I think Reba McEntire’s versionof the Everly Brother’s Cathy’s Clown was an interesting take on the original, by changing the song from 1st to 3rd person. It’s subtle, but it completely changes the song.
“My Favorite Things” John Coltrane
Damn, you’re right, the third person switch completely alters the meaning of the song. Simple and effective.
These two girls put a country spin on Fun’s song “Some Nights.” I saw the video and thought of this thread.
Original
Cover
Tricky’s cover of “Dear God” by XTC: Tricky - Dear God - YouTube
Just ran across an interesting cover of “Hallelujah” with a Norwegian acoustic band giving it a nice acoustic treatment.
Yeppers, this is a zombie thread now.
Toots and the Mayalls Reggae reinterpretation of Take Me Home, Country Roads. Blows Denver away.
Follow For Now’s version of Public Enemy’s “She Watch Channel Zero”
Someone mentioned Hindu Love God’s cover of “Raspberry Beret” earlier. (RIP Warren)
The Gathering’s Stonegarden (original version)
The Gathering’s Stonegarden (live remake)
Iron Maiden - Strange World Original
Mago De Oz - Strange World Cover
Slayer - Seasons In The Abyss
Hellsongs - Seasons In The Abyss
The thread that will not die.
I really like Metallica’s version of “Turn the Page” and HIM’s cover of Solitary man.
Where to start?
I read somewhere that The Byrds released “Mr Tambourine Man” before Dylan. If so, who did the cover version?
I think I heard the same thing happened with Joe Cocker, The Beatles, and “With A Little Help From My Friends”.
Of course, Jose Feliciano owned The Doors “Light My Fire” and made it his.
Now I might be getting a bit obscure:
The California Guitar Trio does a lot of good covers, IMHO.
They did a mash up of Ghost Riders In The Sky and Riders on the Storm and came up with Ghost Riders On The Storm.
I like David Bromberg’s bluesy cover of Sam Cooke’s Wonderful World.
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain did a good cover of this song I’ve always thought Isaac Hayes wrote about me*.
Long John Baldry did a good cover of Willie Dixon’s Seventh Son. He even managed to sneak in a verse of “Hoochie Coochie Man” in there.
Eric Clapton really nails Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
Fairport Convention did a great version of Tam Lin here.
This James Taylor version of Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier may not be much of a departure, but he’s got a great arrangement/instrumentation for it that just puts it all together for me.
* except that I’m neither black or a private dick.
That’s some absolutely awesome guitar work, but he utterly destroyed the melody. If we could lay those instrumentals on the Peter, Paul & Mary vocal harmonies, that would make a heck of a cover.
Pearl Jam did a great cover of their own Lukin, which has been called “Slow Lukin”
Quite a change from the original version
Irish mailman Jim “The King” Brown does Elvis singing songs by other dead guys:
Whole Lotta Rosie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFRRozjDwsA
Fans of Iggy Pop or Sonic Youth should check out Uncle Tupelo’s cover of “I Wanna Be Your Dog”: Uncle Tupelo - I Wanna Be Your Dog - YouTube
Some tasty licks are there for Snowboarder Bo as well.
I love these two cello players covering Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit.
I also love Savage Swing covered by Miss May I. Completely different feel.
Another favorite is Jack Johnson’s cover of Sublime’s Badfish
Dylan’s was released first. The Byrds happened to get a copy of the song after it was recorded and before the album was released.
That did happen with Something.
I like what Cat Power did with the Stones’ “Satisfaction”.
In a similar vein, the Postmarks’ cover of “Six Different Ways” by the Cure (original for comparison).
Both from albums chock-full of great covers.
Speaking of Cellos, Raputina does a hauntingly beautiful cover of CCR’s Bad Moon Rising.