# What are your favourite covers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 22, 2006, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-covers/365647 "2006-07-22T23:49:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Professor\_Farnsworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Professor\_Farnsworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Professor_Farnsworth)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-covers/365647/41 "2006-07-24T16:15:52Z")
[QUOTE=Rucksinator] The bluegrass cover of “Gin and Juice”, done by… I don’t know. Anybody know? I’m not a fan for bluegrass, but this is the Best. Cover. Evah. [/QUOTE] This cover is performed by **The Gourds** , a lesser known bluegrass act. The cover is sometime wrongly attributed to **Phish** , but this is incorrect. And I agree, it’s one of the coolest and most unique covers ever. They really turn the song on its head and make it their own. I’ll second Dubious Weasle’s nomination of \*\*Johnny Cash’s \*\* cover of _Hurt_ originally performed by Nine Inch Nails. Another case where the song is really turned around and made totally different. And I really like \*\*Evanesence’s \*\* acoustic cover of _Heart-Shaped Box_ by Nirvana. They performed it live on a radio station once and the female lead singer really lends a new texture to the song, more smooth and silky as opposed to Kurt Cobain’s gravelly screaming. ---
**Author:** ![Gail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Gail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gail)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-covers/365647/42 "2006-07-24T16:29:07Z")
Yay! No one’s mentioned Sixpence None The Richer’s version of _There She Goes_ originally done by the Las. I also liked Tori Amos’ _Smells Like Teen Spirit_ . ---
**Author:** ![rhythmonly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@rhythmonly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhythmonly)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-covers/365647/43 "2006-07-24T20:56:32Z")
For me, the best cover that I’ve ever heard is The Crybabies’ version of “Man With Money” by The Everly Brothers. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-covers/365647/44 "2006-07-24T22:46:54Z")
**David Lindley’s** cover of _Mercury Blues_ is a full throttle celebration on fuzzy slide guitar. **Ry Cooder** had some big balls to cover Jim Reeves’s _He’ll Have To Go,_ but **Flaco Jimenez’s** Tex-Mex accordian makes it perfect. Hundreds of covers have been made of **George Gershwin’s** _Summertime._ **Janis Joplin’s** take stands alone at the pinnacle, though. _Back Door Man_ was a classic long before **The Doors** got hold of it, but they took it to another level. **Peter Ostroushko** does **Hank Williams, Sr.'s** _Hey, Good Lookin’_ in Ukranian, with **Johnny Gimble** on fiddle. It’s great fun. **The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band** does a more conventional cover, with **Linda Ronstadt** on backup vocals. Speaking of **The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,** they do a quiet, spare, growly cover of _The Battle Of New Orleans_ that you’ll never forget. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-covers/365647/45 "2006-07-24T23:39:49Z")
If I repeat any, then consider them seconds: “Hazy Shade of Winter” by The Bangles “Shameless” by Garth Brooks “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” by Eddie Vedder/Pearl Jam “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by IZ, but I must note he completely butchers the lyrics - I like the cover-of-the-arrangement featured on an episode of Scrubs. “Istanbul, Not Constantinople” by They Might Be Giants “Leaving on a Jet Plane” by Peter, Paul, and Mary “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye” by Niel McCoy “Landslide” by The Dixie Chicks (country version only - no banjo=no good) “Grim Grinning Ghosts” by The Dapper Dans “Grim Grinning Ghosts” by Bare Naked Ladies Any Nat King Cole version of any song “Tiny Dancer” by Tim McGraw “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” by Mark Chesnutt “Cold, Cold Heart” by Nora Jones In their concerts, Gaelic Storm does imitation covers of their most popular song “Johnny Tarr” all of which are hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-covers/365647/46 "2006-07-25T00:56:23Z")
[QUOTE=Equipoise] I definitely agree with Fields of Gold. I heard that Sting cried when he heard it. [/QUOTE] Really? I heard Sting talk about it, and it sounded to me like he didn’t like it but was too polite to say so, in the circumstances. I don’t think the Eva Cassidy version is that good, anyway, it’s too schmaltzy. Sorry. My vote would be for Sheryl Crow’s cover of Sweet Child O’ Mine. No spandex and no fretwank, and it really suits her voice. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-covers/365647/47 "2006-07-25T01:02:33Z")
I’ll third (or whatever) Johnny Cash’s version of “Hurt”. My all-time favorite is probably Husker Du’s cover of the Byrds’ “Eight Miles High”. Also like XTC’s “All Along The Watchtower” and Devo’s “(I Can’t get No) Satisfaction”. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-covers/365647/48 "2006-07-25T01:47:53Z")
Buckley’s cover of Halleluja is nice, but I don’t think it’s as good as Cohen’s original. Buckley’s just a little too on the nose. Bono does an IMHO more interesting version on _Tower of Song_, a Leonard Cohen tribute album. That album also has Suzanne Vega’s gorgeous rendition of “Story of Isaac.” There’s a lot of good stuff on the Hendrix tribute album _Stone Free_. Perhaps my favorite track is Belly’s Are You Experienced?, although I won’t say it’s better than the original version. But my favorite cover has to be the Pet Shop Boys’ disco-y version of Where the Streets Have No Name, where halfway through they break into the R&B standard Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You with a fantastic wave of energy. Every time I’ve heard the original U2 version in the last 15 years, I find myself adding “I love you baby, and if it’s quite all right, I need you baby, to keep me warm at night…” at the appropriate moment. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Hedonism\_Bot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hedonism\_Bot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedonism_Bot)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-covers/365647/49 "2006-07-25T01:53:06Z")
[QUOTE=Blaster Master] Lots of great covers, but there’s only two I can think of off the top of my head that are as good or better than the originals: 1. Yngwie Malmsteen’s cover of Kansas’s **Carry on my Wayward Son[**. Not superior, but just about as good. There’s another really good cover on that album, but I can’t remember what song it was. 2. Nevermore’s cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s **The Sound of Silence**. The original is brilliant, but the cover does an even better job of catching the darkness and mood of the lyrics. [/QUOTE] Malmsteen also did a great version of Child in Time and that album as well. The other tunes he covered [http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=359](http://www.metal-archives.com/release.php?id=359) And I’ll second that Nevermore cover. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2006, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-covers/365647/50 "2006-07-25T08:57:38Z")
Here’s some heresy for you: I think Elvis Presley’s cover of _Bridge Over Troubled Waters_ is much, much better than the original, and I say that as a big Paul Simon fan. Art Garfunkel just doesn’t have enough personality to be a lead vocalist, and the song’s production is much too self important. The King, OTOH, infuses just enough bravura into the song (not to mention gospel backing) to make it work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favourite-covers/365647.md?page=2)