Great Cover Versions Of Songs

[mimpi]

Cover versions that sometimes we prefer or are perhaps better or very different than the originals. Here's a starter:

William Shatner's cover of Pulp's "Common People". So bad it's magnificent!

[Constance]

One of the best cover versions I've ever heard was the Beach Boys' version of "California Dreaming," originally by the Mamas and Papas. In fact, it's the only Beach Boys song I like and they didn't even write it.

Go figure.

[mimpi]

One of the best cover versions I've ever heard was the Beach Boys' version of "California Dreaming," originally by the Mamas and Papas. In fact, it's the only Beach Boys song I like and they didn't even write it.

Go figure.

Good shout speaking of which:

Dik Dik - Sognando la California 1966

[Padma]

The Mamas and Papas' cover of the Shirelles' Dedicated to the One I Love (hilarious miming in this clip!)



Annie Lennox' cover of Procul Harum's A Whiter Shade of Pale:



...and her cover of The Blue Nile's Downtown Lights:

[Devlyn]

I like Apocalyptica performing "Nothing Else Matters" by Metallica. It is four cellos and very different. Give it a listen.

[tekla]

Best.

I've often pondered what it was like to be Leonard Cohen on the day he heard this.  I think he knew he had written a really good solid song.  Perhaps even a great one.  But he also was aware that the limits of his voice and delivery meant that he would never be able to do it true justice.  For that he needed someone with real pipes, almost operatic.  But it just wasn't a matter of singing the song right, it was also about finding a person who could not just sing it, but mean it.  Someone who could find the power in it - both in the amazing uplift as well as the deep despair.  So you needed awesome talent (like a one-in-a-million voice) backed with a reality of real struggle, who knew how to project that.  Someone who could take the incredible bitterness of his original, and find the transformation into a hymn in it.  And, face it, not a lot of those people around.  So it sat.  It sat and sat and sat.  A couple of people kicked it around, and they were OK, you know a solid base hit - but no bases-loaded, over the Green Monster and out of the park home run.  Till this.  I bet he just sat there listening and cried and cried.  I know I can't listen to it without crying, but I'm a sucker for people transcending entertainment and amusement and turning it into art.
K.D. Lang sings Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah

Worst.
Really, this is so far the worst cover ever, that there really isn't even a second or third place.  It's like killing Bon Scott all over again.

[Padma]

John Cale's cover of Hallelujah is pretty amazing too.

[tekla]

I just wouldn't be being me if I didn't toss these onto the pile too. The first is Jer (near death and looking it) doing a tender version of an old Scottish Folk Song originally known as The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie, but typically rendered in English as Peggy-O.


And here is Jer and Dawg picking and grinning (listen to the pick work, amazing) to the old American Bluegrass song Shady Grove which is almost exactly the melody of an older British songs Matty Grove.
Jerry Garcia and David Grisman - Shady Grove

[mimpi]

Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise" revisited.

Coolio maybe a bit of a t**t but I prefer his cover to the original:

[BunnyBee]

[mimpi]

(What happened there, is that Susan's or YouTube?)

[V M]

How's about a lil' Johnny Cash doin' Nine Inch Nails

[V M]

And who can live without Me First and the Gimme Gimmes...

Dixie Chicks Cover

[JungianZoe]

Cover of T. Rex...

Siouxsie and the Banshees - 20th Century Boy

[mechakitty]

Pat Benatar's cover of The Beatles' "Helter Skelter"...what a freakin' voice she has, rite?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLrYv4winEE

Pat Benatar, again, covering "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush...I think I'm currently in love with this song. Mostly the original, though, but this cover is very respectable, because Pat has the skill to match Kate almost note for note, which is commendable.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQr1BRHqwLs

Cake's cover of Black Sabbath's "War Pigs"...which is completely different than the original.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDJgwUeW7_k

[JungianZoe]

Pat Benatar's cover of The Beatles' "Helter Skelter"...what a freakin' voice she has, rite?

No way!  I almost put Siouxsie's version of Helter Skelter as my response.

[mechakitty]

WOW, that's different. I love Siouxsie. Love the attitude. Great raw guitar tone there.

[tekla]

Y'all know there is a difference between covers and standards.  If they are really changing it, it's a standard, a cover is note for note copy - like a tribute band would play.

Like this: The Mule, sounding better than Black Sabbath did playing this the last time I heard them...
Govt Mule "War Pigs" Live HQ

[mechakitty]

Gov't Mule also did a great cover of "What Is Hip?" by Tower of Power.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwWr6lnvE5Y

Also, random note: I've been listening to mostly Kate Bush for an hour, and suddenly shifting to Gov't Mule is kind of a rough transition. It's like eating a jalapeno pepper after scarfing an ice cream cone.

[tekla]

They do lots of great songs, largely because Warren is about the best working guitar slinger on any given night playing anywhere in the world.