A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.
Audio: A fleet of Tugboats
Tugboat was Galaxie 500's first single, recorded in February 1988 at Noise New York by Kramer and released as a 7” single on Aurora Records. When some other artist decides to cover a Galaxie 500 song Tugboat is the one they invariably reach for. Here’s a selection of those cover versions. If anyone has (or knows of) any I haven’t included please get in touch.
So many... time to do an index:
The index
- Best Denim
- Blue Haired Girl
- BMX Bandits featuring Angel Corpus Christi
- British Sea Power
- Citay
- Dean & Britta / Dean Wareham
- Finnmark!
- Galaxie 500
- The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy
- Joanna Gruesome
- Kiwi Jr
- Mercury Rev
- Meursault
- Portastatic
- Sr Chinarro
- The Standby Connection
- Submarine
- The Submarines
- Thrushes
- The Transmissionary Six
- Venice is Sinking
- X-Lion Tamer
The original and best
The fleet
Best Denim
Blue Haired Girl
BMX Bandits featuring Angel Corpus Christi
Fab scottish indie stars BMX Bandits recorded the track for a Galaxie 500 tribute album that was released on Spanish label Elefant Records. The recording also features the lovely Angel Corpus Christi on the chorus.
British Sea Power
British Sea Power released a version on a Rough Trade compilation
Citay
Dean & Britta / Dean Wareham
Dean & Britta released a live version on a compilation CD with issue 5 of Yeti magazine.
There's also a live recording on Dean Wareham Live at St Pancras Old Church, London recorded in 2013
Finnmark!
Another lovely (and beautifully cheery) cover, this time by Leeds band Finnmark! It's "pay what you want" over on Bandcamp - and all proceeds to charity... so go grab it!
The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy
The Jazz Butcher released a version, titled Tugboat Captain on their 1992 The Western Family live album
Joanna Gruesome
Joanna Gruesome covered it on the flip of their Sugarcrush single.
Kiwi Jr
Mercury Rev
Meursault
Meursault recorded the track for their crowd-funded, crowd-chosen album made to help fund the band's US tour
Portastatic
Portastatic also recorded their version for Elefant's Galaxie 500 tribute album, Snowstorm
The Standby Connection
Spanish band The Standby Connection are an off-shoot of Polar
Submarine
The Submarines
Thrushes
Thrushes recorded Tugboat for the 2016 Blue Thunder, A Tribute to Galaxie 500
The Transmissionary Six
The Transmissionary Six recorded Tugboat for a KEXP session
Venice is Sinking
Venice is Sinking recorded Tugboat for their Georgia Theatre Sessions LP