favorite 'reinvention' aka cover song?

[Zenister 0]

this has always been one of my favorites particularly for the way the man could make his instrument speak and even weep at times... but the world brought this particular song back to my ears unexpectedly and it was so powerful it nearly made me cry...

i've come to respect Cindi Lauper as an artist far more than i would have ever expected in the 80s but this version means far more to me... partly because the words are there, unspoken but just as real.....

Time after Time -Miles Davis..

so the question then... who has 'reinvented' a song in a way that made it more meaningful for you personally?

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Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[lawrocket 3]

I think that the best cover tunes don't mess with greatness. For example, UB40's cover of Red Red Wine took an otherwise mediocre song and did somthing cool with it. On the other hand, don't go turning Fools Rush In into some white-guy-trying-to-sound-Jamaican reggae tripe.

So, great covers?

1) Hallelujah by John Cale (original by Leonard Cohen) - turned a decent tune of a gospel nature and overly synthesized into an extremely simple, passionate and beautiful piece of work.

2) All That Heaven Will Allow by the Mavericks (original by the Boss) - just made it such a pleasant and happy feel good song

Okay, big time tunes
3) All ALong the Watchtower by Hendrix (original by Dylan) - 'nuff said

4) Twist and Shout - the Beatles - original by the Isley's - you know, when you can take a great song by a great band and make it utterly forgettable, you've found magic.

5) Enjoy the Silence by I don't know (someone please help me), original by Depeche Mode - it was a song I hated by a band that I hated. Turned it into one of the most beuatiful songs I ever heard, wihtout the overproduced electronica or dave Gahan's whining...

My wife is hotter than your wife.

[sunshine 2]

Tori Amos doing Purple Rain. You can hear and feel so much emotion in her singing of that song. It gives me chills.

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meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[Zenister 0]

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5) Enjoy the Silence by I don't know (someone please help me), original by Depeche Mode - it was a song I hated by a band that I hated. Turned it into one of the most beuatiful songs I ever heard, wihtout the overproduced electronica or dave Gahan's whining...

female? might be Tori Amos as well... she did a very nice album of 'reinterpretations' with Strange Little Girls... including Reigning Blood... a Slayer tune i would have never recognized if i didnt know the lyrics.

I think i prefer it when an artist makes the song 'their own' either by taking it to another level than the original artist or by revealing elements and tangent meanings not apparent (sometimes not present) in the original...

of course i do believe ALOT of cover songs do nothing for the original and should have been left on the cutting room floor...

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Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[PhreeZone 20]

Cake - I will Survive. There is no other cover I've heard that takes on the new band so well as this cover.

Jonny Cash - Hurt. NIN had way too much anger in the original. Cash was able to bring a whole new depth to the song. Real emotion is heard in his voice. You can almost haer pain in there too...


In terms of the oddest cover... I've got a few for that list. Dynamite Hack - Boyz in the Hood. It takes balls to do a cover of an NWA song.

Somewhere Over The Rainbow by either Isreal Kamakawiwo'ole or Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Taking a tune that I think every 10 year old knows and making it into two completly different tunes.

A Perfect Circle - Imagine. They managed to take a song that questioned everything and made people think of a Utopia and infused it with such dark undertones that it sounds like a chant to go to hell.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[Zenister 0]

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A Perfect Circle - Imagine. They managed to take a song that questioned everything and made people think of a Utopia and infused it with such dark undertones that it sounds like a chant to go to hell.

definately one of my new favorites... one of my bandmates pointed out they coverd it in the same scale as Kashmir.... which adds a whole new spin to it....

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Those who fail to learn from the past are simply Doomed.

[Nuke 0]

Word up - Korn

[flyingferret 0]

Any of Johnny Cashes covers, particularly 'Hurt'

Lagwagons' cover of Bad Moon Rising - kinda punk

Toy Dolls cover of Kids in America - kinda punk

somebody's cover of Boys and Girls....I cannot seem to sort out at the moment who. Blur did it first...but there is a new one out there.

--
All the flaming and trolls of wreck dot with a pretty GUI.

[GogglesnTeeth 6]

Ring Of Fire - social distortion. Basically the same as the Johnny Cash version, but a bit more rockin' and dare I say punk.

Goggles and Teeth

"You fall like a greased safe!!!"

[gmanpilot 0]

Just because I heard it again this morning:

Red House-The amazing Buddy Guy cover of the Hendrix classic. It's why Eric Clapton called Buddy Guy "the greatest guitar player alive" (JH and SRV are dead)

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-There's always free cheese in a mouse trap.

[skydiver30960 0]

3.) Turn the Page by Metallica. I know, I know, I know the whole "true Metallica fan vs. poser fan" argument and I'm not worried. Segar does it well, they do it well, just in a different way.

2.) Shout 2000 by Disturbed. That song will double my pulse rate no matter what's going on.

and...

1.) Smooth Criminal by Alien Ant Farm. Awesome song, with just the right mix of the old and the new.


Elvisio "off to dig through my cds" Rodriguez

[VanillaSkyGirl 6]

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Cake - I will Survive. There is no other cover I've heard that takes on the new band so well as this cover.

Agreed.

I recently went to a Greenday concert where the last song played by the entire Greenday band was Queen's "We are the Champions". It was AWESOME!!! (The real last song played that night was just between the audience and Billy Joe..."Good Riddance ~ Time of Your Life".)

[PLFKING 4]

You young punks
The Rolling Stones' cover of Sam Cooke's Little Red Rooster on the Flashpoint album....when Clapton starts yanking his strings, I almost forget to breathe.

Van Halen's loooong intro in their cover of Roy orbison's Pretty Woman slays me every time.

Diito Molly Hatchet's cover of The Rolling Stones' cover of Bobby Womack's It's All Over Now.


When I was a lad, we had to walk 6 miles through waist-deep snow to hear a cover....and liked it.

Don

"When in doubt I whip it out,
I got me a rock-and-roll band.
It's a free-for-all."

[kingbunky 3]

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Van Halen's loooong intro in their cover of Roy orbison's Pretty Woman slays me every time.

...don't forget vh's cover of the kinks' 'you really got me', and it's intro (eruption i think it's called.)


i hate metallica's version of 'turn the page' though. some songs shouldn't be touched. that wasn't just seger's song, it's his story.

cyndi lauper's version of 'iko iko' always makes me sing along, even though i don't know all the words. i don't even know who's song it is!

edited to add:

thought of a couple more, great big sea's version of 'it's the end of the world' is way faster (and better i think) than REM's version.

"spirit in the sky" by dr. and the medics, again, a little faster than nathan greenbaum's version.

"Hang on a sec, the young'uns are throwin' beer cans at a golf cart."
MB4252 TDS699
killing threads since 2001

[piisfish 140]

Tainted Love - Marylin Manson sings this song which has already been covered by Marc Almond/Soft Cell

Ca plane pour moi - The Presidents of USA (Originally Plastic Bertrand, a belgian pop-disco-punk-rocker)

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Conundrum 1]

The Cure's - Love Song, covered by 311

[eUrNiCc 0]

Some of my favorites:

-I want candy by the Bouncing Souls
-Violent Love by Skankin' Pickle (originally Oingo Boingo)
-The Mystery Science Theater 3000 theme by Man or Astroman?
-Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego by Tilt

Best covers I've seen live:
-Nazi Punks F**K off! by H20 (originally Dead Kennedies)
-Knowledge by Bigwig (originally Op-Ivy)

Egad, A BASE life defiles a bad age.

[Kennedy 0]

Southern Cross as done by Jimmy Buffet

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[Meathorse 0]

Metallica - Whiskey in the Jar

Smashing Pumpkins - Landslide (no laughing! It's good, I swear)

The Pumpkins also do a version of "My Blue Heaven" that I find amusing

• Quote

[Kennedy 0]

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Metallica - Whiskey in the Jar

Somehow I can't see them doing Finnigan's Wake or Black Velvet Band to follow it up.

witty subliminal message
Guard your honor, let your reputation fall where it will, and outlast the bastards.
1*

[sunshine 2]

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Metallica - Whiskey in the Jar

Fuck yeah!!

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meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[Sheenster303 0]

Pretty much any of the punk cover songs by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. My favorite by them is definitely Somewhere Over the Rainbow b/c I listened to it everytime I went to the dz during AFF. That and a punk cover of I Believe I Can Fly ran through my head during AFF. Now I get chill bumps when I hear them.

I'm so funny I crack my head open!

P.M.S. #102

[sunshine 2]

My fave Me First song is Different Drum originally done by linda ronstadt.

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meow

I get a Mike hug! I get a Mike hug!

[Sheenster303 0]

Oh and I also love Build Me Up Buttercup by Save Ferris!

I'm so funny I crack my head open!

P.M.S. #102

[flyhi 24]

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Tainted Love - Marylin Manson

Yep.

Wonderful World by Joey Ramone

Shit happens. And it usually happens because of physics.