# Wow, that's a great cover of that song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [April 12, 2020, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596 "2020-04-12T02:35:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/81 "2020-04-13T20:18:51Z")
> [@Made\_in\_Macau](#): > > Anything by Tragedy but here’s Stayin Alive [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZsTPLSm2co](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZsTPLSm2co) I really liked this one, haha. Goes right along with the hardcore cover of Flagpole Sitta I shared earlier. An “all-metal tribute to the Bee Gees” is something I never knew I needed, but always did. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/82 "2020-04-13T20:36:50Z")
The recent car-racing movie _Ford v. Ferrari_ is well worth a look, at least in part because of its great cover of Tony Joe White’s “Polk Salad Annie”: [- YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8DyNHHrUhA) ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/83 "2020-04-13T20:48:59Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > [Wicked Game by Chris Issac, covered on the street in Tel Aviv by Yoni Schlesinger](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frxy1zssJKY) Funny, I was going to post the a cover of this song by [Marie Digby](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI2wnRAZeO4) that feels particularly heart-wrenching. Here is [Scarborough Fair](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t6mYbAxwG8) taken from an online video game called Little Hope, which I’ve never played nor heard of, but totally dig the cover. ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/84 "2020-04-13T21:07:08Z")
A jazz(?) band called The Bird and the Bee with a cover of [I’m Into Something Good](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3udGZ2vaBdY). ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/85 "2020-04-13T21:31:21Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Another transfixing cover version of a song I was already well familiar with: Sting’s [Fields of Gold](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLVq0IAzh1A), as [done by Eva Cassidy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UVjjcOUJLE); this cover brought her to some fame, sadly 2 years after her passing away at age 33 of cancer. > > The incredible ukelele-driven cover of [Somewhere Over The Rainbow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I) by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole Yes, but then no again; yes. To clarify… I loved the Eva Cassidy version of Fields of Gold initially, then I backed off into merely tolerating it after a few thousand more times hearing everyone playing it and saying how magical it was. I no longer roll my eyes at it, but I don’t think I’ll ever now climb up beyond toleration. Somewhere over the Rainbow, uke…yep, there are quite a few thousand more plays available on that still before I descend from loving it. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/86 "2020-04-13T21:40:46Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > Yes, but then no again; yes. > > To clarify… > > I loved the Eva Cassidy version of Fields of Gold initially, then I backed off into merely tolerating it after\*\* a few thousand more times hearing everyone playing it and saying how magical it was\*\*. I no longer roll my eyes at it, but I don’t think I’ll ever now climb up beyond toleration. > > Somewhere over the Rainbow, uke…yep, there are quite a few thousand more plays available on that still before I descend from loving it. I can’t say I’ve heard Eva Cassidy’s _Fields of Gold_ ad nauseam, considering it never got pop radio airplay and only plays infrequently on my local public radio station, WFUV in NYC. Few songs can withstand overexposure. I take from your userid that you’re in Yorkshire, England, hey? According to the Wikipedia article she was posthumously “discovered” by BBC Radio 2, so I suspect the oversaturation was much more of a thing there than over here in the US, where often I’m the person introducing it to people for the first time. And I first heard it about 8 years ago. So… Dare I ask what your take is on Susan Boyle’s cover of _I Dreamed A Dream_? ---
**Author:** ![Tinker\_Grey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tinker_grey/32/8136_2.png) [@Tinker\_Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tinker_Grey)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/87 "2020-04-13T21:49:24Z")
Here’s [Over the Rainbow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NNEITc6YwU) with Austin Cromer and the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/88 "2020-04-13T22:00:23Z")
robardin writes: \> Another transfixing cover version of a song I was already well familiar with: Sting’s \> Fields of Gold, as done by Eva Cassidy; this cover brought her to some fame, sadly 2 \> years after her passing away at age 33 of cancer. Thank you for posting this, robardin. I’m worried that I’m now known as that boring poster who talks about nothing musical except Eva Cassidy, so it’s good when someone else talks about her. Nearly all of Cassidy’s songs were covers and were great, I think. Incidentally, she died on November 2, 1996 and really broke through to fame when an old video of her playing “Over the Rainbow” was shown on British TV, leading her to top the British charts early in 2001. So she really became famous more than four years after she died. ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/89 "2020-04-13T22:04:40Z")
> [@Made\_in\_Macau](#): > > Chantel Kreviazuk - Leaving on a Jet Plane [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbt2G71uT1M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbt2G71uT1M) I do quite like Chantel Kreviazuk, but this is a bit like viewing Venus de Milo with a ‘cute’ Snapchat filter. It’s too slick, too stylish, too produced. Denver or PP&M were all about the pure, uncomplicated vocal delivery; this may have stood well on its own, but by comparison to the original, it’s disappointing. > [@](#): > > Anything by Tragedy but here’s Stayin Alive [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZsTPLSm2co](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZsTPLSm2co) Spectacular. Reworking the bass riff with NWOBHM guitar is inspired. > [@](#): > > Street Spirit by The Darkness [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foGUOG-fa3Y](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foGUOG-fa3Y) Now, this may sound like saying “I like chips but could do without the whole ‘fried potato’ element of them”…but, well, although I really like the Darkness (I am literally wearing a Darkness gig T-shirt right now), I could do without too much of Justin’s falsetto. And yeah, he’s covering a Thom Yorke vocal and falsetto’s his schtick, so obviously that’s where he goes, but still: a bit more of his natural tone (think Dancing on a Friday Night, for example) would be better. > [@](#): > > Lisa Hannigan - Oh You Pretty Things [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pokc-BAmebQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pokc-BAmebQ) Oh. OH! So _nearly_! Wondrous verse, but I couldn’t last through the whole of the chorus. Terribly disappointing given what the verse suggested may have been to come! > [@](#): > > Irreplaceable - Robbie Fulks [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twHmPbNk9Pc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twHmPbNk9Pc) SUPERB! A few seconds in and it’s the definitive version. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/90 "2020-04-13T22:08:19Z")
The Barenaked Ladies version of “Lovers in the Dangerous Time” ... is totally different from, and in many ways better than, the Bruce Cockburn original [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7IX4gWkFqvU/maxresdefault.jpg "Bruce Cockburn - Lovers In A Dangerous Time") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IX4gWkFqvU) ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/91 "2020-04-13T22:08:34Z")
The Barenaked Ladies version of “Lovers in the Dangerous Time” ... is totally different from, and in many ways better than, the Bruce Cockburn original [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7IX4gWkFqvU/maxresdefault.jpg "Bruce Cockburn - Lovers In A Dangerous Time") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IX4gWkFqvU) ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/92 "2020-04-13T22:21:58Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > I can’t say I’ve heard Eva Cassidy’s _Fields of Gold_ ad nauseam, considering it never got pop radio airplay and only plays infrequently on my local public radio station, WFUV in NYC. Few songs can withstand overexposure. > > I take from your userid that you’re in Yorkshire, England, hey? According to the Wikipedia article she was posthumously “discovered” by BBC Radio 2, so I suspect the oversaturation was much more of a thing there than over here in the US, where often I’m the person introducing it to people for the first time. And I first heard it about 8 years ago. > > So… Dare I ask what your take is on Susan Boyle’s cover of _I Dreamed A Dream_? Yep, guilty as charged: I was in my native Yorkshire and was around for the “discovery”, and then heard it a hell of a lot after that! SuBo…well, I avoid shows like the one which discovered her, and at the time I tended to listen mostly to BBC 6Music (not the natural home of the Susan Boyle fan) or Radcliffe & Maconie when they were still on Radio 2, so I didn’t really encounter it much. I love Les Mis (in fact I had tickets for a performance of it next month, though that obviously ain’t happening now!) and have sung choral versions of this; I was pleasantly surprised by her version, when I eventually heard it. Not bad at all. She’s clearly an Elaine Paige fan, and no bad thing if this is your choice of material. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/93 "2020-04-13T22:38:57Z")
> [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](#): > > Yep, guilty as charged: I was in my native Yorkshire and was around for the “discovery”, and then heard it a hell of a lot after that! > > SuBo…well, I avoid shows like the one which discovered her, and at the time I tended to listen mostly to BBC 6Music (not the natural home of the Susan Boyle fan) or Radcliffe & Maconie when they were still on Radio 2, so I didn’t really encounter it much. I love Les Mis (in fact I had tickets for a performance of it next month, though that obviously ain’t happening now!) and have sung choral versions of this; I was pleasantly surprised by her version, when I eventually heard it. Not bad at all. She’s clearly an Elaine Paige fan, and no bad thing if this is your choice of material. Ha, I meant in terms of oversaturation exhaustion. There was like a 2 week period of my life when I was flooded with posts and emails from people linking to her appearance on _Britain’s Got Talent_, or just shoving a mobile device under my nose, “YOU’VE GOT TO SEE/HEAR THIS!!” - Yeah, I did, it was great, seeing it 5 times today was enough. So I wondered if it was even more prevalent in Britain. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/94 "2020-04-13T22:43:09Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Dust in the Wind is: > A fondly remembered song from my youth. > A corny song by a rock band trying to be “deep” > A fun guitar tune that I worked at a lot but never got smoothed out. > The truest song ever. > > [Here’s somebody that got the guitar part down better than I ever did. Wait for her to switch to electric!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mf5Ggx0Rvg) That was really cool, thanks! And “corny”? It was deep! [Just ask Socrates!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvYRqsRZ7vE) ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/95 "2020-04-13T22:43:46Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Ha, I meant in terms of oversaturation exhaustion. There was like a 2 week period of my life when I was flooded with posts and emails from people linking to her appearance on _Britain’s Got Talent_, or just shoving a mobile device under my nose, “YOU’VE GOT TO SEE/HEAR THIS!!” - Yeah, I did, it was great, seeing it 5 times today was enough. So I wondered if it was even more prevalent in Britain. Oh god yeah. I was aware that it was hailed as a once-in-a-millennium wonder, but was largely able to avoid it! ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/96 "2020-04-14T02:53:23Z")
There are a lot of good Post Modern Jukebox covers. My favorite is [Crazy Train](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdeNXCFeRtw). ---
**Author:** ![Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/59ef9b/32.png) [@Yorkshire\_Pudding](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorkshire_Pudding)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/97 "2020-04-14T09:03:41Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > Neil Young’s [Only Love Can Break Your Heart](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=364qY0Oz-xs) has been covered a lot, mostly in the same style as the original piece; the other day, I heard [a very interesting version of it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZAajrxvDs4) by St. Etienne, from the 1990s. It was playing in the background somewhere and I didn’t realize it was a cover for maybe a whole minute (where the original is one of my favorite songs). Whoa…St. Etienne’s version was a cover?! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/98 "2020-04-14T09:59:45Z")
[Prelude](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prelude_(band)) is a British folk singing trio, reminding me very much of Peter Paul and Mary. Their _a cappella_ [cover of Neil Diamond’s _After the Gold Rush_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Taxuott5s) was an international hit — apparently their only song to become well-known in the United States. [Here is another video of the same recording](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6BzTCQ6Nqo) with visionary artwork. A certain Andy Kohn did a [karaoke cover of Grateful Dead’s Ripple](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcOg5bxVOLs) that works, IMHO, better than the original, including very nice fall foliage photography. ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/99 "2020-04-14T10:41:07Z")
You might like [Smells Like Teen Spirit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eewyixbot4c) more than you think! ---
**Author:** ![2Bits](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e95f7d/32.png) [@2Bits](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2Bits)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596/100 "2020-04-14T10:42:41Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > [Prelude](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prelude_(band)) is a British folk singing trio, reminding me very much of Peter Paul and Mary. Their _a cappella_ [cover of Neil Diamond’s _After the Gold Rush_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2Taxuott5s) was an international hit — apparently their only song to become well-known in the United States. > > [Here is another video of the same recording](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6BzTCQ6Nqo) with visionary artwork. > > A certain Andy Kohn did a [karaoke cover of Grateful Dead’s Ripple](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcOg5bxVOLs) that works, IMHO, better than the original, including very nice fall foliage photography. I would LOVE to hear Neil DIAMOND perform After the Goldrush! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wow-thats-a-great-cover-of-that-song/851596.md?page=6)