoot , who were a bubble gum band ,completely imortalized this song, it is and always will be one of my absolute favorites

  • I think the Beatles are better.

  • black and white or not ... this WAS and still IS AWESOME !!

  • Did Australia not have color TV until the 1980s?

  • @gubon13 Not until March 1975.

  • @gubon13 ... my home had it '76.

  • i liked 'zoots' version of eleanor rigby. I was 9 when I first saw this on 'happening 70' in melbourne, aus. it was upbeat and didn't detract from the beatles version, at all !! good stuff !!

  • KICK ASS!!!!

  • God I love this version...what a great sound !! Much better than the Beatles. They're all very hot guys. Just saw Cotton, Morris and Keys in concert together the other day... and it was brilliant. !!

  • They were quite a good looking band all round considering what we all looked like back then...

  • The origen of Aussie rock. This band has a lot to answer to----and its all GOOD. The only band ever to upstage the Beatles.

  • I believe the Twilights did as well. The Beatles management stopped the Twilights performing the entire Sgt Peppers album live because the Beatles couldn't do it.

  • +mddawson1: I remember the Twilights coming home from England after winning Hoadleys Battle of the Sounds in '66. They played regularly at Ormond Hall (Opus) in Melbourne doing perfect renditions of The Beatles Rubber Soul material as well as Sgt Peppers. This did not impress E.M.I one bit because the Twilights could do it live, great memories.

  • @mddawson1 You are so right, I remember the Twilights returning from England (Their Hoadleys battle of the Sounds prize). they were armed with all the Sgt peppers stuff as well as Rubber Soul, performing brilliant covers all over Melbourne.From what I remember EMI were not impressed.

  • @mddawson1 When the Twilights came back from England after winning the Hoadleys Battle of the Sounds they set up residency at Opus in Melbourne and proceeded to hammer out perfect Beatles stuff much to the annoyance of EMI at the time.

  • @05fishes

    nah, you're wrong.

    but it's fucking great though.

  • IMO the bassist and the harmonies legitimize the heck out of this song. So good.

  • Groovy cats..

  • By far the BEST cover of any song in the world. Completely shook it up. Not that the original wasn't great but what the Zoot did with it is amazing.

  • Yeah I always thought this version was better than the Beatles, with the faster tempo, and the intro is mad! Darryl Cotton was kind of hot, and Rick of course!

  • i forgot how good they were sorry but there version is better than the beatles

  • Don't be sorry. I agree! Maybe they didn't write it but they gave it way more energy.

  • heard the beatles play it late 60's, then came to australia and heard the Zoot version and I thought these guys are off the planet

  • Fantastic stuff. That guitar riff is quite manic.

  • INCREDIBLEY AWESOME MAN! xoO

  • It is very interesting to see Rick even before Speak To The Sky was released, He was so precious back then!

  • I didn`t realise this was a Beatles song.

    I used to ike it when I was in high school. Is that Daryll Cotton singing?

    Thanks for sharing.

  • Has anyone noticed a young Rick Springfield ( of "Jessie's Girl" fame ) in this great Aussie band? I heard a story a while back that Rick had forgotten his Oz roots.If the story is true,well here's proof of where he started.

  • Always loved this - such an amazing re-imagining! Why don't people do covers like this anymore??? Covers these days are copies of the originals!!

  • Great version of a Beatles classic.

  • Has anyone here got the album "Just Zoot" it's rare!

  • I've got the "Zoot Out" vinyl LP don't know if it's rare or not...

  • Yeah that's hard to find aswell, are you selling it?

  • A really great cover!!!

  • Interesting.

  • ELEONOR Rigby, GR8 song :)

  • yessss, exellent!

  • Great stuff . I always loved the heavy sound of the drums and the guitar riffs in this.

    Classic Aussie rock!

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  • Am I missing something?

  • really great cover

  • awsome not as good as original but

  • Awesome.

  • Frickin awesome

  • Definitely doesn't beat the original.

    But by heck it's close.

  • too bad the chorus was done like that. I would have preferred if the singer just belted it out with some background harmonies behind him. Great musician ship. I knew these metal guys in the 80s that covered this and the singer just scared me when he sang it. frickin awesome!

  • Another band that played at the dance my fater ran 35 years ago..They wore pink clothes..But a great bunch of blokes..Daryl even scored the set of traffic lights we had at the dance hall (He will remember) cos i spoke to him in Melton about this about 28 years ago...

    bugger, we are getting old/der...

  • the zoots motto in 1970 was 'think pink, think zoot'

  • i can play this on my guitar, its an AAAASSSUUUUMMMMMMMM Song!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • go aussie go,thank you tom for the share sj.

  • I am a Beatles Purist and I can not think of a better Beatles Cover. It has everything a good cover should have. Its own spin a diametrically opposite genre. These guys years and years ahead of their time. Lets face it Black Sabbath would of been proud od this. Fantastic guitar work. Excellent timeless rock sound. I am going to buy a Zoot album and fk it a zoot suit too..

  • @busckeen why not light up a zoot, just to make them a hat-trick of zoots?! :)

  • Thanks to the party posting this to You Tube! You just can't see lots of this old RS stuff! The cover I have is sung only by RS.

  • classic zoot......a great aussie band.

  • I have loved every beatlescover so far....

  • this is freakin AWESOME.

  • awesome cover

  • as the young people now say,

    I think it rocks

  • I wonder if Macca had heard of this cover? Im sure he would be impressed.

  • The first decent Eleanor Rigby cover I find! It's pretty good actually!

  • check out the gODHEAD version!

  • I already did and I didn't really like it...not exactly my style you see!

  • There can't be that many Beatles covers that can stand along side the original. This is one. I wonder what John Lennon thought when he heard it?

  • I think John would of said "Fook me! thats a punchy version isnt it ."

  • That's Rick Springfield on that guitar!

  • fuckin awesome song

  • WOW! I usually hate any Beatles cover but this one kicks ass!

  • A ridiculous and crass musical arrangement of this song. In no way does it relate to the narrative.

  • Nosecandles, you have no idea!

  • Amen to that comment brother

  • I agree with you, nosecandles, these guys were a balls-free zone. They used to be called the "Pink Zoot" and get around in pink gear. How lame is that? Thankfully, the Zoot disappeared after this release, although Rick Springfield did find a place in daytime TV on 'General Hospital' and the plastic sludge of FM radio in the States

  • Everyone's entitled to their opinion but I have to disagree with yours. I think it's a more than competent, full-tilt re-working of the original. Gives it a whole new aspect. If you're a Beatles purist I can see why you might not like it , but personally I see both ireverance and homage in it. Each to their own.

  • seek and ye shall find there really is some great early aussie rock out there this one being one of my all time favorites saw them live in 70/71 at an east maitland show with i think black feather both exponents of this early power/heavy rock styles we were doing before the poms tookover with black sabbath et-al

  • I can only be thankful I was around when music was pure and innovative.

  • I saw 2 seminal events when I was a young teen.

    1) AC/DC in their forst performance at Chequers in Sydney (absolutely unbelievable)

    2) Zoot in their 1st performance in Sydney - Paddo Town Hall (2 many Gays for me)

    Having seen many others over the years, these 2 events blew away all else.

    ppl literally standing with jaws wide open at Chequers .. could not believe what they were seeing (btw - AC/DC used to practise at Sunnyside Scout hall - now called Canada Bay - they were dweebs back then)

  • Very hard to get away with a succesful Beatles cover, IMHO there's only Joe Cocker and these guys, also from the same era.

    Both change the style and the arrangement, just as well, 'cause a clone would never work....

    I love the dirty guitar chords chopping off swelling feedback, and the pretty harmonies.

    Anyone know any other tunes that have a similar style and sound as good as this one?

  • You're right. Joe Cocker's cover is phenomenal. Doug Parkinson In Focus' version of "Dear Prudence" should also rate a mention too.

  • go marty

  • There are not many bands that can top and even outdo the Beatles, but this version by The Zoot is probably the best Beatles cover ever. The Zoot made this their own. I never tire of listening to this.

  • Mate, I couldn't agree more.

    Finding a clip of this posted is like getting an early christmas present!!!

  • ditto

  • cant wait to see Darryl Cotton, Russell Morriss and Jim Keayes at the Mt. Gravatt Bowls Club on the 14/5/09!!!

  • They played live at Torquay while we were surfing. Don't get any better than that.

  • Saw Zoot live at Frankston beach wearing pink outfits they were so good live nobody cared what colour they wore,

    best song by any aussie band.

  • Reminds me of Nazz (Philadelphia band same era)

  • More talent from the South East of Melbourne.... They rocked Waverley High School.....

  • Pretty f'n awsome.

  • This version blows the original to the weeds!!

  • Unbelievable

  • I've been looking for this version for *decades* as it was the only one I knew of for many years - growing up in Melbourne. I could not believe it when years later I heard the Beatles (well, Paul's) original. It took me a *long* time to come to grips with it. Of course the original is classic. But you have to admit transposing the cello and violin in the original into a throbbing pre-AC/DC sound is pretty good. If you like this, check out the Master's Apprentices "Turn Up Your Radio."

  • This is quite heavy for its time. Good old Aussie rock...I love it. Even more than I like the Beatles version. And that says a lot since the Beatles are my favourite band. Thanks for posting this!

    Rick is incredible.

  • ROCKING cover version!!!

  • Yep 1337, You're right...was one of the first singles I bought.The B-side of the 45 was "Turn Your Head", I thrashed it just as much as E-.Rigby. The drums on "Turn Your Head" were awesome.That right foot of Rick Brewer ,I believe ,doing Bonham licks before Bon.was.Well.. lets just say it was outstanding drumming for it's day and a credit to those Aussi drummers that were kickin'ass back then.This was an all-star band,so we should give some accolades to the wonderful drummer here too.

  • rick so hot in 70s zoot rocks

  • Darryl Cottons magnus opus was his work on 'The Early Bird Show' with 'Marty the monster'.

  • ha ha

  • wow, these guys were ahead of their time. they sound like a early metal band

  • Definitely the best version of Eleanor rigby (excluding the original) that I've heard.