# Strange Covers (or: they did \*what\* with that song?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 3, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231 "2005-02-03T19:33:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/61 "2005-02-04T19:08:52Z")
I once heard a bluegrass rendition (banjo, in fact) of Blondie’s _Heart of Glass_. It was actually pretty decent. ---
**Author:** ![down\_by\_law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/65b543/32.png) [@down\_by\_law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/down_by_law)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/62 "2005-02-04T19:16:24Z")
the best wierd cover is the afghan whigs version of TLC’s “creep.” greg dulli, the once-lead singer of the whigs, released a cover album last year. he does mary j blige’s “real love”, bjork’s “hyperballad”, fleetwood mac’s “what makes you think i’m the one”, and coltrane’s “a love supreme.” not as good as vintage whigs stuff, but interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/63 "2005-02-04T19:59:16Z")
I thought of a couple of others. “ **Word Up** ” and “ **Another Brick in the Wall** ” by **[Korn](http://launch.yahoo.com/ar-254202---Korn)**. ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/64 "2005-02-04T20:18:45Z")
> [@Art Vandelay](#): > > Also, I’ve heard a punk rock version of “the Mary Tyler Moore show” theme song, but don’t know who the performers were. They were some mid-90s “riot grrrl” type group (perhaps L7?) It may be the version by Joan Jett of the _Drop Dead Gorgeous_ soundtrack. That’s the only one I’m aware of, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/65 "2005-02-04T20:24:25Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > “ **Another Brick in the Wall** ” by **[Korn](http://launch.yahoo.com/ar-254202---Korn)**. If iTunes had that, I’d get it to have all three parts in one track. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/66 "2005-02-04T20:29:51Z")
“Tainted Love,” the mid-80s hit by Soft Cell, was originally an old soul song. Great cover. ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/67 "2005-02-04T21:12:54Z")
Which reminds me: I think Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower” is the best. cover. EVER! ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/68 "2005-02-04T21:16:20Z")
> [@4thMonkey](#): > > - Johnny Cash’s cover of the Nine Inch Nails song “Hurt” is a strange cover but it definitely comes out as a good song. I guess it helps that I like NIN already and like hearing a different take on songs by artists I like. He also covered **Depeche Mode’s** _Personal Jesus_ on another album. In addition to I Will Survive, **Cake** covered the **Willie Nelson** track _Sad Songs and Waltzes_. Willie covered **Cyndi Lauper’s** _Time After Time_. **Cowboy Junkies** slow down a number of songs, including **Lou Reed’s** _Sweet Jane_, **Springsteen’s** _State Trooper_, **Neil Young’s** _Powderfinger_, and **Robert Johnson’s** _Me and the Devil Blues_. Lots of punk covers qualify: **Dead Kennedys** did _Viva Las Vegas_, **Minor Threat** did _Stepping Stone_, **Black Flag** did _Louie Louie_, **the Clash** with _Pressure Drop_ and _I Fought the Law_, **Operation Ivy** did _These Boots are Made for Walking_, **7 Seconds** did that one and **Nena’s** _99 Red Balloons_, and **Husker Du** did **Donovan’s** _Sunshine Superman_, and the **Ramones** with any number of covers… that’s all I can think of off the top of my head. **Social Distortion** deserves their own paragraph - they’ve got covers on just about every album, including _Ring of Fire_, the **Stones’** _Backstreet Girl_, _It’s All Over Now_, and _Under my Thumb_, the country classic _Making Believe_, and **CCR’s** _Bad Moon Rising_. **Mike Ness** , the band’s singer, has a couple of solo releases that include some more traditional stuff, but that’s closer to the vein it was originally in. ---
**Author:** ![BigDummy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee59a6/32.png) [@BigDummy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigDummy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/69 "2005-02-04T21:46:47Z")
Dwight Yoakam did a whole CD full of covers, with maybe the most interesting being \*Train in Vain \* by **the Clash**. Certainly was … different. ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2005, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/70 "2005-02-04T23:04:32Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > He also covered **Depeche Mode’s** _Personal Jesus_ on another album. Actually, it was on the same album, _The Man Comes Around_ as **Hurt** and a really breath-taking cover of **Desperado**. IMHO, one of the best albums I ever heard. Wish I hadn’t misplaced it… I have a copy of **Wilco** covering _Love Will Keep Us Together_, and the only strange thing about it is that they actually turned it into a really good song. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/71 "2005-02-05T00:22:05Z")
Of course, DEVO’s “Satisfaction” and “Are you Experienced?” ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/72 "2005-02-05T00:28:45Z")
Ben Folds Five did a cover of “She don’t use jelly” by the Flaming Lips which is exactly 204 times better than the original. IT changed it from some crappy song to a nice jazzy lounge type song that works very well. ---
**Author:** ![Qwertyasdfg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ecc23a/32.png) [@Qwertyasdfg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwertyasdfg)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/73 "2005-02-05T00:41:53Z")
Oh some others: Stevie Wonder covered “Light My Fire” but its not nearly as good as the Doors’ version. Sublime covered “Scarlet Begonias” and added a nice rap part. It sounds bad in theory but I actually like their version as much as the original. Jimi Hendrix’s renditions of “All Along the Watch Tower” and the national anthem are classic. All of Zeppelin’s covers are much better than their originals. Rage Against the Machine’s cover album “Renegades” is very good, and their covers are total reinventions of most of the songs (“Ghost of Tom Joad” “How I could Just Kill a Man” “Microphone Fiend” and “Maggie’s Farm” stand out on that album.) As a slight hijack, can anyone think of any rap songs covered by known rap artists? I can only think of two, Snoop Dogg covering “Ladi Dadi” and “The Vapors.” ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/74 "2005-02-05T01:16:50Z")
Big Daddy’s “Welcome to the Jungle” sung to the tune of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” is both odd and hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/75 "2005-02-05T10:21:36Z")
One more – while on vacation in LA years ago, I heard a big band jazzy version of “White Wedding.” It was a duet, with a male and a female singer. I wish I knew how to get a hold of this one – it rocked. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/76 "2005-02-05T16:53:07Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Someone or other’s cover of “Such Great Heights” from the _Garden State_ soundtrack. I only heard it from across the room, and I didn’t recognize the other songs, but an easy listening cover of that song is really weird. That must be The Postal Service(haven’t seen Garden State, but the song was big about 18 months ago). I didn’t realize it was a cover. Who was the orginal by? And was it an 80s song? ---
**Author:** ![Iceland\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@Iceland\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iceland_Blue)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/77 "2005-02-07T12:03:31Z")
[QUOTE=elfkin477] Strange and fun would be Travis’ cover of Brittney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” [/cover] As compared to Darius’ version which is disturbing in so MANY ways… ---
**Author:** ![CROdell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ea924/32.png) [@CROdell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CROdell)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/78 "2005-02-07T12:18:00Z")
> [@](#): > > That must be The Postal Service(haven’t seen Garden State, but the song was big about 18 months ago). I didn’t realize it was a cover. Who was the orginal by? And was it an 80s song? The version on the Garden State soundtrack is an acoustic cover by labelmates Iron and Wine which originally appeared as a B-side on the Postal Service single for “Such Great Heights” Unlike the original poster, I wouldn’t call it “easy listening” which implies something a bit different than lo-fi singer/songwriter stuff to me. ---
**Author:** ![MisterThyristor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecccb3/32.png) [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/79 "2005-02-07T13:08:26Z")
I guess The Postal Service also did a cover of Phil Collins’ _Against All Odds_. Not long after reading this thread, I heard an interview on NPR with Alexandra Patsavas (apparently the music supervisor for _The OC_), where she talked about her favorite covers. (You can hear the interview [here](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4486723).) One of the really weird ones she mentions is a cover of Kelis’ _Milkshake_ by some guy named Buddy who operates out of LA. (You can download that one from his website [here](http://www.iamyourbuddy.com/budmedia.html).) ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2005, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231/80 "2005-02-07T18:09:17Z")
Many of my favoruites have been mentioned, but here are a few more: Social Distortion _Ring of Fire_ (J. Cash) Screaming Jay Hawkins _Heart Attack and Vine_ (Tom Waits) Johnny Cash _Mercy Seat_ (Nick Cave) Bella Fleck _Amazing Grace (bass solo)_ (?) Cowboy Junkies _Blue Moon_ (pretty much everybody) The Heptones _Suspicious Minds_ (Elvis) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-covers-or-they-did-what-with-that-song/288231.md?page=5)