# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/141 "2011-01-04T14:34:42Z")
> [@Gray\_Ghost](#): > > [Beck’s cover](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66emFDgnvts) of Bowie’s [Diamond Dogs](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36lWAcY9IXE). (Here for [another Bowie live version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gsGY7nUlio).) I think Beck’s cover is much truer in feel to the surrealistic source material (Samuel Delany’s _[Dhalgren](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhalgren)_) And it gets rid of the moronic genocide line from Bowie’s most played performance. Diamond Dogs was recorded in January 1974, and was inspired by Orwell’s 1984. (The album has the songs “1984” and “Big Brother” on side 2.) Dhalgren was published in January 1975. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/142 "2011-01-04T15:48:08Z")
People seemed to be mixed on this one, but I’ve always liked **Chris Cornell** doing **Billie Jean** (sorry, can’t link at work). Another group to check out is Marc Collins and **Nouvelle Vague** for great versions of 80’s songs, like Killing Moon, Guns Of Brixton, Bela Lugosi, and Teenage Kicks. Some work better than others. Also Goldfinger doing 99 Red Balloons is pretty cool, and Tanghetto’s Blue Monday is worth checking out. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/143 "2011-01-04T16:41:32Z")
Points to make before I make a potentially controversial and possibly flameworthy assertion. 1. I love covers. I love tracking covers back to the original and then putting all versions in chronological order in the same playlist. I really enjoy listening to how artists reinterpret other artists’ work. I will acknowledge that some covers suck. In general, however, I love a good cover. 2. On another computer, I have quite a collection (with most of the music mentioned here included, assuming I like the song) of cover tunes and have been known to make genre-specific or decade-specific playlists of just cover songs. (Or songs with animals in the band names. I like theme playlists.) Point being, I’m all about my collection of cover tunes. 3. Here it goes. :: puts on fire-retardant suit :: I really, really, really loved [**The Flaming Lips** ’](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Flaming_Lips_and_Stardeath_and_White_Dwarfs_with_Henry_Rollins_and_Peaches_Doing_The_Dark_Side_of_the_Moon) version of **Dark Side of the Moon**. Yes, the entire album. Especially with Peaches and Henry Rollins on it. They reinterpreted a fine classic (which I still love and which still stands as a masterpiece on its own) and made it their own and made me love a piece of music all over again, for completely different reasons. This, IMO, is exactly what the OP is looking for: a radical, yet successful reinterpretation of a musical work. There. I said it. :: D & R :: ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/144 "2011-01-05T16:28:20Z")
Bruce Springsteen turned his rock song Born In The USA [into a haunting ballad](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8TwMqpBeL4). ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/145 "2011-01-05T16:33:53Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > Hold on now, can you really say that? The original is a work of pure genius and that kind of thing doesn’t emerge from a vacuum. > > The Cash cover with the video is runaway epic, though. The two versions are different enough that I can’t say one is vastly superior to the other. I really like Trent, but theres an [Emo quality](http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.nndb.com/people/534/000025459/trent-sm.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.nndb.com/people/534/000025459/&usg=__bfkIFZSWLOVI3juaNnL2gvh7C9Q=&h=272&w=241&sz=13&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=10mLvaqOFdfirM:&tbnh=125&tbnw=111&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtrent%2Breznor%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1920%26bih%3D989%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=307&vpy=97&dur=603&hovh=217&hovw=192&tx=101&ty=130&ei=u5wkTabFFYynnAejjfEJ&oei=u5wkTabFFYynnAejjfEJ&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=75&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0) about him that has always struck me as insincere. Given the length of his life and all that I know about him, yes, I think its fair to say Cash has seen a lot more pain than Reznor. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/146 "2011-01-05T17:02:07Z")
> [@WreckingCrew](#): > > The White Stripes “Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself” revving the paranoia up to 11. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA62cqAll34&safety\_mode=true&persist\_safety\_mode=1](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA62cqAll34&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1) I love that song and had no idea it was a cover. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/147 "2011-01-06T15:08:00Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > [50 Cent’s _Ayo Technology_ covered by Milow](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE9IchvpOPk) > > [A college acapella group](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp_TBm3Gwq0) covered Lady Gaga’s _Bad Romance_ that I thought was pretty cool. I’ll see your _one_ acapella Lady Gaga song, and raise you a [Lady Gaga _medley_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZfjfCDoWjw). That was a surprise in the middle of THE highest-energy concert I’ve ever been to (well, except for a young Springsteen back in the 70s, but not even Bruce had the audience forming a conga line…) But the fun thing about this was the way the lights went down, came back up, and all the girls had blonde wigs and big shades. The Ga-Ga Medley wasn’t listed, and even their friends didn’t know they were doing it. Fun. Thought: Almost every acapella song is a reversioned cover, just because they HAVE to arrange it quite differently for No Instruments. ---
**Author:** ![WPA-Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WPA-Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WPA-Guy)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/148 "2011-01-06T16:48:18Z")
Take Me to the River - Al Green’s Soul Classic Take Me to the River - Talking Heads’ New Wave Classic [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take\_me\_to\_the\_river](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_me_to_the_river) Knock on Wood - Eddie Floyd #1 on the Soul Charts in 1966 Knock on Wood - Amii Stewart #1 on the Billboard Charts in 1979 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knock\_on\_Wood\_(song)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knock_on_Wood_(song)) And the Queen of Re-interpretation: Linda Ronstadt [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda\_Ronstadt\_discography#Singles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Ronstadt_discography#Singles) ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/149 "2011-01-07T12:28:06Z")
I’m quite a fan of cover songs. Three I particularly enjoy that haven’t been mentioned are Cake’s cover of War Pigs, Marilyn Manson’s cover of Tainted Love, and Bigod 20’s cover of Like a Prayer. I’ll also add to the love of Johnny Cash’s cover of Hurt, which I actually prefer to the original. ---
**Author:** ![Stormcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/0ea827/32.png) [@Stormcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stormcrow)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/150 "2011-01-07T13:31:26Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > I always liked Alien Ant Farm’s version of [Smooth Criminal](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDl9ZMfj6aE) but am not hip enough to understand the video. It’s pretty much all references to Michael Jackson videos, and other aspects of his life. The leaning thing, the sidewalk lighting up, blowing the windows out on the car, the monkey, and the guy at the end with Liz Taylor tatooed on his back. It all has to do with Michael ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/151 "2011-01-07T13:44:17Z")
Does Madonna’s “Ray of Light” count? Best thing she’s ever done. It is a to say the least radical reinterpretation of Curtiss Maldoon’s "[Sepheryn](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyCURI6PiaI)"from 1971. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/152 "2011-01-07T14:58:34Z")
The Beatles recorded the slow tempo Revolution 1 for the White Album, then the hard rock version for the B-side of Hey Jude. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/153 "2011-01-07T16:12:18Z")
> [@Peanuthead](#): > > **Evil** , I think you misinterpreted **Biggirl’s** post. You came to the same conclusion. The only way for that song to be more whitebread would be an Andy Williams cover… Nope. Pat Boone is the King of White Bread. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/154 "2011-01-07T17:42:31Z")
I can’t believe I forgot this one: Rush’s 1982 original version of [Subdivisions](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lu9Ycq64Gy4). Jacob Moon’s 2008 one-man solo [cover version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4vd9OVLO7Q). He’s using looping techniques to perform everything you hear, by himself, live. He also got to perform this _for Rush themselves_ at Rush’s induction into the Canadian Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. They were suitably impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/155 "2011-01-07T17:55:46Z")
[Oh yes, and this 11-year-old Japanese girl performing YYZ on an organ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XsYuHbXZUk) (look at her feet go on the pedals). She also does Kansas’ [Carry On Wayward Son](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pS5xzOWbwo). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/156 "2011-01-07T18:01:20Z")
**Hayseed Dixie** ’s whole career is based on re-interpreting AC/DC songs in hillbilly style, which they do amazingly well. Example: [You Shook Me All Night Long](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1LWOuFhal0) ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/157 "2011-01-07T20:50:20Z")
I see Alien Ant Farm’s cover of _Smooth Criminal_ has already been mentioned, so… **Enjoy the Silence** [Depeche Mode’s original](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diT3FvDHMyo) [Lacuna Coil’s cover version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx58hXh4pVA) ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/158 "2011-01-07T22:04:06Z")
I like this [classical take](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aK2F2iBVOvo) on Lady Gaga’s “Telephone.” ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/159 "2011-01-07T23:24:49Z")
> [@Stormcrow](#): > > It’s pretty much all references to Michael Jackson videos, and other aspects of his life. The leaning thing, the sidewalk lighting up, blowing the windows out on the car, the monkey, and the guy at the end with Liz Taylor tatooed on his back. It all has to do with Michael Ah ha! It wasn’t that I wasn’t hip, it was that I was dumb. ---
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927/160 "2011-02-10T18:28:52Z")
I was looking at my CD collection and remembered one cover that I used to like (still do) – [Tin Machine - Working Class Hero (live)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHd8H0oqxLw) I`m sure Mr. Lennon would approve of Mr. Bowie’s version. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-of-songs-that-radically-and-successfully-re-interpreted-the-work/565927.md?page=9)