Awesome cover songs?

Cafe Society
1

What are some of your favorite cover versions of songs?

I’ll start with a few. Most of these are rock/alt, but feel free to add whatever. My personal favorites are towards the top.
[ul]
[li]Mad World - Gary Jules covering Tears for Fears. From Donnie Darko. Haunting, melancholy, and beautiful.[/li][li]Hurt - Johny Cash covering Nine Inch Nails. This song nearly made me cry. So much soul.[/li][li]Such Great Heights - Iron & Wine covering The Postal Service. From Garden State. It completely changes the feeling of the song but (IMHO) makes it even better.[/li][li]Basket Case - Pete Du Pon covering Green Day. Like the previous song, this one mellows out the original while keeping its essence.[/li][li]Imagine - Jack Johnson covering John Lennon. Part of Amnesty International’s Save Darfur campaign. Classic song redone with a modern and familiar voice, but otherwise very true to the original.[/li][li]Darling Nikki - Foo Fighters covering Prince. Surprisingly, Foo Fighters does something that’s quite unlike their other songs and adds some “oomph” and smoothness to Prince’s song.[/li][li]Big Yellow Taxi - Counting Crows covering Joni Mitchell. I think this one got so much radio airplay that some people now think CC was the original artist.[/li][li]American Pie - Tori Amos covering Don McClean. This one is such a drastic change, completely turning the original into a Tori-esque piece, that I don’t know if I like it. But it’s certainly interesting.[/li][/ul]

That’s all I’ve got for now :slight_smile: What’re yours?

2

I think A Perfect Circle’s cover of imagine is the best I have heard.

3

While my guitar gently weeps by Jake Shimabukuro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9mEKMz2Pvo) is pretty sweet.

4

YMMV, but I don’t recall a bad cover version ever by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Here’s a couple to make my point.

Born To Run

War

5

Best cover song ever: Otis Redding’s version of the Stones’ Satisfaction.

6

Isaac Hayes’ Live at the Sahara Tahoe (ca 1973) has several, Ain’t no Sunshine and Never Can Say Goodbye are my faves.

The Pointer Sisters’ That’s A Plenty is amazing, every single track. Little Pony and Steam Heat stand out.
I also like Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

7

Jimi Hendrix cover of Bob Dylans’ All Along the Watchtower
Manford Mann’s Earthband cover of Springsteens’ Blinded by the Light
U2’s cover of the Beatles’ Helter Skelter

8

Jeff Buckley covering Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.

Stunningly beautiful.

9

I could swear we did this recently, but damned if I can find it!

10

If you could extract Mike Tramp’s vocals (shudder), White Lion’s cover of Radar Love is vastly superior to Golden Earring’s.

11

I like The Holly Cole Trio’s cover of I Can See Clearly Now.

12

The Bangles’ cover of “Hazy Shade Of Winter” was better than the Simon & Garfunkel original. And they looked better in miniskirts.

13

Damn you Little Nemo I came in to post this.

In a related thread Your favorite ‘non-traditional’ cover of a hit song? I mentioned
Yes’s cover of America (written by Simon & Garfunkel) is much, much better.
Here it is livein all of its 11 minutes of Glory!
[/QUOTE]

I loveFiona Apple’s Across the Universe. is very special.

Jimi Hendrix’s All along the Watchtower is great and Dylan said it was the best version he ever heard. **dawson **beat me to it though.

Led Zeppelin did “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” that was recorded by Joan Baez in 63 but apparently written by Anne Bredon in the late 1950s.

Weird one: Barbra Streisand–Somewhere cover of the Broadway tune from West Side Story. It took me 4 tries to find the version I was looking for.

14

Van Halen’s Ice Cream Man.

15

Bruce Hornsby (I think) does a phenomenal cover of Elton John’s Madman Across The Water.

16

The Residents did an entire album of covers of Hank Williams Sr and John Philip Sousa originals (Stars and Hank Forever). Here’s their version of “Kawliga”.

17

I like the White Stripes’ version of “Jolene” better than Dolly Parton’s.

18

I like Social Distortion’s cover of Ring of Fire.

19

I liked Frank Zappa’s ‘Ring of Fire’.
No one seems to agree with me, but I really liked the version Kiss did of “And Then he Kissed Me”.

20

Manfred Mann’s Blinded by the Light (Springsteen).

Eva Cassidy’s Fields of Gold (Sting); wish I could find one that’s not out of synch.

Sinead O’Connor’s Sacrifice (Elton John).