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
Beyoncé cover

Beyoncé

Beyoncé
ABC cover

ABC

The Jackson 5
Gettin’ Ready cover

Gettin’ Ready

The Temptations
Away We a Go-Go cover

Away We a Go-Go

Smokey Robinson, The Miracles
Soul Makossa cover

Soul Makossa

Manu Dibango
The Wicked Pickett cover

The Wicked Pickett

Wilson Pickett
Superfly cover

Superfly

Curtis Mayfield
Madonna cover

Madonna

Madonna