The first ironic cover

I’m saying it was Devo’s version of Satisfaction (1978).
I’m thinking I’m probably wrong.
Paul Anka’s covers of such songs as Tutti Frutti I feel were more cynical than ironic.

Boy, I remember how pissed off that Devo cover of Satisfaction made all the old rockers at the time :smiley:

Frank Zappa did lots of ironic covers in the late '60s, of songs like “Louie Louie” (he ironically covered it in concerts, then parodied it in “Plastic People”), “God Bless America,” and some contemporary and '50s hits. Different from Devo’s, as Devo tried to be more ambiguous about their message, whereas it was obvious that Zappa was ridiculing songs he found inane.

Spike Jones ironically covered songs before that, in the '40s and '50s, but his were more clearly novelty versions as opposed to the Dadaist satire of Zappa or Devo.

The Jimi Hendrix performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” at Woodstock comes to mind.

I don’t know why you used the term “ironic”.
But be that as it may (and I doubt if it ever was), another great Devo rendition (or ‘cover’ to use the vernacular) is “Secret Agent Man”.
I’m old enough to remember the original and I like both versions. It’s funny to think that the ‘new’ rendition is 24 years old !!!

I love Devo, but there were plenty of ironic (not the best choice of a word, but I know what you mean) punk/new wave covers before that…

Not counting FZ or novelty covers, I’ll say The Dictators cover of “I Got You Babe”, from 1975’s Go Girl Crazy, or going further back, The Stooges version of “Louie Louie”, from the live (and essential) Metallic KO album.

I bet all those old blues guys thought it was pretty ironic that Led Zep was making gazzillions of dollars covering their songs without paying for them.

Spike Jones was doing satirical covers in the 1940s, like Cocktails for Two.

How much do you want to bet that when the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band covered “The Sound of Music” and 'I Left My Heart in San Francisco" on their first album in 1967, they weren’t exactly done straight?

But if you really want to dig around until your head spins like a hard disk, go to The Covers Project and just start digging almost at random.
*
Nancy Sinatra* covered Helen Kanes’ “Take Good Care of Yourself”

Nirvana covered Three Dog Night’s “The Great Kabam”

Queensryche covered Simon & Garfunkel’s “Scarborough Fair”

The Ventures “Spiderman Theme Song” was covered by The Ramones

This is fun, but my head is spinning.

Pat Boone’s cover of “Tutti Frutti” peaked at #12 on February 4, 1956, according to the first google hit for pat boone tutti frutti.

While he may not have intended it to be ironic (I can’t say, not being much of a Pat Boone scholar), his whitewashed, wholesome delivery of a song that’s clearly all about sexual innuendo certainly drips irony. And, c’mon, sometimes unintended irony is the best.

** The Residents** probably come to a lot of minds here (by the time I hit submit, at least one quicker poster may have cited them)

Miles Davis made cheesy Disney hit Someday My Prince Will Come ironic and beautiful.

'Fraid I don’t see the irony in this one. Assuming Jimi’s explanations of why he played it are truthful, he liked the song and wanted to update it. He doesn’t strike me as the ironic type anyway when it comes to politics- I presume you’ve heard Machine Gun?

I heard part of the loopy and very funny version of “Unchained Melody” from the classic British 1950s radio program The Goon Show. No idea if they did the complete song or if it’s even available anywhere.

I don’t think he intended most of his covers, especially of standards and then popular music, to be “ironic”, but when a song got the “Screamin’ Jay” treatment it usually sounded worlds away from better known versions. Dating back to the late 1950s, I’d offer his versions of Cole Porter’s “I Love Paris”, “Orange Colored Sky” (a hit for Nat “King” Cole), “Temptation” (a hit for Perry Como), or “Take Me Back to My Boots and Saddle” (recorded by Gene Autrey among others).

Oh, I totally forgot Screamin’ Jay Hawkins! His “I Love Paris” is amazing and bizarre; right in the middle of this beautiful love song he suddenly begins howling racial slurs into the mike, and then goes right back to doing it straight, as if nothing had happened. Perfection!

Happy Days are Here Again

"Barbra Streisand recorded a highly individual, ironic and anti-political slow version of the song on her first album in 1963. "

“Downtown” by The B-52’s.

The Dead Kennedys Viva Las Vegas and the entirety of Bryan Ferry’s career particularly the albums These Foolish Things and Another Place, Another Time.

How about William Shatner’s classic cover of Lucy in the sky with diamonds?

Yes, yes it is. I’m not a Pat Boone scholar either, but it is my understanding that pretty much all of what he did was covers of popular songs done in such a way as to be acceptable to the whitebread-est of the whitebread American populace at the time. This means LOTS of covers of black singers’ works, stripped of emotion and delivered as with no clue to meaning of the song. Weird, weird stuff.

Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong about the “depth” of Pat Boone’s musical career. . .as I said, I’m no Boone scholar myself.