Ben Harper, “Please Bleed” live. he starts all controlled and mournful, things get ominous, building to a hoarse shriek of raw emotion, oh yeah and it’s just him by the way. Here he is doing the same songin some French radio station.
Hell, Joe singing happy birthday at his niece’s sixth birthday would probably count.
RIP, Joe.
Tom Waits singing just about anything.
Tom Traubert’s Blues (aka Waltzing Mathilda) is a fine example.
Harry Nilsson - Jump into the Fire
Wow… that was fantastic!
I’ll offer Davina and the Vagabonds covering Etta James’, “I’d Rather Go Blind”
Even better
Yeah, baby! That’s the first example that always comes to mind.
And this is exactly why I always disliked Natalie Merchant’s version of Because the Night. She sings it so mechanically. Patti Smith, on the other hand, does pour herself into it.
Roger Daltry in “Won’t Get Fooled Again’”
Yeeeeaahhhhhhhh!!!
Similarly, Mary Fahl, on the first October Project album (which, holy crap, was released over 20 years ago now).
I saw Tina Turner do Proud Mary live once, and she left NOTHING on that stage. She was one female human tornado!
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. Man can this guy preach it!
I saw that live, (on tv).
Yeah I like Joe a lot, but to idolize him means that you just never heard Ray Charles.
If you like Nightwish’s Over the Hills and Far Away, but it just isn’t quite enough, then you probably need to head over to Hollenthon, Interlude - Ultima Ratio Regum.
I should also nominate Blade by Frame Shift, for which I can’t seem to find a link to the music. Over the top doesn’t even describe it. I think of it as the soundtrack to Braveheart that should have been.
Seether - Rise above this
The singer wrote the song for his brother who had suicidal depression, and it was an attempt to help him out of his funk.
The brother ended up committing suicide while he was on tour with his brothers band (jumped out of a hotel window). The music video was made after the suicide. So basically song was supposed to help his brother with his depression, video ends up being about brother’s suicide. You can see the expressions of pain on the singers face all through the video.
John Lennon - Cold Turkey
Sly & the Family Stone
Led Zeppelin - Whole Lotta Love
The Who - Listening To You/ See Me Feel Me (particularly live)
I think Janis’ Piece of My Heart trumps all others.
Nonetheless…
Nirvana - Where Did You Sleep Last Night? (start it at 4:15 if you’re pressed for time)
mmm
[QUOTE=Wikipedia]
McCartney later said of recording the track, “When we were recording ‘Oh! Darling’ I came into the studios early every day for a week to sing it by myself because at first my voice was too clear. I wanted it to sound as though I’d been performing it on stage all week.” He would only try the song once each day; if it was not right he would wait until the next day. According to sound engineer Alan Parsons, McCartney once lamented that “five years ago I could have done this in a flash”. In a 1980 interview with Playboy magazine, John Lennon said, “‘Oh! Darling’ was a great one of Paul’s that he didn’t sing too well. I always thought I could have done it better—it was more my style than his. He wrote it, so what the hell, he’s going to sing it.”
[/QUOTE]
I can’t help wondering how it would have sounded with John on lead vocals.
He ad libs a version about his divorce, in the studio. It appears on the Anthology.
I was thinking of her, but with Just Like U Said It Would B