Did anyone mention Sinead O'Conner's "Nothing Compares 2U"? As much as I dig Prince, she really owns that song.

Somebody should start a "Bad Covers" thread. For that I'd like to nominate Madonna for "American Pie" and Lenny Kravitz for "American Woman".

Hmm... how coincidental that both of those bad covers have the word "American" in the title. I wonder if anyone's planning to slaughter Tom Petty's "American Girl" anytime soon.

I didn't read the thread all the way through yet, so a couple of these could be dupes.

Cake - Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps (Ben E. King)
Dolly Parton - Shine (Collective Soul)
The Get Up Kids - Alec Eiffel (Pixies)
Gov't Mule - She Said, She Said (Beatles)
Johnny Cash - Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)
The Lemonheads - Mrs. Robinson (Simon & Garfunkel)
Phantom Planet - Somebody's Baby (Jackson Browne)
Rufus Wainwright - Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
Shades Apart - Tainted Love (Soft Cell)
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Little Wing (Jimi Hendrix)

There are other obvious ones, but I figured I'd stick to those that may have slipped through the cracks. But I bet I'll go back through the thread and see I've added nothing. Watch.

Rufus Wainwright's version of Hallelujah is actually a cover of Jeff Buckley, who took Leonard Cohen's version and changed the last three verses. Doesn't really add anything to the thread, oh well.

That's interesting...I didn't know that they lyrics were different. I've never actually heard the Cohen version.

hrmm, I'm actually confused here about who wrote what. The version that appears on Various Positions, which is where the song originally debuted, doesn't have three verses that Buckley uses, and Buckley's version doesn't use two verses in the original Cohen version. But I don't see any writing credits to Buckley in his version, so that makes me think there is a longer version Cohen recorded with the missing verses? I'll do a bit more digging I guess.

edit:
Ok found it, Cohen omitted verses from the studio version, but Buckley added them in to his version.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: dano,

Regarding Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah":

This version of Leonard Cohen's song, with the changed verses was originally done by John Cale (which gives Buckley's version a run for it's money) on the "I'm Your Fan" LC tribute album. Rufus Wainwright's version is actually a lot closer to Cale's cover.

Speaking of Leonard Cohen covers, another great one is Concrete Blonde's cover of "Everybody Knows", which also omits verses from Cohen's original.

If anyone is a fan of McSweeney's Publishing works, which I highly recommend, the lastest edition of "The Believer" is the Music Issue. It includes a CD of 17 cover's, which they describe as a catalogue of artists answering the question, "What have you been listening to lately?" I just picked it up over lunch, and have listend to it about 3 times through...very, very cool stuff. Here are some of the tracks:

The Decemberists "Bridges and Balloons" by Joanna Newsom
Spoon "Decora" by Yo La Tengo
The Contantines "Why I ddin't Like August '93" by Elevator to Hell
The Mountain Goats "Pet Politics" by Silver Jews
The Shins " We Will Become Silhouettes" by the Postal Service
Josephine Foster "The Golden Window" by the Cherry Blossoms
Two Gallants " Anna's Sweater" by Blear
Devendra Banjart "Fistfull of Love" by Antony & The Johnsons
Wolf Parade "Claxxon's Lament" by Frog Eyes

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
Speaking of Leonard Cohen covers, another great one is Concrete Blonde's cover of "Everybody Knows", which also omits verses from Cohen's original.

That's a good one.

I'd rank the covers of Hallelujah as follows:

1. Cale
2. Rufus
3. Buckley

But I think Buckley is mostly not interesting, so that might be why.

I would take Cohen's original, or one of the live versions (with the extra verses), first, of course.

quote:

Originally posted by philosopherEric:

quote:

Originally posted by ericg75:
Speaking of Leonard Cohen covers, another great one is Concrete Blonde's cover of "Everybody Knows", which also omits verses from Cohen's original.

That's a good one.

I'd rank the covers of Hallelujah as follows:

1. Cale
2. Rufus
3. Buckley

But I think Buckley is mostly not interesting, so that might be why.

I would take Cohen's original, or one of the live versions (with the extra verses), first, of course.

I'd put Buckley's version ahead of Rufus Wainwright's simply because he at least did something different with the arrangement instead of rehashing John Cale.

Speaking of Jeff Buckley covers, he also has a pretty killer cover of Van Morrison's "The Way Young Lovers Do" on his "Live at Sin-E" disc.

I thought of another total crap cover though. The Bulletboys (who had a big hit in the late 80's with the their hair metal anthem "Smooth Up in Ya") actually recorded a cover of Tom Waits' "Hang on St. Christopher".

Ryan Adams - Wonderwall (Oasis)
Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan)
The Byrds - Mr Tambourine Man (Bob Dylan)
The White Stripes - Jolene (live version) (Dolly Parton)
Johnny Cash - Hurt (Nine Inch Nails)
Muse - Feelin' Good (Nina Simone)
John Mayall with Eric Clapton - What'd I Say (Ray Charles)
Nora Jones - Day is Done (Nick Drake)
Nirvana - The Man Who Sold the World (David Bowie)
The Clash - I Fought the Law (The Crickets)
The Vines - Ms Jackson (Outkast)

I forgot The Futureheads - Hounds of Love (Kate Bush)

Has it really been two almost two years since we talked this up?

The Smithereens covered the entire Meet the Beatles! album this year on Meet the Smithereens!. It can't beat the originals, but it's still fun.

I see you've been busy today Mark. Were you at a loose end? I was too, so I went to see Spiderman 3. I wish someone had told me how long it was, I'd have taken a thermos flask and a camping stove with me.

Anyway, I really love Kristin Hersh's cover of "Trouble" by Cat Stevens. I think it's beautiful and fragile, and being Kristin, a bit unsettling. But in a good way.

quote:

Originally posted by Borachon:
I went to see Spiderman 3. I wish someone had told me how long it was, I'd have taken a thermos flask and a camping stove with me.

You need to get into the movie thread bro, that movie's been talked up there plenty, especially by our main man Monkey_Boy.

Ha! You're right. I just read that thread now. If I'd noticed it before, Monkey Boy's enthusiasm would probably have got me down to the cinema earlier!

Ian Brown- Thriller (M. Jackson)
Jose Gonzales- Hand On The Heart (K. Minogue)
The Pretenders- Every Day's Like Sunday (Morrissey)
Alison Moyet- Windmills Of Your Mind (D. Springfiled)
Mark Almond- Painted Black (Rolling Stone)
Echo & The Bunnymen- Peolpe Are Strange (The Doors)
Franz Ferdinand- All My Friends (LCD Soundsystem)
Tremeloes- I Shall Be Released (B. Dylan)

So I see this is dead before I've had my two cents. Decided to try and revive it because I love a good cover. Here's my favourites:

Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night (Trad., arr. Leadbelly)
Van Halen - You Really Got Me (The Kinks, Ray Davis said this was better than their version)
Biffy Clyro - Umbrella (Rihanna, her version pains me to hear)
Beach Boys - Do You Wanna Dance? (Bobby Freeman)
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan, classic choice)
Big Black - The Model (Kraftwerk)
Sugababes - I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor (Arctic Monkeys, can't stand the original)
Otis Redding - Satisfaction (Rolling Stones, my favourite cover of all time, love Otis' voice)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mick_DH,

Yes, I also like All Along THe Watchtower. It is fun to listen to Dylan's original and then groove on Hendrix's. I like how adaptable music is, how a good artist can manipulate and tweak music in to something new that is also the same.

I really love My Morning Jacket's cover of Elton John's Rocket Man.