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Cover me: songs that are better the second time aroundLast week, some boys at The Onion's A.V. Club compiled a list of “23 Songs That Should Never Be Covered Again.” I thought it would be a fun list, but I found it kind of boring because it was full of songs that have been covered well (“All Along the Watchtower,” “Respect,” “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”) and songs I've never heard covered (“99 Luftballons,” “Come On Eileen”). So I quickly found that I did not care. However, it did get me thinking, and I eventually came up with a list of my own: covers I like even more than the originals. 5. “I Think We're Alone Now,” Tiffany (original — Tommy James and the Shondells)
Don't hate me because I like this song. I love the Tommy James version of the song, and I was never a Tiffany fan. But there's something about her cover (mall performances and all) that is very memorable and — dare I say? — good. My affinity may be influenced by my early college memories surrounding the song, but there's something about her perky, raspy voice that just works. 4. “Proud Mary,” Tina Turner (original — Creedence Clearwater Revivial)
Lest you despaired of my taste in music based on my previous choice, here is proof that I do actually have some. The Creedence Clearwater Revival original is a fine, distinctive song. And then there's Tina Turner (and, to be fair, the late Ike Turner. But he used to beat her and I don't like him). She owns both this song and the best set of legs in show business. I saw her perform it live in 1993, and damn, I was blown away. Here she is back in the day. 3. “Wilder Than Her,” Dar Williams (original — Fred Eaglesmith)
Dar Williams is probably my favorite singer-songwriter — and the only artist whose albums I always buy the day they're released. As much as I like her original tunes, I'm a big fan of her many of her covers (like Richard Shindell's “The Ballad of Mary Magdalene" and the Grateful Dead's “Ripple"), and “Wilder Than Her” is the best of the bunch. As one listener commented, “The cover of 'Wilder Than Her' is a stunning reinterpretation of the song, and reveals a side of Dar that isn't heard elsewhere.” She also gets extra points for making the song sound all lesbian by not changing the pronouns. If you're unfamiliar with the song, check the lyrics here. 2. “Get Together,” Indigo Girls (original — the Youngbloods)
This is another one that is
strongly influenced by my college memories. I spent a lot of time driving
around Los Angeles in a friend's truck singing along to this song in
1989, but at the time I recall thinking that it was better than the
original. And listening to both today, I still do. 1. “Hazy Shade of Winter,” the Bangles (original — Simon and Garfunkel)
I love the Simon and Garfunkel original. And I'm loath to say that a cover of Simon and Garfunkel is better than the original. But the Bangles' “Hazy Shade of Winter” is one of the best covers in the history of covers. It is eclipsed only by Jimi Hendrix's “All Along the Watchtower,” Aretha Franklin's “Respect” and Janis Joplin's “Me and Bobby McGee.” Less Than Zero may have been a mediocre movie, but this song gave it a hell of a soundtrack. This video has to bring back memories. So what song covers do you think surpass the originals? Or which ones do you just really like? Submitted by on December 17, 2007 - 1:52pm. |
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News, Reviews & Commentary on Lesbian and Bisexual women in Entertainment and the Media
Johnny Cash's "Hurt"
Yes
Hear, hear! Cash's cover of Hurt is raw and brilliant and gorgeous. Good call.
Alanis - Crazy
Alanis Morrisette's cover of seals crazy rocks! The video is awsome to...
Oh and her cover of black eyed peas' humps is also really great!
My humps
Well, speaking of Alanis; I vote for her cover of My humps. I'm never gonna get tired of its brilliance.
"Even in death Gabrielle, I will never leave you"- Xena
yep
I agree!
Eternal Flame
a little more obscure but still amazing...
first comment here, i really felt like sharing these two:
A cover of Kim Carnes' Bette Davis Eyes - rare are the versions of this one which very nearly surpass the original: http://hypem.com/search/sexton%20blake/1/
And this one, which clearly surpasses the original ;-) : http://hypem.com/search/daniel%20rossen/1/ (middle of the page)
Cliche', but what are you gonna do?
Any cover that Melissa Etheridge has ever done. I honestly have not heard her do a cover that I have not liked better than the original. (wait, I lie. I hated her cover of Dolly Parton's "I will always love you") She's all over Joan Armatrading. (I was never so disappointed as I was when I bought a Joan CD based on Melissa's covers, and found out that the original, is not always the best.) And Maggie May definitely prefers the ladies to Rod Stewart.
Lisa
Anyone who trades liberty for security deserves neither liberty nor security -- B. FranklinKT Tunstall - get your freak on
KT did an amazing cover of Missy's party starter "get your freak on" AWSOME!
I woldn't call it better than the original, just really good in a different way
Pet Shop Boys
I think Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" are perfectly united in Pet Shop Boys' "Where the streets have no name(I can't take my eyes off you)".
Not that I don't like the originals, the 2 in 1 version just sounds better. Listening to only one at a time always makes me think that something is missing.
Fiona Apple
My favorite cover is Fiona Apple version of Across the Universe, but I feel a little sacrilegious choosing it over the Beatles original.
And I love New Order's Bizarre Love Triangle, but from this version of Frente! bring tears to my eyes. I'm not sure why.
The Beatles Wrote It
Frente!
Bonnie Raitt & kd Lang
I like Bonnie Raitt's version of Runaway and kd Lang's version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah
I sort of agree
I like kd's version as well but Leonard Cohen is in a class of his own.
I sort of agree, too...
Great list...
I love "Hazy Shade of Winter” by The Bangles :D
And not just cause it's The Bangles (although that definitely plays a factor), but I really liked the original, so when they released this I was very excited. It came on a tape called "Pump up the Volume" which also had Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven is a Place on Earth"...such a great mixed tape. sigh.
My constant internal facial expression...and yes, I work in retail.
"Cry Me A River" by The
holy crap yes! her version
The best cover: Sugababes
The best cover:
Sugababes doing "hey there delilah"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7pk33-BRhA
Hmmmm
The White Stripes doing "I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself", origionally by Burt Bacharach, is good but their version of Son House's "Death Lette" is amazing:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=roB6SJTibfY
Peggy Lee doing any cover, especially "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"
PJ Harvey's version of "Highway 61" and DeVotchka's "Venus in Furs" are both great, but so are the origionals.
I also looove Nick Cave's "Black Betty"
Ooooh, and this is probably one of my favorite covers ever:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ek5ZNgw8Vdk
Amanda Palmer, a ukelele, and a crowded bar. Watch it, trust me.
Elvis Presley's version
I think Annie Lennox doing
I agree
The Traitor
I love Martha Wainwright's cover of this Leonard Cohen song. I hesitate to say it's better (I love my Leonard!), but if you could wear out songs on your iPod, my copy would sound like an old 45!
Had to add a link...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb4Qyu9AjBY. There is a little interview clip toward the end...sorry.
I like covers. My favorite
I like covers. My favorite is Fiona Apple's cover of Elvis Costello's "I Want You".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiOmhOumh-w
Her version of Across The Universe is really good too.
Then there's PJ Harvey ft. Björk's cover of The Rolling Stones "Satisfaction". Awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH8wrM0NARo
Sarah McLachlan - covering Joni Mitchell's "Blue" - Gorgeous. But she could cover anything and I'd love it. She can do no wrong. Also, her cover of XTC's "Dear God". I heard it for the first time a couple of days ago and I love it, and the fact that she has the guts to do a controversial song like that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4xgjgJkacU
And her version of The Beatles "Blackbird". I'm not a big Beatles fan, but I like a lot of the covers.
And then Tori Amos (duh). I like all of her covers. The Eagles' "Desperado" is amazing - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbj5yYd2r7o , 10CC's "I'm Not In Love", A Flock Of Seagulls' "I Ran" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBUFOTjFfL4 , R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion", The Cure's "Love Song" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7-FWGZI4IY (Love this one). And a lot of others, but these are the best, IMO.
Some others: Sarah Bettens' version of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" - hauntingly beautiful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW1z8uVTVyc&feature=PlayList&p=813E19CBC6CF5881&index=2 .
Joan Armatrading's "The Weakness In Me", covered by Melissa. And... Melissa Etheridge & Joss Stone singing Janis Joplin's Cry Baby/Piece Of My Heart at the Grammy Awards 2005: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_j3TDhc8vY&feature=PlayList&p=813E19CBC6CF5881&index=4
And... I really need to stop now. I'm getting carried away. Hehe.
Keep em coming
Hey, thanks! I posted some
tori covers
must be live, mostly. i think.
first and foremost, 'smells like teen spirit', esp the boot from the day cobain was dead.
i love her 'river'.. especially around this time of the year :>
and maybe cause garland and oz was engrained in me since i was little, somewhere over the rainbow.... my ex covered it also and used tori's 'lemon drops' inflection... lovely
um, what else... i mean, some of her covers on the last tour were kinda reaching...
from her strange little tour, deffffinitely her eminem cover. i just remember being so blown away and fascinated by the way she was doing it FROM the trunk, how eminem must've sounded saying all that to the baby, driving along etc... how she recorded it from inside a tight box, etc... just so fucking good!
off SLG my favorite was easily 'rattlesnakes' ... something so sexy and scary about it.
but yeah i'll take your lead and stop while i'm ahead.. :)
Where do you go when you're lonely
All due respect to Ryan Adams, the cover of his "When the Stars go Blue" done by the Corrs is vastly superior.
I also believe that ANY cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" is better than the original (be it Jeff Buckly, Brandy Carlile, kd lang, the list goes on...)
My Favorite Covers
1. Cake - "Perhaps, Perhaps Perhaps" (original "Quizas, Quizas, Quizas" by Tony Bavaar
2. The Jeevas - "Have You Ever Seen the Rain"
3. John Mayer - "Message In A Bottle"
4. KT Tunstall - "I Want You Back"
5. Le Tigre "I'm So Excited"
6. J-Lo "You Belong to Me" (original by Carly Simon...a good version, but J-Lo's has the line "Don't MAKE me go to her house!", which gives it the extra point, heh)
7. Postal Service - "Take a Look at Me Now"
8. Sting - "Ain't No Sunshine"
9. Jason Mraz - "Summer Breeze"
10. The Beatles - "Twist and Shout" Lest we forget who, arguably, the most-covered band ever is...
Killing me Softly
Grace Jones
Tina Turner
LOL, I challenge anyone to watch that TT clip and not grin like an idiot when Tina and the backing chicks do their twirls.... classic!
Thanks for the link.
covers
eric clapton's layla and the go! team's doing it right
"didn't i throw you out of a window? " - jessica/nikki, heroes
Letters to Cleo ...
doing Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me" ....
Somone above mentioned Tori Amos' covers - I'll name the ones that you didn't (which also happen to be my favorite):
Tori does Bruce Springsteen - I'm on Fire
Tori does Joni Mitchell - Circle Game
Tori does Jim Croce - Operator
Non Tori:
KD Lang's cover of Joni Mitchell's A Case of You ...
Bruce Springsteen's cover of Edwin Starr's WAR ...
Bruce Springsteen's cover of Patti Smith's Because The Night ....
Patti's Smith's entire last album - Twelve ...
And anything by Me First and the Gimme Gimme's
Definitely agree with other's comments about Johnny Cash's covers, as well as Alanis doing My Humps ....
I smile, I grin, when the gal with a touch of sin walks in
I hope, and I pray, for a Hester to win just one more "A"
More Tori
I once read that fans of Tori would buy an album of her performing nothing but "Happy Birthday" over and over again... but that it would be worth it, because if Tori did 100 versions of "Happy Birthday", each one would be unique.
It is true.
My favorite Tori Covers:
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
I Don't Like Mondays
Ring My Bell
Strange Fruit
Angie
angie, yes yes yes
yes!
you reminded me of two others, along with angie... all three were from a particularly special show and i remember playing these over and over and over...
so, angie, BOYS IN THE TREES (umm yeah maybe my all time favorite cover), and on saturday afternoons in 1963.
Good Taste
One more!
Common People, ala William Shatner, originally by Pulp ....
I'm done. :)
I smile, I grin, when the gal with a touch of sin walks in
I hope, and I pray, for a Hester to win just one more "A"
Diana Krall's cover of
Diana Krall's cover of "Temptation". I can't remember who did the original, but Diana's version is more to my liking - it has that jazzy sexy atmosphere, absolutely perfect to put you in the right romantic mood...
Joan Jett covers
People forget that "I Love Rock and Roll" is a cover of an old Arrows tune. And none of us shall ever forget her rendition of "Crimson and Clover." But Joan has some other great covers.
Star Star is a great cover of the Rolling Stones' Starf*cker
Do You Wanna Touch Me was far more interesting - however derivitive - than Gary Glitter's.
And of course, who could forget her version of the theme to the Mary Tyler Moore Show, "Love is All Around."
Those are just a few. I also like the other Gary Glitter songs she covers, as well as "New Orleans" and the Stooges' classic, "I Wanna Be Your Dog."
Couple more...
The Breeders'
"Happiness is a Warm Gun."
Patti Smith's "Gloria."
Judy Garland's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."
And beautiful beautiful "Body and Soul" by Coleman Hawkins.
I want that to play at my funeral as they carry me out of the church.
"the ‘miracle of birth’ hurt like fuck and involved way, way too much of Van looking up my twat. If that’s a ‘miracle’ then whoever is in charge of miracles seriously needs to sort their shit out." (Loretta Outrageous Fortune)
Yes!
Happiness is a Warm Gun by The Breeders--one of my favorites!
BTW: love the sigfile!
Landslide
I don't know that it's better, per se, but "Landslide" by Stevie Nicks has always been one of my favorite songs to hear covered. It's been done by the Smashing Pumpkins, Rufus Wainright, Dixie Chicks, Belle and Sebastian, Sheryl Crow and Tori Amos, among others.
As for ones that might be better than the original:
My take..
Ok my take.
Annie Lennox cover of a Whiter Shade of Pale, original by Procul Harum, 1967. Annie gives this song more feeling than the original version..much better. Now this song had many covers done by Eric Clapton, Joe Cocket, Willie Nelson, Sarah Brightman, among others.
The Carpenters: Karen made her versions better...enuff said!!
- Ticket to Ride, original by The Beatles, 1965.
- Superstar, 1971, original by Delaney and Bonnie, with other versions by Bette Midler, Mad Dog and Englishmen
- There's a kind of hush, original Herman's Hermits.
- (They long to be) close to you (1970), written by Burt Baccarat, recorded by Richard Chamberlian 1963.
...and many more!
Linda Rondstadt 1977, Blue Bayou, much better than the original by Roy Orbinson, 1963.
Pet Shop Boys: 1987, Always on my mind, recorded by Brenda Lee 1972, with other cover versions by Elvis Presley and Willie Nelson...tho I admit that I like Willie's version a lot.
Whitney Houston: 1992 I will always love you, original Dolly Parton 1974.
Dinah Shore and Pearl Bealey 1960, Mack the Knife, on the Dinah Shore Show...I LOVE this version. Check it out! Do you all know that its original "The Ballad of Mack the Knife", originally "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer", is a song composed by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht for their music drama Die Dreigroschenoper, or, as it is known in English, The Threepenny Opera. It premiered in Berlin in 1928. Introduced in the US by Louis Armstrong in 1958, associated better with Bobby Darin, and covered by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, Ella Fitzgerald has really good version, as well Tonny Bennet, and Robbie Williams (2001), I like his version as well.. and Michael Buble. For Latin America there is an homage in salsa by Ruben Blades called "Pedro Navaja". (wikipedia)
update! Taylor Dayne Can't get enough of your love 1993, original by Barry White, 1974
geeeeeez I can't remenber any other else now..but I know there is more.
Covers
I made up this file for an lj friend. It includes:
Tori Amos-
'97 Bonnie & Clyde
Angie
Father Figure
I'm On Fire
London Girls
Kate Bush - Rocket Man
Marlene Dietrich - I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face
http://www.fascination-street.com/Covers.zip
Any Tori Amos covers...
But especially Sounds like teen spirit....and Angie....
Some of my other favourite covers include:
Indigo girls-Romeo and Julliet
Rufus Wainright-Halleluja (yes, really!)
Marilyn Manson-Sweet dreams (again, yes really!)
Orgy-Blue Monday
Him-Wicked game