# Covers of Songs That Radically -- And Successfully -- Re-interpreted the Work **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2010, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927 "2010-12-31T08:05:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/1 "2010-12-31T08:05:07Z")
If this were a TV trope, I would say the Trope Namer would be [Rotary Connection’s version of the Aretha Franklin hit “Respect.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Eiyv9QD7M) It’s very different from Frankln’s version, but it’s still a powerful and interesting work, only in part because of Minnie Ripperton’s soaring vocals. Also, Emerson Lake and Palmer’s synthesized version of the “Peter Gunn” theme which would work more for Johnny Mnemonic than the original 60s private eye. (Can’t find a decent link for it on Youtube, I got it off Itunes for a buck though). Of course, lots of works get covers, what distinguishes the covers I am thinking of is that they alter the work so profoundly in some way that it almost might as well be a completely different song. Your favorite musician has surely covered songs, but did their covers radically reinvent the song and was it successful? ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/2 "2010-12-31T08:11:28Z")
Sinead O’Connor’s 90’s hit “Nothing Compares 2 U” is actually a cover of a Prince song (not a single, just album fodder). I’ve heard the Prince version once - it’s…boppy is probably the best way to describe it. Sinead’s version blows it out of the water. ---
**Author:** ![Lobot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ce7236/32.png) [@Lobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobot)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/3 "2010-12-31T08:17:04Z")
How about “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by Devo? Turns the Stones version on its head. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/4 "2010-12-31T08:30:12Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Sinead O’Connor’s 90’s hit “Nothing Compares 2 U” is actually a cover of a Prince song (not a single, just album fodder). > > I’ve heard the Prince version once - it’s…boppy is probably the best way to describe it. Sinead’s version blows it out of the water. It was a song Prince wrote, but the original recording was by The Family. His cover (of, er, his own song) was released after Sinead’s. The OP mentions ‘Respect’, and Aretha’s hit version is famed for being a reinterpretation of the original. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/5 "2010-12-31T08:40:50Z")
Don’t know if giving the song a reggae beat and a solo on the Uilleann pipes is radical enough, if so [here’s Kate Bush’s reinterpetation](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8v2RNLHr0) of Elton John’s _Rocket Man_. If that is not radical enough, [here’s the J. Davis Trio’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g8v2RNLHr0) very radical re-working of Kate’s song [_There Goes A Tenner_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bYXYlCbBJ0#t=0m11s). ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/6 "2010-12-31T09:21:04Z")
[Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s cover of _Somewhere Over The Rainbow_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I) is pretty different from the original, and very popular. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/7 "2010-12-31T09:32:45Z")
Kylie Minogue’s [Can’t Get You Out of My Head](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfr9bhSmfXc). The Flaming Lips’ [cover of same.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFREWbwgIMA) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/8 "2010-12-31T09:36:26Z")
[Iron Man](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MII3ns2KTBc) by Black Sabbath [Iron Man](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzgZJEpLuw0) by the Cardigans ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/9 "2010-12-31T09:39:47Z")
Okay, last one: [Straight Outta Compton](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMZi25Pq3T8), by NWA And then Nina Gordon [folks the whole thing up.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG2EGOB9-lc) ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/10 "2010-12-31T10:30:47Z")
There’s a near-endless array of “white dudes covering hiphop songs as ballads” out there, but for my money, the best is Jonathan Coulton’s “Baby Got Back.” It’s one of the few that seems genuinely respectful and affectionate for the original (rather than playing up the contrast for yuks or giving a white singer the chance to “edgily” say the N-word). Plus the actual message in “Baby Got Back” actually lends itself nicely to a folky take. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/11 "2010-12-31T14:24:48Z")
Unless you’re old like me, you probably haven’t had the experience of hearing Bob Dylan’s version of All Along The Watchtower first, and then hearing the Jimi Hendrix version. I loved Dylan’s version, but the first time I heard Jimi’s, I got goose-bumps. To me this is the ultimate radical, successful cover. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/12 "2010-12-31T14:42:54Z")
All Along the Watchtower is one of those ‘endlessly reinterpreted’ songs. You’ve got to throw in versions by U2 and Dave Matthews, too. For me, a reinterpretation should present a new angle on the song. Something that was there but unnoticed. To that end I’ll nominate Dolly Parton’s covers of Collective Soul’s ‘Shine’ and Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’. She turns both songs into a much more religious feel. Both could easily be sung in church the way she puts them together and make God and heaven the center of meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/13 "2010-12-31T14:45:22Z")
Two of my favorite cover songs [While my Keytar Gently Weeps](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5ioD3KcVSE) by Lemon Demon and while the Scissor Sisters did a helluva job with [Comfortably Numb](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR78lwM83fg), I think [Dar Williams and Ani Difranco](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqQFWXWVBNA) did it better. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/14 "2010-12-31T14:47:28Z")
And now for something completely different: Streisand’s torchy “Happy Days Are Here Again.” ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/15 "2010-12-31T14:51:11Z")
I liked [Deep Purple’s cover of the Beatles’ “Help”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx8RHoeGUWI), which is a pretty radical departure from the original. Lots of classic bebop artists took standards and played new melodies over the chord progressions. (Charllie Parker’s “Donna Lee” was based on “Back Home in Indiana”.) There were instances where they didn’t quite go far enough to declare the result a new song, but the interpretation was pretty damn different. One good example was “Embraceable You” by Miles Davis and Charlie Parker (sorry, can’t find the particular version online). ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/16 "2010-12-31T14:53:33Z")
First song in my head was the Cowboy Junkies’ Sweet Jane. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/17 "2010-12-31T15:32:11Z")
Gary Jules version of “Mad World” is incredible. And Judas Priest’s version of the Joan Baez song “Diamonds and Rust” is a really cool interpretation (ETA: the slow version, their speedy version is a little weird). ---
**Author:** ![Rain\_Soaked](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@Rain\_Soaked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rain_Soaked)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/18 "2010-12-31T15:39:05Z")
Eric Clapton’s [Layla](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WUdlaLWSVM) covered later by [Eric Clapton](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_jpWumPnxc). ---
**Author:** ![Gomi5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8491ac/32.png) [@Gomi5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gomi5)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/19 "2010-12-31T15:41:36Z")
[Kiss - Shock Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2rZun97AOk) [Red House Painters - Shock Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAcJrPQwaH8) ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/20 "2010-12-31T15:42:56Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > If this were a TV trope, I would say the Trope Namer would be [Rotary Connection’s version of the Aretha Franklin hit “Respect.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Eiyv9QD7M) It’s very different from Frankln’s version, but it’s still a powerful and interesting work, only in part because of Minnie Ripperton’s soaring vocals. Don’t forget that Aretha herself had taken _Respect_ from Otis Redding (his version is essentially a demand for sex) and turned into the quintessential female empowerment anthem of its time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927.md?page=2)