# Covers that surprised you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644 "2007-12-11T19:45:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/21 "2007-12-12T01:14:15Z")
[QUOTE=Flander] Oh, and in the spirit of the holidays, Bad Religion did Silent Night! [/QUOTE] Twisted Sister’s version of Oh Come All Ye Faithful is quite good, too. There’s a guitar solo about half way through that briefly turns into We’re Not Gonna Take It, which amuses me a lot. ---
**Author:** ![xnylder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/bbce88/32.png) [@xnylder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xnylder)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/22 "2007-12-12T02:29:54Z")
A few days ago, I heard Gun’s cover of Cameo’s [Word Up](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VlSE4OpKDU) for the first time. I was shocked and rocked 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/23 "2007-12-12T02:37:25Z")
Didn’t we do this exact thread just a week or two ago? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/24 "2007-12-12T02:49:34Z")
[QUOTE=Cubsfan] Didn’t we do this exact thread just a week or two ago? [/QUOTE] Wouldn’t that make this thread a cover? 🆒 Johnny Cash’s _Hurt_ is completely different, and IMO, much better than NIN’s. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/25 "2007-12-12T02:51:50Z")
I will try and come up with a cover, but just popped in to add another comment about Eva Cassidy. I heard her on NPR a few years ago and was among the blown away and instant fans. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/26 "2007-12-12T05:12:10Z")
For all those of you who just discovered Eva Cassidy, here’s the closest thing to an official website for her: [http://evacassidy.org/eva/](http://evacassidy.org/eva/) I own nearly everything available by her, and it’s all great. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/27 "2007-12-12T05:21:00Z")
**Jane’s Addiction** _Ripple_. Also \*\* Jane’s Addiction\*\* _Sympathy For the Devil_/ ---
**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 12, 2007, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/28 "2007-12-12T05:41:49Z")
Tivo has a Podcaster, I regularly listen to Coverville. The most recent great cover I heard was the Delgados doing Mr Blue Sky…great. In fact, it was part of an hour or so of all ELO covers. Unfortuantly I tend to fall asleep after the first one or two songs (I listen to it when I go to bed), so I have to remember to get it started about 15 minutes before I go to bed so I can hear the next few songs. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/29 "2007-12-12T09:01:18Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] That reminds me: the acoustic (but still jammin’) cover of **Come and Get My Love** in _The Postman_. [/QUOTE] Is this the second time you’ve made a _Postman_ reference? If so, then it’s the second time I’ll say, you’re officially my favorite Doper ever. My vote for greatest cover of all time: _Thunder Road_ by Bruce Springsteen, recorded by Tortoise and Bonnie Prince Billy. Seriously, if you haven’t heard this, do it - you’ll be amazed. They take the original upbeat, triumphant Springsteen song and turn it into an eerie, down-tempo number in a minor key. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/30 "2007-12-12T09:11:35Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] For all those of you who just discovered Eva Cassidy, here’s the closest thing to an official website for her: > **[Eva Cassidy Web Site – Telling you about Eva since 1999](http://evacassidy.org/eva/)** I own nearly everything available by her, and it’s all great. [/QUOTE] Thanks, I enjoyed looking around there. Sting’s comments were interesting. I’ve often been surprised by his humility with respect to other singers. You know, one thing that blew my mind was the Amazon ratings for her. Most of her albums are 5 stars after literally hundreds of reviews. All are at least 4-1/2. When you toss in the inevitable malcontents and the no-accounting-for-taste troglodytes, that’s simply amazing. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/31 "2007-12-12T13:32:34Z")
It took me halfway into my first hearing of Laibach’s [_Geburt Eine Nation_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YE_j0xIsJA) before realising it was a cover of Queen’s _One Vision_. Great stuff. They do wonderful covers. Another one that did surprise me was the Cash cover of NIN’s _Hurt_. I had heard much around these parts about how great it was, and not heard it yet, when it came on in my local Goth club. After blinking, then wondering where the piss-sozzled wino was, who the DJ was letting do karaoke NIN, I clicked and realised this must be the cover everyone here (and Trent himself, FTM) was raving about. I was _hurt_, alright. Suffice to say, I’m always independently checking anyone’s music advice from the 'Dope in future. That cover sucked balls compared to the original. Although you guys were right about Shatner’s _Common People_. A pleasant surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/32 "2007-12-12T14:19:05Z")
Warren Zevon did an interesting cover of Prince’s Raspberry Beret. It was a fairly straight-ahead rendition of the song, but hearing his raspy baritone sing it definitely surprised me. This is probably old news to everyone, but when I first heard Richard Cheese’s “swankified” cover of the Peanuts’ TV Special song, Christmastime is Here, I burst into appreciative laughter. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/33 "2007-12-12T14:32:42Z")
Hootie & The Blowfish’s cover of Orpheus “Can’t Find the Time to Tell You”- surprising in that in anyone remembered this classic, which only peaked at about #80 on the pop charts. Great song, good cover. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/34 "2007-12-12T14:40:45Z")
I am not only not a fan of him, but his whole genre of music (whatever its called). But I have to say that, as a usual fan of hard rock, my biggest guilty pleasure is… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tom Jones’ (and Art of Noise’s) cover of Prince’s **Kiss**. The guy freakin’ smokes that song! I feel so dirty. The dirts not coming off!! ---
**Author:** ![AndyPolley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@AndyPolley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyPolley)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/35 "2007-12-12T15:19:23Z")
For a band that prided itself on playing a ton of goofy covers on tour, **Phish** surprised me with a simple, poignant instrumental rendition of “Somewhere over the Rainbow.” It was at the Virgina Beach amphitheatre just after the sun had set. The mood was simply one-in-a-million perfect and I was struck by the gentle beauty of that performance. That night, three years to the day after the death of Jerry Garcia, they also pulled out (for the first time I had ever seen) a Dead Cover, encoring with “Terrapin Station.” That was pretty surprising, and cool, too Who else thought that **Tesla** ’s 5 man acoustic jam performance of “Signs” was surprisingly respectable? ---
**Author:** ![Flander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8c91f0/32.png) [@Flander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flander)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/36 "2007-12-12T15:21:24Z")
**Dynamite Hack** ’s cover of “Boyz in the Hood” is pretty interesting considering the original is by deceased NWA rapper **Easy-E**. ---
**Author:** ![Survey1215](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Survey1215](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Survey1215)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/37 "2007-12-12T16:49:31Z")
[QUOTE=Caprese] Warren Zevon did an interesting cover of Prince’s Raspberry Beret. It was a fairly straight-ahead rendition of the song, but hearing his raspy baritone sing it definitely surprised me. [/QUOTE] Done with the Hindu Love Gods - Zevon backed by Mike Mills, Peter Buck and Bill Berry. The album they did also had ‘Battleship Chains,’ done very well. I’m a big cover fan for some reason. Some of my faves: - Strutter by Kiss, [covered by the Donnas.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqou-oEBcUY) - Toys in the Attic by Aerosmith, [covered by R.E.M.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=We6t3u3b2Nc) (note: this live vid not near as good as their studio version, imho). - Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty, [covered by the Foo Fighters.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynpLe2hHHEw) ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/38 "2007-12-12T16:55:28Z")
[QUOTE=Survey1215] I’m a big cover fan for some reason. [/QUOTE] So is Bernie Taupin (Elton John’s lyricist, for the younger folks). In his _Two Rooms_ interview, he said he loved listening to covers, including those of his own songs. It was the differences in interpretation that turned him on. He said he hated covers that are basically retakes of the original. I feel the same way. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/39 "2007-12-12T17:18:37Z")
Working Class Hero - Original by John Lennon I heard Marianne Faithful’s version; her voice had substantially changed in the 1970s due to various addictions and health issues; really blew me away. Very powerful and strange/exotic sounding. Many other covers since then by others but none with the same shock or impact. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644/40 "2007-12-12T17:41:03Z")
[QUOTE=Stauderhorse] Can we talk about covers that surprised us in a negative fashion? When I heard that _My Chemical Romance_ did a cover of “All I Want for Christmas is You”, I thought “well, that should be interesting”. It was…bad. Supremely awful. I couldn’t listen for more than 20 seconds. Turned me off the band for good. [/QUOTE] If you think that’s bad, check out **Celine Dion** singing “You Shook Me All Night Long”. It’s on YouTube. I double-dog-dare you to listen to it. Although I guess it’s not exactly a surprise that this would suck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/covers-that-surprised-you/429644.md?page=3)