Songs that should never be covered/played by someone else

Cafe Society
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The other side of “Wow, that’s a great cover of that song!”

A common thread that I’ve realized is that if the song has biographical or personal opinions in it, it likely should never be played or sung by someone else.

Yesterday I watched the making of the the Rock Aid for Armenia version of Smoke on the Water, featuring Brian May, David Gilmore, Tony Iommi and others, along with Richie Blackmore. And I realized that more doesn’t always make it better. Not only did Blackmore not play live with most of the others, but there was another singer, don’t remember or care who it was, who sang along with Ian Gillian.

The song MUST always include Blackmore, and no one but Gillian should sing “We all came out to Montreux…” I remember when Gillian left Deep Purple, there was another singer, again don’t know or care who it was, that replaced him. When I heard him sing the opening lines, I thought; “NO YOU DIDN’T” and skipped to Blackmore’s solo just to see if he still had it. He did.

Old Man should never be sung by anyone but Neil Young and Southern Man can only by done by Young or CSNY.

Layla should never be played or sung by anyone but a 1971 pain and angst filled Clapton, driven to stunning brilliance by Duane Allman.

Bad Company can only be sung by Paul Rogers.

Lay Down Candles can only be sung by Melanie Rush backed by the Edwin Hawkins Singers. And only played with as the full version with the opening poem.

The Wall can only be performed by the original and true Pink Floyd. So sadly any song from the albums should ever be played live again.

CSNY is allowed to perform Woodstock because Joni Mitchell was inspired by Graham Nash.

No one, anytime, anywhere is allowed to sing Somebody to Love or *White Rabbit" except Gracie Slick!

Edit: Any Black Sabbath song, originally sung by Ozzie and OMG! NOT DIO!

No Doors song should ever be performed by anyone but Jim!

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No one except Arlo Guthrie should perform “Alice’s Restaurant.”

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Phil Collins, “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)”.
I have heard several people attempt it, none successfully.

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ETA: No one should cover any of Weird Al’s originals.

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Nobody ever covered Melanie’s Roller-skate song. Right?

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Ironically, The Doors recorded a shit-ton of covers, including Back Door Man, the Alabama Song and Who Do You Love.

Who Do You Love, my favorite Bo Diddley song seems like it should only be identified with him, but there are numerous covers. All that I’ve heard are good to great (see also versions by Tom Rush and George Thorogood).

As for The Doors, many groups have released cover versions of The Crystal Ship. I’m partial to this one.

On the other hand, while it may be legitimate to cover the Standells’ Dirty Water, permission for the Boston Pops to do so should never have been granted.

https://mobile.twitter.com/mike_uva/status/1610038738654035974/mediaviewer

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I’ve seen a local tribute band (The Next Doors) whose Morrison looks scarily real. To the point that the band begins playing (Jim-less). After two or three songs they begin to look around at each other, shrugging shoulders, etc. Then, Jim comes stumbling onto the stage and they hit their stride.

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*Ironically, The Doors recorded a shit-ton of covers, including Back Door Man , the Alabama Song and Who Do You Love .

Technically, these aren’t Doors songs, they’re covers. :wink:

I just remembered. Jose Feliciano did Light My Fire. I accept your version Jose! :blush:

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No one but Emmylou should ever sing Boulder to Birmingham, which is a song about very intense, specific grief.

No one but Dolly knows how to sing I will Always Love You. Whitney Houston’s cover totally missed the mark and only led to a ton of covers that turn a bittersweet heartbreak song into some sort of triumphant anthem.

However, I’m sure both performers would disagree with me. As the respective songwriters of these songs, they’ve earned a ton of money off of commercial covers of them.

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Other than Light My Fire, what did he do? Love his cover, but was he a one hit wonder? (xmas song doesn’t count)

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OMG! I hate, hate, hate I Will Always Love You by Whitney. I thought it was the song, but finally heard Dolly’s version and I actually kind of like it.

I’m Not Lisa belongs only to Jessie Colter.

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Steve Vai - For the Love of God

Not that there are but a handful of people who even could, but still. 30 years old and still his masterpiece. Even he doesn’t always play it with note for note accuracy.

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No one but Dylan can ever sing Like a Rolling Stone, Subterranean Homesick Blues, Positively Fourth Street, or Tangled Up in Blue.

There are many Dylan songs that actually can be covered, but definitely not these.

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Actually, I don’t think any songwriter has to grant permission to anyone to cover a song. As long as the appropriate royalties are paid, anybody can cover any song, as I understand it.

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I’m not a purist about this general subject, but Conway Twitty should never been allowed to cover “Slow Hand”

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I’m struggling to think of a single Dylan song that I would want to hear from someone else.

mmm

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Brian Johnson took over as lead vocalist for AC/DC after the death of Bon Scott. Out of respect, he does not perform it’s a Long way to the top, which is a song Bon made his own,.

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There was an American high school horror movie soundtrack that used a cover of “Another Brick in the Wall” that absolutely blew chunks. They sang it opera style with vibrato. That was an instant station-changer for me.

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The Byrds did about a dozen Dylan covers, and most of them are excellent.

Jimi Hendrix did All Along the Watchtower and, I would say, took it to a whole new level.

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What about when the Rolling Stones covered it on the album Stripped? Was it an “about time they performed the obvious cover” moment, or the song cover equivalent of stunt casting?

Not a bad cover, either: