Thank you Derf, I just want you to know I do appreciate it when you start up a 2nd board after the 1st begins getting long.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I reckon the two main reasons cover versions of songs go to #1 in the hit parades are:

1) most people fondly remember the original and will buy the single on the strength of that, and
2) people like the band/singer/sex object(s) [delete where appropriate] no matter what their Svengalis churn out.
3) many cover versions are released in aid of a charitable cause.

Examples include:
Celine Dion's cover of Jennifer Rush's #1 hit "The Power of Love" (incidentally it was Celine Dion's first big hit in the UK).
A1's version of "Take On Me" by a-ha. Less said the better.
Robson and Jerome's various cover versions of old songs, esp. "Unchained Melody" (but these actors-turned-singers were from an ITV drama series that everyone remembered and loved).
Madonna taking out the butcher knives for "American Pie".

And hence we see a side effect of releasing a cover version: people actually remember and appreciate the originals better than they used to, no matter how awful they may have been. Especially if the new versions are as soulless as, say, Boyzone's version of Billy Ocean's "When the Going Gets Tough" (but then again, it was a charity record too, for Comic Relief). It's a public service, I tell ya! There really is a good side to bad cover versions!

At least that's how *I* see things...

Just for general enlightenment ...
Dolly Parton wrote and sang the song I Will Always Love You for the 1982 movie Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Actually, according to the liner notes in the booklet that came with the 2-disk set I have of her greatest hits, she recorded the song in June of 1973, 9 years before that movie came out. I remember it being her closing song for the variety show she had in the 70s. Who else here besides me remembers that show? Earlier this year Aussie singer, Sherrie Austin, did a very good cover of Parton's hit, Jolene, though of course I still prefer Dolly's a bit more.

Bobby Goldsboro briefly had a TV show in the 70's, too. All I remember of that was a dog puppet he'd talk to on it, and of course he'd sing his own songs.

I know I'm late responding to that one post but I hardly visit Music anymore.

Speaking of Dolly Parton, she should be tarred, feathered and horsewhipped for her version of Collective Soul's first big hit, Shine.

Well, considering her considerable proportions that could take quite awhile.

The "Pump up the Volume" soundtrack has some amazing covers on it: Concrete Blonde covers Leonard Cohen's "Everybody Knows" and Bad Brains (with Henry Rollins on vocals) cover MC5's "Kick out the Jams."

Cowboy Junkies' version of Robert Johnson's "Me and the Devil Blues" is awful, though. Their cover of Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane" also stinks.

Madonna taking out the butcher knives for "American Pie".

Hey...I like her version! She didn't butcher it, really - after all, the original's what, eight minutes of random music references? It's not like there's a storyline you have to follow.

IMHO, she edited it down into something a little more wistful (and maybe feminine) than the original, and on that level it works well.
(The video was pretty bad, though, gotta concede that.)

Cowboy Junkies' cover of "Blue Moon" is pretty good though.

I suppose it's a matter of taste. Cowboy Junkies've never struck me as anything other than dead dull.

Here's an obscure cover song that many may not realize ...

The tune Muskrat Candlelight originally penned and performed by Willis Alan Ramsey was covered by The Captain and Tennille as Muskrat Love, and later covered by (no less) ... America!

Having heard a recent cover version of the Alan Morris () song "One Hand In My Pocket" I must say that my estimation of Rolf Harris has now gone down faster than a Led Zeppelin (which he also once covered).

I don't know if anyone in the USA, Canada, Australia, etc. has caught on the Pop Idol "phenomenon" yet. It has spawned a lot of pointless cover versions of old songs - Gareth "runner-up" Gates's rather bland rendition of "Unchained Melody" and Rik "bit spare in the bread basket department but hey aren't we all" Waller using his angelic voice (and I mean that most sincerely) to ruin "I Will Always Love You" were examples.

I heard Van Halen doing the Kinks' "You Really Got Me" on the (better) classic rock station this morning. It was part of their 'Two for Tuesday' thing they do EVERY week. The other song was "Hot for Teacher," so I didn't really care what the other song was. (It was pretty good.)

(btw, Sven, seeing how many things you do to your name, I hope you have 'autocomplete' turned off, otherwise the 'username' box...)

I don't know if anyone in the USA, Canada, Australia, etc. has caught on the Pop Idol "phenomenon" yet. It has spawned a lot of pointless cover versions of old songs - Gareth "runner-up" Gates's rather bland rendition of "Unchained Melody" and Rik "bit spare in the bread basket department but hey aren't we all" Waller using his angelic voice (and I mean that most sincerely) to ruin "I Will Always Love You" were examples.

Is this anything like "American Idol," the abomination that FOX has been showing? A bunch of morons compete to see who will get a record contract and become a pop star?

Just for the record, C.C., "You Really Got Me" is not the only Kinks' song Van Halen has covered. On Diver Down they covered "Where Have All the Good Times Gone". Somebody in the band is a Kinks fan.

Yeah, Benn, a friend I work with told me they do a cover on each CD.

Uh, that trend ended with the 1984 album. Since then (particularly during the Van Hagar days), they've only recorded their own songs.

I'm sorry. The first Van Halen album to eschew a cover song was Fair Warning. On Diver Down they again resorted to cover tunes ("Dancing In the Streets", "Oh Pretty Woman", "Where Have All the Good Times Gone?" and "Big Bad Bill"). After that they quit covering other people's tunes.

Whoa.

Let me catch my breath here.

I just heard Johnny Cash's version of nine inch nails' "Hurt". I'm in genuine awe. I repeat, "Whoa." I mean, I've always liked the Man In Black, but da-amn! I'm still stunned by it.

I'm gonna play it again.

Dead Kennedys, "Take This Job and Shove it" (Johnny Cash)
Rammstein, "Stripped" (Depeche Mode)
Rammstein, "Das Modell" (Kraftwerk)
Bob Dylan, "House of the Rising Sun" (Animals)
Metallica, "Turn the Page" (Bob Seger)
"Hazy Shade of Winter," The Bangles (S&G)
"Sweet Dreams," Manson (Eurythmics)
"The Times They Are A'Changin," Eddie Vedder (Bob Dylan)
"Knockin On Heaven's Door," G'n'R (Another Dylan work)
"House of the Rising Sun," Bob Dylan (The Animals)
"House of the Rising Sun," Led Zeppelin (....)
"Imagine," Neil Young (John Lennon)

Motley Crue, "Smoking in the Boys Room" (Brownsville Station)

"Dead Kennedys, 'Take This Job and Shove it' (Johnny Cash)" - Hannah

Johnny PayCheck, dear. It was the late Johnny PayCheck who had the hit with that song.

"Bob Dylan, 'House of the Rising Sun' (Animals)"
"'House of the Rising Sun,' Bob Dylan (The Animals)"

?

First of all, I believe "House of the Rising Sun" is a traditional folk song, so assigning a first artist to it would be kind of difficult. Secondly, Bob Dylan recorded his version in 1962, two years before Eric Burdon and the Animals had their big hit with the song. Just being nitpicky.

np - Purple Rain - Prince and the Revolution

"It's all one song." - Neil Young

DK's!!!

Hannah, if you liked that one, you would really get a kick out of The Beat Farmers version of "Lucille", the Kenny Rogers hit. The last verse is absolutely cathartic (You picked a fine time to leave me, YOU B##CH!!!)

Also, everybody should check out The Residents' "Third Reich and Roll" at least once in their lives. Awesome iconoclastic performance art.

Just a simdge of nitpickingm though-

"Take This Job..." was written by David Allen Coe and recorded around the same time as the Johnny Paycheck version, though Paycheck had the hit.

The derivation of "House of the Rising Sun" goes like this: Josh White, a blues singer from the 40's made the original record. Joan Baez included a rendition on her 1960 debut. Bob Dylan followed in 1962. The Animals released their version in 1964(?- I'll probably be corrected here, though it did follow Dylan.) They claim to have used the White recording as sourse material, though.

Simultaneous post, Benn

and yes, I did notice the typo's

clumsy, clumsy, clumsy...

Back to work

"Hazy Shade of Winter," The Bangles (S&G)

Oh, God no. No, no, no, a thousand times no. And then no some more.

Unless, that is, you're just confirming that it exists.

Seconded, Scott.

"I'll Be There," Mariah Carey (Jackson 5)
"Yesterday," Boyz II Men (Beatles)

Of course, I grew up on the original of "Smoking..."

On "Boss Radio, 93 KHJ!"

God. Let me go on record now as saying that I Hate Limp Biskit's version of the Who's "Behind Blue Eyes". It's not really anything against covers or the band, but their version of the song lives up to the first name of Fred Durst's band's name - "limp". I can't believe they omitted the "When my fist clenches crack it open" section of the song! Limp Bizkit is a nu-metal band and this is the only part of the song that rocks and they cut it!? And who (no pun instended) wrote the new lyrics for the song? Townshend? This is an incredibly bad and poorly executed cover. As a matter of fact, it should be executed.

np - The Confessor - Joe Walsh

"It's all one song." - Neil Young

The good:
Crispin Glover's cover of "These Boots Where Made for Walking." This is so friggin' twisted, it must be some kind of genius.

Dixie Chick's cover of "Landslide"
Bite me. I like the Dixie Chicks.

Alien Ant Farm cover of "Smooth Criminal"
This song goes well with the whole punk thing...

Blue Man Group and Venus Hum's cover of "I Feel Love"
Bring this classic dance song into the new century.

The Bad:
Sheryl Crows cover of "The First Cut Is The Deepest." I didn't hate this song until they kept playing it over and over again on VH1

The Ataris cover of "Boys of Summer"
Not so much bad as it is just uneventful. While listening to this I just kept thinking, "man, I wish this was the Don Hinnley verison."

Guns N' Roses verison of "Knocking On Heaven's Door"
Man, I'm telling you, Adam Sandler sounds JUST like Axel Rose... That's not a good thing.

Metallica's cover of "Turn the Page"
Completely unnessicery...

Does Princes verison of the "Bat Dance" count?

Does Princes verison of the "Bat Dance" count? - That Monster Guy

The Purple One wrote it, so why would it be considered a cover? Now if you were asking about Prince's version of "Nothing Compares 2 U", then you might be on to something...

np - Alchemy Live - Dire Straits

"Music is a world within itself and a language we all understand."

Right now I'm listening to what surely must be one of the worst cover versions of a classic rock song, Linda Kendrick's version of The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy For The Devil". This song first came out in '74. Kendrick takes a big-band, motown approach to the song with a backing Halelujah choir (incongrous given the song's subject matter) to disastrous effect. This just might be even worse than Britany Spears' version of "Satisfaction".

One of the hallmarks of a bad cover version is when the singer of the cover song blatantly and openly misinterprets a lyric from the original and clearly audibly sings the wrong line. This happens in this version as Kendrick sings the line "I killed the czar and his ministers / And a nation screamed in vain." The actual lyric is "Anastashia screamed in vain."

The source I'm hearing this song from is a compilation called Let's Go Get Stoned!: The songs of Jagger/Richard which compiles 24 classic cover versions of Stones songs by fly-by-night artists from the sixties and seventies. The chief appeal of owning this disc for a Stones fan is that it contains four songs that were written by Keith and Mick but were never recorded (or at least never released) by the Stones themselves: "That Girl Belongs To Yesterday", "So Much In Love", "You Must Be The One", and "Give Me Your Hand".

The background music at Stop & Shop, where I work, occasionally plays a slow version of Def Leppard's "Bringin on the Heartbreak" sung by a pop or R&B woman singer with a piano as the main instrument. When I first heard it I thought "that's sacrelidge!" but I think I'm slowly warming up to it.

One of the hallmarks of a bad cover version is when the singer of the cover song blatantly and openly misinterprets a lyric from the original and clearly audibly sings the wrong line.

Ever hear the Megadeth version of "Anarchy in the U.K."?

Whats even more scary is I have been hearing a Metallica version of Stone Cold Crazy. It isnt too bad.

Looks like I'm gonna revive this thread after almost a year.

Tonight I've been listening to some music I downloaded on LimeWire and was reminded of (and suprised to see that no one else has yet mentioned) Fine Young Cannibals' version of Elvis' Suspicious Minds, which I think it pretty good. Not great but nice enough to listen to. I dunno how many others have covered that song, though I'm sure it's a fair number of them.

Heard an interesting cover this morning... The Mamas and the Papas did a cover of "Dancing in the Streets".

Yeah, that's on my 2-disk greatest hits of theirs. I also remember Mick Jagger and David Bowie doing a duet of that song (and accompanying music video, of course) in the early or mid-80's.

Had to carefully go back over both Cover Songs threads to make sure that this hasn't been mentioned yet but I like Mariah Carrey's versions of Michael Jackson's I'll Be There and Nilsson's Without You, both of which I was just listening to. Did she also do a studio version of I'll Be There or just the live one with Larenz Whathisname?

Bite me. I like the Dixie Chicks.

So do I. Their new CD, "Taking The Long Way", is excellent. And, no Fleetwood Mac covers.

Guns 'N Roses did a passable cover of "Sympathy For The Devil." It's on their "Greatest Hits" collection (which appallingly does not have "Used To Love Her" - just thought I'd throw that in) and was used over the closing credits of "Interview With The Vampire."

The background music at Walgreens, where I work, has two covers of well-known songs, sung by artists who I have no idea who they are. One is a cover of Celine Dion's "If You Asked Me To" and the woman singer totally butchers it, in my opinion. The other is a man singing Sarah McLachlan's "When She Loved Me" from Toy Story 2. I like McLachlan's original version, but the male singer's verion is pretty good too, I think. I wonder who he is!

You can find all the people who recorded a track at allmusic.com.

One is a cover of Celine Dion's "If You Asked Me To"..

Which in itself is a cover. The original version is from the 1989 James Bond movie Licence To Kill; (superbly) performed by Patti LaBelle.

One cover I can't stand is George Benson's complete butchering of On Broadway. The original, performed by The Drifters, is one of my favorites. Superb in every way. The cover, which can be heard in the movie All That Jazz (in which Roy Scheider plays Bob Fosse - watch out for the brutal heart surgery scene) fails in every way the original succeeded.