And another one of my favorites. Rocket Man, by Kate Bush.
By the way, there is a lot of good stuff in this thread. One of the nice things about the Dope is getting exposed to things (music, movies, etc.) that would not happen otherwise.
This is the one I always think of. Isley Brothers–Summer Breeze
I consider the Isleys to be the best cover band in the universe. They do amazing work with Ohio and Love the One You’re With. Lay Lady Lay too. Here’s a complete list.
Al Green sing “Light My Fire”
Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers performing “Family Affair”
Isaac Hayes covering “Walk on By”
Staying with the “Strange but great” theme…
The White Stripes - Jolene. This is live from Conan’s old show, and they just kill it.
Hindu Love Gods (Warren Zevon with REM) covering Prince’s Rasberry Beret
Warren Zevon covering Steve Winwood’s Back in the High Life as almost a dirge.
Jonathan Coulton’s melodic cover of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back: Baby Got Back - Jonathan Coulton - YouTube
(Which was peformed in the same style by Glee without accreditation, in a display of consummate asshattery - they may have even used his instrumental track with their own vocals, it’s that bad)
Pat Boone’s In A Metal Mood, an entire album of heavy metal cover, is… well, it’s terrible. But worth listening to. Highlights:
Enter Sandman
Smoke on the Water
And Marilyn Manson’s cover of Soft Cell’s Tainted Love.
Also his cover of Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus.
And Richard Cheese’s, too.
Ooh! Ooh! Stranglers do a superb Walk On By.
Mrs. Robinson exquisitely done by Indigo Girls.
No thread about strange covers would be complete without Dread Zeppelin
I mean, we’re talking about an Elvis impersonator fronting a reggae band that does Led Zeppelin covers. It doesn’t get much stranger than that. And yet, it kind of works. Some of it’s even catchy.
Seriously for 4:11 you won’t hate her. Warning: Mild Twerking!
Yat Kha (Tuvan throat singing band)Love Will Tear Us Apart
Sisters of Mercy: Jolene and Hot Chocolate’s Emma
The Grateful Dead covering both Baba O’Riley segueing into Tomorrow Never Knows
Here you go. Patti Smith’s cover of “You Light Up My Life” live on Kids Are People Too.
As I always post in these threads, Wilson Pickett owns Hey Jude.
And check out Yannick’s C’est soiree la, a French rap version of the Four Season’s Oh What A Night. I was totally blown away by it.
I’m partial to the Meters’ version myself…
The Jam cover the Kinks’ “David Watts”
J. Geils Band covering Otis Rush’s “Homework” (live)
More as I think of them…
**The Paragons *(60s ska/reggae/rocksteady, though they started as doo-wop) doing a 1967 cover of the 1964 **Beatles **song I’ll Be Back. For me, the interesting thing isn’t the reggae beat, but rather the very different vocal harmony intervals.
(*On Anthology, we get to hear the Beatles themselves trying out the tune with a different rhythm – waltz time!)
Loving this thread and thanks for all the links.
So far I’ve enjoyed you guys introducing me to:
Civil Wars’ cover of Billie Jean
Faith No More w/ Easy (I used to have that disc, actually)
George Michael covering Queen
Even the Miley and Dolly duet was eye-opening.
In the WTH category, I submit Sundown (Gordon Lightfoot), rapped by Elwood
in the “Better-than-the-original” category:
Del McCoury and his band covering Richard Thompson’s 52 Vincient. (Bluegrass alert !!)
This (Del’s version) may be the greatest “motorcycle song” ever. The banjo and fiddle really transmit the sensation of speed and motion throughout the song.
Iron Horse (bluegrass) coverRocket Man
Steve Earle’s cover of the Beatles’ “I’m Looking Through You” is brilliant!