With that in mind, I present a post listing a few of my favorite cover versions. WIth any luck this will be the first of several such posts. The idea here is to present the original version followed by the cover version and a little commentary.
But first, a few comments about what considerations informed these choices.
- A cover tune wins bonus points if it is very different, stylistically, than the originals. If, to take an extreme, the two versions are indistinguishable from each other, then why bother. Juice Newton's and Dave Edmunds' versions of "Queen of Hearts" are so similar that I am not including them -- even though I love both recordings.
- I am avoiding bands whose raison d'etre is to do covers -- even if I love them. Thus I am not considering anything by Big Daddy (who do 1950's style covers of more recent songs), Me First & the Gimme Gimmes (who do alt-punk styled covers of various hits) and Hayseed Dixie (who do bluegrass covers of AC/DC songs), even though I love those bands' canons.
- All else equal, I give bonus points for recordings that were hits.
- I am avoiding songs taken from tribute albums. Because I want to.
That said, I am not labeling this as "the best covers ever" or even "my favorite covers." On any given day I will have a different list of favorites than the day before.
1) Born A Woman
The original version by Sandy Posey
And a cover version by Nick Lowe
Sandy Posey's ballad is reworked as a happy upbeat tune full of jangly guitars and happy vocals. It seems incongruous, but recall that at around the same time, Nick recorded a happy-sounding jangly-guitar-filled song about a movie star getting eaten by her dog.
2) Daydream Believer
The original version by The Monkees
A cover version by Shonen Knife
Until this recording, I was only peripherally aware of Shonen Knife. I kind of knew them as an alt-punk band from Japan. Then, one night I was watching Viva Variety on late night TV, and Shonen Knife was the guest. They performed a kickass version of this classic Monkees song. I looked it up on the internet, and confirmed that they had a new album out with this song. When they closed out the show with "Sushi Bar," which was also great, I was convinced to buy the album, Happy Hour. The good news? It's a killer album. The bad news? I bought a bunch of their other albums, and none approached HH in quality. This is one of those covers that took one great record and made it into a new, and very different great record.
3) כשאת בוכה את לא יפה -- You're Not Pretty When You Cry
The original by Arik Einstein
A cover version by T-Slam
From the world of Israeli pop music. A 1960's romp becomes a hardered-edged 1980's rocker. I love both versions of this song. I had heard the T-Slam version long before I knew of the original, and was surprised to learn that it was cover. That kind of thing has happened to me a lot.
4) We Gotta Get Out of This Place
The original by The Animals
A cover by The Partridge Family
I can practically feel everyone rolling their eyes. But this saccharine-infused cover is part of the soundrtrack from my childhood, since my sister had the album on vinyl. Now I have it on CD. I also have vivid memories of singing this in the back seat of wthe car with my sister (while worrying about my father crining at the lines about Daddy being in dead and dying. Anyway, this is another example, where I had no idea that a recording was a cover version, and I was surprised to come across the original. By the way, that a;lso happened to me with "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" and "American Pie." I acknowledge that the original is vastly superior to the original. But I don't care. I love the cover too.
EDIT: In reference to the covers of "Me and You..." and "American Pie," I meant to indicate that those were done by The Brady Bunch. When I say I love the cover, I was not referring to either of these.
EDIT: In reference to the covers of "Me and You..." and "American Pie," I meant to indicate that those were done by The Brady Bunch. When I say I love the cover, I was not referring to either of these.
5) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The original by Gene Pitney, which was,sadly, not used in the movie of the same name.
The cover by John Otway and Wild Willy Barrett
I love John Otway's off-kilter demeanor, and he was at his best when he was working with WIld Willy Barrett (with whom he had a tempestuous partership. I first heard this cover version on a Stiff Records compilation when I was in high school.
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