Balls and Walnuts
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Four more favorite covers
. . . cuz I’m feeling lazy tonight.
Swans: Love will tear us apart, a cover of the Joy Division song. I love Michael Gira’s vocals on this one. Jarboe did a cover of the same song when she was with the Swans, and that one’s even better. The best, in fact. I can’t find a linky, unfortunately.
Cowboy Junkies: Sweet Jane, far moodier than Lou Reed’s original. Isn’t Margo Timmins a honey?
Cat Power’s haunting I found a reason. The Velvet Underground song is, by comparison, unrecognizable. Her Satisfaction is unique, too — imagine Satisfaction without a single refrain of “I can’t get no satisfaction.” I’m sure Dean will hate it.
(There’s Devo’s Satisfaction, too. Fun!)
What makes for a great cover? On one of the YouTube commentaries, someone wrote that a great cover honors the original but adds something to it. By that yardstick, Johnny Cash’s Hurt is a spectacular cover. Is it better than the original? I’m not sure. It’s equally heartfelt, I think — and Cash’s addiction problems give him every bit as much emotional claim to this song as Trent Reznor.
According to YouTube, this was Cash’s last video. Choked me up . . . but y’all know I choke up easy.
D.
St. Etienne’s cover of Neil Young’s Only Love Can Break Your Heart
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5nWR4qdyRs
Oh! Good one.
yah, i’d say cash did outdo reznor on that one.
also, kat powers’ version is pretty groovy, tho i’d also direct you to bjork and pj harvey’s version for another take on that song.
steveaudio and i have a running dialogue going on about covers.
here’s my top three:
#3…money by the flying lizards.
#2…comfortably numb by the scissor sisters
and the #1 cover song of all time is…
nothing compares 2 u by sinead o’connor.
ps another good one…concrete blonde doing lenoard cohen’s everybody knows.
Thanks, Skippy. Some of the vid links back at your place are empty. I found Comfortably Numb, though. Oh, that PJ Harvey Satisfaction? I think I’ll go drink arsenic now 🙂
Here’s Leonard Cohen’s own version in Exotica.
And here’s the political version.
OH!
I almost forgot — one of my favorite covers and one of my favorite videos: Gnarls Barkley’s cover of Violent Femmes Gone Daddy Gone.
Now that several songs that I grew up with are getting the re-make treatment (making me feel oh, so old!) I’m doing my best to keep an open mind. But it’s hard.
Gary Jules re-make of Tears for Fears’ Mad World is astonishing. I first heard it while watching Donnie Darko and I couldn’t believe the transformation the meaning of the song underwent thanks to his interpretation of it.
No Doubt’s re-make of Talk Talk’s It’s My Life isn’t bad – though I have my doubts about it surpassing the original.
And I disagree re: the Swans re-make of Love Will Tear Us Apart. I still love the original so much more. Could be because it’s been a favorite song for a long time so it feels too much like messing with the sacred, which I’ll admit will always be a problem for me to get over. Like that Mary J. Blige version of One? Hate it. It’s less, not more, with her treatment. Could be she picked a song with too much meaning for a U2 fan to swallow, but then again the John Legend treatment of Pride (In the Name of Love gets my approval so maybe that’s not the issue.
Sorry – runaway comment there – it’s obviously a touchy topic in my household!
Have to agree with you on Mary J. Blige’s One. And, yes, the Gary Jules cover is very good. My son (the Tears for Fears fan among us) didn’t like it, but I did.
We’ll have to disagree on Love Will Tear Us Apart. Jarboe’s version is remarkable. And I still can’t seem to find it on the web! Well, except at iTunes, and that’s only a bit of it.
A couple more…
Klaxons cover of the Not Over Yet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4yxoHwNzEE
Then Goldfrapp doing the same tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGbcFF8Gfkk
(and the original)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBUT0cxtHlg
Nouvelle Vague’s version of Marian by The Sisters of Mercy,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOEbJdgEc2g
And the same band’s version of The Killing Moon by Echo and the Bunnymen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azj08Q80qOA
Kate Bush’s The Hounds of Love by The Futureheads.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amh8V-MopUI
Siouxsie and the Banshees; Dear Prudence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJdQ1FWPVr0
Frente; Bizarre Love Triangle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ1c9ErCn7w
Probably more to come when I’ve slept on it…. (I should probably hijack Carrie’s blog for this)
I can’t believe I forgot Robert Wyatt’s version of Shipbuilding!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmE8QkDbprE
And the Poppies version of The Mighty Lemon Drops Like An Angel
http://www.last.fm/music/Pop+Will+Eat+Itself/_/Like+an+Angel?autostart
Right, off to bed.
speaking of echo and the bunnymen, i’m fond of their people is strange cover.
Damn. Y’all have hit a lot of my favorites already (though you’ll never find Iggy Pop’s cover of The Stones’ Let It Bleed on YouTube, nor will you find Bauhaus’ amazing cover of Bowie’s Thin White Duke.).
Sisters of Mercy does a pretty good cover of Gimme Shelter.
Siouxie’s also good for Iggy Pop’s The Passenger.
Here’s Trent covering Joy Division.
I’m also a sucker for Orgy’s cover of .
And, because I’m in a generous mood, here’s a link to over 100 covers of Stairway to Heaven, courtesy of those kids running my alma mater’s radio station these days…
Damn, and into moderation I go. And just as I realized that I mis-parsed WFMU (101 things to do with Led Zep) as WMFO (my college radio station)… Not even close. Eh, oh well. Such is the self-correcting nature of blogtopia (Y!SCTP).
God, I need to go to bed. That should be Orgy’s cover of Blue Monday.
Got you out of Moderation Hell. Don’t worry, WP will put any link-rich comment into moderation. I’ll do my best to keep up with it tomorrow.
And now I have WAY too much to listen to 🙂
But first . . . I thought of another great one:
t.A.T.u’s cover of the Smith’s How Soon is Now?
How about I Fought the Law originally by The Crickets but made famous by The Clash. I loves Alien Ant Farm’s cover of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal, Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah, and my personal favourite: I Will survive By Cake and the singer is great in his deadpan way, but he also reminds me of TMBG. Can we do covers without mentioning Constantinople again? Finally, as an 80’s dork, I did like Putting on The Ritz by Taco.
Oh Doug, Doug, Doug – that t.A.T.u. cover of How Soon is Now is the kind of thing that makes me want to cry. I just can’t get on board with messing with perfection like that. The original has a perfect marriage of vocal and guitar performances that can’t be beat.
Keven, first time I heard that remake of Killing Moon I didn’t quite know what to think (partly it was surprise at hearing an Echo and the Bunnymen* remake – I mean, I didn’t realize anyone even knew who they were any more!), but it’s grown on me. It’s done one of the things I think a remake should do, which is interpret a song in such a way that it brings something new to the listener. (*Speaking of the Bunnymen, I also liked their remake of People Are Strange. It was a good match for Lost Boys.)
(Oh, another one I like: Cake’s remake of I Will Survive.)
Oh, I see Lyvvie got in just ahead of me with the Cake song, so here’s another: David Lee Roth’s Just a Gigolo…not my usual music taste, but it’s catchy you gotta’ admit.
My husband is trying to hijack your site. He is The Music Guy. Me, I’m currently hooked on M. Ward’s cover of “Let’s Dance.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgYQ90prZ4M
Two covers in one Youtube link!
REM and Joe Cocker cover Cohen’s First We Take Manhattan. Cohen might be the second-most covered artist ever after the Beatles.
And no collections of covers would be complete without Allison Crowe’s cover of Cohen’s Hallelujah. I can’t help thinking that Leonard would approve.
Re: Satisfaction. I’ve never been married to this song. It is historically interesting: if you place it in its cultural context against the squeaky clean Beatles, it becomes remarkable for its aggression and menace. But I’ve heard it enough that I don’t really need to hear it again, unlike a lot of later Stones material. I’ll give the cover a listen and see what I think.
Re: Power’s Satisfaction, no I don’t hate it. It is interesting how the soft take changes the meaning of the song, isn’t it?
fiveandfour: you really hate the cover that much? I kind of like it. Main reason, when I went to purchase the Smith’s version on iTunes, it wasn’t available! That was a couple of years ago; anyway, the t.A.T.u version was the only one I could find.
Carrie: keven your husband, then? He is enthusiastic about his covers 😉
Dean: hate to admit it, but I’d never even heard Cohen’s name before this comment thread.
Here’s another interesting one:
Tori Amos, Smells Like Teen Spirit. The Patti Smith version ain’t bad, either.
As for the Paul Anka cover, it’s making me smile right now, so that says something.
fiveandfour: you really hate the cover that much?
Could be one of those things where if t.A.T.u. had done the song first, or if I didn’t have such an attachment to the original, it wouldn’t bug me so much. But as it is, I just think The Smiths version is far superior. It’s one of those songs where I think the whole is greater than the sum of its parts in the original version; when taken apart and re-assembled by someone else it loses its magic and life force.
It may seem kind of dated now, but COIL turned Soft Cell’s Tainted Love into a dirge about HIV/AIDS…
(Thx to 5&4’s LJ for reminding me 🙂 )
Don’t get me wrong, I prefer The Smith’s original, too. But t.A.T.u was all I could get!
ps: well, I lasted about 1:04 min on that one. Dirge is right. Unfortunately, I’m in more of a Pee Wee’s Big Adventure mood this morning.
In general, COIL tends to be an acquired taste…
I did a whole post on Smells Like Teen Spirit covers which included all of your favourites and a few more *wink*
I’m too lazy to dig out the link though.
ps: yeah, and I thought the Swans were dirgey (my new word for the day!)
Lyvvie: yup, I saw a few more on YouTube. Paul Anka rocked.
Jarboe-era Swans version to be found here (music only) – it’s the 2nd version listed.
Of course, another great cover version would be Soft Cell’s version of Tainted Love by Gloria Jones.
And another classic Independent Woman Pt 1 played by Kittens (Elbow)
http://www.rathergood.com/independent_woman/
And I don’t love ALL covers. The Orgy version of Blue Monday is a pox on humanity. 🙂
Try Hard…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Phnld-XX0tM
Effortless…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTb2rZ0SBg4
ps: for some reason, I couldn’t get those audio links to work. But I’m amazed — 10,000 Maniacs did a cover on Love Will Tear Us Apart?
And here it is. Oy, the sound is atrocious. Don’t bother, people.
Keven, I’ll look for that version of Tainted Love. I think I’d rather see one by Grace Jones, but that might be a little strange.
Also, there’s a cover of “Natural Woman” done by the smalls. I heard it in concert during their “Goodbye Forever” tour, and apparently it’s on the album My Dear Little Angle [sic].
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes have covered a whole lotta songs, too, in a punk / ska style, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Nolo contendere; they hit some sweet spot of mine, my middle-school/high-school metalhead fused with my later New Wave/Gothic years… 🙂
Now if we want a true pox on humanity, let’s talk Pat Boone’s metal years.
I run hot and cold on Marilyn Manson, but he’s done some fun covers: The Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams, Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus, Tim Burton’s This is Halloween…
Oh, and Cash’s version of Personal Jesus very effectively plumbs the same depths as his cover of Hurt.
Here’s Cash’s Personal Jesus. I like. Much better than Marilyn Manson’s cover, I think.
Carry on, gentlemen. You’re doing fine without me 🙂
***
I’m back after checking out the Pat Boone link. OY.
Yes, Cash’s Personal Jesus is pretty solid. I think I like it in the same way I like the acoustic version Depeche Mode did:
http://www.last.fm/music/Depeche+Mode/_/Personal+Jesus+%28Acoustic+Version%29
Both strip the whole thing down to its bare essentials.
Cash also does a version of Beck’s Rowboat. It’s great, it sounds like it was written for him.
http://www.last.fm/music/Beck/_/Rowboat
http://www.last.fm/music/Johnny+Cash/_/Rowboat
Another couple of great covers:
Black Steel by Tricky
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPmkbwAIxxk
Original by Public Enemy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uPlIaF65PM
Song to the Siren by This Mortal Coil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mUmdR69nbM
Original by Jeff’s Dad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2QmQhYZEvQ
ooh, that acoustic version of PJ was great. Thanks.
Listening to:
Joan Jett’s Mary Tyler Moore theme.
Ring of Fire by Social Distortion; also like Dwight Yoakum’s version
Absolutely Sweet Marie by Jason and the Scorchers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-cF40OWeak
The Blasters doing So Long Baby Goodbye, also Shakin’ Stevens’ version of this song
Not a cover but have to mention the greatness of X’s Burning House of Love
Bally Sagoo’s remix of Chura liya hai – but maybe you aren’t thinking remixes…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j5MVRVfICA
We’ve finally finished uploading all our CDs and rediscovered a number of fabulous songs. Now to do the playlists…
I liked that Social Distortion cover. Damn, but there are a LOT of lousy covers of Ring of Fire! I’m still partial to the Wall of Voodoo version, though.