I heard this version of Lady Gaga’s “Telephone” before I heard the original version. I didn’t realize it was a cover of a Gaga song, I thought it was just a great song. I was very disappointed by the original version, which I thought the cover vastly improved on.
Urge Overkill’s version of “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” as heard in Pulp Fiction is a lot better than the original by Neil Diamond.
Great goddess, that is one of the best things ever…
Bernadette Peters’ There is Nothing Like a Dame.
This song is usually sexist and condescending, as was originally intended. But this version is a proud and powerful and sensual statement of womanhood. I had the privilege of watching her perform this live, and it blew the audience away.
It really is, isn’t it. I do try to show it off every chance I get.
They Might Be Giants gave Istanbul (Not Constantinople) tighter harmonies and a catchier beat. It was a huge improvement over the original.
I think it works best if you know the original … more of a satire than a cover.
It’s not very radical at all and your second link is to the same song as the first link.
Cake’s version of “I will survive”.
Manfred Mann’s (Earth Band) cover of “Blinded by the Light”.
Stevie Ray Vaughan doing “Superstition”.
George Michael (and Mary J. Blige’s) version of “As”.
I could go on and on…
didnt like the original all that much, but it had a raw quality that carried its meaning well. This cover is just silly.
Oh, hell yes. But let’s face it, Bob Dylan’s great talent is as a songwriter, he’s not that great an arranger, composer or singer. Many artists have taken his songs and fixed em up and done em proper, though Hendrix arguably did it so well that no one else need bother covering it. How ya gonna beat perfection?
No one has contributed Jeff Buckley’s versionof Hallelujah?
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I liked Deep Purple’s cover of the Beatles’ “Help”, which is a pretty radical departure from the original.
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Different, but successful in its own right? 2 and a half minutes in I was still listening to a plodding intro, so I bailed.
The U2 version didn’t do much for me, but when Dave Matthews turned on the juice in the second stanza it was downright stirring. I’ve never heard anything by Dolly Parton I liked except Jolene.
I only know the Gary Jules version from this video. Who did the original?
I’ll grant you that, but was there any radical reinterpretation other than the gender switch, which is kinda commonplace?
Ok, that was exactly what I was talking about. Radical reinvention, successful on its own terms. It’s tongue in cheek but doesnt need the orginal to be worth listening to.
All they did was slow down the tempo. I’ll spot you a “radical” but … successful?
Ok, that’s a winner.
Funny, the only version I’ve ever heard is the Louvin Brothers version, which I kinda like better than the others. None of them seem to be radical reworks of the original though.