Since its the "Summer of Lists" on the web, I had the Earvolution writers sit down and make a list of their favorite cover songs by popular artists.
David Schultz summed up the task this way:
The secret to a good cover song is to not imitate or replicate the original. Whenever an artist attempts that, the result is usually a tepid copy of an already established tune. A good cover song comes from using the original as a framework and investing it with that singer's set of unique strengths. The goal should be to interpret and re-invent, not slavishly reproduce.
Here are a few of mine (Jeff Davidson):
U2: Springsteen's, My Hometown. Recorded live in Dublin at Croke Park in June of 1985. The song appears on a bootleg of covers by U2 I was lucky enough to find some years ago at a record store on South Street in Philadelphia. There's a very nice version of "Help" on there and if you listen very carefully to the version of "Stand by Me" recorded in 1987 at Philly's JFK stadium you can here me in the crowd. Ok, so you can't here me, but I was one of the 100,000+ there that night when Bruce came out on stage and Bono uttered the now infamous "is he a local boy or something?" as the crowd went nuts when the Boss walked out.
Bonnie Raitt: Talking Heads, Burnin' Down the House. Bonnie gets it done on a great two-disc live set called "Road Tested" and has a killer version of this song. As a bonus, there's a nice cover of Angel From Montgomery as well with Jackson Browne, Bruce Hornsby (vocals & accordion), Bryan Adams and Kim Wilson joining in.
Johnny Cash "Hurt" (Trent Reznor) Cash's rendition is haunting and the video of Cash's stoic rendition really brings home the song's emotion. Its one of the best videos of all time.
Jim McCoy:
Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Original Artist: Soft Cell Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (1981)
Cover Artist: David Gray White Ladder (2001)
The music of synth-pop 80's band Soft Cell and popular Welsh singer-songwriter David Gray has absolutely nothing in common- save for this song, which appears as the last track on Gray's White Ladder. Gray masterfully subs acoustic guitars for the grating synth and musical soulmate Clune adds tasteful brush-stroked drumming and background vocals in place of the hollow, sterile drums and sixteenth note bass drone of the Soft Cell original. Gray understands the point of recording a cover track: he truly makes the song his own. The airy, mellow arrangement seamlessly fits into the rest of the album rather than serving as a space-filling afterthought. The only indication that this song is not another of Gray's own soulful acoustic offerings is the fact that the lyrics were not included in the CD booklet. Ironically, the song that enabled Soft Cell’s international rise to fame - Tainted Love - is also a cover. It was first recorded in 1964 by Gloria Jones, who later became a back-up singer for T-Rex.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Elizabeth
You can't forget:
1) David Bowie's cover of "Waiting for the Man" by The Velvet Underground
2) Nirvana's cover of "The Man Who Sold the World" by David Bowie
2 - JD
those are good ones too!
3 - Eric Berlin
I'll throw in Dynamite Hack's cover of Easy-E's "Boyz in the Hood." Brilliant, funny, and compulsively listenable. Stark old school rap converted to harmonious folk-pop.
4 - JD
yes its very cool when folks from competely different genres cover songs.
5 - Mark Saleski
i haven't heard that Dave Mathews version of The Maker but it had better be ultra-fatastic to unseat the reference standard: Emmylou Harris on the record "Spyboy".
6 - JD
I haven't heard the Emmy Lou version.
7 - steve
Some cross-genre covers....
-Zebrahead's cover the Spice Girls' "Wannabe" (from pop to punk)
-Toad the Wet Sprocket's cover of KISS's "Rock And Roll All Nite" (rock to folk)
-Limp Bizkit's cover of George Michael's "Faith" (pop to heavy metal/rap)
-Anything by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (ex. Mandy, Rocket Man, Sweet Caroline, etc) (70's Adult Contemporary to Punk)
8 - andy marsh
how about SRV doing Stevie Wonder?
9 - The Proprietor
OK, perhaps I'm showing my age here, but I'd certainly say the Beatles covers of "Twist And Shout" and "Long Tall Sally" are worthy of consideration as great covers.
10 - Jeff Davidson
thumbs up to all of those too. SRV rocked. Pretty much anything the Beatles did was great in my book.
I also like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers version of "Higher Ground" and forgot to add that in.
11 - Chris Beaumont
Rob Zombie's versions of Brickhouse, I'm Your Boogeyman, and Blitzkrieg Bop are fantastic!
12 - Mike
I submit that the greatest Dylan cover of all time is The Byrds' version of "My Back Pages." It was radiant with the joy of rebirth, in a way that even the acoustic original couldn't quite muster.
The Beatles covers were great, too, and what about Elvis? "That's All Right Mama," "Blue Moon of Kentucky," and "Hound Dog," among others, were covers and who can imagine anyone else doing them now?
13 - Elizabeth
Oh, for the best genre crosser I've ever heard . . .
Eels cover of "Get Your Freak On" by Missy Elliot
14 - Jeff Davidson
You guys are coming up with some cool stuff! And, some stuff I haven't heard.
15 - Eric Berlin
Marilyn Manson's cover of "Sweet Dreams" is pretty creepy/great.
16 - Chris Beaumont
That is true, Eric!
How about Anthrax (w/PE) Bring the Noize?
17 - Chris Beaumont
Sepultura's Black sabbath cover of Children of the Grave.
Type O Negative's cover of Neil Young's Cinnamon Girl
18 - Eric Berlin
Oh, speaking of Type O Negative:
They do a simply fabulous, kind of hardcore goth version of The Doors' "Light My Fire."
19 - Mark Sahm
It's not too widely known, but the Foo Fighters did a phenomenal cover of the 70's classic "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty. The original had sax solos and disco synth, but the Foos reworked it all to guitar and bass. It's the B-Side to the UK "My Hero" single.
20 - Eric Berlin
Mark -- That is a great cover, absolutely. It played on the radio for a bit around five years ago.
21 - Mark Sahm
Oh, how could I forget--- Rage Against The Machine's cover of Springsteen's "Ghost of Tom Joad". Those lyrics were meant to be screamed. Heh.
22 - Eric Berlin
I'd pick several RATM covers over Tom Joad. How about Dylan's "Maggie's Farm" or "Renegades of Funk" by... African Bambaata, I believe?
23 - JR
Mission Impossible Theme - Larry Mullen, Jr. & Adam Clayton covering Lalo Schifrin
sucked.
They took a really cool 5/4 riff and dumbed it down to 4/4 for the brainless dance crowd.
24 - Elizabeth
A recent cover that is pretty damn great it Caesar's cover of Blue Oyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper." It was released on Six Feet Under: Everything Ends, Music from the HBO Original Series - Vol. 2. Read more and listen to the song at http://musiccapitol.blogspot.com/2005/07/six-feet-under-everything-ends-music.html
25 - Eric Berlin
And for the record, I think that Scissor Sisters' cover of Floyd is off-the-charts great. It's rare when a great song is reinvented into an equally great (or greater?) tune while not being at all derivative of the original.
For the record: what is NOT off-the-charts great... I flipped on MTV this morning and caught Jessica Simpson's cover of "These Boots Are Made For Walking."
My fingers walked right over to the remote and flipped over to Headline News.