Covers

For some reason, I find cover songs almost endlessly fascinating. Julian Sanchez remarked yesterday that "For some reason, I had remembered the Bangles cover of 'Hazy Shade of Winter' as being much better than it is." Similarly, up until yesterday I had recalled Orgy's cover of "Blue Monday" as bad, but then I heard it randomly and it's really, really, really bad. Conversely, the comment thread to Julian's post turned up a link to Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt", which is fantastic.

The true tragedy of the "Blue Monday" episode, however, is that they were covering a perfectly excellent song. The best covers, accordingly, are the ones that actually take a bad song and turn it into a good one. "Love Buzz" is what comes to mind, but there are others.

Comments

Again with the "Love Buzz". Raised by wolves, I tell you.

Posted by Jesse | June 27, 2007 2:18 PM

Orgy covered Fats Domino*? Wait a minute, who the fuck is Orgy?

That reminds me, one of the Smashing Pumpkins' B-sides was a perfectly lovely lo-fi cover of "My Blue Heaven" with just piano and Billy Corgan singing.

* I know it's probably New Order.

Posted by norbizness | June 27, 2007 2:19 PM

I actually like the Bangles cover of Hazy Shade of Winter.

In any case, I'd say my favorite two cover songs are "I Shot the Sheriff" by Eric Clapton (I think it's a much tighter version than Bob Marley's) and "Something so Right" by Annie Lennox (but then, Annie Lennox's voice, when properly harnessed, is one of the true great voices in pop history).

I sort of also like the Stones cover of "Like a Rolling Stone".

Posted by JRVJ | June 27, 2007 2:22 PM

I've always thought the discussions begins and ends with the hendrix version of dylan's All Along the Watchtower.

Posted by jmscher | June 27, 2007 2:24 PM

The White Stripes are masters of the cover song. See "Conquest" on the new album.

Posted by Aaron | June 27, 2007 2:35 PM

Devo- Satisfaction

Posted by joe dokes | June 27, 2007 2:35 PM

As always, the Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorme cover of "Black Hole Sun" should win awards.

Since links are not allowed, I'll let you know you can listen to this song right now by googling this query: raincoaster "black hole sun"

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The single best cover I've ever heard is PJ Harvey singing "To Sir, With Love" in the late 90's Hal Hartley movie Book of Life.

It's a great song made ever better in the cover version.

Posted by Petey | June 27, 2007 2:36 PM

And then there's things like the Indigo Girls doing the Clash ("Clampdown") and Violent Femmes ("Blister in the Sun"). Come to think of it, their "All Along the Watchtower" isn't bad either, especially live, and their "American Tune" makes you forget Paul Simon.

But for true cover inspiration, there's Dread Zeppelin, Killdozer and all of the Beautiful South's Golddiggas album ("Don't Fear the Reaper" as a mamba, anyone?)

Posted by Doug | June 27, 2007 2:37 PM

In country music, artists prove themselves by breathing life into an old standard--although the boring ones simply do a lazy reworking of "Crazy" or "Your Cheatin' Heart." I love Uncle Tupelo's many brilliant covers, particularly "No Depression," and "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?" Speaking of Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt did an amazing cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Open All Night" on a Nebraska tribute album a few years ago. If you're a Boss fan, it's worth checking out the whole album.

Posted by Philly | June 27, 2007 2:37 PM

Greatest of them all, no contest: Negativland's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

Posted by godoggo | June 27, 2007 2:38 PM

I'd nominate all of Phish's Talking Heads covers (they did Remain in Light in its entirety one Halloween), and especially "Cities". Not all of their (many, many) covers are all that good--their "Peaches En Regalia" doesn't work, nor does their full Quadrophenia--but "Cities" is a very mediocre song by a very amazing band that Phish decided to funk up (as much as they could), to great effect.

Of course, they also were known to do "Y'rushalayim Shel Zahav" a capella and in Hebrew.

Posted by marc | June 27, 2007 2:39 PM

Well, if you're looking for covers of bad songs, I recommend the Red House Painters version of Silly Love Songs.

Posted by peep | June 27, 2007 2:39 PM

Julian Sanchez? Are you fucking serious? I don't care how nice Julian Sanchez is, his taste in music--the core of what he listens to, the records he buys, the shows he goes to--is what matters. And it's hateful and xenophobic and wrong. And however you qualify it, however you phrase it, however you attempt to define it, the fact is that like so many others, you've fallen prey to a media that insists that the only responsible hipsterism is one that adopts the cover band line and capitulates.

[/snark]

Posted by Cain | June 27, 2007 2:40 PM

Why the hell can joe dokes get a link to work in his comment above?

Posted by Petey | June 27, 2007 2:40 PM

Y'all need to be listening to Coverville.

Posted by delicious Pundit | June 27, 2007 2:42 PM

For the ultimate cover experience you need "Stairways to Heaven".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USh-msend-o&mode=related&search=

I am particularly fond of the 5Neat Guys version.

Posted by Njorl | June 27, 2007 2:43 PM

I must respectfully disagree with a previous poster, by far the masters of covers are/were the Afghan Whigs. And that excellence is carried on by Greg Dulli with his latest incarnation the Twilight Singers.

Posted by NelsonMuntz | June 27, 2007 2:44 PM

In the bad song made good vein, I would submit REM's version of "Superman" by the Clique.

In general though, I don't buy the the bad song made good theory. Some of the most successful and memorable covers are of Bob Dylan songs.

Posted by Led | June 27, 2007 2:46 PM

Check out Our Lady Peace's version of Neil Young's "The Needle and the Damage Done". Pretty good stuff.

Posted by steve duncan | June 27, 2007 2:47 PM

This link is just here to annoy Petey.

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2007/06/covers.php#comment-271605

Posted by Njorl | June 27, 2007 2:47 PM

"The best covers, accordingly, are the ones that actually take a bad song and turn it into a good one."

A good example of this: Richard Thompson's cover of "Oops, I Did It Again," which teases out the ominous foreboding that's only implicit in the original.

Posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden | June 27, 2007 2:48 PM

Back in the olden days, days of yore and saxaphones, Marvin Gaye's cover of Gladys Knight and the Pips' "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is superior inmany ways and, keeping the 'through' motif, I heretically propose that Joe Cocker's "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" is superior to the Beatles version.

Very few Beatles songs are covered at all successfully.

Posted by Mudge | June 27, 2007 2:48 PM

Galaxie 500 covering Yoko Ono's "Listen, the Snow is Falling" - her only remotely listenable song made really really good. Also, they use a rainstick in it! A rainstick!

Posted by brian | June 27, 2007 2:48 PM

Along with Jimi's version of All Along the Watchtower, one has to mention Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah.

Posted by Matthew | June 27, 2007 2:53 PM

Dinosaur Jr. "Just Like Heaven"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73drAdc57SM

Posted by blah | June 27, 2007 2:54 PM

More of a novelty than a real cover, but Hurra Torpedo's cover of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" while smashing kitchen appliances is still Best Video Evar On Youtube.

Posted by Oberon | June 27, 2007 2:57 PM

If you liked the Johnny Cash cover of "Hurt", you'll love the video--it's truly excellent, and I'm not usually a music-video fan

Posted by Dan Miller | June 27, 2007 2:59 PM

Given the nature of the band (act? group? collective?), are mentions of Nouvelle Vague banned from this thread? Because if not, I must say their cover of "Dancing With Myself" just utterly blows the doors off the original. Also awesome (though not better than the originals) are their versions of "Too Drunk to Fuck" and "Guns of Brixton."

Posted by jhupp | June 27, 2007 3:00 PM

Claudia Brücken does some amazing covers, I'm thinking of "Running up that Hill" and "Lipstick Vogue." Popchor Berlin does a fabulous "Bittersweet Symphony." BossHoss does an amazing "Sabotage." Paris Motel does a great "Maps."

Of course, nothing is better than the Dresden Dolls' "Baby, One More Time."

Posted by m | June 27, 2007 3:00 PM

Wouldn't "Smashing Kitchen Appliances" be a great name for a band? Yeah, Dave Barry invades my body every so often, what of it?

Posted by steve duncan | June 27, 2007 3:01 PM

The Flaming Lips' apocalyptic cover of Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head" is good. The Lips take it literally and the whole song has this doomed Kafka feeling.

Posted by Ben Cronin | June 27, 2007 3:02 PM

"This link is just here to annoy Petey."

I'm not annoyed, but I am confused.

Posted by Petey | June 27, 2007 3:02 PM

If you want to hear a bad version of "Hazy Shade of Winter", listen to the original. At least the Bangles DID something with the song.

Posted by Dilan Esper | June 27, 2007 3:03 PM

Oh, and one of my favorite performances of any song ever is a cover: Cowboy Junkies doing "Sweet Jane." Way better than the VU album version, and similar to VU's live version, but make it even slower and sparser, and replace Lou Reed's voice with one of the most beautiful, hushed, smoky voices on the planet (that of Margo Timmins).

Posted by jhupp | June 27, 2007 3:03 PM

TV on the Radio's creepy-ass a capella cover of "Mr. Grieves" is pretty fantastic.

Posted by Christmas | June 27, 2007 3:07 PM

> For some reason, I find cover songs
> almost endlessly fascinating.

I have never understood this business about "covers" and how they differ so greatly from other music-producing performances. When an orchestra plays a Beethoven symphony is that called a "cover", or a "performance"? What is the difference? Yet "covering" is some sort of horrible sin in the world of popular music. Seems to me you would want your better bands playing your best songs to see how they do.

Cranky

Posted by Cranky Observer | June 27, 2007 3:08 PM

Aretha ----> R-E-S-P-E-C-T (cover of Otis Redding).

Jimi Hendrix -----> All Along The Watchtower (cover of Dave Mason's cover of Dylan).

End of conversation.

Posted by Ephus | June 27, 2007 3:09 PM

"Very few Beatles songs are covered at all successfully."

An exception is the Ray Charles version of Yesterday, which is even better than the original, in my opinion. You could fill an entire thread full of great covers that Ray Charles did.

Posted by Doug T | June 27, 2007 3:16 PM

Nina Simone, more excellent covers than I have time to list, notably she even makes Bee Gees songs awesome.

Al Green - We've Only Just Begun. Al makes the Carpenters soulfull, now that is an accomplishment!

Posted by Eric | June 27, 2007 3:17 PM

Technically, a "cover" refers to a second version of a song that is released in the same time period as the original, and thus attempts to cash in on its popularity. Examples would be Elvis's version of "Blue Suede Shoes" or anything by Pat Boone.

A reworking of a song years later should not really be called a cover. So the Stones' version of "Like a Rolling Stone" wouldn't be called a cover, for example.

Posted by Virginia Dutch | June 27, 2007 3:19 PM

Wonderwall: bad song. Ryan Adams: irritating, at best. Ryan Adams covering Wonderwall: excellent.

Posted by Minipundit | June 27, 2007 3:19 PM

You could have a whole separate discussion of cover versions that are way more famous than the originals, e.g.:

All Along the Watchtower: Hendrix vs. Dylan
Respect: Franklin vs. Redding
Woodstock: CSN&Y vs. Mitchell
Black Magic Woman: Santana vs. Fleetwood Mac
Hey Joe: Hendrix vs. The Leaves

Along the same lines, I suspect more people have heard the Bangles version of Hazy Shade of Winter than S & G's version.

Posted by blah | June 27, 2007 3:20 PM

The idea that there is something "fascinating" about covers is kind of bizarre, and telling of the weird worship of creativity that so many younger hipsters seem prey to. In reality a band that can't crank out some cool covers is a band that really isn't worth crap. Witness cool bands who did great covers, ignoring the many great covers already cited:
The Clash - "Police and Thieves", "I fought the law"
The Beatles - "Twist and Shout", "Roll over Beethoven", many more.
The Rolling Stones - "Carol", "Beast of Burden", pretty much anything they recorded before 1965.
The Who - "Young Man Blues", certainly a nominee for greatest cover of all time, "Summertime Blues", "Roadrunner", "Saturday Night's alright for fighting."
Talking Heads - "Take me to the River"
Circle Jerks - the whole "golden shower of hits" medley
The Dambuilders - "White Girl"
XTC "All along the watchtower"

(An aside - if you listen in sequence to Dylan's, then Hendrix's, then XTC's, then U2's , then Neil Young's version of this song - you will realize how rock'n'roll hit a plateau sometime right after 1980 and has been basically stuck ever since).

And pretty much any cover of a Kink's song will prove to be better than the original (Pretenders, Van Halen [debatable], Fountains of Wayne, Big Star, Blur, the Jam have all proven this).

Posted by vanya | June 27, 2007 3:20 PM

While on the subject of Hurt, you need to track down the You Tube of Kermit the Frog doing the Johnny Cash version of Hurt.

Posted by Eric | June 27, 2007 3:21 PM

vanya wrote, "And pretty much any cover of a Kink's song will prove to be better than the original (Pretenders, Van Halen [debatable], Fountains of Wayne, Big Star, Blur, the Jam have all proven this)."

vanya, I take it you haven't heard Sanjaya's rendition of "You Really Got Me"

Posted by peep | June 27, 2007 3:25 PM

Also, vanya, the Rolling Stones wrote "Beast of Burden" -- their version is not a cover.

Posted by peep | June 27, 2007 3:29 PM

Johnny Cash's cover of Springsteen's "Johnny 99."

Not better than the original, but the Flying Burrito Brothers' cover of Aretha's "Do Right Woman" is mighy good (and different).

Posted by noyatin | June 27, 2007 3:29 PM

Senor Coconut's version of Kraftwerk's Autobahn.

And then there's this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57ta7mkgrOU

Posted by jamey | June 27, 2007 3:36 PM

i maintain that the greatest cover song crime is the phone call that Axl Rose gets in the middle of Knockin' on Heaven's Door. wtf was that?

Posted by David | June 27, 2007 3:37 PM

Everyone loves teh music threads, I see.

Matt, I agree that Johnny Cash's "Hurt" is outstanding. FYI, Cash's entire output on American Recordings (1994-2003) is about 50% covers of other people's songs (including a great/horrible duet of "Redemption Song" with Joe Strummer)--if you like "Hurt," there's a lot of material of or close to that level of quality. My personal fave is his version of Will Oldham's "I See A Darkness."

(And if you like Will Oldham, he does a great "Thunder Road.")

Posted by James Gary | June 27, 2007 3:37 PM

Apparently I need to listen to more music. You lost me at Orgy.

This probably makes me a dweeb on several levels but I particularly like Bare Naked Ladies' (hard-to-find) cover of "Lovers in a Dangerous Time". Not better than the original, and substantially different, but quite good on its own terms.

Posted by Ryan | June 27, 2007 3:42 PM

I'm with everyone on Cash's cover of "Hurt" - truly an amazing effort and so, so, so much better than the original.

Another nominee (at least I don't think I saw it) is Billy Idol's cover of "Mony Mony" by Tommy James and the Shondells.

Posted by CJH | June 27, 2007 3:42 PM

For Kermit covering "Hurt," google "sad kermit" and click through to the Hurt video. Be warned: it's a little disturbing.

Posted by Philly | June 27, 2007 3:47 PM

Yo La Tengo is an excellent covers band.

My favorite: Beth Orton's version of "I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine."

Posted by brendino | June 27, 2007 3:47 PM

Rolling Stones wrote "Beast of Burden" -- their version is not a cover.

True that, I guess it sounds suspiciously like a lot of motown songs, but it is technically an original.

What about great plagiarized music - would "My Sweet Lord" count as a cover of "She's so Fine"?

Posted by vanya | June 27, 2007 3:52 PM

The Bangles' "Hazy Shade of Winter" is indeed a big improvement on the original.

Not as bad as you think, and even, I'm gonna say it, kind of good, is Guns n Roses covering "New Rose" and "I Don't Care About You" on The Spaghetti Incident.

And while we're on Bangles, the Matthew Sweet / Susanna Hoffs covers album Under the Covers is extremely worthwhile.

Posted by JSE | June 27, 2007 3:53 PM

Here's another one - Freedy Johnston covering XTC's "Earn Enough for Us".

Posted by vanya | June 27, 2007 3:57 PM

And pretty much any cover of a Kink's song will prove to be better than the original (Pretenders, Van Halen [debatable], Fountains of Wayne, Big Star, Blur, the Jam have all proven this).

Heresy! (OK, maybe I'll begrudge you The Jam's cover of David Watts)

Cranky, the difference in perception between "covering" Beethoven and covering, say, the Beatles, is that the former became famous for generating sheet music for others to perform, while the latter became famous for producing recordings. It's all well and good for bands to cover other bands in a live performance, but no good comes of recording a cover song unless you can improve on the original performance, or do something strikingly different with the song.

Best cover song I haven't seen mentioned yet? Tainted Love.

Posted by LaFollette Progressive | June 27, 2007 3:59 PM

I guess I should clarify that I'm referring to Soft Cell's more-famous-than-the-original cover version, not the horrifying Marilyn Manson re-cover.

Posted by LaFollette Progressive | June 27, 2007 4:03 PM

The Flaming Lips' apocalyptic cover of Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head" is good. The Lips take it literally and the whole song has this doomed Kafka feeling.

True dat. I have a couple of versions of this from live shows and they're spectacular.

Why not love for Yo La Tengo and their annual covers benefit for WFMU though? One of the best hours of radio of the year.

Posted by dob | June 27, 2007 4:05 PM

I can think of an artist who's been covered a zillion times but never come close to being improved upon: Chuck Berry.

Posted by Virginia Dutch | June 27, 2007 4:14 PM

Most early white rock and roll is a cover of a black recording, but seldom is the original black recording ever heard. "Who Do You Love" (most recent version by George Thorogood, also the Stones, Quicksliver Messenger and my favorite version, Tom Rush) was first recorded by Bo Diddley. Bo Diddley is on the Sones' version, but I have never heard his original. Hundreds of other examples exist. Just ask Ivory Joe Turner.

"Respect" is mentioned. That is an interesting example of a recording by a black artist who had almost no mainstream vsisibility (Otis Redding) covered by one who did (Aretha Franklin). In all repects (pun intended), Otis' version is better in my mind, especially any live version.

Posted by Mudge | June 27, 2007 4:26 PM

The Gourds' bluegrass version of Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice."

Posted by noyatin | June 27, 2007 4:27 PM

The Kinks had great songs in the '60s, but their production sucked. If they'd been recorded differently they'd have been more popular.

Bare Naked Ladies' (hard-to-find) cover of "Lovers in a Dangerous Time"

It's on Disc One: All Their Greatest Hits 1991-2001.

Posted by kirkaracha | June 27, 2007 4:35 PM

Let us all agree that the WORST cover ever is Duran Duran's "911 is a Joke."

Posted by Dave B. | June 27, 2007 4:37 PM

Who cares about good covers? For a really bad cover, complete with Riefenstahl-esque video, see this Rammstein cover of Depeche Mode's Stripped. It contains quite possibly the worst English ever, high-larious I tell you.

Posted by Chris Peterson | June 27, 2007 4:41 PM

Someone mentioned the badness of Beatles covers... My college radio station once did a whole evening of nothing but Beatles covers which included William Shatner doing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Indescribable.

Posted by Ryan | June 27, 2007 4:45 PM

noyatin beat me to it, but the Gourd's "Gin and Juice" is certainly my favorite. The Cowboy Junkies' "Sweet Jane" is right up there, though. I guess I should also mention Rickie Lee Jones' cover of Hendrix's "Up from the Skies." Another classic.

Posted by fostert | June 27, 2007 4:54 PM

I completely agree regarding Blue Monday. I recently heard a terrible cover of Boys of Summer as well.

Posted by Dave | June 27, 2007 5:02 PM

the Matthew Sweet / Susanna Hoffs covers album Under the Covers is extremely worthwhile.

Their "The Kids Are Alright" is a whole lot better than it has any business being.

A personal fave: the Donnas' "Living After Midnight".

Posted by Thlayli | June 27, 2007 5:23 PM

Regarding William Shatner:

His entire spoken-word album is mind-expanding, and I'm not entirely sure in a good way. His version of "Mr. Tambourine Man" gave me an aneurysm.

Posted by Matthew | June 27, 2007 5:32 PM

Philosophically, I can accept 2 reasons for covering a song:

1. To popularize an obscure song that might have been missed the first time around.
2. To put a different (and improved - G&R with that shiite version of Knocking on Heaven's Door - you know what I'm talking about...) interpretation on the song.

Regrettably, this is rarely what happens; instead, the covering artist simply takes a popular song and redoes that song in much the same fashion (yeah, Dixie Chicks I'm looking at you...remember Landslide?).

My favourite cover is Elwood's version of Gordon Lightfoot's Sundown.

I have to give props to Summertime, which has to be the most frequently (and variably) covered song of all time...

Posted by 3pointshooter | June 27, 2007 5:36 PM

Lots of great covers mentioned. A few more:

Leon Russell's live (Concert for Bangladesh) version of George Harrison's "Beware of Darkness."

The Dylan covers on any of the first few Byrds albums (I'm not sure "Bells of Rhymney," not a Dylan piece, counts as a cover, but if it does, add it.).

Any cover by The Band.

Posted by CJColucci | June 27, 2007 5:57 PM

I love Robert Palmer's version of Pressure Drop. I agree with whoever said Duran Duran's version of 911 is a Joke being worst cover ever. Given that, you'd think Barenaked Lafies' cover of Fight The Power would be awful, but it's in my top 3 favorites along with the Violent Femmes' Do You Really Want to Hurt Me. I think Marvin Gaye's version of I Heard it Through the Grapevine was released a few weeks after Gladys Knight and the Pips' version, but you can't even process Gladys' upbeat version when you hear it.

Posted by Mike | June 27, 2007 6:04 PM

Re: I Heard It Through the Grapevine. Wikipedia actually has an entry for the song

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heard_It_Through_the_Grapevine

and Marvin Gaye recorded it before Gladys Knight, although Gladys' version was released first. Lots of covers, it is an interesting entry.

Posted by Mudge | June 27, 2007 6:18 PM

Klaus Nomi's version (not really a cover?) of "You Don't Own Me"

Posted by M. Peachbush | June 27, 2007 6:27 PM

I don't think that it was ever recorded, but I once heard the Indigo Girls Cover "Cortez The Killer" - indescribably good.
Also, it's a wee bit disturbing that we've got this far without nybody mentioning The Grateful Dead. Some of their covers (Lucy itswd) are tragically bad, others (Baba O'Riley/Tomorrow never knows) really interesting, and many of their Dylan covers just sublime.
One more example of improving on a Beatles song - Joe Cocker took a throwaway little ditty (With a little help...) and made it (in the very best sense) anthemic. The version on Live is particularly glorious.
And I don't think it strictly qualifies, but check out The Blind Boys of Alabama's version of Amazing Grace, which they sing to the tune of House of the Rising Sun!! (Studio version on Spirit of the Century, live version on Bonnarroo 2002.)

Posted by The Sophist | June 27, 2007 6:35 PM

I concur with your definition of a good cover, and by it I declare the greatest cover ever to be:

Flash - Tenacious D covering Queen

Posted by Jeremy | June 27, 2007 7:28 PM

The Gourds' Gin and Juice is great.

Johnny Cash did so many great covers in his later years. In addition to Hurt, among the ones I'm aware of and like are Personal Jesus (really stripped down and vocally aggressive) and Soundgarden's Rusty Cage. It really demonstrates his openness to finding good music outside of his main genre and skill at choosing songs that he can adapt to fit his own style - Personal Jesus is a really good example of this.

k.d.lang also did an album of covers of songs by Canadian writers, called something like Hymns to the 49th Parallel. If you're one of those people who like Neil Young's songs but don't want to listen to his voice, you get to hear k.d. singing After the Goldrush and Helpless, along with some Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell songs, among others.

I also have a soft spot in my heart for Lyle Lovett's cover of Stand by Your Man, which was used to great effect at the end of The Crying Game. Though you can't be sure that he intends this due to the misogyny that marks some of his earliest stuff, the condescending vocal treatment in the song really seems to mock the idea that a woman should forgive a man's bad actions and would have a hard time understanding them. Lovett also has an album that is mainly covers of other artists's songs called "Step Inside This House", and the title song is a lovely but obscure Guy Clark song, I think.

And I'm definitely going to look for the D covering Flash. It sounds brilliant.

Posted by Azelie | June 27, 2007 7:47 PM

Klaus Nomi covering "Lightning Strikes."

Pet Shop Boys' version of "Always on My Mind," and "Somewhere."

Soft Cell's version of "Tainted Love."

Posted by adlsad | June 27, 2007 8:08 PM

hmmm, fun... How about jazz covers of pop-rock?
Cassandra Wilson's cover of Tupelo Honey ranks up there as among the best. Brad Mehldau did a number of tremendous covers of rock tunes in rich, rich detail. One should check out his cover of Radiohead's Paranoid Android Live in Tokyo...mesmerizing.

While on the topic of Radiohead, I guess it falls upon me to relate that there are many awesome covers of Radiohead songs. Robert Glasper's partial cover of Everything In Its Place live at Newport is awesome. So is Kate Roger's cover of Climbing Up the Walls...

Posted by shah8 | June 27, 2007 8:23 PM

Jazz covers of pop rock? Wow, I forgot an interesting one. Check out the band "Jazz is Dead". Nothing but jazz versions of Grateful Dead tunes. The musician lineup is solid with Jeff Pevar, T Lazitz and Kenny Gradney, but the clincher is Billy Cobham on drums. I saw them live and it was a very good show. Of course, you can't really go wrong with Billy Cobham on drums.

Posted by fostert | June 27, 2007 9:21 PM

Great cover: Pixies doing Neil Young's "Winterlong"
Terrible cover: Smashing Pumpkins doing Neil Young's "Winterlong"

Posted by Aaron S. Veenstra | June 27, 2007 9:23 PM

"Tower of Song-- The Songs of Leonard Cohen" has some great covers. My favourites:

Tori Amos- Famous Blue Raincoat
Don Henley- Everybody Knows
Suzanne Vega- Story of Issac

There are two versions of coming back to you-- don't like either one, but I like the song.

Posted by jamie_2002 | June 27, 2007 11:23 PM

And there are the cover of foreign songs...

Do we agree that "my way" is the überwinner there? or changing the lyrics between french and english made it definitely not a cover?
Or did Sinatra do a cover of Anka, and it makes it a cover again?

"my way" is not very hype, I know. Sorry, I can't do better, too old and too far from DC, or from the US for that matter.

Posted by foreigner | June 28, 2007 5:57 AM

The best covers, accordingly, are the ones that actually take a bad song and turn it into a good one.

And that's most likely to happen when you have an artist like Johnny Cash as opposed to Orgy or the Bangles.

Posted by TW Andrews | June 28, 2007 8:57 AM

Rodrigo y Gabriela : Stairway to Heaven
and their rendition of Orion are both great covers.

Posted by Meh | June 28, 2007 12:30 PM

Best covered tune: "I Fought the Law" which was a great song for The Bobby Fuller Four and The Clash. The song was written by Sonny Curtis who also wrote the theme song for The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Big world.

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | June 28, 2007 1:36 PM

There's exactly one Beatle cover that bests the original -- Judy Collings sings "In My Life" so that the lyrics just fall out into sentences rather than with Lennon's eccentric phrasing.

I think the scarcity of good Beatles covers is a function of their crappiness as lyricists. Someone else singing their words sounds like an ijut.

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | June 28, 2007 1:40 PM

Since someone brought up The Gourds, I'll mention that they also have a terrific cover of Ziggy Stardust. On the same Bowie tribute album there is a cover version of "Space Oddity" by the Langley Schools Music Project, which is one of the creepiest recordings I've ever encountered.

Tribute albums are generally lame, of course, but they occasionally have some weirdly brilliant tracks. For instance, Franz Ferdinand does an excellent cover version of Serge Gainsbourg's "Sorry Angel."

Posted by LaFollette Progressive | June 28, 2007 2:04 PM

Stevie Wonder's version of "We Can Work It Out" is pretty awesome.

Posted by blah | June 28, 2007 2:07 PM

Very few Beatles songs are covered at all successfully.

"Eleanor Rigby," as performed by Ray Charles, is the only cover song I've ever heard that is unquestionably superior to the original (and I'm including "Watchtower.")

Posted by Jack Roy | June 28, 2007 2:53 PM

Whereas, Sinatra's version of "Yesterday" is truly awful. I love ya, Blue Eyes, but stop me when I lie. On the other hand, Mike Doughty's rendition of Mary J. Blige's "Real Love" is great!

Posted by ajw_93 | June 28, 2007 6:05 PM

Well! I just stumbled upon this site/page and found it thoroughly enjoyable.

Here's a few from me:
Any CD by Richard Cheese. He takes current-ish songs and does them in a lounge style. (He, too, does Gin and Juice.)

Rockapella--same deal, but all the songs are done in an acapella style.

And I do like Shonen Knife's version of Top of the World, on a tribute to The Carpenters.

I also thoroughly enjoy my String Quartet versions of Hot Fuss and one of NIN's albumns. "Head Like a Hole" with violins and cellos is pretty darn cool.

Ooh, ooh! I can't believe I mentioned Richard Cheese and forgot what I consider his counterpart. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes does older songs all with a punk style. They also tweak some of the lyrics a bit, usually in a fun way.
Elizabeth

Posted by Elizabeth | July 8, 2007 3:19 AM