20 Covers That Are Better Than The Originals from The Late Greats and Some Velvet Blog
All right stop, collaborate and listen
The Duke is back with a brand new mission
20 cover songs that flow real mighty
better than originals, day and nightly
Super cool post from a blogsphere twosome
knocking out tunes far from gruesome
Some Velvet Blog and my main man Bruce
gots the other ten covers on the loose
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings ~ Summer Evening (Greg Brown)
Toots & The Maytals ~ Take Me Home, Country Roads (Yes, I mean John Denver, thanks for catching this)
Beth Orton & Terry Callier ~ Dolphins (Fred Neil)
Madeleine Peyroux ~ Dance Me To The End Of Love (Leonard Cohen)
Willie Nelson ~ The Maker (Daniel Lanois)
Dayna Kurtz ~ Joy In Repetition (Prince)
Bebel Gilberto ~ Baby (Caetano Veloso/Os Mutantes)
Cowboy Junkies ~ Sweet Jane (Reed/VU)
Blue Swede ~ Hooked On A Feeling (BJ Thomas)
Andrew Bird & Nora O'Connor ~ Oh, Sister (Bob Dylan)
Just in case you can’t understand my lousy attempt at a Vanilla Ice rip off, Bruce and I have teamed up for a collective two blog post based around the concept of 20 cover songs that are better than the originals. The folks in ( ) are the writers/originators.
Bruce's choices:
I Fought The Law - The Clash - (The Bobby Fuller Four)
Watermelon Man - Mongo Santamaria - (Herbie Hancock)
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley - (Leonard Cohen)
My Favorite Things - John Coltrane - (The Sound of Music)
How Can You Mend A Broken Heart - Al Green - (The Bee Gees)
Little Wing - Derek & The Dominos - (Jimi Hendrix)
Hurt - Johnny Cash - (Nine Inch Nails)
With A Little Help From My Friends - Joe Cocker - (The Beatles)
Mad World - Gary Jules - (Tears For Fears)
Can't Get Used To Losing You - The English Beat - (This song was written by the legendary songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. I have to admit I don't know who had recorded it originally but I know it's been recorded by numerous folks including Paul Anka, Bobby Darin, Alton Ellis and Andy Williams. It's Andy's version where I originally knew it from cause my parents played it a lot when I was growing up. And I am fairly certain he had the biggest "hit" in terms of chart placement with it. But I always dug The E-Beat's version of it better.)
Hit SVB for the downloadable links.
Did we miss a cover that is better than the original? Leave a hullabaloo.
Posts
21 hullabaloos:
I think you mean John Denver, and not Gilligan (Bob Denver). =)
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds by Elton John. John Lennon was never quite happy with the original, either. Since he sings with Elton on his cover, obviously Mr. Lennon approved. Probably neither version is ideal, but Elton's version has a spacious, ethereal quality -- evident from the first swirling arpeggiated guitar notes compared to the original's harpsichord (!).
I find it to be a glaring omission of monumental proportions (hey, I take my music seriously) that you managed to overlooked the BEST cover of any song EVER! Where is Elvis Costello's cover of the Nick Lowe song "(What's So Funny About) Peace, Love, and Understanding?"
C'mon, guys! If you're going to make a list like this, at least take the time to think it all the way through.
You missed a classic cover that's way better than the original: Jimi Hendrix ~ All Along The Watchtower (Bob Dylan)
Everything from Cat Power's The Covers Record
thanks for the Gillian Welch song.
The album Cry Cry Cry by the folk trio of Dar Williams, Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell has some great covers. I don't know if I would say they are better than the originals though.
Just by Mark Ronson - whenever i go back to the Radiohead original, I cringe. that's how good this cover is
Don't get me started! I have so many versions of so many songs. I'm basically a collector of (certain) songs.
kd lang's version of Leonard's Halleluja deserves a mention though on my music page where a count is taken of songs played, Leonard's own version is the most played of all the versions of that song. I happend to have put two more up yesterday.
impeccable list ... Donny Hathaway's cover of Jealous Guy is worlds better than the original
you're a fucking idiot if you think Johnny Cash's version of Hurt is better than Nine Inch Nails's.
he is corporate bushcocksucker. Cash sucks!
I nominate Ray LaMontagne's cover of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy."
Cool blog. Stumbled upon it by accident while searching for Hem info. Think I'll put up my feet and browse around a bit today.
Nice site. Anyway, a suggestion for this post: Wheatus - Little Respect (Eurasia)
While I admit it is hard not to be better than the falsetto-tastic original, this cover is actually kind of charming, and fits your theme. Don't let Wheatus scare you away, this song is not much like Teenage Dirtbag.
How can this be? No one mentioned UB40's version of "Red Red Wine".
I had a discussion with my boss about this topic last year. The songs which topped my list were (with original artist in brackets):
Radiohead - Nobody does it better (Carly Simon)
Scissor Sisters - Comfortably numb (Pink Floyd)
Johnny Cash - Rusty cage (Soundgarden)
Jimi Hendrix - All along the watchtower (Bob Dylan)
Urge Overkill - Girl you'll be a woman soon (Neil Diamond)
Cake - I will survive (Gloria Gaynor)
Frente - Bizarre love triangle (New Order)
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Higher ground (Stevie Wonder)
Shonen Knife - On top of the world (The Carpenters)
Run DMC - Walk this way (Aerosmith)
Thanks for posting "Summer Evening" - beautiful. I'll be buying some Gillian Welch cds.
Cat Power's The Covers Record is excellent.
Trent Reznor said that Johnny Cash's version of Hurt is better than his own.
No cover of Pink Floyd is better than the original.
There is no way that Bebel Gilberto's cover of BABY is better than Caetano's original one in portuguese. There is just no comparing. So much is lost in translation too.
Also consider Fiona Apple's cover of I Want You [Elvis Costello]. Even Costello loved it. You should listen to it, see what you think
Edgar
underalocomotive@yahoo.com
http://www.anonymous-i.blogdrive.com
Ha...nearly died laughing...
"Scissor Sisters Comfortably Numb is better than Pink Floyd's"
Worst comparison ever. One of the greatest songs ever made into a squeaky annoying disgrace
Johnny Cash's version of hurt is NOT better than the original by Nine Inch Nails.
Johnny Cash's version of Hurt is light years better than the Nine Inch Nails original.
Post a Comment