Mr. S£im Citrus Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 I was talking to someone in a mIRC chat room tonight about my favorite cover songs, and as I listed them, I realized that, while I don't generally care for covers and remakes as a rule, among the ones I *do* like, many of them I prefer to the original song. So, I thought I'd list the covers that I like better than the original, and ask if any of you have some as well... My top ten, in no particular order: Boyz II Men, of The Beatles' "Yesterday" Johnny Cash, of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" Caron Wheeler, of Stevie Wonder's "Another Star" Santa Esmeralda, of The Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" Sergio Mendes & the Black Eyed Peas, of Jorge Ben's "Mas Que Nada" Boyz II Men, of New Edition's "Can You Stand the Rain" Boyz II Men, of Bobby Caldwell's "What You Won't Do For Love" Mary J. Blige, of Rose Royce's "I'm Going Down" Soul IV Real, of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" Ray Charles, of Hoagy Charmichael's "Georgia on my Mind"
Guest Felonies! Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 Any non-Beatles version of "With A Little Help From My Friends."
Perfxion Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 Almost every Luther track is a cover so.... "A House is Not a Home", "Always and Forever", "Never Too Much", "Don't Want to ba a Fool", "Here and Now" ect. Stevie Wonder's "Knocks me off my feet" by Donell Jones ??? "Its So hard to say goodbye, to yesterday" by Boyz II Men Smokey Robinson's "My Girl" by the Temptations Bob Dylan "All Long the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix Journey's "Open Arms" by Mariah Carey ??? "I Still Believe" by Mariah Carey Babyface's "Crazy Over You" by 112
Mr. S£im Citrus Posted June 11, 2006 Author Report Posted June 11, 2006 Almost every Luther track is a cover so.... "A House is Not a Home", "Always and Forever", "Never Too Much", "Don't Want to ba a Fool", "Here and Now" ect. Hold up... Now, I know that Luther *did* a lot of covers, but where did you hear that the songs you mentioned are covers? I know that he covered "House" and "Always," but where did you hear about those other three? Especially "Never Too Much?" Because I'm almost certain that he was the first person to do that song. As far as the ones that you have question marks by: ??? "Its So hard to say goodbye, to yesterday" by Boyz II Men... was originally done by Charm, and ??? "I Still Believe" by Mariah Carey... was done by Brenda K. Starr. Although I have to doubt that you've actually heard the original if you didn't know who actually sung them.
Hank Kingsley Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 Depending on the mood I'm in, I tend to enjoy Bowie's cover of the Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together" more. On other days I like them both equally.
Annabelle Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 Depending on the mood I'm in, I tend to enjoy Bowie's cover of the Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together" more. On other days I like them both equally. holy shit. you're nuts.
Copper Feel Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 Yeah, the Bowie version is better by far.
Giuseppe Zangara Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 Saying Bowie did that song better is just short of insane. Anyway, I'll take Husker Du's "Eight Miles High" over the Byrds'.
Angle-plex Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 Nirvana's "Man Who Sold The World" over Bowie's, although I do like both versions.
vivalaultra Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 The Band's "I Shall Be Released" over Bobby Dylan This Mortal Coil "Song to the Siren" over Tim Buckley Big Star "Femme Fatale" over The Velvet Underground M. Ward "Let's Dance" over Davey "David Bowie" Jones Red House Painters "All Mixed Up" over The Cars
Art Sandusky Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 Thinking Fellers Union Local #282 does "Green-Eyed Lady" better than Sugarloaf ever did.
Giuseppe Zangara Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 Big Star "Femme Fatale" over The Velvet Underground M. Ward "Let's Dance" over Davey "David Bowie" Jones I hate Big Star's version. How can people criticize Nico's voice yet tolerate the way Chilton mangles that song? As for "Let's Dance," M. Ward's take is a little too jokey, I think.
vivalaultra Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 I like Chilton's voice. It's..."emotionally fragile". I don't see how M. Ward's subdued acoustic take is more jokey than David Bowie's synth-pop version.
Giuseppe Zangara Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 "Let's Dance" was Bowie unapologetically trying to fit into what was becoming of pop radio—lightweight, diposable dance-pop. This song, as far as these kinds of things go, was nice (and the one of the few worthwhile moments on the otherwise excerable album of the same name). M. Ward took that song and recorded an acoustic goof of version that runs way too long—which, you know, the original certainly did, too—and should've been relegated to a b-side. I generally love Big Star (the 70s incarnation, anyway), but yikes, "Femme Fatale" is a trainwreck.
vivalaultra Posted June 11, 2006 Report Posted June 11, 2006 I guess just count me in as someone who hates Nico's voice. And about the Bowie dance-pop thing...uh...I like "Dancin' in the Streets" by Bowie and Jaggar better than the original. Yeah...good stuff.
Corey_Lazarus Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 I'm a firm believer that Motörhead's cover "Enter Sandman" beats the fuck out of the original. Ditto for their cover of "Louie, Louie" (though, to be fair, they covered the more popular cover).
Annabelle Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 i shall be released was released first by the band. it was done during the basement tapes time which was the big pink time. it was also co-written by manual. there's too many factors to really say its a dylan original. its like saying bowie's china girl is better than pop's china girl. it was a co-written song. i could be totally off base here...
Giuseppe Zangara Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 I don't think it's unreasonable to argue that the Band didn't really "cover" it; saying otherwise is tantamount to claiming that Sinead O' Connor covered Prince with "Nothing Compares 2 U."
Giuseppe Zangara Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 Oh, and resolved: Uncle Tupelo's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" surpasses the original.
vivalaultra Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 Yeah...the Dylan "I Shall Be Released" only came out on the Basement Tapes and I think on a live record...maybe a bootleg. It was co-written by Charlie Manuel and it was pretty much known as, and is known as, a Band song. I just mentioned it cuz somebody gave me shit for saying that my favorite The Band song was "I Shall Be Released" and decried it as shameful that my favorite The Band song is a cover song.
Annabelle Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 Oh, and resolved: Uncle Tupelo's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" surpasses the original. uhm, no. not even close. and vivaltura: its richard manual not charlie. and i was the decryer about the cover song thing.
Murmuring Beast Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 I prefer GG Allin's 'I Wanna Be Your Dog'.
Zack Malibu Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 Sorry MX, but the original version of "I Still Believe" kills Mariah's, IMO. Odd timing for this discussion, as I've just recently dl'd a good amount of cover songs, mostly alt rock covers of 80's and 90's songs. Halifax's cover of "Straight Up" (yes, the Paula Abdul song) is catchy as a motherfucker.
vivalaultra Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 Oh, and resolved: Uncle Tupelo's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" surpasses the original. uhm, no. not even close. and vivaltura: its richard manual not charlie. and i was the decryer about the cover song thing. Yeesh, I mixed up the name of the guy from The Band with the manager of the Phillidelphia Phillies. Ridiculous. And I remember you as the decrier, which is why I referenced the decrying, which makes the decrying in this thread seem odd.
Annabelle Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 i dont think i accused the band of covering a dylan song. i just consider the basement tapes to be an equal enterprise between the two camps. thats why to call it a solely a band song or solely a dylan song to be a bit off base. its THEIR song. not a cover.
Gary Floyd Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 Current 93's cover of Blue Oyster Cult' "Summer of Love" comes to mind.
Epic Reine Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 The best version of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" is easily the Slayer version though I don't know if that should count considering they changed most of the lyrics (even changing the title to "I'm Gonna Be Your God").
vivalaultra Posted June 12, 2006 Report Posted June 12, 2006 i dont think i accused the band of covering a dylan song. i just consider the basement tapes to be an equal enterprise between the two camps. thats why to call it a solely a band song or solely a dylan song to be a bit off base. its THEIR song. not a cover. You said that it was shameful that my favorite The Band song was a Bob Dylan song, but you could've been speaking of the collaboration and not in the sense of a covering. Ah well, the whole Band/Dylan mutual admiration society produced some good work. On a completely different note, the Iron and Wine version of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" is much better than the cheesy original, methinks. But, as evident in my preference of M. Ward's version of "Let's Dance" over the Bowie version, I will always prefer a hushed acoustic version over the electro/synth-pop original.
Masked Man of Mystery Posted June 13, 2006 Report Posted June 13, 2006 I like Clapton's version of "I Shot the Sheriff" better than Marley's. It sounds more....I guess apprpriate to me, but to be fair it's also the version I heard first, which is definately a factor, in my opinion
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