Worst & Best cover songs?

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oh just noticed you've included Bowie's Sorrow - i think he ruins that song, and i didn't like it much to begin with. but then again i hate everything Bowie did except for that Let's Dance song and Major Tom

― michael, Tuesday, 27 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I like:
jodeci - "lately"
aislers set - "walked in line"
superchunk - "100,000 fireflies"
lush - "i have the moon"
steps - "tragedy"
stars - "this charming man"
gourds - "gin and juice" --- BRILLIANT... BRILLIANT...

― phil, Wednesday, 28 November 2001 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

two months pass...

"i put a spell on you" - nina simone (orig. screamin' jay hawkins)

"proud mary" - ike and tina turner (orig. credence clearwater revival)

― eclectomaniac, Saturday, 2 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Superstar by Sonic Youth comes to mind,as does Some Velvet Morning by Slowdive.Bought the Senor Coconut album yesterday,but I'm not sure that I'll be adding any of those covers to the list...yet.

― Damian, Sunday, 3 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Elvis Costello - Shipbuilding (the Robert Wyatt version was the original)

its credited as a Costello composition but i'll take your word for the Wyatt one being the original. But can you really consider the Costello one to be a cover? Is Prince's version of Nothing Compares 2 U a cover? i dunno.

'Cattle and Cane' ~ The Wedding Present (which I actually prefer to the original, which will get me into trouble I know)

more perplexed than anything else. Gedge is a terrible singer so why he thought he should ruin so many of other peoples songs is beyond me. okay i guess he did a good version of Falling.

some other good covers:
Alastair Galbraith - Getting Older
Dead C - Light my Fire
Gastr del Sol - Dry Bones in the Valley
Sonic Youth - I wanna be your dog
Minus Two - High Tension House
Six Volts - Black Dog
Axemen - Pulsing
Jesus & Mary Chain - Mushroom Head
Puddle - Lacsydaisical
Cat Power - Fate of the Human Carbine

Worst cover songs:
the entire Jandek tribute CD
Roy Montgomery - Its Cold Outside
Push Push - I Love my Leather Jacket
PumpkinHead - Adults and Children
Frank Black - Hang on to Your Ego
Muttonbirds - Nature

― hamish, Monday, 4 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

how could i forget "If you go away" by Scott Walker. So perfect i forgot it was a cover.

― hamish, Monday, 4 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Elvis Costello - Shipbuilding (the Robert Wyatt version was the original)
True and false. Elvis Costello composed "Shipbuilding" in 1983 on the Falkland's war for Robert Wyatt. So Wyatt's version is the original one but it is still a song written by Costello. Check also this Wyatt Page.
― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 4 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

italics gone now?
― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 4 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

and another try

― alex in mainhattan, Monday, 4 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

my most hated HATED HATED, that i can think of = "higher ground" by the red hot bluerggh chili peppers. it actually ruined the stevie wonder song for me i think. when i heard it (the rhcp) i was about 15 and i didn't know it wasn't original.

other bad ones:
10,000 maniacs more than this (the orig., roxy music, is one of my favourite songs)
hole - gold dust woman
r.e.m. - pale blue eyes
ub40 - \red, red, wine + everything else they've ever done
urge overkill - girl you'll be a woman soon

good:
bryan ferry - help me make it through the night by kris kristofferson. and i saw daniel mancini do a good version of it live a few years ago too. Actually i like quite a lot of Ferry covers, especially two from his recent-ish covers album "As Time Goes By": I'm In the Mood For Love, and Where and When.
Louis Armstrong Mack the Knife
Chris Knox S.O.S.
also quite like The Shaggs doing the Carpenters' Yesterday Once More though it's not that remarkable.
Einsturzende Neubauten doing Lee Hazlewood's Sand even though I like the Nancy & Lee much more.
hmmm maybe "funky Town" by Psuedo Echo [they were my first concert]

that's all i can think of whilst away from my records.

― elizabeth anne marjorie, Monday, 4 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

harry pussy apparently do k-werk's showroom dummies but i can't make out any connection???!!!??
also favourite covers: will oldham doing the eagle and the hawk by john denver (just voice; i haven't heard the denver one unfortunately)
the pop art toasters (martin phillipps, david kilgour, alan starrat, mike dooley, and someone else i think damn can't remember, it's late) doing "i won't hurt you" by the west coast pop art experimental band. i consider it much an improvement.
quite like the terminals love hate revenge by the avengers but the original is so so great.

― elizabeth anne marjorie, Monday, 4 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

of course the best cover version ever is Frank Sidebottom's Anarchy in the UK

― hamish, Monday, 4 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Best: Jimi Hendrix "All Along the Watchtower"
Worst: Michael Bolton "His Whole Frigging Career"

― Lord Custos, Tuesday, 5 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Elysian Field did this cover of T Rex' "Life's a Gas" which I quite like. Also like "Baby's On Fire" covered by Peter Laughner although it isn't as good as the original.

― helenfordsdale, Tuesday, 5 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Very good:
Low's "Last Night I Dreamed Somebody Loved Me"
Low's "Transmission"
Low's "Blue Christmas"

― dan, Wednesday, 6 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Codine's "Atmosphere".

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 6 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Some faves:

Mo-dettes "Paint It Black" Ben Watt "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" Sally Timms "Half Past France" Marisa Monte "Pale Blue Eyes" Marianne Faithfull "Working Class Hero"

A further question: what makes some songs especially cover-able? Are there particular formal qualities that inspire interesting reimaginings

― Marcel Post, Wednesday, 6 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

i really don't like that new version of "hey baby" by the la-de-das. i also can't stand robbie and nicole butchering "somethin' stupid". and that guy who covered lots of chuck berry songs badly, and they always play him on solid gold fm. good covers... i liked it when big black did kraftwerk's "the model".

― di, Wednesday, 6 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

i love how kabuki that cover ios , how stylized and verging on camp , ireally dont liek robbie , but nicole , she sings liek bardot or marylin ( a rather deep compliment)

― anthony, Thursday, 7 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Best=A day in the life: The Fall. Worst=Can't let Maggie go:Jonathan King.

― Kris England., Tuesday, 12 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

Best: Keep Me Hangin' On - Vanilla Fudge

Worst: Eleanor Rigby - Vanilla Fudge

― Dave225, Tuesday, 12 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

My feelings about Coil are bittersweet. "Love´s Secret Domain" is one of the best albums I've ever heard, but the rest of their discography is full of brilliant and horrible stuff. Almost fifty-fifty. Their version of "Tainted Love" is the worst cover I heard until a few weeks ago. A few weeks ago I heard Marilyn Manson's version of the same song. It's even uglier. Veruca Salt's cover of Depeche Mode's "Somebody" is awful too.

Best covers: Soft Cell's version of "Tainted Love" (specially the Club 69 Remix). Siouxsie and the Banshees: "Helter Skelter" (Beatles), "Dear Prudence" (Beatles) and "Hall of Mirrors" (Kraftwerk). The Creatures: "Venus In Furs" (Velvet) Matmos: "Disco Hospital" (Coil) (Is it a cover or should I call it a remix?) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: "Black Betty" (Leadbelly) Pachuco Cadaver: "I Am The Fly" (Wire) Suarez: "EXplosión Madonna" (cover version of Madonna's "I Rather Be Your Love") Ciccone Youth: "Into The Groove" (Madonna) Gus Gus: "Monument" (Depeche Mode) This Mortal Coil: "Holocaust" (Big Star) Spiritualized: "Born Never Asked" (Laurie Anderson)

― carlos, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

My fave cover evah iz "My Number" by Lillian Axe feat. Vanity (original by Girl "feat." Phils Collen & Lewis).

― AP, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

best: (i agree with dr C) the slits taking 'i heard it through the grapevine' to many other levels.

worst: ian brown murders billie jean.

― dbini, Friday, 15 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

A good one: Pixies doing "Head On" A bad one: Bis "The Boy with the Thorn In His Side," even though I quite like Bis otherwise.

― Tim DiGravina, Saturday, 16 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

I don´t agree. Bis' cover of "The Boy With A Thorn In His Side" is a very good one. It sounds strange, of course, it's a very personal version, but it is one of my faves from "The Smiths Is Dead" (along with "The Queen Is Dead" by The Boo Radleys).

― carlos, Sunday, 17 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

who the hell got that hit covering the la's "there she goes", fuck it's appalling

― elizabeth anne marjorie, Monday, 18 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

What, nobody mentioned Laibach yet, in neither category? Sure, they've milked the trick to a frightening degree, but the combo on Opus Dei of "Leben Heisst Leben" (Opus' "Live Is Life") and "Geburt einer Nation" (Queen's "One Vision") still drops the jaws of whoever I play it to...

― OleM, Monday, 18 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-two years ago) link

nine months pass...

Well, I read this list to try to get some great ideas, because I wanted to burn a cd of my favorite remakes. It's funny, though...go ahead and hate me...The G'n'R version of Dylan's "Knocking On Heaven's Door is the first song I downloaded. Don't get me wrong, guys, I like Bob Dylan, but gees...Cut Axl a break. They didn't do THAT bad. BTW, I did get some good ideas. Thanks!

― Cass, Saturday, 30 November 2002 20:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sloan attempting to cover "This Charming Man" is one of the most pathetic things I have ever heard. And I like sloan.

― webcrack (music=crack), Saturday, 30 November 2002 20:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

Best = Moby's cover of "New Dawn Fades"
Worst = Moby's cover of "That's When I Reach For My Revolver"

― Curtis Stephens, Saturday, 30 November 2002 21:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

two months pass...

BEST:
i like staind covering pearl jam's Black
WORST:
every puff daddy song

― Duncan Myers, Thursday, 13 February 2003 02:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

Best include:
Mark Eitzel, 'Rehearsals for Retirement', by Phil Ochs
Sea and Cake, 'Sound and Vision, by Bowie
Veda Hille, 'Life on Mars?', by Bowie
Death Cab for Cutie, 'All is Full of Love', by Bjork
Laika, 'German Shepherds', by Wire
Sloan, 'A Case Of You', by Joni Mitchell (they turn it into a power ballad)
Cowboy Junkies, 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry', by Hank Williams
Zumpano, 'Rosecrans Boulevard', by Jimmy Webb
Rickie Lee Jones and Joe Jackson, 'Show Biz Kids', by Steely Dan
Veda Hille, 'Lying', by Meryn Cadell
Saint Etienne, 'Sylvie', by Brian Wilson

― derrick (derrick), Thursday, 13 February 2003 07:46 (twenty-one years ago) link

Big, big points for mentioning Veda Hille, or even knowing who she is.

Did anyone mention Joy Division's "Disorder" as covered by Bedhead?

― Kenan Hebert, Thursday, 13 February 2003 07:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

One of the greats - Tricky's Black Steel

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 13 February 2003 07:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

Nirvana's Plateau - maybe my favorite thing they did

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 13 February 2003 07:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sloan attempting to cover "This Charming Man" is one of the most pathetic things I have ever heard.

Is it worse than Braid's or Death Cab For Cutie's covers? Because those are pretty bad too.

Good:

Quicksand covering the Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?"
The Ramones covering Tom Waits' "I Don't Want To Grow Up"
A bunch of Japanese bands covering the Pixies
Erasure covering ABBA's "Take A Chance On Me" (still haunts me to this day, errgghh)

Bad:

Wasn't Limp Bizkit thinking about covering Fugazi's "Waiting Room" on their next album?
The entire output of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes

― Nick Mirov (nick), Thursday, 13 February 2003 08:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

death by chocolate-my friend jack
the dillards-i just seen a face
and i'll stand behind dr.c wit the slits cover..the intro is tops in my book also...the sound of sputtering dub.

― thomas de'aguirre (biteylove), Thursday, 13 February 2003 16:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

just listened to Slim Smith doing "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
pretty good

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 13 February 2003 16:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

Minor Threat covering Wire's 12XU

― Jonathan Williams (ex machina), Thursday, 13 February 2003 16:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

mc5-i want you/troggs

worst-clapton covering his own layla unplugged comes to mind..

― thomas de'aguirre (biteylove), Thursday, 13 February 2003 16:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

Best cover version I can think of is the sublime Sandie Shaw version of 'Hand in Glove' (and possibly the greatest Top of the Pops appearance ever?).
Worst? The Haguilera version of 'Lady Marmalade' is awful.... but the worst ever has to be the Flying Picket's bastardised version of Yazoo's 'Only You'. Appalling. And it got to number one - when the original only made number two. Gutting.

― russ t, Thursday, 13 February 2003 16:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

i like staind covering pearl jam's Black

Isn't that everything they've done?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 13 February 2003 16:47 (twenty-one years ago) link

i like staind covering pearl jam's Black

Isn't that everything they've done?

Except they jack up the self-pity while abandoning the drama.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 14 February 2003 02:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

im too tired to sift through all the threads, but i just wanted to make sure everyone know that wyatt and costello wrote shipbuilding together... so neither version is considered a "cover song"

― brando, Friday, 14 February 2003 06:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

best: well, i always liked the flying lizards cover of james brown's 'sex machine'. i like laibach's 'sympathy for the devil' (now that someone mentioned it).
worst: well, maybe not the worst, but the bees cover of os mutantes 'minha menina' at autofest was lame. i love that song, but replacing a group of mad psychedelic brazilians with some boring, wherever-they're-from limey guys loses something.

― lolita corpus (lolitacorpus), Friday, 14 February 2003 07:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

of course i know veda hille! I've seen her live 5 times, to boot. i love her.

― derrick (derrick), Friday, 14 February 2003 07:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

Best:
Spacemen 3 - "Transparent Radiation"

Aztec Camera - "Jump"

Siouxsie - "Dear Prudence"

Wall Of Voodoo - "Ring Of Fire"

Worst:
Simple Minds - "Love Will Tear Us Apart"
Kate Bush - "Rocket Man"
Billy Idol - "Heroin"

― Chris Barrus (xibalba), Friday, 14 February 2003 08:58 (twenty-one years ago) link

Interesting to see Flying Lizards on this list - whatever happened to them? Are they still recording.
Their version of Sex Machine was brilliant.
The Playgroup album DJ Kicks (definitely worth getting) closes with their version of Money - which itself was wonderful.

― russ t, Friday, 14 February 2003 10:33 (twenty-one years ago) link

'Guess I'm Dumb' by the Wondermints but then I nevah heard the original (Beach Boys) trackl

― nathalie (nathalie), Friday, 14 February 2003 10:36 (twenty-one years ago) link

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6jF0aK5b90

― xzanfar, Friday, 27 August 2021 19:21 (two years ago) link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBBQcCf-gn4

― xzanfar, Friday, 27 August 2021 19:24 (two years ago) link

three months pass...

The Main Ingredient - summer breeze

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AXlaMJVOQw

― meisenfek, Wednesday, 15 December 2021 20:45 (two years ago) link