c4countdown

Sorry if it's been done before .
I was listening to Colin Murray's Blood on the Tracks. (Worth a listen on the radio iPlayer )
One of the questions was name a Cover ,better than the original.
Johnny Cash's Hurt springs to mind as does Joe Cocker's raw version of A Little Help from my Friends
But I will plump for Jeff Buckley's version of Hallelujah

I wouldn't go so far to say it's better than the original but I always liked the metal version of Depeche Mode's Everything Counts by In Flames.

Pretty much every cover of a Bob Dylan song is better than the original.

Mark James wrote: ↑Wed Apr 18, 2018 7:59 pm I wouldn't go so far to say it's better than the original but I always liked the metal version of Depeche Mode's Everything Counts by In Flames.

Pretty much every cover of a Bob Dylan song is better than the original.

That's because Dylan, bless him, can't sing.
Granted, though, as a songwriter he's one of the best.
Like Tom Waits ,
writes great songs but others sing them better

I think he's average at best as a song writer. Lyrically he might be good but musically he's nothing special. And it's not just that his singing sucks, most of the covers improve musically, (in terms of say instrument choice, or changing the tempo or other kinds of delivery, not necessarily the basic song structure) as well as vocally.

I guess most of his songs work best as poetry.
Paul Simon is my favourite folk artist both lyrically and musically.
My favourite Dylan cover is A Hard Rain is Gonna Fall by Roxy Music.

I prefer Killswitch Engage's Holy Diver to Dio's.

Matt Morrison wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 8:22 am I prefer Killswitch Engage's Holy Diver to Dio's.

I concur. I think it's the only cover I prefer to the original that doesn't do anything substantially different to the original either. Maybe Pantera's version of Planet Caravan which is pretty much the same as the original too but I wouldn't say I prefer it to the original. They're both equally good.

What are people's least favourite covers? One of those rubbish bands like Fall Out Boy or Panic at the Disco, I can never remember which one, did a horrible cover of Michael Jackson's Beat It. That would up there for me.

A few other good ones:

Radiohead, Nobody does it Better.
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Love Roller Coaster
Muse, Please Please Please let me get what I want.
Reel Big Fish, Take on Me
Sepultura, A hora e vez do cabelo nascer
Faith no More, Easy

Mark James wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:04 pm
What are people's least favourite covers? One of those rubbish bands like Fall Out Boy or Panic at the Disco, I can never remember which one, did a horrible cover of Michael Jackson's Beat It. That would up there for me.

Boyzone/Ronan Keating have made a career out of doing cover versions, each one worse than the original.

Worst Covers , for me include Tom Jones's version of Kiss , The Pet Shop Version of Always on My Mind ( to be honest nothing comes close to Willie Nelson's version ) , Guns and Roses murdering Live and Let Die also pissed me off.

Notable covers I've recently discovered included Radiohead's cover of The Smith's Headmasters Ritual and Jeff Buckley's The Boy With the Thorn in his side.


Another cover version better than the Original is Ike and Tina's version of Proud Mary

Paul Worsley wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 2:23 pm

Mark James wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:04 pm
What are people's least favourite covers? One of those rubbish bands like Fall Out Boy or Panic at the Disco, I can never remember which one, did a horrible cover of Michael Jackson's Beat It. That would up there for me.

Boyzone/Ronan Keating have made a career out of doing cover versions, each one worse than the original.

I preferred Weird Al Jancovitz,'s cover

I don't think Cash's Hurt is bad, not at all, but I would definitely say I dislike it overall because I always got irked, as a big NIN fan, that nobody recognised it as a cover. They also love to trot out a quote from Reznor where he described Cash's version as better, or it being "his song now" or something like that. It's still a great version, I am just unable to like it by way of stubborn.

Anyone ever hear of the song La Poupee que fait non? It's a silly little song from the 60s with somewhat dodgy lyrics (they're originally in French and kind of rapey) but there are a vast amount of cover versions of varying quality of it out there. I think it might actually be the most covered song of all time. People seem to do versions if it just for a laugh. My favourite version is a Jimi Hendrix instrumental where he apparently played bass and Noel Reading played guitar.

Mark James wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 7:04 pm Anyone ever hear of the song La Poupee que fait non? It's a silly little song from the 60s with somewhat dodgy lyrics (they're originally in French and kind of rapey) but there are a vast amount of cover versions of varying quality of it out there. I think it might actually be the most covered song of all time. People seem to do versions if it just for a laugh. My favourite version is a Jimi Hendrix instrumental where he apparently played bass and Noel Reading played guitar.

I vaguely remember The Byrd's covering it.
Which reminded me of their brilliant cover of Hey Mr Tambourine Man

Matt Morrison wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 6:43 pm I don't think Cash's Hurt is bad, not at all, but I would definitely say I dislike it overall because I always got irked, as a big NIN fan, that nobody recognised it as a cover. They also love to trot out a quote from Reznor where he described Cash's version as better, or it being "his song now" or something like that. It's still a great version, I am just unable to like it by way of stubborn.

There are quite a few covers that people think are originals like I'm a Believer by The Monkees (Neil Diamond ) Red, Red Wine UB40 (Also Diamond )
Behind Blue Eyes Limp Bizkit (The Who ).
And I can understand it being Irksome if you know the original

Although Johnny Cash's version of Personal Jesus I do like even thou I love Depeche Mode

Nirvana
The Man Who Sold the World

Cake have done some very decent covers. Everyone knows I Will Survive (I recall Gloria Gaynor described it as her least favourite cover as they done a swear in it) but there are two others on Fashion Nugget that I prefer - Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps is brilliant (and in a way hard to compare to the 70-year old Spanish original) and Sad Songs and Waltzes, an old Willie Nelson track, they also do a wonderful job of, much preferable to Nelson's country style if you ask me.

Matt Morrison wrote: ↑Fri Apr 20, 2018 2:10 pm Cake have done some very decent covers. Everyone knows I Will Survive (I recall Gloria Gaynor described it as her least favourite cover as they done a swear in it) but there are two others on Fashion Nugget that I prefer - Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps is brilliant (and in a way hard to compare to the 70-year old Spanish original) and Sad Songs and Waltzes, an old Willie Nelson track, they also do a wonderful job of, much preferable to Nelson's country style if you ask me.

Cake are just awesome. My only criticism of them is that they haven't released enough stuff.

In addition to those above, I must add the following (not an exhaustive list, they've done other covers):

Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town (Kenny Rogers)

The Guitar Man (Bread):

And of course Mah Na Mah Na (made famous by the Muppets, though not their original.

Just to throw it out there to see if it captures any interest.
If Elvis were alive today, what songs from the recent past would he cover (he more or less sang covers for the last few years of his life )
I would love him to have covered Rehab or Smells like teen Spirit.
Though he more than likely would cover Adele or Ed Sheeran

Mark James wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:04 pmWhat are people's least favourite covers? One of those rubbish bands like Fall Out Boy or Panic at the Disco, I can never remember which one, did a horrible cover of Michael Jackson's Beat It.

Fall Out Boy. And I like it/them. And don't like Michael Jackson. Basically I usually disagree entirely with anything you seem to say about music

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 7:23 pm

Matt Morrison wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 6:43 pm I don't think Cash's Hurt is bad, not at all, but I would definitely say I dislike it overall because I always got irked, as a big NIN fan, that nobody recognised it as a cover. They also love to trot out a quote from Reznor where he described Cash's version as better, or it being "his song now" or something like that. It's still a great version, I am just unable to like it by way of stubborn.

There are quite a few covers that people think are originals like I'm a Believer by The Monkees (Neil Diamond ) Red, Red Wine UB40 (Also Diamond )
Behind Blue Eyes Limp Bizkit (The Who ).
And I can understand it being Irksome if you know the original

Although Johnny Cash's version of Personal Jesus I do like even thou I love Depeche Mode

This post has genuinely taught me that Red Red Wine is a cover. I mean I don't really care, cos I don't especially like it, but I still had no clue. If anyone didn't know Behind Blue Eyes was though, then they're a fucking moron.

Zarte Siempre wrote: ↑Mon Apr 23, 2018 5:55 am

Mark James wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 1:04 pmWhat are people's least favourite covers? One of those rubbish bands like Fall Out Boy or Panic at the Disco, I can never remember which one, did a horrible cover of Michael Jackson's Beat It.

Fall Out Boy. And I like it/them. And don't like Michael Jackson. Basically I usually disagree entirely with anything you seem to say about music

To be fair, the UB40 cover of red red wine was really a cover of the Tony Tribe reggae cover a year after Neil Diamond sang in in the late sixties.

Come to think of it, I wonder if there any songs that CAN'T be made into a reggae cover.

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:16 amCome to think of it, I wonder if there any songs that CAN'T be made into a reggae cover.

Nessun Dorma

Zarte Siempre wrote: ↑Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:35 am

Marc Meakin wrote: ↑Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:16 amCome to think of it, I wonder if there any songs that CAN'T be made into a reggae cover.

Nessun Dorma

Someone has tried. https://youtu.be/8mdER2UbUMQ
Albeit not very good

I really like the Paul McCartney and Wings cover of The Moody Blue's hit, "Go Now" from the live album Wings Over America. I recently discovered that The Moody Blues version was a cover too, the original being by an american singer named Bessy Banks.

Matt Morrison wrote: ↑Thu Apr 19, 2018 6:43 pm I don't think Cash's Hurt is bad, not at all, but I would definitely say I dislike it overall because I always got irked, as a big NIN fan, that nobody recognised it as a cover. They also love to trot out a quote from Reznor where he described Cash's version as better, or it being "his song now" or something like that. It's still a great version, I am just unable to like it by way of stubborn.

I'm with you on this one. Yes, Cash brings a poignancy to it which works well, but it's not like the original wasn't utterly harsh and brutally miserable already. I suppose there's a place for both though if you want to look at them as bookending the pains of adulthood.