I am so pleased and honored to feature a song among the first several of his official single releases. In songwriter lingo, I’m proud to be able to say I achieved a “cut” with an artist this talented who chose to include my song in his repertoire.
Its outstanding arrangement, vocals, instrumentation and production quality far surpass my original, resulting in a commercial recording worthy of radio airplay or a movie soundtrack. I have always suspected that if a great singer and band recorded a cover of one of my songs that it would demonstrate the quality of my songwriting and confirm the potential my songs have.
Ultimate Rick has realized the possibilities I imagined when I wrote it with his polished sound. It is high praise when a songwriter who does not need outside material likes one of your songs enough to want to record it, so I have nothing but gratitude, respect and admiration.
I love UTBGL (as I sometimes like to abbreviate it) by URJ, but I also encourage you to check out his excellent original songs as well. All his records are in the upper echelon of independent music. Check them out here:
Did you know artists can record cover versions of Scott Cooley originals and release them for streaming for about two dollars? I welcome it, encourage it, and even offer a free lyric/chord songbook for this purpose to make it easy. For more information, see https://www.scottcooley.com/songbook.
Who Is Ultimate Rick Jones Anyway?
Who is this mysterious new Ultimate Rick Jones person? What's in a name? There's a lot that can be interpreted about the name an artist will self-apply.
- 'Ultimate' suggests a final stage of a process, which for me represents a holy-grail culmination of my work as a songwriter to have an artist of this caliber record one of my songs, with his cover being the best imaginable example of what a Scott Cooley song can become.
- 'Rick' suggests a stack of hay, straw, or firewood that to me reflects a rural American vibe while representing fuel, and Rick's music most certainly serves up energy to keep you going and enjoying life, and his cover of my song has made me stoked to keep writing more.
- 'Jones' suggests an addiction, and once you hear some URJ, you are hooked and jonesing with a compulsive desire for a fix of more music from an artist this good.
Then there's the comic book character. 80’s style party-in-the-back mullet, muscles indicating otherworldly strength and durability, abilities including flight, teleportation, cosmic awareness, levitation, etc.
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To some, he is a great singer-songwriter. To me, Ultimate Rick Jones really is a superhero! He and his band are destined for fame and greatness (and not just because of a Scott Cooley cover).
I am proud to be a part of the origin story of this new and emerging artist. He has released multiple successful singles in succession, and with one great song after another, he’s more than just a rising artist, he’s on a stratospheric trajectory.
This recording is an example of Rick in full control of his powers, which are rumored to be a result of gamma radiation exposure after hanging out with the incredible Hulk.
Now that his super songwriting skills are publicly audible, the fact that he would unexpectedly record and release a cover version of a song written by a mere mortal like me is a brave and noble deed.
This benevolent act is revealing of his character and further proof he is truly heroic. I admire him for his courage to use his divine talents in this way, and for his outstanding achievement in interpreting and recording my song, which he may well have done out of pure kindness to me, but the result is a benefit for all mankind.
I got to know Rick by an alias human persona when he and I were work colleagues many years ago. I witnessed first-hand, albeit remotely, that in addition to expert communication skills, his abilities included lightning-fast learning speed, so it was no surprise he could learn the song, but I had no idea he was such a great singer.
After essentially awakening from a coma and teleporting himself to Michigan to pick up this song, Rick activated his superhuman powers and with his amazing bandmates transformed it into a thing of beauty, showing why he's not only the ultimate friend/confidant/sidekick, but also the chosen one to use his singing, instrument-playing and music production skills to lead the world in a better direction through music.
This feels like a crowning achievement in my "career" as a songwriter, the “ultimate” legitimacy validation, and for sure the biggest highlight so far. Hope you will stream the hell out of it! Here it is again: https://ultimaterickjones.bandcamp.com/album/used-to-be-good-looking
How We Feel About Covers
Covers. Sometimes you love 'em, sometimes you despise 'em. Sometimes you didn't know it was a cover and UTBGL by URJ is destined to become the definitive version everyone remembers.
Bob Dylan changed the way he performed “All Along The Watchtower” after he heard the Jimi Hendrix version, and if I ever perform UTBGL again, I’ll need to do it in the URJ style as best I can. Aretha's cover of “Respect” blew away Otis' original to the point that today everyone only thinks of it as her song. Her cover completely transformed the song into a smash hit. Things like these happen. Jeff Buckley’s cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Halleluiah” comes to mind here as well.
In the pre-rock era, a song would be written and then multiple artists would record versions of it, some often being released around the same time as each other. This was commonplace. Now it might only happen in country music once in a great while, if at all anymore.
The more covers of a song, the greater the chance it will be heard longer into the future, and possibly become regarded as a standard. "Standard" is a tricky word people associate with the pre-rock era, but "Never My Love" by the Association and "Yesterday" by Paul McCartney are later examples that are in that territory already.
A Dream Comes True
For songwriters, it can be flattering. Just the fact that another artist liked one of your songs enough to want to learn how to play and sing it is a strong indicator you've written a good one. Even if an artist does a cover you don't care for as much as your own original, it's a compliment no matter what.
In my case, as a songwriter who is not a great singer, instrumentalist or performer, most any cover has great potential to exceed my original. Not only that, it can serve as verification of the vision for the song you imagined even when your own limitations prevented you from being able to deliver it accordingly.
Sometimes a new interpretation of an existing song can make people realize what a great song it is when they didn't take notice before.
Hearing one of your creations interpreted by people with more talent and skill is really exciting to experience. It's literally a thrill.
I know Rick's true identity, but I'm not going to reveal it to you, because there is some mystery that he may prefer to preserve. Since his record is a Jones-Cooley Joint (think Spike Lee), I can at least share a special photo of the two of us he put together for marketing purposes that depicts each of us back when, well, from back when we used to be good looking:
In partial disclosure, I’m lucky to not only know him personally, but also consider him a friend. He has been a most complimentary fan and supporter of my music for many years now, and you never forget that.
It's proof that the quality of the songwriting can really shine when given the right arrangement, performance and production. It helps that not only is Rick a great songwriter, but he is also a great singer.
The singing always matters. I'm an artist who I suspect makes people wonder why my music is even available on streaming platforms in the first place when they first hear it. My voice is unfortunately not that professional-sounding, but his is. Throw in great instrument playing and production quality, and it makes a huge difference.
Ultimate Rick is a solo artist who has a rotating supporting cast of bandmates from multiple countries for each song, so "he" is sort of a "they," and the international bandmates include both female and male members. They are all real pros. The female backing vocal lines are so awesome, particularly the one that follows "got the pictures to prove it was true" by Paz Estrach when she sings "IT WAS TRUE!" is one of the most exciting things I've ever heard. I'm weird, I know. Since I'm speaking the truth, URJ's version couldn't be more perfect, and it's the greatest cover of a Scott Cooley song of all time, so this is really an honor and a personal dream come true.
About The Song
When I wrote and recorded it back in 2014, I was on the fence about releasing it at all, but I needed an album title and cover art. When I was going through old photos of myself as cover candidates, this one of me dressed up and looking good when young suited that song, tied the whole package together, gave me the art, album name and title track. That discovery was an ah-ha moment that immediately swayed the decision to release it. I had been uncomfortable about the bragging aspect, but now, of course, I know it was the right choice because it's one of my best and has strong universal appeal!
If you’re interested in more of the story behind the song, or at least what I thought about it at the time I wrote/released it, here is a link to the respective song page of my website: https://www.scottcooley.com/albums/used-to-be-good-looking/used-to-be-good-looking
“Cuts” Like A Knife, First Cut Is The Deepest
About 20 years ago, a well-meaning friend or family member (can't remember who now) bought me a book about "how to get your first cut" for aspiring songwriters - "cut" being industry jargon for getting a famous mainstream major label recording artist to first "hold," then record, then release your song.
When people hear a couple of your songs, sometimes they can be really encouraging and tell you your songs could be hits for artists. They are sincere to a degree, but are also being nice, so you have to take such compliments with a grain of salt.
To sum up this advice-giver book by industry insiders, they said it's really about moving to Nashville, networking, pitching, community involvement, being seen and heard, co-writing, paying dues, handling rejection, logging your tasks, never giving up, getting prepared for when lightning strikes, etc., which I'm sure is a valid recipe for success. None of it sounded like much fun to me, so I never once considered attempting any of it.
I once thought of myself as an amateur songwriter who didn’t have any sort of realistic chance of ever having a really good artist want to record one of my original songs, so if anyone was ever going to hear my songs, I’d have to cut them and release them myself as a solo artist, but that has now changed.
It’s pretty cool though that for many years now, because of the way times have changed, I’ve been able to write and record and release my own songs, and a few people out there in the world have found them and liked them. I've never taken it very seriously. It's not literature, it's just bluesy Americana.
I haven’t given up the hobby, and that’s awesome because I’ve had a lot of fun. Probably anyone who has taught themselves to strum a few chords on a guitar and make up some words to go with it has wondered if the song they wrote is good enough to get a great singer and artist to turn it into a hit-worthy recording.
Now I’ve sort of done it, and sort of followed some of the book's advice. Right place at right time. Knowing the right person. Networking. Relationships matter. Lucked out. Didn’t give up. Did things my own way. Times change, remote songwriting work is possible.
Technically, since I previously commercially released my own original version, it is definitely a cover version, but might not be considered a “cut”. I will consider it a cut anyway, even though this artist isn’t a major-label artist on the radio (yet), and the song is digital and not actually cut into grooves on vinyl (yet).
From what I’ve heard so far, he’s way better than most of the ultra-famous major-label mainstream popular crap anyway, and to my ears destined for opportunities beyond independent self-releasing. Even if another cut and commercial release of one of my songs doesn’t come to fruition, it’s cool to know this one is out now.
Kicking Ass
When I first heard this recording of this song, my inner voice had this immediate reaction that I involuntarily thought then verbalized to myself aloud when alone. I said something like “holy shit, this song kicks ass!” Then the next thought..."this is fucking awesome!" If you knew me in my youth, you remember I had the vocabulary of a truck driver, but in the last couple decades, my wife all but cured me of that. So, even though the “hit” song I’m most known for, “Mackinac Island,” has a single swear word in it repeated many times, believe it or not, I have to be really excited about something to utter a swear word these days. This one brought it out again.
Subsequently, I said in my head to myself something like “What can you do with a Scott Cooley song? You can kick some ass with it, that's what!” Then you can take names. Mine would be the name taken I guess, because my version has been forever subdued and captured, my name, rank and serial number collected. You can shoot first and ask questions later. Go ahead, cover my song, record your version of it, then ask me for permission to release it. I will say yes! I welcome all challengers to defeat my original versions.
The music of Ultimate Rick Jones kicks ass. He writes kick-ass songs himself, and there's no competition except for listeners ears I guess, but this is a kick-ass cover version of one of mine. This one blows mine away. I immediately wanted my wife to hear it (she loved it by the way), and just have the urge to share it and obviously hope lots of people stream it.
Ladies, if your men are reluctant to get out on the dance floor at your local honky tonk to do some line dancing with you, just ask the DJ to play Used To Be Good Looking by Ultimate Rick Jones, and he'll get out there with you, I guarantee it. You'll have the best night ever. This record has some magic in it. It's strikingly and overwhelmingly powerful.
The formal announcement:

Ultimate Rick Jones just released Used To Be Good Looking, check it out here.
“Hi Gang,
A new Ultimate Rick Jones single "Used To Be Good Looking" was just released on Bandcamp.
Join me for a butt-shaking blues odyssey into the perils of unsustainable cultural body ideals and the pitfalls of deluded self-perception.
Or maybe just check it out for the saxophones, they're really cool too.
My buddy Scott Cooley wrote this tune, so it's Rick's first cover song. Check out the tune's Bandcamp page for more info and thanks for being with me.
URJ”
Even if you’ve never used Bandcamp before, I strongly encourage you to sign up and download this one. You will get a couple really cool surprise bonus artifacts with your download, and I guarantee you will love and treasure owning this song. As always, thanks for reading and listening!!!
Even more URJ:
Ultimate Rick Jones is on Instagram:
www.instagram.com/ultimate.rick.jones.music/
Or you can follow Rick on Threads at @drhoover72
www.instagram.com/ultimate.rick.jones.music/
Or you can follow Rick on Threads at @drhoover72
I am Ultimate Rick Jones and I approve this message.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I am honored to cover a Scott Cooley song--and this one is one of my all-time favorites. And I'm humbled by all the kind and thoughtful things Scott says here. I've started calling this my "first Scott Cooley cover," so stay tuned. More of Scott's great tunes in my future!
URJ