Somebody’s Watching Me cover

Somebody’s Watching Me

Released

In his 2020 memoir, Lenny Kravitz admits to turning down the eventually omnipresent number-one hit, “Somebody’s Watching Me.” His loss was the gain of Kennedy “Rockwell” Gordy, fourth son of Motown mogul Berry Gordy, who recorded the track instead (with an appropriately paranoiac hook by Michael Jackson) and watched it soar into the Billboard Top 5. But the R&B synthpop of Somebody’s Watching Me went overlooked after his hit (and its follow-up, the Top 40 “Obscene Phone Caller”) crested. Rockwell’s capable cover of The Beatles’ “Taxman” is worth the listen, as is the pop confection “Foreign Country.”

Miles Marshall Lewis

Recommended by

Suggestions
The Meters cover

The Meters

The Meters
Express Yourself cover

Express Yourself

Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band
Duran Duran cover

Duran Duran

Duran Duran
Back at One cover

Back at One

Brian McKnight
Psychedelic Shack cover

Psychedelic Shack

The Temptations
69 Love Songs cover

69 Love Songs

The Magnetic Fields
Actually cover

Actually

Pet Shop Boys