new site heaader

Deembe Music

Covers by Deembe

Knocking on Heaven’s Door 
by Bob Dylan



I like the highly effective simplicity of this Bob Dylan classic song with its four guitar chords.  A song that has been covered so many times by professional musicians including by Guns N Roses and Eric Clapton.

My personal favourite cover is that by Bryan Ferry. The Bob Dylan / Tom Petty live version is also excellent. 

I used this song to learn about the incorporating an emulation of the Yamaha DX7 synth via a Nektar LX25 Midi keyboard.

Who Will Sing me Lullabies
by Kate Rusby


Barnsley based folk singer, Kate Rusby, uses an alternate guitar tuning, Double Dropped D (DADGBD) on her beautiful song, ‘Who Will Sing Me Lullabies’. 


When we performed this song, in SATB choral form, at a CSI:Halifax Community Choir concert I accompanied the pianist on acoustic guitar. However my guitar was in standard tuning, as we had limited time to prepare for the show. I really didn’t like the guitar sound and promised myself that I would revisit this and learn the DADGBD version.

So recently I did this arrangement in Musescore Studio 4 to help develop transcription skills.  I then varied the tempo, added drums, Bass guitar and Sax emulations using the EZ Drummer and EZMix plugins.

My Guitar & Vocals were recorded in Cockos Reaper DAW via a Presonus Studio 24 interface.

I wish I Knew How
by Billy Taylor



Widely associated with Nina Simone, ‘I Wish I Knew How’ was actually written in 1963 by Billy Taylor as a Jazz Instrumental. This was re-released in 1967 and this later version achieved fame in the UK as the theme tune for the Film {nn} Film Review series.  The lyrics were added by Dick Dallas

Civil rights activists adopted the Nina Simone’s 1967 cover as an anthem.

The Lighthouse Family cover mashes up U2’s ‘One’ and forms the basis of my cover, which itself was triggered by singing the Nina Simone version with HCS Voices choir.

Viva Navidad Mashup


This cover is a festive mashup of ‘Feliz Navidad’ (Jose Feliciano), with a sprinkling of ‘Viva la Vida’ (Coldplay) and a dash of ‘Don’t they know it’s Christmas’ (BandAid)

Pre-recorded for a Covid19 Chrismas 2020 lock-down Zoom online event.

I used Cockos Reaper DAW to record including virtual drums via the EZ Drummer 2 plugin.

I play a simple bass line on my short scale Chicago Bass Guitar, a Peavey Raptor Guitar for the muted string intro and then my PRS 245 SE for the remainder of the song.

I decided to leave the dodgy transitions in the video for fun during those dark times. Well, that’s my cover story anyhow!

Read All About It
by Emeli Sandé 


I first covered Read All About It by Emeli Sandé at a singing workshop accompanied by my acoustic guitar. It went through several iterations trying different transpositions and guitar rhythm variations using muted string percussive styles mixed with arpeggio verses.

I was attracted to the song by its call-to-arms, for a person to not remain silent but instead to express their beliefs.  My video echoes this using examples of singer-songwriters that are known to deliver powerful messages. 

Angels we Have Heard on High


A simple arrangement of the traditional French carol featuring Alto Sax, Piano, Guitar, Bass Guitar and Synth supported by percussion programmed in EZDrummer3. 


Thanks to Rix William Tillman on Musescore for providing the arrangement that I used as my base in producing this music.

Yazoo’s 1982 Original by Vince Clarke & Alison Moyet
My 2025 Cover Version

Early on the morning of my wedding day in 1982 I had been to the barbers for a trim and then called into a music store and bought Yazoo’s ‘Only You’ hit single. The following year a brilliant acapella cover by The Flying Pickets was the 1983 Christmas number one. This song has stuck with me all those years and I have thought about doing a cover for some time.

My recent return to guitar learning led to me experimenting with different sound effects that I could use for a guitar and vocal cover. I liked the phaser effect of my Zoom G3Xn multi-effects pedal and decided to use it. There really isn’t a reference guitar version as the original by Vince Clarke is a synth pop classic and the Flying Pickets version is acapella.

As I  was coming towards the end of recording the song last week there one of life’s bizarre coincidences. Dan Price at a Soul Choir rehearsal presented The Flying Pickets ‘Only You’ as a Christmas Number One Hits. We sang it through without any rehearsal. It was well received and Dan added sn arrangement for the choir to sing at our end-of-term December 2025 event.

Another retro song that recently cropped up at Soul Choir was the 1963 original version of ‘Just One Look’ by Doris Troy [Troy / Carroll].

I have been working on accented offbeat guitar strumming with Kirklees Guitar School so I applied that technique on one of the guitar tracks.