Gloria (Them Song) - Cover Versions

Cover Versions

• The Gants (from the album Roadrunner) – earliest known cover version released in November 1965.
• The Bobby Fuller Four (around the time of the song's original popularity in 1965) covered the song live by at P.J.'s Night Club, which was recorded as a track and released on Live at PJ's Plus!.
• Shadows of Knight single released in December 1965 (later included in the album Gloria). Reached number 10 in 1966, topping the original in the U.S. only in areas where Them's version could not be played, because it contained the words, "She comes to my room". Some radio stations objected to this, most notably Chicago's station WLS. The Chicago-based band Shadows of Knight's version replaced this line with "She calls out my name."
• Status Quo (under name The Spectres) at Saturday Club, BBC on 10/09/1966; and as Status Quo at David Symonds Show on 8/4/68 and 12/4/68.
• AC/DC covered the song regularly in their early formation; lead singer Bon Scott had previously performed "Gloria" with his first group, The Spektors.

• Patti Smith, from her 1975 album Horses. This version is based on the Morrison tune, but its lyrics are reinvented for the nascent punk rock movement, retaining only the chorus, and adding possibly ironic allusions to the sacred allusions of the title. It memorably begins, "Jesus died for somebody's sins / But not mine".
• Eddie and the Hot Rods, on their 7" titled "96 Tears/Get Out of Denver/Gloria/ (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" that was released in the United Kingdom in 1976.
• Santa Esmeralda (from the album Don't let me be misunderstood) in a disco-gypsy way in 1977.
• Jimi Hendrix's version of "Gloria" was first included on the 1979 compilation, The Essential Jimi Hendrix Volume Two, as a 7 inch, 33⅓ RPM, one-sided single. It is also included on the 2000 released box set, The Jimi Hendrix Experience. His version was not a traditional cover – he included entire verses of his own creation, and appeared to be ad-libbing as he went along. The lyrics included lines about drummer Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding.
• Joe Strummer's band The 101ers recorded the song on their album Elgin Avenue Breakdown in 1981.
• The Doors (from Alive, She Cried), a concert performance. Number 18 on Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks and number 71 on Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. A studio version can be found on the The Very Best of The Doors compilation album.
• The New Zealand Band The Pleazers performed a version of the song, which is on the multiple-artist album Kiwi Classics, Vol 2.
• U2 snippeted this song at the ending of "Exit" during practically all its live performances, including the one on their album–movie Rattle and Hum released in 1988. (They also recorded an unrelated song called "Gloria").
• David Bowie played the song regularly on his 1990 Sound and Vision Tour.
• A portion of the intro, guitar solo, and outtro of "Play Guitar" by John Cougar Mellencamp, was very similar to a portion of Gloria's guitar riff.
• Energy Orchard, a live version on their 1993 album, Shinola.
• Shane MacGowan performed the song with Van Morrison at the 1994 BRIT Awards ceremony and changed the R–I–A to I–R–A when he was singing the chorus.
• Rick Springfield covered the song live on the 2001 album Greatest Hits Alive and has performed this song several times in concert, often following Morrison's lead by ad-libbing lyrics and stretching the song's length.
• Popa Chubby recorded in 2003 a live album in a radio show in France Live at FIP including "Gloria" (sung with his wife).
• Tom Petty played the song several times on his Highway Companion Tour in 2006, and he closed most of the shows with it during his twenty-night run at The Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco in 1997.
• The Tragically Hip performed a live version of the song, which included a monologue by Gordon Downie about tying his friend, Roch, to the railroad tracks.
• Bill Murray opened the 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival by playing "Gloria", stating that it is the only song he knows how to play with Eric Clapton appearing on stage to expertly finish it for him.
• Gandalf Murphy and the Slambovian Circus of Dreams covered the song in a medley with the Christmas carol "Angels We Have Heard on High" on their live Christmas album A Very Slambovian Christmas, released in 2008.
• Bruce Springsteen closed his concert at the Hershey Park Stadium on 19 August 2008 with a cover of "Gloria", proclaiming, "Let's take it back to where it all started!"
• Billie Joe Armstrong sings the chorus of G-L-O-R-I-A at the ending of the song, "Horseshoes and Handgrenades" on the 2009 Green Day album 21st Century Breakdown. Also showing Van Morrison's "Gloria" as an inspiration on their eighth album, one of the main characters is named Gloria.
• Anthony Kiedis sings G-L-O-R-I-A during the song "Venice Queen". Venice Queen was lyrically composed as an ode to Kiedis' drug rehabilitation therapist, Gloria Scott, who died shortly after he purchased her a home on California's Venice Beach
• 13th Floor Elevators was made a cover live in 1966, it's included in the 2005 anniversary edition of his album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators.
• Bon Jovi covered the song as part of a medley during their 2011 Bon Jovi Live tour.
• Simple Minds have covered the song on the Neon Lights album and have performed it many times live, often ending concerts with an extended rendition.
• Pidżama Porno covered the song on their 1998 album Styropian. Only the music remains from the original, with the Polish lyrics written by Krzysztof Grabowski and Marcin Świetlicki.
• Other covers of the Morrison song include those by notable artists like Grateful Dead, R.E.M., Rickie Lee Jones, Johnny Thunders and Blue Magoos.