Looking through my music tonight I realised I have the song “Hurt”
Sung by Nine inch nails
Johnny Cah
and Kermit the frog
See I tend to like songs rather than necessarily the artist. Some songs I hate the originals but love the covers.
So folks what sort of artist variation do you have singing the same song.
(I have always wondered how hard it would be to collect all the commercially released versions of Stairway to heaven - you know just for fun)
I’ve mentioned this quite a few times, but if you like covers, listen to the podcast Coverville. It’s a podcast of nothing but cover songs. I’ve always liked cover songs. So that podcast has suited me quite well for a long time.
:smack:Oh and that was Johnny CASH:smack: by the way
I have versions of “Statesboro Blues” by Willie McTell, Taj Mahal, the Allman Brothers, Alice Stuart, and and others.
I also have several versions of “Rhapsody in Blue.”
The song I’ve got the most versions of is Basket Case.
Aside from Green Day’s original, I have 3 versions by Japanese women: Puffy, Haruna Ikezawa and Nina Kitade (You may wish to turn down your volume a bit before opening this one… Seriously, trust me.).
I love them all.
I’ve got several covers of I’m on Fire on my computer. There’s far more available than I have.
Neil Young has a few songs that get covered frequently.
There’s probably 500 versions of The Needle and the Damage Done.
Worried Life Blues: I’ve got 6 different artists covering it.
Bring it on Home to Me: I’ve got 4.
I think the winner is* Stormy Monday*, with 14 different recordings by 11 different artists.
I’ve found many songs on my iPod that were performed by two different acts, but none by more than two. Among them
“And Your Bird Can Sing” by both the Beatles and Guadalcanal Diary
“Well, All Right” by Buddy Holly and Blind Faith
“I’m Down” by the Beatles and Aerosmith
“You Shook Me” by the Jeff Beck Group and Led Zeppelin
“(I Know) I’m Losing You” by the Temptations and Rod Stewart
“All Shook Up” by Elvis Presley and the Jeff Beck Group
“Words of Love” by Buddy Holly and the Beatles
“Every Little Thing” by the Beatles and Yes
The Internet Archives has somewhere between 25 and 30 artists covering Riders in the Sky.
Here’s two of my favorite covers, that I always bring up in these threads, and found because of Coverville that I mentioned upthread.
While My Keytar Gently Weeps, by Lemon Demon
Comfortably Numb by Dar Williams and Ani DiFranco
This is one of the most interesting albums I have. It’s 14 different artists doing versions of Catfish Blues/Rolling Stone showing how the song was developed and changed over time. Muddy Waters’ songs became the prototype for everything that came after, but there are some really interesting different takes in there. I also have versions of the song by Jimi Hendrix, Gregg Allman, Skip James, and Honeyboy Edwards and maybe a couple of others.
The most I can think of is five versions of “Both Sides Now:”
Joni Mitchell
Judy Collins
Nana Mouskouri (in French)
Jason Falkner
Natalie Cole (my least favorite version)
'Twould be interesting to know which popular song is the most oft-covered. One of my great favorites, Four Strong Winds, that quintessentially Canadian folk song by Ian Tyson must surely come close.
Covered by:
Neil Young
Sarah McLachlan
Hank Snow
The Seekers
Judy Collins
the Chad Mitchell Trio
Bob Dylan
Marianne Faithfull
The Searchers
John Denver
Bobby Bare
The Brothers Four
The Kingston Trio
Trini Lopez
Waylon Jennings
Chad and Jeremy
The Wolfe Tones
The Tragically Hip
Joan Baez
Vanity Fare
Glenn Yarborough
Tony Rice
Johnny Cash
The Carter Family
Schooner Fare
Bobby Bare
“Mot ukjent sted” by The Vanguards (Norwegian version)
“Mot okänt land” recorded by The Hep Stars (Swedish version)
Hard to say which is the best. Aside from the original Ian & Sylvia recording, Johnny Cash’s somber version is perhaps the most moving, and Tyson has stated it is his own favorite of all the covers.
SS
“Yesterday” is commonly cited as the most-covered pop song, and has been listed as such in the Guinness Book of Records. Wikipedia says there are over 2,200 recorded versions.
Then there are all those covers of Stairway to Heaven by famous people. 
If this includes Christmas songs, then Silent Night possibly outnumbers Yesterday.
One of my most interesting covers is the E.L.O. song “Can’t Get it Out of My Head” by Velvet Revolver. I also have “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” by Bob Dylan, Guns ‘N Roses, and Eric Clapton. And Mötley Crüe had a hit with the old Brownsville Station tune "Smokin’ in the Boys’ Room."
You might as well pick up the Warren Zevon version too. He did it right before he died.
I have this LP: The Best of Louie Louie
I have this CD.15 versions of “Louie, Louie” - from the original Richard Berry and the best-known Kingsmen versions, through reggae, The Kinks, Beach Boys, Paul Revere and the Raiders. I also have the Black Flag and Ike&Tina Turner versions.
I have both the Trashmen and the Ramones versions of “Surfin’ Bird”.
ETA: Semi-Ninja’d!!! Same concept, different album with a different track listing.