yeah! cover songs rule!

[kylerexpop]

fo sure i've mega-overdosed on the originals . . . but i've been listening to a lot of "covers" recently, and they are the cat's meow.

"wild horses" (rolling stones) by the sundays
"dear prudence" (beatles) by siouxsie and the banshees
"common people" (pulp) by william shatner
"cruel to be kind" (i forget, nick cave?) by letters to cleo
some others i can't remember (?) by cool bands

awesome!

[Magill]

If "Wild Horses" is the same song I'm thinking of, there's a cool version in which Elvis Costello and Lucinda Williams sing it together. It's part of a program called "Crossroads" in which they pair a country artist with someone who isn't. I think it's on CMT or something.

I've also heard bits of the one Ryan Adams did with Willie Nelson.

As for covers I like:

-ska covers of 80s songs can be fun (Reel Big Fish and Save Ferris both did this), but they get old after a while
-I really like Crooked Fingers' versions of "When U Were Mine" (Prince) and "Solitary Man" (Neil Diamond)
-Jimi Hendrix, "All Along the Watchtower" (Bob Dylan)
-I heard a really cool version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" by Sufjan Stevens. Hendrix's version of that is awesome, too
-Ben Kweller's version of "Ice, Ice, Baby" is very catchy. Though it makes me ashamed that 15 years later, I still know all the lyrics
-At a show, I heard Jack Johnson cover "Rocky Raccoon" (The Beatles). He also covered some Jimmy Buffet song (not Margaritaville, something about sailing the ocean) that sounded good, and I normally can't stand Jimmy Buffett.
-I like Bob Schneider's version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". There's a Hawai'ian musician who has a famous version, too (I think the Hawai'ian guy is dead)


That's all I can think of for now. I really like it when an artist can retool a song, instead of simply trying to do a duplicate

[mysteriorockanova]

Heart of Glass (No Idea) Me First and the Gimme Gimme's was great (and also I'm pretty sure every other post on this board will be about them) and also William Hung on anything if you want to hear an already pretty bad song piledrived to the ground and vomited on.

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

Sebastian Bach's cover of Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" is mega cool, as is Motorhead's cover of "Enter Sandman". I also discovered Sam Kinison's cover of "Wild Thing", which I'm enjoying. His screaming matched the rock and roll genre perfectly.

Some others:
-Don't Step on the Grass Sam, by Steppenwolf, covered by Gov't Mule
-Louie Louie, by The Kingsmen, covered by Iggy Pop
-Turning Japanese, by The Vapors, covered by Incubus
-Planet Caravan, by Black Sabbath, covered by Pantera (propably the quietest song Pantera has ever recorded)
-William Shatner's cover of Common People is also high on my list

What I like most when it comes to covers are rap covers of rock songs. "This Means War" by Busta Rhymes is a pretty cool cover of "Iron Man", complete with Ozzy on the chorus, and "Sing For the Moment", Eminem's cover of "Dream On" (Aerosmith), is one of my favorite songs on The Eminem Show.

Turning the topic in a 180, The Dillenger Escape Plan's cover of "Rebel Yell" (Billy Idol) is probably the worst cover I ever heard.

[Ms. Jellybean]

Magill - which one about sailing the ocean? There's a lot of Buffett songs like that... Sounds like "He Went to Paris," though. I'm a total Parrot-Head.

I heard a cover of "Mrs. Robinson" on the local alternative station the other day, but I didn't catch who it was by. Oh well. They didn't totally butcher it.

[Magill]

I don't think it mentioned Paris. The only lyrics I do remember are "I want to sail the ocean" and something about sailing into the sun. I can hear the tune and rhythm of the lyrics in my head, I just don't know what the actual words are.

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

Was it "Son of a Son of a Sailor"?

[Al]

A Pirate Looks at Forty, perhaps?


Mother, mother ocean, I have heard you call,
Wanted to sail upon your waters
since I was three feet tall.
You've seen it all, you've seen it all...


Sound familiar?

Al

[Magill]

That's it.

[Ms. Jellybean]

Ah. I was thinking of a totally different Buffett song.

Anyway, the true Buffett is much better than someone trying to become the next Buffett (ahem... KENNY CHESNEY?!?!).

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

I am currently creating a mix cd of covers. Right now, there are these songs:

-Sympathy For the Devil (Rolling Stones) by Guns N Roses
-Paranoid (Black Sabbath) by Motley Crue
-God Save the Queen (Sex Pistols) by Motorhead
-War Machine (Kiss) by Six Feet Under

I need some more covers, so keep posting here, people!

[Magill]

You know, I remember being very impressed with En Vouge's cover of "Yesterday."

Though I was in middle school at the time, and many of my musical tastes were questionable.

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

I downloaded a really cool cover of Stairway to Heaven. It says it is by Frank Zappa, but I'm confused by it. The sound and overall vibe is definitely Zappa, but the vocals sound like Jimi Hendrix, or somebody who isn't Frank Zappa.

The moral: I dunno, leave me alone.

[TheOogieBoogieMan]

Ok, quiet down everyone! You can stop freaking out! The question has been answered!

The Stairway to Heaven cover I was talking about previously is by Frank Zappa. You can hear him talking to the audience at the end of the track. You can carry on with your lives, people.

[awesomecolin]

There are so many cover songs that I absolutly adore, a few of those being:


Lay Lady Lay (Bob Dyland) by Ministry
Whips & Furs (The Vibrators) by Death Wish Kids
Carmelita (Linda Ronstadt) by GG Allin & The Criminal Quartet
Kiss Me Deadly (Lita Ford) by Reel Big Fish
Symptom Of The Universe (Black Sabbath) by Sepultura
Folsom Prison Blues (Johnny Cash) by Rev. Horton Heat
Sunshine, Lollipops & Rainbows (Lesley Gore) by The Stimulants
Vincent (Don Mclean) by NOFX
Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) by Jeff Buckley
Super Mario Brothers (?) by Mr. Bungle
Night Of The Vampire (Rocky Erikson) by Entombed
School (Nirvana) by Fear Factory

Whenever a band does a cover of a song, it's almost like somebody just bought an old shirt at a thrift store. Old becomes new again, and it makes somebody happy.