Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal: A Weblog

The first thing that came to mind is Hendrix covering Dylan's "All along the watchtower"

But then, just about EVERY cover of that is better than the original.

Jane's Addiction's cover of "Sympathy for the Devil" gives me chills. Good ones.

It's because Springsteen is a controlled singer, while Smith is more histrionic.

Sublime's cover of "Gin and Juice" is objectively the best cover ever.

The best covers get at the heart of a song because- like any parent knows-it's tough to be objective about your own creation. For getting at the sheer fun of a song, it's hard to beat Jimmy Buffett's cover of "Brown-Eyed Girl" (an embarassing number of Parrotheads don't know that Van Morrison wrote it, yeesh!)

And why is Johnny Cash's "I'm on Fire" so much worse than Bruce Springsteen's original?

I've never known whether to consider a song like "Watchtower", where the second artist completely reenvisions the song, a cover or not. What was Dylan's line about that? Something like, "That's now Jimi's song"?

Anyway, a few favorites --

Jeff Buckley, "Hallelujah"
Raul Malo, "Downbound Train"
Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" (trust me on this)
Masterminds, "Oh Shit"
Red House Painters, "All Mixed Up"
Roland Kirk, "Ain't No Sunshine"

Any song the Beatles covered? Any song Stevie Ray Vaughan covered?

for pure silly fun value there is alien ant farm's version of "smooth criminal" (originally by michael jackson), but i don't know if the hilarious video for a.a.f.'s version is giving added weight to it in my mind.

i think that "watchtower" is best by hendrix, next best by dave matthews band, and then the original by dylan.

Graham Parker's "I Want You Back" -- yes, the Jackson Five song.

I grew up in New Jersey, from whence came both Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith. Both were extremely important to me in high school and college (Class of 1981). It is not exactly clear which version of "Because The Night" is the original. Patti Smith's studio version appeared long before any recorded version of Springsteen's were available. For a long time, the only recordings of the Springsteen version were live bootlegs that fans felt very happy to find. Also, in some spots, the lyrics in the two versions differ entirely. Springsteen wrote all the lyrics in his version: as I recall (all my albums from the era are packed away), Smith has a writing credit with Springsteen for her version.
Frankly, the best performances of Springsteen's "Because The Night" were live. In the live recording of Patti Smith's "Frederick", which came out in roughly early 1979, the musical introduction/bridge that leads into the song (I was not a music major, so please bear with my lack of technical expertise) sounds very much like the intro/bridge that Springsteen used during his live performances during the 1978 tour to get into his version of "Because The Night". At the time, a number of observers, such as Vin Scelsa (WNEW-FM in NYC), noticed this.
Finally, within the past year and a half, in at least one concert, Springsteen performed the Patti Smith version of "Because the Night". In a way that was surprising, because in some respects the Smith lyrics are both more romantic and somewhat better suited to a female performer, while Springsteen's lyrics are arguably somewhat macho and better suited to a male performer (in a very traditional sense). In fact, the only cover version of "Because the Night" that I know of off-hand is 10,000 Maniacs' cover of the Patti Smith version (which was performed on MTV Unplugged).

Aretha Franklin covered Otis Redding's Respect
Buckley's Hallelujah
The Gin and Juice cover is by Sticky Little Fingers, not Sublime or Phish.

Ah yes... The 10,000 Maniacs cover... how did that fail to make at least an honorable mention in Thomson's list of dreck? Despite their different approaches, Springsteen and Smith both respected the vital energy of the lyrics and produced a song with edge that called out for your attention. The 10KM version sounds like something Adam Sandler would have done in The Wedding Singer.

As Natalie Merchant's career winds down she'll no doubt give us other choices... I can almost hear her crooning "In A Gadda-Da-Vida..."

Judy Collins, "In My Life." The Beatles are great, but Collins is haunting, raising the song to another level.

My rule for cover songs is simple: they must be very different from the original, or substantially better.

Cover songs that I think manage both:

Television Personalities, "Seasons in the Sun". Played like a downbeat indie dirge, this song stabs Terry Jacks's original in six places, nurses it back to health, and then suffocates it with its pillow. So good in so many ways.

The Mountain Goats, "The Sign". When I saw Mr. Darnielle perform this, lo those many years back at the erstwhile Chameleon, he announced to the assembled hipsters that this Ace of Base song was number one in twelve countries. Then he made them sing along. Wallow in pop culture and love it.

Spacemen 3, "Transparent Radiation". Slow psychedelia never felt so good.

The Fall, all covers. "The band by which all others are measured" (Peel, RIP) turns every one into a Fall song. If you do not understand why that is both very different and substantially better than its original, then you are objectively anti-John Peel and hence hate all music. Please see http://www.visi.com/fall/discog/covers.html

I have to stop now. I could go on.

the Byrds, "Mr. Tambourine Man" & "My Back Pages" (and I'm speaking as a big Dylan fan), "Turn Turn Turn"

Santana, "Oye Como Va", "Black Magic Woman"

The Clash's cover of "I Fought the Law" is absolutely stunning.

Johnny Cash did some great covers, it should be remembered:
1) Your Own Personal Jesus: it's interesting to hear a cover of an ironic song which strips away the irony. This one could only have been done by a man whose deep and abiding faith was part of his public image and saturated his voice. Makes Marilyn Manson look like the clown he is.
2) Delia: it's easy to cover Leadbelly because so few people have heard the original, but this is one that Cash makes his own.

I think one of the things that makes a cover work is the lens that a different genre brings, which is why there is a richness in shifting songs from country music to rock and back. Gas Huffer's cover of Willie Nelson's "I Gotta Get Drunk" is fantastic, for instance. And Willie himself has made quite a career off of his covers, my favorite being his cover of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys' "Stay All Night." And speaking of Bob Wills, Asleep at the Wheel did a fantastic cover album of thier music, which included Dolly Parton's wonderful cover of "Lilly Dale" (changed to "Billy Dale") and Garth Brooks (gasp!) doing "Still Water Runs The Deepest." Lyle Lovett's album "Step Inside This House" is an album of covers that are not well known, including the fantastic title song by Guy Clark. And speaking of Lyle Lovett, his "Stand By Your Man" is much more complex than the original, somply by virtue of shifting the gender of the singer. Let's also not forget all of Ray Charles' great covers of Hank Williams songs like "Half as Much," as well as his other forays into country with "You Are My Sunshine" and "Bye Bye Love."

I'm also quite a fan of Joss Stone's cover of the White Stripes "Fell in Love With A Girl."

But the prize, for me, has to go to Tony Bennett's version of Hank Williams' "Cold Cold Heart."

Johnny Cash did some great covers, it should be remembered:
1) Your Own Personal Jesus: it's interesting to hear a cover of an ironic song which strips away the irony. This one could only have been done by a man whose deep and abiding faith was part of his public image and saturated his voice. Makes Marilyn Manson look like the clown he is.
2) Delia: it's easy to cover Leadbelly because so few people have heard the original, but this is one that Cash makes his own.

I think one of the things that makes a cover work is the lens that a different genre brings, which is why there is a richness in shifting songs from country music to rock and back. Gas Huffer's cover of Willie Nelson's "I Gotta Get Drunk" is fantastic, for instance. And Willie himself has made quite a career off of his covers, my favorite being his cover of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys' "Stay All Night." And speaking of Bob Wills, Asleep at the Wheel did a fantastic cover album of thier music, which included Dolly Parton's wonderful cover of "Lilly Dale" (changed to "Billy Dale") and Garth Brooks (gasp!) doing "Still Water Runs The Deepest." Lyle Lovett's album "Step Inside This House" is an album of covers that are not well known, including the fantastic title song by Guy Clark. And speaking of Lyle Lovett, his "Stand By Your Man" is much more complex than the original, somply by virtue of shifting the gender of the singer. Let's also not forget all of Ray Charles' great covers of Hank Williams songs like "Half as Much," as well as his other forays into country with "You Are My Sunshine" and "Bye Bye Love."

I'm also quite a fan of Joss Stone's cover of the White Stripes "Fell in Love With A Girl."

But the prize, for me, has to go to Tony Bennett's version of Hank Williams' "Cold Cold Heart."

Johnny Cash did some great covers, it should be remembered:
1) Your Own Personal Jesus: it's interesting to hear a cover of an ironic song which strips away the irony. This one could only have been done by a man whose deep and abiding faith was part of his public image and saturated his voice. Makes Marilyn Manson look like the clown he is.
2) Delia: it's easy to cover Leadbelly because so few people have heard the original, but this is one that Cash makes his own.

I think one of the things that makes a cover work is the lens that a different genre brings, which is why there is a richness in shifting songs from country music to rock and back. Gas Huffer's cover of Willie Nelson's "I Gotta Get Drunk" is fantastic, for instance. And Willie himself has made quite a career off of his covers, my favorite being his cover of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys' "Stay All Night." And speaking of Bob Wills, Asleep at the Wheel did a fantastic cover album of thier music, which included Dolly Parton's wonderful cover of "Lilly Dale" (changed to "Billy Dale") and Garth Brooks (gasp!) doing "Still Water Runs The Deepest." Lyle Lovett's album "Step Inside This House" is an album of covers that are not well known, including the fantastic title song by Guy Clark. And speaking of Lyle Lovett, his "Stand By Your Man" is much more complex than the original, somply by virtue of shifting the gender of the singer. Let's also not forget all of Ray Charles' great covers of Hank Williams songs like "Half as Much," as well as his other forays into country with "You Are My Sunshine" and "Bye Bye Love."

I'm also quite a fan of Joss Stone's cover of the White Stripes "Fell in Love With A Girl."

But the prize, for me, has to go to Tony Bennett's version of Hank Williams' "Cold Cold Heart."

Good lord, I have no idea why that posted three times. Much apologies all 'round.

Good lord, I have no idea why that posted three times. Much apologies all 'round.

Good lord, I have no idea why that posted three times. Much apologies all 'round.

I second the "Watchtower" and Jeff Buckley nominations. Here are some others:

Beatles: Twist and Shout, Money, To Know Her is To Love Her, Bad Boy
Stones: Talking About You, I Don't Know Why, Imagination
Faces: (I Know) I'm Losing You
Hendrix: Sgt. Pepper (live 2 days (!!!!) after the release of the record)
Clapton: Cocaine
Zeppelin: entire catalog, "originals" especially haha
Joplin: Piece of My Heart
Carl Perkins: Matchbox
Elvis: Hound Dog
Terry Reid: Season of the Witch, Summertime Blues, Ain't That Peculiar
CCR: Susie Q
Juliana Hatfield: Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Baby Gets High
Robyn Hitchcock: More Than This
Van Halen: You Really Got Me
Roy Buchanan: Sweet Dreams
Aretha Franklin: Respect
Black Crowes: Hard to Handle
Paul Simon: Surfer Girl
Thorogood: Move It On Over
Nilsson: Sail Way
Dinosaur Jr.: Show Me the Way
Lemonheads: Mrs. Robinson
Talking Heads: Take Me to the River

I second the "Watchtower" and Jeff Buckley nominations. Here are some others:

Beatles: Twist and Shout, Money, To Know Her is To Love Her, Bad Boy
Stones: Talking About You, I Don't Know Why, Imagination, The Last Time
Faces: (I Know) I'm Losing You
Hendrix: Sgt. Pepper (live 2 days (!!!!) after the release of the record)
Clapton: Cocaine
Zeppelin: entire catalog, "originals" especially haha
Joplin: Piece of My Heart
Carl Perkins: Matchbox
Elvis: Hound Dog
Terry Reid: Season of the Witch, Summertime Blues, Ain't That Peculiar
CCR: Susie Q
Juliana Hatfield: Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Baby Gets High
Robyn Hitchcock: More Than This
Van Halen: You Really Got Me
Roy Buchanan: Sweet Dreams
Aretha Franklin: Respect
Black Crowes: Hard to Handle
Paul Simon: Surfer Girl
Thorogood: Move It On Over
Nilsson: Sail Way
Dinosaur Jr.: Show Me the Way
Lemonheads: Mrs. Robinson
Talking Heads: Take Me to the River

Stevie Ray Vaughn's cover of Little Wing would certainly be in my list of top ten covers.

The Sparks' cover of "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" is kind of woozily brilliant.

I'm probably a sucker, but I really dig The Bangles' version of "Hazy Shade of Winter".

Fisher's got a cover of "Tea for the Tillerman" that segues into Eminem's "Lose Yourself" (!!!)

Faye Wong's ren. of the Cranberries' "Deams" is really nice, as is Bjork's "You Only Live Twice".

Great covers in movies:
Quindon Tarver's "When Doves Cry" (Romeo + Juliet)
Urge Overkill's "You'll be a Woman Soon" (Pulp Fiction)
Roy Schneider's "Goodbye Love" (All that Jazz)
Geoff Muldaur's "Brazi" (Brazil), only slightly better than the Bachianos Brazil Samba at the end of the film.:)

I'll second the rule for covers posted above-- they must be very different from the original, or substantially better--and suggest the following as a personal fav:

The Petshop Boys covering U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" by splicing in "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" and disco-ing and kitschifying the whole thing. Thereby revealing the histrionic undertones of the original version

But maybe that's just me.

Patti Smith's cover of "Gloria."

"The Bells of Rhymney" (by Pete Seeger) performed by The Byrds (1965)

"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (by Bob Dylan) performed by The Byrds (1966)

"Every Little Thing" (Lennon & McCartney) performed by Yes (on their first album, 1969)

"You Can't Catch Me" (Chuck Berry) by Love Sculpture, the first band with Dave Edmunds (on the album "Forms and Feelings," 1969)

"Wicked Messenger" (Dylan) by Small Faces (album “First Steps” with Rod Stewart, 1970)

“John Barleycorn” (traditional) by Traffic (1970)

"Heaven and Hell" (The Who, written by John Entwistle) performed by John Entwistle (on his album "Smash Your Head Against the Wall," 1971)

"Jealous Guy" (John Lennon) by Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music

"The City of New Orleans" (Steve Goodman) by Arlo Guthrie (1972)

"Angel From Montgomery" (John Prine) by Bonnie Raitt

“Perfect Day” (Lou Reed) by Kirsty MacColl with Evan Dando (1995)

“Across the Universe” (Lennon/McCartney) by Fiona Apple (“Pleasantville” soundtrack, 1999)

“Behind Blue Eyes” (The Who) by Sheryl Crow (2001)

Let me second the mention of Johnny Cash. However, he did so many amazing covers it is hard to pick one as a favorite. Some excellent ones that have not been mentioned include his versions of Trent Reznor's "Hurt", Parker and Charles' "We'll Meet Again", and Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" (with Joe Strummer). Toward the end of his life he had such a melancholy sound in his voice that made the songs that he sang sad and very meaningful.

I have to agree with Dunmer's comment about re-envisioning. The term cover arose in the fifties to refer to white artists 'covering'(actually copying as closely as possible) black artists' recordings to make them acceptable to radio. What people are referring to here as covers are actually mostly re-imagined versions of songs. That's what real artists do - put their own signature on the material.

I can't choose among the great covers, but the most completely unlikely really good cover is Richard Thompson's "Oops, I Did It Again", and an inexplicable omission from the Guardian's list of bad covers is Joan Baez's version of "No Woman No Cry."

Aerosmith's cover of "Come Together."

R.E.M.'s cover of "Academy Fight Song" by Mission of Burma
Travis' cover of "Hit Me Baby One More Time"

I will cherish always in my heart the poignancy of Willie Nelson's "You Are Always On My Mind," but the Pet Shop Boys' version always puts a smile on my face.

Everclear's cover of The Smiths "How Soon is Now" is great, fast, stripped-down. Somebody at the end of that track yells "FAILURE!" Probably felt they needed Johnny Marr.

And one of my valued possessions is an MP3 of a live Pearl Jam cover of Stone Temple Pilots' "Plush." When I first heard the STP original on the car radio at the corner of Routes 117 and 172 in Mount Kisco I said, without knowing who really did it, "That's the best Pearl Jam tune I've heard yet." Ironic, no?

The Rolling Stones, "Let's Spend the Night Together" and "Not Fade Away."

Joe Cocker's cover of "You Can Leave Your Hat On" captured the lust that Randy Newman's dead pan style couldn't.

How about James Taylor's version of Carole King's "You got a friend"? I like both versions.

Without thinking too much about and going all the way back, Uncle Kracker's cover of "Drift Away" sounds good to me.

Second to Jeff Buckley's cover of "Hallelujah", by Leonard Cohen.
Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt", by Nine Inch Nails
Johnny Cash's cover of "I Hung My Head" by Sting
Cassandra Wilson's cover of "Love is Blindness", by U2
Second on Van Halen's cover of "You really got me", by the Kinks
801 Live's cover of "Tomorrow Never Knows", by John Lennon
Nirvana's cover of "The Man Who Sold the World", by David Bowie
David Bowie's cover of "Sorrow"

Santana, "Oye Como Va", "Black Magic Woman"

BLM is good by Santana, but certainly not better than Peter Green's original.

Quicksilver, "Who do You Love, Mona, and Happy Trails" :)

"Get Together" could have a book written about it, floated around for years before the Youngbloods arranged a classic.

Mama Cass "Dream a Little Dream"
John Coltrane "My Favourite Things"

I am a jazz fan, and will be back with my rankings of the top 100 versions of "I Remember April"

I'd vote for REM's version of Richard Thompson's "Wall of Death", but since it's on a tribute album I'm not sure that counts. I'm also very fond of Screeching Weasel's covers of both "I can see clearly now" and "I think we're alone now" (the Tommy James, not the Tiffany, version.)

I'm really taken by The Cure's several variations on The Door's "Hello, I Love You" and Hendrix's "Purple Haze." I don't know if I would say that either of these are *better* than the originals, but they are both very thoughtful and compelling interpretations.

I have to disagree with a previous poster about The Lemonheads' cover of "Mrs. Robinson" though. It's pleasant enough, but it always makes me want to hear the original.

On the less serious side, I always enjoy They Might Be Giants' cover of "New York City".

The award for Best Bad Cover, or worst good cover:

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, "Tower of Song" (Leonard Cohen)

It was on the Leonard Cohen tribute album that came out about 10-12 years ago, mostly a bunch of hip-at-that-moment bands who clearly had little idea who Cohen was--even the Pixies couldn't make a good go of it. "Tower of Song" was covered like 5 times, in 5 differently bad ways, and finally, Cave & the Bad Seeds just erupt into this piece of pure chaotic blasphemy that sounds like an alternate universe where the Doors went to Vegas and hit rock bottom in place of Elvis. Just a sonic vomitorium, a piece of pure chaotic blasphemy. Magnificent on its own, but also a great tribute to the Jewish Johnny Cash.

Here's an entire album of Dylan covers, all of which work well. They're performed by The Hollies while Graham Nash was still in the group.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00000JAX3/qid=1059345239/sr=1-47/ref=sr_1_47/102-4602618-7420131?v=glance&s=music#product-details

The tracks include: "The Times They Are A-Changin'," "I Shall Be Released," and "Just Like A Woman."

Also (just in time for Halloween) the immortal BONZO DOG BAND did the best cover of "Monster Mash" (by Bobby Pickett and Leonard Capizzi) on their studio album "Tadpoles" (1969) and live on John Peel's British radio show, circa 1970. (Peel died just a few days ago.) These CDs are available on import. On Peel's show the Bonzos also did a perfect rendition of Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance," with the words changed a little: "Give Booze a Chance." ("Everybody's talkin' 'bout lager, pilsner,...") The Bonzos were extraodinary dadaists and satirists, musically very advanced, with several albums and a couple of dozen original tunes to their credit--a seminal British force connecting The Beatles, The Who, Monty Python, and The Rutles, among others. The remaining musical genius of the Bonzos, Neil Innes (who also wrote and performed The Rutles songs) is now touring on the guitar-shop circuit in major U.S. cities at this very moment--a rare opportunity to see one of the greatest talents!

Following the "they must be very different from the original, or substantially better" rule, I'll have to say anything by Hayseed Dixie. They're a bluegrass band that covers AC/DC, Kiss & some others. It would be enough to hear semial rock songs re-done as bluegrass, but these cats are super players as well.

As for some of my personal favourites:
Save Ferris: C'Mon Eileen
April Wine (Canadian band): Why'd You Lie(Beatles)
Moxy Fruvous: Breakfast at Tiffany's(a capella)
Cake: I Will Survive
Dakota Moon: Whenever I See Your Smilin' Face

For more covers fun, check out www.coversproject.com for a comprehensive list of covers & artists.

Devo, "Satisfaction".

(Also, The Folksmen's "Start Me Up", an extra on "A Mighty Wind"'s soundtrack CD, is hilarious, if not particularly profound.)

They Might Be Giants' live version of "Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas)" in which it turns into a high-energy rocker.

Oh. And one of the questions I have had for years is why nobody covers Richard Thompson's "I Wanna See the Bright Lights Tonight" Weird.

Picking up on Bill's point, I don't think the Springsteen lyrics for 'Because the Night' are necessarily more macho, but they're definitely more male, more blue-collar. Smith's are NJ-via-Manhattan: more ambiguous, more emotionally messy.

I'd second Thompson's 'Oops, I Did It Again', which makes you look at the song through his own songwriting lens, in a really surprising way. But Thompson is a genius for that.

I have a soft spot for Jose Feliciano's 'Light My Fire'. And you have to mention Scott Walker's covers/translations of Jacques Brel songs ('Jacky', 'Amsterdam', 'Mathilde') with their camp glory. And, by that train of thought, Marc Almond's 'Jacky' and 'Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart', and Soft Cell's 'Tainted Love' for its electro-sleaze.

(k.d. lang's most recent CD has covers of Canadian artists: her version of Joni Mitchell's 'A Case of You' is worth hearing.)

And my favourite cover: St Etienne's version of Neil Young's 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart'.

Following the "they must be very different from the original, or substantially better" rule, I'll have to say anything by Hayseed Dixie. They're a bluegrass band that covers AC/DC, Kiss & some others. It would be enough to hear semial rock songs re-done as bluegrass, but these cats are super players as well.

As for some of my personal favourites:
Save Ferris: C'Mon Eileen
April Wine (Canadian band): Why'd You Lie(Beatles)
Moxy Fruvous: Breakfast at Tiffany's(a capella)
Cake: I Will Survive
Dakota Moon: Whenever I See Your Smilin' Face

For more covers fun, check out www.coversproject.com for a comprehensive list of covers & artists.

Johnny Winter's covers of "Highway 61 Revisited" and "Drown in My Own Tears."

Susie Q by Creedence C R

Most recently, Jothana Brooke's acoustic cover of the cheesy 80s song by Alan Parsons, "Eye in the Sky"

Picking up on Bill's point, I don't think the Springsteen lyrics for 'Because the Night' are necessarily more macho, but they're definitely more male, more blue-collar. Smith's are NJ-via-Manhattan: more ambiguous, more emotionally messy.

I'd second Thompson's 'Oops, I Did It Again', which makes you look at the song through his own songwriting lens, in a really surprising way. But Thompson is a genius for that.

I have a soft spot for Jose Feliciano's 'Light My Fire'. And you have to mention Scott Walker's covers/translations of Jacques Brel songs ('Jacky', 'Amsterdam', 'Mathilde') with their camp glory. And, by that train of thought, Marc Almond's 'Jacky' and 'Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart', and Soft Cell's 'Tainted Love' for its electro-sleaze.

(k.d. lang's most recent CD has covers of Canadian artists: her version of Joni Mitchell's 'A Case of You' is worth hearing.)

And my favourite cover: St Etienne's version of Neil Young's 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart'.

>> And one of the questions I have had for years is why nobody covers Richard Thompson's "I Wanna See the Bright Lights Tonight" Weird.

It has, but by no-one 'big':

http://www.coversproject.com/search/?query=bright+lights+tonight

Yo La Tengo's cover of 'For Shame Of Doing Wrong' is good, though.

bloody hell, Brad. Upgrade your damn server already.

I don't know if the Pointer Sisters' version of Springsteen's "Fire" would be considered a cover, but I think it outdoes any version by the Boss. Just sayin.

No list of "worst cover songs" is complete without William Shatner's "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

Husker Du's cover the The Byrd's "Eight Miles High" My vote for Best. Cover. Ever.
Bob Mould gets completely unhinged at the end. I still remember the first time I heard it. It was like..."did I just hear that?"

Husker Du's cover of the The Byrd's "Eight Miles High" My vote for Best. Cover. Ever.
Bob Mould gets completely unhinged at the end. I still remember the first time I heard it. It was like..."did I just hear that?"

Some of the best worst covers were around in the '50s, and I wouldn't be surprised to see some make a comeback if we get Four More Years.

Most hideous in my memory is Pat Boone's version of "Tutti Frutti" (a Religious-Right antidote to Elvis Presley, not Little Richard). And a guy named Johnny Rivers introduced me to "Baby, I Need Your Loving" - I think he covered a lot of Motown songs for the white audiences in the South. He didn't do too bad a job, but Levi Stubbs he wasn't. And some of the British covers in the '60s, notably the Beatles "Twist and Shout", and their cover of Buddy Holly's "Words of Love".

Many great covers mentioned, but the best cover ever turning a lame song into a great one -- Toots and the Maytalls' version of John Denver's "Take Me Home Country Road".

Matt said it above, but my favorite would be "Satisfaction" by Devo.

Gotta agree with Adam on Nick Cave doing Tower of Song, total chaos, but maybe the most interesting cover on that album. I've heard Marianne Faithfull do a killer Tower of Song too.

One of my favorite covers is the Dead Kennedys doing Viva Las Vegas at double speed, it's one of those songs I totally ignored till I heard their version. Now I even like the original.

And in terms of re-imagining songs, several years ago Dolly Parton did a bluegrassy version of Stairway to Heaven which worked a lot better than it had any right to.

I neglected to indicate that I thought the Beatles' "Twist and Shout" and "Words of Love" were superior covers. And they smoothed out the rough edges in "Please Mr Postman" and "Baby It's You" in a good way. With those four songs it's possible to love the originals and the later versions equally.

"Seasons in the Sun" was the worst song ever, though I don't see how a cover could be much better.

The Cowboy Junkies remade Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane". Jim Henley hated their version, I loved it.

Byrds' covers were often good.

Roberta Flack, Leonard Cohen's "That's no way to say goodbye". Cohen did amazing things with almost no voice, but Flack's voice added a lot. Terrible what happened to her.

this has nothing to do with covers, but a new band that people should check out is my morning jacket. best songs: dancefloors, one big holiday, steam engine. I'm in no way affiliated, just a fan.

Jennifer Warnes - Leonard Cohen's "Joan of Arc"
Sam Phillips - Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth"
Joan Osborne - "Son of a Preacher Man

I forgot to mention:

The Gypsy Kings' "My Way"
James Taylor, "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)"
Otis Redding, "My Girl"
Buddy Holly, "Slippin and Slidin"
Jimmy Page "She Moved Thro the Fair" (a.k.a. "White Summer")
Jimmy Page "Prelude" (a.k.a. Chopin's Prelude No.4)
Simon and Garfunkel, "Scarborough Fair"
And I can't believe I forgot what may well truly be the best and most transcendently great cover of all time:

Jimi Hendrix Experience, "Day Tripper" live on the BBC. Absolutely unbelievable. And so great that for years it was showing up on Beatles' boots with the rumor that it was Lennon himself singing back-up. It's not. It's Noel Redding's spot-on Lennon impression. One of the two official BBC releases of this has a snippet of Jimi playing "I Want to Tell You" right before they count off.

To add my two cents to what others have said about what qualifies a cover for the "best" list, I think it's two-fold:

1) it's a version we can't live without.
2) it's either a total eclipse of the original, a definitive version (e.g. Twist and Shout), or a total reinvention of it such that the original and the cover "comment" on each other, both relevant (e.g. "Watchtower").

Aerosmith's Come Together, for example, for me is something i would turn up if it were on the radio, but I wouldn't seek it out over the original, nor does it add anything. Of course, that's just my opinion. I'm sure The Isleys fans would have something to say about Twist and Shout.

The Jeff Buckley cover of the Leonard Cohen song is such an excellent example. His cover is so good that it nearly seems impossible to imagine it's not HIS song, that he didn't write it. And frankly, when I listen to the Cohen, I marvel at the brilliance of Buckley to even be able to hear what was hidden there.

I guess that's a pretty good acid test: if when someone tells you such-and-such a song was not written by the artist, you say, "you've got to be kidding!"

re Dolly and "Stairway:"

I like that one, and it reminds me that Zappa used to do a "Stairway" cover live in which the Page solo was played note-for-note by horns in a hilarious Big Band arrangement.

Husker Du's cover of the The Byrd's "Eight Miles High" My vote for Best. Cover. Ever.
If you've never heard it, Bob Mould gets completely unhinged at the end. I still remember the first time I heard it. It was like..."did I just hear that?"

also, dylan's cover of jimi's cover of dylan's "watchtower" is pretty great.

Joan Osborne's take on "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" is electrifying.

You have to love the Marcels' "Blue Moon."

And my list of best covers would probably include our national anthem, as reinvented and reclaimed by Marvin Gaye and by Jimi Hendrix.

Sid Vicious' "My Way" illumines the thin line between narcissism and suicide.

I also love that Nena's "99 Red Balloons" has become a staple song for garage-band punks. Their versions show what the original seemed to forget -- this is a song about the apocalypse.

Some songs aren't so much "covers" as they are meant for someone other than the person who wrote them -- I'm thinking, for instance, of Tom Waits' "Jersey Girl." It's the prototypical Springsteen song, right down to the crossing of the river and the sha la las. (Second best Springsteen song written by someone other than Bruce? Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car." It's like "Thunder Road" from Mary's point of view.)

Springsteen's "Mary's Place" isn't a cover per se, but he starts with a Sam Cooke song and turns it into something else entirely -- into a party song that can make you cry. The standard R&B party lyrics -- "I'm waitin' for the shout from the crowd (turn it up)" -- become something heartbreaking.

One more: John Wesley Harding's acoustic version of Madonna's "Like a Prayer."

Jon Dee Graham does a great cover of Tom Waits' Way Down in the Hole.

Another Gin and Juice Cover, done by The Gourds.

I think this belongs in the ironic catagory, but I own a copy of the Todd Rungren produced Shaun Cassidy album Wasp. The cover of Once Bit Twice Shy is listenable. I used to play the rest of the album for laughs at parties. His cover of Rebel Rebel was the most embarrasing thing I've ever heard.

Really, it's almost fair to include Dylan covers in this listing. EVERYONE does Dylan better than Dylan.

That said, PJ Harvey's cover of "Highway 61 Revisited" rocks an unholy amount.

In the so-bad-it's-good-or-maybe-so-good-it's-bad category, I must introduce you all to the power and glory of "Rebuild the Wall" by Luther Wright and the Wrongs. It's an all-bluegrass cover of the entirety of "Pink Floyd's The Wall." http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00006408J/

I'd also be remiss in not mentioning my favorite group of psychotic Finnish cellists ever: Apocalyptica. They're a quartet of classical cellists who cover primarily american thrash metal tunes. Their cover of Metallica's "One" rocks just as much as the original. (Weirdly, when Metallica themselves tried their hands at this trick, recruiting the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra to play on "S&M", it was lame lame lame.)

I have to fifth or sixth the kudos for Jeff Buckley's cover of "Hallelujah". Turns a fairly pedestrian song in the Cohen rendition to this shivery, heartbreaking masterpiece.

For worst... well, there are far technically badcovers around, but the one that annoyed me the most recently was the Matt Nathanson cover of James' "Laid", because it was such a complete carbon copy. I could only think that the "American Wedding" producers were too cheap to pay for the original, and told him to just repeat it perfectly.

(Er, "almost not fair" above.)

BCT pointed out Jon Graham's cover of "Way Down in the Hole" by Tom Waits. That song has actually been covered several times, and they're all fabulous. My favorite one is the version by Blind Boys of Alabama, but the Neville Brothers one is also pretty good.

"Way Down in the Hole" is also the theme music to THE BEST SHOW ON TELEVISION EVER, "The Wire" on HBO. Anyone who's reading this blog who isn't also watching The Wire should immediately run over to their local video store and rent the DVD set of the first season.

Oh, and the Aztec Camera cover of "Jump" isn't one of my _favorite_ covers, but it's a great example of what reinvention can do for a song.

I second the Israel Kamakawiwo'ole cover. It's a combination of "Somewhere over the rainbow" and Louis Armstrong's "What a wonderful world".

Joel W: Thanks for the correction on "Gin and Juice". I've never been 100% sure who it was by.

There have been some good covers on recent movie soundtracks, including Concrete Blonde's cover of Cohen's "Everybody Knows" and somebody's (Letters to Cleo) cover of "I Want You To Want Me".

"EVERYONE does Dylan better than Dylan."

I defy you to find anybody who's even TRIED to cover Tangled Up In Blue or Visions of Johanna, and every single cover of Mr. Tambourine Man (of which there have been many) pales beside the original.

Good singers do mediocre Dylan better than Dylan, but only the man himself can do Great Dylan.

(And was the Rolling Stones' cover of Like A Rolling Stone really better? I don't think so.)

Anyway, I loudly concur in Cash's "Hurt" and Buckley's "Hallelujah". And if we're bringing up worst covers, I don't think anybody can rightly overlook the horrible things Wilson Philips recently did to "Go Your Own Way".

slacktivist - your point about "Fast Car" made me sit back in my chair and go 'wow', because it's SO RIGHT and I'd never thought of it before.

I would also include Husker Du's version of "Eight Miles High" on my personal list. I am drawing a blank on others, which is really annoying to me.

As for the Leonard Cohen tribute CD and how badly it stunk, I think it has more to do with the the nature of his songs. They work because of Coehen's distinctive voice and delivery, not because of anything intrinsically interesting in the songs.

Without that voice, the songs just aren't as interesting. It's interesting that everyone likes Buckley's cover of "Hallelujah," as Buckley did have the voice and the talent to carry some of those songs off.

(I actually am not such a big fan of Buckley's version; while a strong version, I liked his original material much better.)

I just love my old album of Joan Baez covering a group of Dylan songs. Any Day Now, recorded in 1968. This album made me rethink my entire understanding of Dylan's music, especially Love Minus Zero/No Limits. After listening to this album a number of times, I went back to the master, and began for the first time to understand the relation between his voice and his music.

I also agree with the cross over theory. Consider Kronos Quartet's version of Purple Haze on their self-titled 1986 album, which itself is an excellent introduction to their general approach to music.

"I defy you to find anybody who's even TRIED to cover Tangled Up In Blue or Visions of Johanna"

Robyn Hitchcock.

Another great cover is Cheap Trick doing the Terry Reid song "Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace."

On the Dylan topic: Ron Wood does a great "Seven Days" (although not technically a cover, since Dylan hadn't released the song at the time).

Disparaging Dylan's singing and/or recording (people who say covers of dylan are almost always better, etc.) is an easy thing to do, kind of like saying Ringo is a bad drummer. I agree with neither. Listen to "Subterranean Homesick Blues." "Girl from the North Country." "Stuck inside of Mobile with the memphis blues again." And I'd still rather listen to Bob's "Watchtower" than U2s.

One of the best recent covers I've heard is Springsteen covering Warren Zevon's "My Ride's Here." On "Enjoy Every Sandwich."

And while Johnny Cash did some marvelous cover versions, he has also done what I regard as the worst cover ever of a Dylan song (on "The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration"). He and June Carter do a jaunty version of "It Ain't Me, Babe." TRULY ugly.
Don Coffin

It is a much sadder world because we lost Jimi too soon.

One of the best recent cover versions I've heard is Springsteen doing Warren Zevon's "My Ride's Here." On "Enjoy Every Sandwich." Not recorded for the CD, but done live, 2 or 3 days after Zevon died.

And while Johnny Cash did some excellect covers, he also did the worst cover of a Dylan song I've ever heard (on "The 30th Anniversaty Concert Celebration"), "It Ain't Me, Babe" (a duet with June Carter). It's a jaunty version. Truly ugly.

One of the best recent cover versions I've heard is Springsteen doing Warren Zevon's "My Ride's Here." On "Enjoy Every Sandwich." Not recorded for the CD, but done live, 2 or 3 days after Zevon died.

And while Johnny Cash did some excellect covers, he also did the worst cover of a Dylan song I've ever heard (on "The 30th Anniversaty Concert Celebration"), "It Ain't Me, Babe" (a duet with June Carter). It's a jaunty version. Truly ugly.

One of the best recent cover versions I've heard is Springsteen doing Warren Zevon's "My Ride's Here." On "Enjoy Every Sandwich." Not recorded for the CD, but done live, 2 or 3 days after Zevon died.

And while Johnny Cash did some excellect covers, he also did the worst cover of a Dylan song I've ever heard (on "The 30th Anniversaty Concert Celebration"), "It Ain't Me, Babe" (a duet with June Carter). It's a jaunty version. Truly ugly.

Nothing compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor

I should be so lucky - Kylie Minogue (Spoken version)

Regarding Waits's "Jersey Girl" sounding like a Springsteen original, that reminded me of "Bartenders Blues" by James Taylor, who said he set out to write a George Jones tune and George ended up covering it.

One more:
Aztec Camera covered Van Halen's "Jump"
and made it great.

Not "Sticky Little Fingers", "Stiff Little Fingers".

Definitely Devo's "Satisfaction", which even Mick Jagger said was the best version he'd ever heard.

A few more off the top of my head:

Peter Tosh, "Johnny B. Good"

Elvis Costello, "Brilliant Disguise"

Smashmouth, "I'm a Believer" (true to the spirit of the original, what with the organ and Dick Dale riff in the bridge)

David Lindley and El Rayo X, "Werewolves of London"

The English Beat, "Tears of a Clown" (Motown heartbreak reimagined as a ska dance tune. Brilliant.)

And for the pure pop crowd: Lillix, "What I Like About You" (which just goes to show you that great three-chord rave-ups can endure pretty much anything)

Not "Sticky Little Fingers", "Stiff Little Fingers".

Definitely Devo's "Satisfaction", which even Mick Jagger said was the best version he'd ever heard.

A few more off the top of my head:

Peter Tosh, "Johnny B. Good"

Elvis Costello, "Brilliant Disguise"

Smashmouth, "I'm a Believer" (true to the spirit of the original, what with the organ and Dick Dale riff in the bridge)

David Lindley and El Rayo X, "Werewolves of London"

The English Beat, "Tears of a Clown" (Motown heartbreak reimagined as a ska dance tune. Brilliant.)

And for the pure pop crowd: Lillix, "What I Like About You" (which just goes to show you that great three-chord rave-ups can endure pretty much anything)

Not "Sticky Little Fingers", "Stiff Little Fingers".

Definitely Devo's "Satisfaction", which even Mick Jagger said was the best version he'd ever heard.

A few more off the top of my head:

Peter Tosh, "Johnny B. Good"

Elvis Costello, "Brilliant Disguise"

Smashmouth, "I'm a Believer" (true to the spirit of the original, what with the organ and Dick Dale riff in the bridge)

David Lindley and El Rayo X, "Werewolves of London"

The English Beat, "Tears of a Clown" (Motown heartbreak reimagined as a ska dance tune. Brilliant.)

And for the pure pop crowd: Lillix, "What I Like About You" (which just goes to show you that great three-chord rave-ups can endure pretty much anything)

U2's cover of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

Not "Sticky Little Fingers", "Stiff Little Fingers".

Definitely Devo's "Satisfaction", which even Mick Jagger said was the best version he'd ever heard.

A few more off the top of my head:

Peter Tosh, "Johnny B. Good"

Elvis Costello, "Brilliant Disguise"

Smashmouth, "I'm a Believer" (true to the spirit of the original, what with the organ and Dick Dale riff in the bridge)

David Lindley and El Rayo X, "Werewolves of London"

The English Beat, "Tears of a Clown" (Motown heartbreak reimagined as a ska dance tune. Brilliant.)

And for the pure pop crowd: Lillix, "What I Like About You" (which just goes to show you that great three-chord rave-ups can endure pretty much anything)

I am grossly unqualified to give a decent answer to this question as there are tens of thousands of covers out there and I can conjure up only the merest fraction, but who can resist? A couple of my picks have already been mentioned: Husker Du's "Eight Miles High", Patti Smith's "Gloria" (which is also a Doors cover because that "Jesus died for somebody's sins" bit at the beginning is from a Doors live album), and Aztec Camera's "Jump," which makes the song sound deeply profound. I'll add "No Action" by the Muffs, "I'll Keep Holding On" by the Action (I think this is originally by Martha and the Vandellas), "Hey Sailor" by the Detroit Cobras (originally "Hey Sha La Nay" by Mickey Lee Lane), REM's "Wicked Games" (Chris Isaak) and, for "Who Do You Love" versions, I'll take the Woolies. It is impossible to do a bad version of at least the following three songs: "Fever," "Jolene" and "Why" by the Dirty Wurds.

Oh, and the del McCoury Band covered Richard Thompson's "Vincent Black Lightning", and made it sound like a traditional bluegrass song about a hundred years old.

couple more:

I heard a great cover of "leopard skinned pillbox hat" the other day, by a couple of guys whose names escape me (big help)

Joan Osborne doing "heatwave" on the "in the shadows of motown" documentary. Bootsy Collins doing "cool jerk" was a treat as well.

Nobody's mentioned Raspberry Beret by the Hindu Love Gods (Zevon and REM)?
Ike and Tina Turner, Proud Mary
Husker Du, Love is All Around (Mary Tyler Moore Show theme)
Paul Westerberg & Joan Jett, Let's Do It (let's fall in love)
When it comes to "Hit me Baby One More Time", Travis doesn't hold a candle to Ahmet & Dweezil Zappa.

Dave Edmunds' version of Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk"
Elvis Presley doing "That's Alright Mama"

And here I thought I was the only one who felt that Dylan is best done by others. To the notes above, we add Joe Cocker doing Just Like a Woman, and some others; and Johhny Cash' Girl From North Country. Hell, there's lots more.

Janis Joplin does Gershwin--Sumertime

"Oh, and the del McCoury Band covered Richard Thompson's "Vincent Black Lightning", and made it sound like a traditional bluegrass song about a hundred years old".

Oh, I love that song.

I'd say Manfred Mann's recording of "Blinded by the Light" (another Springsteen song) counts as a great cover. Mann, over the years has done several extraordinary covers--"The Mighty Quinn" comes to mind, as well.

"Why is Patti Smith's [recording of] 'Because the Night' so much better than Bruce Springsteen's original?" Because Smith has a high clear melodic voice, of course--she can more easily be heard and she sounds better. Springsteen is an excellent songwriter, and said to be an extraordinary performer, but on record it's only the sound that comes across. Generally, I'd say that the belief in the superiority of an author and composer's version of a song has done a great deal of harm to popular music. Fact of the matter is, composition, lyric-writing, and singing are separate skills, and not usually found together in a single person.

"Gin and Juice" has come up a few times, but only BCT got it right: if you want that honky-tonk version, it's the Gourds - not Phish or Sublime or Stiff Little Fingers. The Gourds. I know because I witnessed the song live on 10 May 2002 in Norman, Oklahoma.

Jesus H Christ how could I forget Eve Cassidy singin "Over the Rainbow"

R Fritz, agree somewhat, a very big Judy Collins fan, but the age of Dylan, the age of the singer-somgwriter is I think responsible for a quantum leap in the authenticity and depth of lyrics.

Cole Porter was great, but he would never write "Idiot Wind"

Among the worst:

"Pinball Wizard" - Rod Stewart
"The Rose" - Conway Twitty
"Summertime Blues" - in four-part disharmony by The Who

"Pinball Wizard" - Elton John
"Liar, Liar" - Blondie
"Take Me To The River" - Talking Heads
"Jumping Jack Flash" - Aretha Franklin
"Sunshie Of Your Love" - Living Color
"Brain Damage" - Austin Lounge Lizards

Oops, forgot to put the "Among the best" caption above the bottom 6 songs. Biiiig difference.

I may get some disagreements over the last entry, though...

One note: the best-ever "Summertime" (and there are a lot of them, so on this I am staking a lot) is by Billy Stewart. His vocal absolutely smokes, like a cross between a jazz singer munching benzedrine and a white-boy doo-wop lead from fifties Brooklyn trying to impress an agent. One of those performances so good it overshadows a career.

If you have not heard it, track it down.

The original writer's comment betrays.......an absolute and thorough ignorance of jazz, where cover songs are considered high art.

Sigh.

Speaking of Summertime, I nominate John Coltrane's version.

Well, I put in a couple of more:

The Cash cover of "Hurt" is brilliant. Much deeper than NIN could ever get.

Hendrix "All Along the Watchtower" stands as a benchmark for cover songs. He owns it now.

The Stones "Route 66" is f***ing great.

And Shawn Colvin's "Cover Girl" has a ton of really good covers on it.

In my mind recordings of traditonal songs don't count as covers, so I can forgive Johnny Cash's "Danny Boy" as just a bad choice of material.

I nominate Aretha Franklin covered Otis Redding's Respect as best cover ever. Most folks don't know Otis Redding did that song first.

Credence Clearwater Revival is on two sides of great cover songs. Their version of Marvin Gaye's Heard Through the Grapevine is excellent and Tina Turner's version of their Proud Mary is also excellent. In both cases it's a case where both cover and covered are great.

Van Morrison released an album with Jerry Lee Lewis's sister, Linda, called You Win Again. It's all covers of early Rock-n-Roll and Country covers. It's fantastic. She is a great boogie-woogie piano player herself.

Also on the rocking country tip. Bloodshot Records put out one of my favorite albums of the 90's, The Pine Valley Cosmonauts Salute the Majesty of Bob Wills. If you don't know Bob Wills or Texas Swing. It's a great introduction. Very rocking-modern versions. I like it better than the Asleep at the Wheel album.

Some favorite Ramones covers: Do you Wanna Dance, Warm California Sun, a kickass version of the Spiderman theme, and a great version of Tom Wait's I Dont Wanna Grow Up.

People forget that Elvis Costello's What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding is a cover, a version that replaced irony with anger.

There's a good tribute album to Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly So choice covers on that U2 doing Jesus Christ, a beautiful waltz version of Philadelphia Lawyer by Willie Nelson, and Little Richard and Fishbone doing "Rock Island Line."

I'd enter Bette Midler's version of the old Beach Boys tune, Do You Wanna Dance.

Bob, "the age of the singer-somgwriter is I think responsible for a quantum leap in the authenticity and depth of lyrics." Hmmmm...you may have something there. Though I am not sure that "authenticity" is the right word to apply to "Idiot Wind", which after all is not about anything that happened to Dylan; it's a ballad--a story, told in verse, set to music.

I don't know enough music and literary history to know what the story is historically, or in other languages and cultures.

Mindy Smith's wrenching, pathetic cover of Dolly Parton's "Jolene." There's no genre crossover there but she's managed to turn it into a different song. And speaking of Dolly Parton, her bluegrass cover of Collective Soul's "Shine" is a big surprise of the good variety.

Best cover songs ?
oh, that's hard.
I know the worst one though.
The very worst cover/hit is Mannfred Mann's version of Springsteen's " Blinded by the light" Gives me the willys.

I'd argue one of Thomson's choices: "God Only Knows" is exquisite, but it's exquisitely schizo: "I may not always love you," but "you never need to doubt it"; "If you would ever leave me / life would still go on believe me," but "the world could show nothing to me / so what good would living do me?" Bowie's arch mannerism nicely captures Brian Wilson's emotional dissonance in a way the eternally sunny Mike Love never could.

Many great covers of Leonard Cohen:

Hallelujah by John Cale
If It Be Your Will by Jann Arden

An album full, by Jennifer Warnes, on the album, Songs of Leonard Cohen, in particular:

Joan Of Arc
First We Take Manhattan
Famous Blue Raincoat
Came So Far For Beauty
Ain't No Cure For Love
Coming Back To You

Annie Lennox has at least two great albums of cover songs. I particularly like her version of Whiter Shade of Pale

More random great covers:

Desperado by Linda Ronstadt
As Tears Go By by Marianne Faithful
Summertime by Janis Joplin

Alison Moyet has a number of great covers, in particular:

Windmills of Your Mind
Cry Me a River
La Chanson Des Vieux Amants

You can check out almost all of the above at ITunes or Amazon

Jane Monheit "A case of You" Yes, I know Joni's voice is kinda grating on a good day, but this cover is transcendently better.. almost a new song.

"Indian Giver," originally by the 1910 Fruitgum Company, covered by the Ramones. They kicked off a whole genre of wonderful mocking punk covers, such as Don McLean's "Vincent," covered by NOFX.

I gather that comments are being duplicated or quadruplicated, so if this happens to me, let me just say I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, and sorry.

A quick list of stuff I love and haven't seen listed. Big points for cross genre and getting inside the song in a new or better way.

Steady Ernest - (Hopeton Lewis') Take it Easy
Husker Du - Theme from Mary Tyler Moore
The Knitters - (Leadbelly) Rock Island Line
The Knitters - (Merle Haggard's) Silver Wings
X - (Woody Guthrie's) So Long
Stiff Little Fingers - (Bob Marley's) Johnny Was
Beach Boys - Sloop John B
Glenn Campbell - Gentle on My Mind
Dinosaur Jr. - (Frampton's) Show Me the Way
The Clash - ( Junior Murvin's) Police and Thieves
The Clash - (Bobby Fuller's) I Fought the Law
The Clash - (Willie Wiliams') Armegeddon Time (Joe Strummer made you believe that the end WAS nigh)
Dolly Parton - (The Eagle's) Seven Bridges Road
The Replacements- (KISS) Black Diamond
KD Lang - (Neil Young's) Helpless
Robert Palmer - (Little Feat's) Sailin' Shoes
The Cardigans - (Black Sabbath's ) Iron Man ( A for Effort)
Type O Negative - (Seals and Croft's) Summer Breeze
Willie Nelson - (Loggins and Messina's) Please Come to Boston (Willie has done a zillion great covers, but this made me fall in love with a song that I hadn't thought about twice for 20 years)
Veruca Salt - (Lucinda Williams') Side of the Road
Guns and Roses _ (Wings) Live and Let Die

From Saturday Morning's Greatest Hits"
Tra La La Song, The (One Banana, Two Banana) - (from "The Banana Splits Adventure Hour", with Liz Phair/Material Issue)
Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah (Means I Love You) - (from "The Jetsons", with The Violent Femmes)
Hong Kong Phooey - (with Sublime)

For myself, I like Dylan's originals better than most covers. His croaking is more expressive than most of the bland shadows that everyone seems to think are an improvement. And no one is ever going to touch the "Like a Rolling Stone" on Live 1966.

I don't think I've ever heard a Tom Waits cover that I really like. They are never as robust as the originals.

Write about politics? 40 posts, tops. Write about economics? 30 on a good day. Write about music? 120 posts, no sweat.

Best cover? Tina Turner, "Proud Mary." Worst cover? Michael Bolton, "Nessun Dorma." Or William Shatner doing "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds."

U2-"Everlasting Love"

Joe Ely-"The Road Goes on Forever" (Robert Earl Keen).

Robert Gordon- "It's Only Make Believe" (Conway Twitty), "Rock Billy Boogie", and "Someday, Someway" (Marshall Crenshaw).

Fine Young Cannibals and Dwight Yoakam- "Suspicious Minds"

X-"4th of July" (Dave Alvin)

I will never argue with the obvious ones (All Along the Watchtower, Proud Mary...and...ahem, Respect was first done by Otis Redding). I feel compelled to add:

I Love You More than You'll Ever Know (Blood, Sweat and Tears)
A Song For You (Leon Russell)

Both covered by the great Donny Hathaway.

Eva Cassidy was quite a versatile cover girl (she recorded pop, jazz, folk & gospel). Such unemphatic, intimate phrasing. Such a blessed relief from note-hunting warbling idiots in the American Idol vein. Just a couple off the top: Simon & Garfunkel's "Kathy's Song" and Sting's "Fields of Gold."

Ann and Nancy Wilson's (as the Lovemongers) cover of Led Zep's "Battle of Evermore." Keep on keening on.

Pink Martini's cover of "Que Sera Sera" is at once haunting and effervescent. I suppose thanks to Doris Day, I'd had a wildly wrong impression of this number.

Here are some of my favorites:

Long John Baldry: Flying (originally by the Faces)
Byrds: Mr. Tambourine Man (Dylan)
BS&T: Fire and Rain (James Taylor)
David Clayton Thomas: Don't Let it Bring You Down (Neil Young)
Manfred Mann: The Mighty Quinn (Dylan)
BS&T: Down in the Flood (Dylan)
TMBG: Savoy Truffle (Beatles)
Allman Brothers: Heart of Stone (Rolling Stones)
Leon Russell: Jumpin'Jack Flash/Youngblood medley
Kirsty Maccoll: Days (the Kinks)

I couldn't identify a common denominator in them to save my life -- it's not like all the songs are simple, nor all the arrangements polished. But each finds something new in each case.

I like The Checkmates, Ltd.'s cover of Proud Mary much better than Ike and Tina's. A little group called Kilt also did a great job covering Come On Eileen, with mandolins... in that vein, Great Big Sea doing End of the World (orig. REM) at half-again-faster tempo is terrific.

And for wild and crazy, The New Morty Show cover of Enter Sandman is either the greatest or worst thing ever.

And for the truly bizzare, I still think that C&C Music Factory did a much better job with Pride than U2 did...

A mention of Peter Green earlier in the thread reminded me of Fleetwood Mac's "For Your Love" (Yardbirds). Post Peter Green, I know, but that's what made me think of it...

And why is it that every time I think of "Black Magic Woman" I imagine Weird Al singing "Got a Black Magic Marker..." ?

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Nirvana's intense, scary version of Leadbelly's "Where did you sleep last night?" (I think Leadbelly's version is "In the Pines", but it's the same song). Cobain's broken howls at the end of the song are just chilling. It actually holds up better than most of their own stuff.

Norsecats, I'm not sure what it's called. It was "In The Pines" when Bill Monroe recorded it, and "Black Girl" when Long John Baldry recorded it.

Another to add is Phoebe Snow's version of Paul Simon's "Tenderness." And speaking of that word, Three Dog Night (who only did covers, many of them fine) did a great version of Hoagie Carmichael's "Try A Little Tenderness."

Didn't Harry Nillson's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" rock?

"I defy you to find anybody who's even TRIED to cover Tangled Up In Blue or Visions of Johanna"

Mary Lee's Corvette did a cover of all of Blood On the Tracks. Worth hearing.

While we're on the topic of covers, check out Social Distortion's "Under My Thumb"

I certainly wasn't thinking hard enough the first time I commented. Here are some a little too far off the radar screen:

Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass Band: "A Taste of Honey"
Frank Sinatra: "New York, New York"
Bobby Darin: "Mack the Knife"

and something I bet very few have heard, not just a cover, but a slap in the face:
Burton Cummings: "You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet"

"Here's an entire album of Dylan covers, all of which work well. They're performed by The Hollies while Graham Nash was still in the group"

Nash quotes this album as the last straw, why he left the group.

The Isley Bros cover of the Cool Notes' "Twist & Shout" is much better than the Beatles. Teacho Wiltshire.

The Clash - (Bobby Fuller's) I Fought the Law -
not as good as the Crickets' original.

Johnny Rivers' "Turn On Your Love Light" as good as Bobby Bland.
Isaac Hayes "I Just Don't Know What to do with Myself"
Rod Stewart "Street Fighting Man"

Outkast do a good Coltrane-y job on "My Favourite Things".
Thelma Houston "Jumping Jack Flash"

Sam Cooke "Tennessee Waltz" and "Little Red Rooster"

Wilson Pickett "Hey Jude".
Nina Simone "I Put A Spell On You"

Bad covers? In the UK we have Westlife & Boyzone. That's what they do. Bay City Rollers "Bye Bye Baby".

In terms of Bruce covers of other songs, how 'bout "Trapped"? I saw him do it live last summer; fantastic.

And also the Elvis Costello version of "Peace Love and Understanding." When I heard the radio broadcast of "Songs for Change," and the announcer talked about Nick Lowe, I had completely forgotten that Costello hadn't written the song.

A somewhat obscure entrant: Edie Brickell's version of "A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall" on the soundtrack for BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY.

I nominate Stevie Wonder covering the Beatles 'We Can Work it Out'.

And to defend Natalie Merchant, the 10,000 Maniacs do a great version of the Smiths 'Every day is like Sunday' on an EP somewhere.

In the 'Album Category' I recommend 'Heaven and Hell', a bunch of early nineties almost-big bands doing Velvet Underground covers, including a pre-fame Nirvana with 'Here she Comes Now' (not the best track on the album, though)

Two of the most ghastly covers I've ever heard are:

1. Dolly Parton's version of "House of the Rising Sun"

2. Rod Stewart's version of "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Man"

Those are both awful; the latter not quite awful enough to be good.

Hey Brad,

You did say "worst covers" right? Er, I mean worst album covers, right? I think should just about have that covered.

http://porktornado.diaryland.com/covers2.html

Grateful Dead - It's All Over Now
Phish - Sneakin Sally Through The Alley

I know we're probably all thinking about the election right now, but this is probably a good distraction...

Anything Richard Thompson did on his 1000 Years of Popular Music was fantastic and true to the spirit of the lyrics, if not the music. Good interpretations and good choices. I especially like "Oops I did it again" and "Tempted".

"All along the watchtower", agreed that Hendrix does a fantastic job, and the Dave Matthews version is an interesting variation, though not my favorite. I'd suggest the Dave Mason version to anyone interested in the other two.

Moxy Fruvous, great originals, all great covers, always great material. A favorite is Tom Waits' "Jockey Full of Bourbon".

Counting Crows have done a live version of Rain King -> Thunder Road -> Rain King. Interesting interpretation and a must for Springsteen fans. It's great to hear him, but the universality of his music is truly inspiring.

Other notables....
Johnny Cash - Hurt (does it get any better?)
Joe Cocker - With a little help from my friends
SRV - Little Wing
Ryan Adams - Lovesick Blues
Iron and Wine - Such great heights, Garden City Sndtk
Leftover Salmon - Way up on the hill where they do the boogie

I would agree with all the picks for Saturday Morning's Greatest Covers, however I would add to the top of the list:

Gigantor by The Dickies

And Regarding Pink Martini I would WILDLY recomend ANYTHING by them.

try john mellencamps-jailhouse rock/nickleback doing love will keep us together by captain an teneil(?)/the indigo girls doing neil youngs down by the river/james taylor whitesnake or cheap trick or otis reading doing the beatles day tripper/the wallflowers doing i started a joke by the bee gees/the tim hardin classic if i were a carpenter done by robert plant/oasis does a great version of youve got to hide your love away/rufus wainright kills on across the universe i could go on forever.a note on dylan if you see him live these days you cant even guess what he's saying but he and his band really rock.

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