d's posting of Shawn Colvin's cover of The Beatles' "I'll be Back" inspired this sort of resurrection of a years ago thread. Let's find some "covers" that while not necessarily any of your favorites, are interesting anyway. Let's try another Beatles cover to kick things off...

Here's Brian Setzer and the Stray Cats version of Sleepwalk...this is my favorite version and it describes the concept of improvisation perfectly. There are many covers of the original by Santo and Johnny to include the Ventures and Les Paul. I love them all and no other tune has influenced my playing as much as Sleepwalk. I find a striking similarity to Since I Fell for You which was recorded in the 40's long before Santo and Johnny's Sleepwalk and I find the chord changes using the major to the minor concept in many many songs:

I Am The Walrus Spooky Tooth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEC8zdJW2vQ

[1]
Apple's take on the Beatles tune [that's an unintended almost-pun ] is most interesting, I think, for the video's commentary & construction (the well-timed "glass spla-mashes", for instance).
Take that, Katy Perry !


[2]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krD4hdGvGHM


That's more atmospheric & jazzy than I knew the SCats got.
I liked the down/up line at 1:26~1:33 (was there an edit in there?) & the cadenza at the end, esp the spiky bugle lick rhythm @ 3:07 !

[3]
DBMan, I'll see yer Spooky Tooth & raise ya 2....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZDR1ALvkVQ


& this equally well executed but more rockalized version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPUK8esrpNA

@ d, I don't think there was an edit at 1:26 - 1:33 but then again, this is the studio version so there may be a few here and there. None of the 3 cats play steel (to my knowledge) and I don't know who the artist was that was playing it. But, I really like the way they returned and injected the original with the steel version at 2:10. +1 The ending is just wild too. Remember Brian was just a young kid when this was cut. He was miles ahead of any guitar player for his age IHMO...great jazz for a young dudes Rockabilly band LOL! The live versions are not as good, so I posted the studio...

Then there's this (tip o' the hat to A-String for hipping me to these cats) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rirDOIttODM

Fascinating how faithful Zappa's cover is to the original. All the arrangement elements are there.
Fascinating how many monitors Danny Elfman needs. They started out as a really offbeat theater/chamber music/performance art band called "The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo" in LA back in the 70s. I used to see them at alternative theater spaces in West Hollywood. They lost a lot of the weird charm when they went commercial.

Both are awesome.

With the anniversaries of David Bowie's birth and death this week, I heard several radio stations play both the original of "Five Years" and some cover versions as well. But I have to admit, none of them measure up to this cover by Scottish singer Fish (IMHO). Not just because I'm a Fish/Marillion fan, but I think this is less rambling than the original; more melodic and passionate. The horn section & back-up singers are arranged nicely, too. Frank Usher holds off until about the 4 minute mark before getting in some tasty licks. And David Paton's fretless bass throughout is right up my alley.

After waiting impatiently for the point out of my leaving the "e" out of "covers", I decided to push on.

If there's now some interest in covers of Beatle tunes that were Lennon based, well then;

Like her or not, Cindi does prove this tune stands well enough on it's own as a musical construct without all the studio extras of the original.

Devo has done all kinds of interesting covers over the years- “Workin in a coal mine”, “Satisfaction”, “Are you experienced”- but my favorite is this one:

How about Kurt Elling covering “Matte Kudesai” as a jazz standard?

The recently deceased Charles Bradley delivered this soulful reworking of Black Sabbath’s “Changes”

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole gave us this version of “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” before we lost him.

Superb! You just don't hear King Crimson covers every day, & this was great. And right after that on YT we hear kd laing do her version.

The Bad Livers doing “Fight Fire With Fire”.

California Guitar Trio playing “Tubular Bells”

How'd you miss this cover by Elling?





Then a take on it by Herbie----




And by BUDDY and the boys....



Whitefang

Didn’t- just casting a broad net!

Gee, thanks, all !
I, for one, am learning of some very interesting work, some by artists I'm previously unaware of...but how abt something really diff ?

Many of the examples above surpass the orig recs & Hancock's version of "NorWood" transforms it but this clip both intensifies & transforms the orig song in a way that, I think, is truly visionary.
Really...I'd never thought of this---would you've ?.
Plus it's by a master guitarist !

Not to ignore the usual Earl Hines-influenced contribution of Bernie Worrell [dig the just-slightly-off-time comping at the intro & behind the solo]
& Boosty Collins's slippery bs bumping into the beat every which way
or the production that gives the cymbal splashes a coating of delay/reverb stretching them out almost 2 measures
but sit back & revel in this gtr construction by the best Hendrix clone we've had so far.
From the opening "get onboard" bluesy train invocation ~ closing benediction to "Dream on...", there's something going on w/the gtr the entire track but lemme point out these highlights:
the purring/growling note-knot pulled together at 1:25 (reworked as a thematic device later) ;
the stuttering fall into the main solo at 2:05 ;
the richness of Hazel's vox (why didn't this cat do more singing ?).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqDGTT2OtsQ

Emerson, Lake and Palmer/Powell did all kinds of killer covers.



As did Eumir Deodato

Jeff Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah” is among my faves.


And here’s Johnny Cash’s masterful take on NIN’s “Hurt”

Here’s Soungarden combining Black Sabbath’s “Into the Void” with words from an 1852 letter by Chief Sealth, a.k.a. Chief Seattle.

Alex Skolnick Trio covering “War Pigs” live.


Rodrigo y Gabriella covering “Orion”


Warsaw Guitar Orchestra “Call of Ktulu”


Sinfonity’s version of Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”

Diego Ferri is a YouTuber who, IMHO, has a really good feel for taking classical compositions and combining them with a sparsely beautiful electric tone. Here’s a pair of Satie and a Chopin.

Steam Powered Giraffe covering Daft Punk, anyone?

All that needs is the stupefying riff from Hendrix'x 1984 as a bs line.


BTW...here's another one w/Gracie P
She even does a Stevie Nicks dance !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A13tUxH09SI

I suppose my enthusiastic commentary took away whatever anyone else might've said abt the Hazel recreation of "Cali Dreaming" so this time I'll let the facts speak for themselves.

Original
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJMFurJxxF8


Remake
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwxhf4UXLvM

I dunno d.......

I tried WIKI, ALLMUSIC, IDBM and any other source I could think of and can't find any info on any 1984 by Hendrix. Was that JIMI Hendrix, or some OTHER guy named Hendrix?

Help me out here...


OK, enough of that. Knew what was meant anyway. And speaking of which, there's several covers to be found, but this IS one of the better ones IMO----



Whitefang

Oooops, yes I meant "1983", his epochal future-dystopian track on the ELECTRIC LANDLADY alb ....here covered, in the spirit of the thread, w/violinist Nigel Kennedy playing most of the song's themes, including the aforementioned spookifying bs line & a whole series oof other arrangement alterations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teJJR-YTED4

Here's one I heard for the 1st time just last night by an artist I'd, somehow, also never heard before.

Somewhat an acquired taste (she hits somewhere in the orbit of Billie Holiday & Macy Gray but w/a country blues flavor), KD had an apparent penchant for breaking up the usual cadential & melodic flow of songs.
Dig what she did to Marvin's song here.

ORIGINAL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je-gNICGdbs


COVER
Besides her, uh, Appalachian jazz take on the vocal dig the consecutive gtr solos [1:50~2:20]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPzK_ABS_mE

Pretty cool...I do a little country version of You Really Got a Hold on Me by Smokey Robinson, but if you want to get back in the woods, these guys do a whole lot of Mowtown Bluegrass:

I hadda stop aft the Old McDougal barnyard choir stuff started @1:00 but Superstition was cool & the Supremes cover was plaintive.

I presume y'heard Hayseed Dixie...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9udowK_x5U


+ and even better, there's a great& genuine----that is not jokey---record by Bootsy Collins & some cat named Scott LastNameIForgot.... that features some really good collabs of country material, w/ Doc Watson

One of my all time fave covers. For me, a cover has to bring something different to the table for it to be worth doing. The solo slays me, for upending all expectations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar30KyQFnIc

Scott, that intro scared me as much as when I was a kid & played Mom's copy of "Stranded In The Jungle" by the Cadets (see below) & later covered by the New Yawk Dolls (not posted for the reason yer abt to read).
I'll have to return to it another time.

I endorse that, as might be garnered from my selections so far.

Here's one you'll rarely hear.
The cat even attempts the gtr solo ! {1 min mark]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6JF6XCDCWc



-----------------------------------------
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h9PbMucPXU

Those were all pretty good. And y'know, some "covers" I find I like BETTER than the originals. For example, I never had any use for this tune originally, but I LOVE this cover of it!



Whitefang

Luna doing some Dire Straits on her gayageum:

Yeah, DanA, Li\una's a monster.
She not only does those market-targeted covers [1] but she's a legit trad musician [2].
If one watches her techniques she's really just a fantastic player.
Dig....
[1]
She does lotsa covers but here's one of my faves...also relevant per gtrs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfOHjeI-Bns


[2]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDlAifilT6c


Some might wonder what a gtr's doing in the "trad" mix but that's what keeps music of any culture from becoming just a museum piece & alive/relevant.

Hello, 21st C !

Q for them pay'n' attention:
The gtr cat seems to be doing the Bootsy foot (i.e., stomping in time w/tambourine on foot ..but whence the tambo ? !

2Cellos covering AC/DC

And SCOTT(I think) knows THIS one and probably LOVES it!

That's a really old version, pre 1992 when I started mixing them. After I took over the sound duties Purple Haze got a LOT louder, heavily overdriven, & drenched in feedback. Big fun.
Kronos also does a transcription of Hendrix's Woodstock 'Star Spangled Banner'.

Jane's Addiction taking "Ripple" away from the Grateful Dead:



Social Distortion possessing "Ring Of Fire":



and U2's beautifully eerie take on a Cole Porter classic:

I always thought this was kind of interesting.



Whitefang

Blondie, famously covering The Paragons...

If you wish to get technical, THESE are really "covers".

This, originally from the movie "Orchestra Wives" ('42) c.Harry Warren/Mack Gordon


And THIS Warren/Dubin tune from the musical DAMES('34)



Whitefang

Course of Empire covering Fear:


Living Colour covering Pere Ubu

YES covering Simon and Garfunkel---


David Bowie doing the same....


Whitefang

Orkestra Obsolete’s version of “Blue Monday”:

As I listen, DanA, that does satisfy the "interesting" criterion, at least visually, but more-so when I thought they were leading up to Fats Domino's early blues-rock hit.

Here's one that may not be so interesting in itself as unlikely.
Te'd not one of my faves but he gets some good licks in @ :40 ; :43 ; 1:14 ; & his iteration of the orig's honkytonk piano riff is spot on !.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiPNsRtgj2I

Here's that same tune on "reds".



You're gonna need plenty of

I didn't know Randy Newman could play gtr that well.

--------------------------------
Back to what may be interesting rather than just, existent, here's a multi-pack of performances by John Scofield, covering "Julia", John Lennon's 1st solo recording.
Compare & contrast (as a jazzer, there are more diffs than most performers) !

The official release / 2K07
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWLuBRObYbA


2007 / live
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TlZMtPDmWU


2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7-fMhN1djA


2K10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b3z1qUZUUg


2013
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqo3QJ2ZKe4

Postmodern Jukebox is going to be airing a show on my local PBS station this Wednesday night- check your local listings. For those who don’t know them...

Ha!
Not exactly up my alley, but interesting approaches indeed.

In some other forum there's a discussion of differing "covers" (at the start) of the song "Cry Me A River". Two members in particular are arguing over whether it's wise for the one to make the claim that JULIE LONDON'S version is the "best" or not. The rest of us are just trying to get across that the "best" version of ANY song is an individual decision based mostly on which one they LIKE the best.

And your posts Danny, help enforce a beief that there's no real "rock'n'roll" tunes, "jazz" tunes or anything else, as it's been proven time and time again that successful and excellent covers of ANY tune can and have been done in MANY different genres. To whit( and bringing up "Cry Me A River")---


And this---

Yep! All it takes is insight, imagination ant some trasnsposing skills to be able to recraft a good song.

When interviewed about this collaboration, Steven Tyler said that “Walk This Way” was a rap song waiting to happen.


And Dolly Parton thought this was the definitive version of her tune:


Similarly, Lou Reed said of Duran Duran’s cover that it was the closest rendition to what he had envisioned when he wrote it. Paraphrasing, he said they realized his song in a way he lacked the talent to do:

That sort of "old standard" rework has been done before, and much earlier than Cocker and "River" ---
from this---


To this:



And I kinda dig the "pre-Mosrite" photo of The Ventures.
Whitefang

Taking a slightly different approach to this thread, here’s Jane’s Addiction’s version of “Sympathy for the Devil”- a cover I really hate. And I love JA.

Personally, while I find some of the postings here to be interesting, mostly they're just, uh, there....
I also find it a bit disappointing that there's almost no discussion of why any version is worthy....

Of course, one might investigate that & make their own decision....but I wonder if anyone is actually doon so....
..just, y'know, etc...

“Worthy” isn’t a word I’d use in this context, These are ultimately matters of taste, and thus, subjective.

And in other news, Seu Jorge’s rendition of “Space Oddity”

Sure. And since the thread IS titled, "Interesting "covers", I'd say the aim has been satisfied. No entry necessarily has to be liked by anyone who posts them, and what mkes them interesting can be heard by anyone who takes the time to listen to any of them. And I'd agree that Danny's last few ARE interesting indeed.
Whitefang

Side stepping my point, which was that whatever the qualities of a recording, there's posted little here to suggest what makes it worth checking out.
That might encourage listening when there are several in any single post.
Time is a limited resource.

Anyway....
To refer to the idea that some covers might give "new life" to old familiar tunes if done in a different way....

Here's two from Cassandra Wilson's "New Moon Daughter"....




Whitefang

Not so much sidestepping as misunderstanding!

Good one!

Here's on of my fave artists updating the outta date
Catch the way she recreates the opening vox 0:00~0:20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoTzNd-6jeM

different takes on the same song:





...and while I'm at it, my fave Dylan cover:

d, without going back across the whole thread for individual commentary I offer this: I’d have to say that I listen to a LOT of covers, and the ones that interest me most give the tune a new spin. They bring something to the table- a different genre, a different context, a different vibe.

In doing so, the artists express a bit more of themselves than those who do otherwise excellent but ultimately duplicative renditions of the songs they cover. While I didn’t list any, Led Zeppelin and other British acts of the 1960s-70s did many covers, but in doing so, created a whole new genre- hard rock. The songs they covered expanded the history of music.

OTOH, the one cover I listed I disliked failed to either be a faithful cover or ultimately anything like the bulk of Jane’s Addiction’s body of work. There was no edge. No bite.

d.---Heh! LOVE that "GAYAGEUN " style.

And I'd have to say to HUGO that "Sweet Marie" is one of those Dylan tunes that don't often even get HEARD(unless you have a recording) let alone covered. Nice one.

Danny, for me, any "cover" should at least resemble the original enough to recognize, otherwise they're just using the lyrics put to different music. But too, in a way, DYLAN(for example) has done that to some of his own tunes. I WAS gonna post the original, but could only find covers on YT. But if you're familiar with "Maggie's Farm", then you'll notice how Dylan himself, changes it:


and then again---



I've seen him do this tune on TV several times on TV over the years and NEVER the same way TWICE!
Whitefang

I hear you, and agree somewhat. But only somewhat. . Sometimes, an extreme outlier gets you where it counts.

(Not always- again, see my dislike of JA’s version of “Sympathy for the Devil”.)

Most of us are probably familiar with Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf”. It’s a classic. And some artists have...ummm...taken liberties...

Manfred Mann’s take is more of a typical 70’s rock opera version. Still recognizable, but clearly different. (Link is to the whole piece.)


Jimmy Smith, OTOH, does a nearly complete jazz deconstruction of it. The major themes are in there, but you have to listen closely. Some are only run through once or twice, in mere seconds, just to let the listener know that he did base his work on the original Prokofiev composition. (Link is to the whole piece.)


Now, while my Mom- a retired music teacher- would generally share Whitefang’s view of covers, and has no real deep love of jazz, Jimmy Smith’s recording was one of the ones she struggled hardest to find in CD format.

That's not a style but the instrument she's playing.

Sure, d. But I couldn't resist the satirical reference.
Whitefang

Here's a particularly distinctive remake that, already inspired in it's basic genre mixing, goes through a couple other changes as it plays out.
Note the mood switch at 0:18 as the actual song & treatment becomes apparent, then the later one @2:25 as Toots kicks it up further w/his pocomanian invocation of Otis Redding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-2vUZ0Cdi8


A footnote is this variation on Toot's cover from another islander 1/2 the world away, who localizes the setting in his lyrics, as well as upping the blues harmony content.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZw5AC_re6I


Then we have Mr Ray Charles stepping in w/his cover of a cover of a cover...maintaining the reggae lilt but adding some gospel/R&B touches.
Dig the enthusiastic way he enunciates "moonshine" at 1:36 & that whole multi-layered rap over the track's finale (2:20 ~end).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umkNMafwT74


I'll end this with a perf by a 3rd set of islanders who make up for their lack of polish, I think, by their 21st C post-modern mashup conceptualism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq3MokMFbvI

I liked how the first two made it more personal by replacing West Virginia with their homeland. Clever, but not really new since I've heard some( no recording artists, but guys I know) do that with other locales.

For instance, one guy I knew sang it: "Almost Heaven, WEST PETOSKEY, " (City in northern MI, his hometown )
Whitefang

Mostly known for his harmonica work, TOOTS also did some of this--


Then there's THIS guy...


Whitefang

A clutch of Beatlesteria....
Although of various levels of musicality (arranged in decreasing order) it should not be hard to find a variety of reasons these are of interest.

Jazzers sometimes tried to up the ante on The Beatles....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd6DTRywF7Q


...sometimes they simply gave their tunes a new slant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwk-cCzHQFE


This one places our fragile friend Pru in a place where she may be coming out to play w/Syd Barrett's "Emily".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6rrTROoZIw


Unlike Mr Domino's cover of McCartney's "Loverly Erita" , which was a natural fit, this one, from the quasi-Stax gtr intro to the revamp & re-positioning of the original song's coda to the middle [1:18~1:25] is just oddly unlikely.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNeSJVUxOkc


Here words simply fail. If ya wanna bypass the sloppy "acting" dial ahead to 0:55 & consider the world as it once was....(wait...it's still like that ?!?! )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBg3tq4Hrx8

As to the last clip, I asked for "covers"... not OBLITERATIONS!
Although I'll bet the fab 4 got a giggle out of it.
Whitefang

I notice no mention thus far of a band which does only covers & has a whole lot of fun while doing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD5bUrZdc68

There are many bands that do that, SF.
As you know they mostly play the Holiday Inn circuit or in Branson, etc.

I suspect you've another up yer sleeve, though.


Oh ?
He's posted a link under there ?
Eya...what's this then ?
The Leningrad Cowpokes ?
Sons & daughters of Darryl Rhodes & Dread Zep, are they ?
Izzat Uncle Fee Waybill, there in the corner ?

1993 ?!
Them cats still operating or they go broke from paying all the those extras ?
Final question: why'd the Dolly With The Blue Dress (Blue Dress, Blue Dress) Dolly With The Blue Dress On not have the winkle picker toes on her shoes ?

Truly though, thanks for bringing them to my attention

The Leningrad COWBOYS? Ha!
I SURELY hope that ain't that dude's real hair!
Whitefang

....................................STEEL CAGE DEATH MATCH.................................................................

..................DREAD ZEP VS LENINGRAD COWPOKES...............................................

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhZu6BQCW9U


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n17TjMqiOts


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GMgR2vkvtI


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fd_Aisl8xI

For me, it isn’t even close. I would LOVE to see Leningrad Cowboys live in concert!

...but Dread Zeppelin reigns supreme! *





* Full disclosure: I’ve seen DZ 3 times, have a t-shirt, and most of their CDs. TORTELVIS FOREVER!!!

The only "cover/tribute" band I ever paid to see was the Canadian Beatles tribute band THE CAVERNERS.

They do a fine job of it....


Whitefang

& so ?
Does that mean y'coulda skipped the entire thread by posting that in the OP ?

The "McCartney" vox Caverner does do a good job.

Saw these guys twice. They are pretty good. They've even done a fairly decent job of playing "A Day In The Life".

If the thread WAS about cover BANDS, sure. I could have done that. But somewhere along the line( as typical with these kind of forums) it morphed into that and "tribute" bands.
Whitefang

OK, so back to business basics.

A fairly(IMO) different and new twist on this old tune---

Veruca Salt-from my long-lost hometown of Chicago. I liked `Seether`-coincidentally also the name of a South African band I liked even more.

Well here is one we played way back in my Taipei days. Why do I recommend it-well lyrical gender twists are not so new now, but this was clever-the original:



The cover:

I hadn’t heard that cover of “My Sharona” nor the original of “Didn’t Mean to Turn You On”.

Good start to my day!

This one's not interesting so much as unlikely...interesting only insofar as it exists.

PRN shoulda done covered that song "Didn't Mean T'Turn Y'On"
Can you say convoluted ?

A Kraftwerk-style band doing “Didn’t Mean to Turn You On” would be marvelously incongruous.

Once saw KAYE BALLARD do the theme from "Shaft" on The Tonight Show" shortly after the tune won the Oscar. Luckily, a clip of it doesn't exist.

It was all a gag anyway...
Whitefang

Here`s one-file it under `I didn`t see that coming`, along with about half the under age 40 planet. The article tells it better than I have patience for:
http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/natalie-imbruglia-torn-cover-2128628

Not really familiar with the tune Skip, but perusing the clips it's clear each artist found their own way of presenting it. And that kind of "shake up" has happened before.

Like, personally, I knew(and still know) several who were boggled to discover The Seachers' "Love Potion #9" was a "cover" of a (then) five year old CLOVERS tune. And some who actually thought ELVIS wrote "Hound Dog" and were SHOCKED to discover some old black blues singer Big Mama Thornton did the song FOUR YEARS before Elvis! Or that....

BILL HALEY wasn't the first to do "Shake, Rattle and Roll".

DION didn't do the original "Ruby Baby"

CCR wasn't the first to do "Susie Q"

The list goes on.....

But it could get amusing. I remember a friend of mine, who was over my house when I was spinning records, getting angry 'cause (as he put it) "That Chuck Berry guy ruined that Beatles tune!" He of course, was referring to "Rock and Roll Music".
Whitefang

Or, he could have been referring to "Roll Over Beethoven" if you had spun that one LOL!

I loved that! Especially since- according to the article comments- the journalist missed another version of the song that predated Natalie’s that many seemed to consider to be the best of all.

Ein bischen Deutsche-pop?

“Der Kommissar”! As I understand it, there are many covers of this song (not as many as, say, “Louie, Louie”, but...) in several languages.

Falco (original European vid)

Falco (American vid)


After The Fire


Dale Bozzio


Suzy Andrews

And here’s Trio’s hit, “Da Da Da”, another that went ‘round the world.


Covered by...
Toss


Salco


Suzy Andrews (again with the Germans?)


Elastica

Why those?

Well...because I could!

And because there’s an element of illustrating how a song can be covered faithfully- or not- and make you wonder...”Why?” By that, I mean why you’d be so faithful to an original that there’s almost nothing of the covering artist’s unique character in the results.

Sure As each one seemed to be just as boring as the predecessor, indeed. Why?

At least the last one seemed to "spice" it up a bit. Still a most boring tune though.
Whitefang

There can be a learning exercise that serves as a legit reason to do that but to me that's all.
There's also a value in delivering a rousing community event by performing a copy of a song or introducing a unknown or little-known creator to a wider audience but simply recording a just copy of a song for sale is pointless.

Again, indeed. The crowds at local bars might in cases prefer the band sound "record quality" when a band does a cover, but if trying to get ahead in the "biz", doing a "cover" of some song, but sounding exactly like the band whose song you're covering doesn't seem like it would get you anywhere.

It reminds me of those old days when record clubs(remember them?) would offer LPs of all the "latest hits" done by studio artists TRYING to sound just like the originals.

Now, some can come CLOSE to the original cut, but some subtle but noticeable changes make it new. ie.---

Original


Cover--

Which swangs us 'round to what might be the deepest reinterpretive cover in the rock canon & one that has left such a deep mark that no one has thought to even post it here, yet.
JH so completely restructured the song that even Bob Dyl adopted his treatment.

Rehearsal = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw5QyGtGryU


Revelation = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLV4_xaYynY


And Then Après Lui, le Déluge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E05eBPjZNds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL1vcxhxAZw


....But still the power of that reinvention remains....

While I agree, there comes a point when a song has been redone faithfully so many times, covering it that way on a commercial release seems...pointless.

Consider “Sleepwalk”, mentioned upthread. One of my favorite guitarists, Joe Satriani, did a beautifully faithful version of it a few years ago. When I play that CD, I usually skip it because it contains almost nothing of Joe in it. There are flares of what he does, but they’re soooooo subtle. It’s a love letter to the original, but on a certain level, it’s pointless.

For all that “Da Da Da” may be a virtually disposable piece of pure pop fluff, several covers at least changed the language, expanding the listening base. The same could be said of several versions of “Der Kommissar”.

Uh, think yer reiterating what I said....

In retrospect, yes!

Man of Constant Sorrow has been covered by many. But this from Waylon Jennings I found most interesting. https://youtu.be/p7m__VJGXok

Waylon's was a unique approach. More so than most I've heard before.

The following are the first TWO versions of the song I've ever heard.

From his debut LP c.'62---



From her a couple or so years later...


BTW: Those clips of Jimi and them doing "Watchtower". I like how(and I've heard other examples before) Jimi, oft thought of as "The King of The Electric Guitar" began working out his cover of the tune ACOUSTICALLY!
Whitefang

More covrs from The Dyl...only the other way 'round.
Despite the pitcha that's not Bob on bass but yes folkie folks that's GH sanging along during the last verse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_0SUUq6joo


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wX4FkD-MGE


Couldn't come up w/ The Dyl's cover of Paul Simon's "The Boxer", wherin BD demonstrated a rather, uh, idiosycratic sense of vocal harmony but here's a surprising perf of him on Simon's early hit that was created by BD's sometime producer Tom Wilson in a deliberate attempt to snare some of that BobMagic for clients Simo & Garf.
That they even appeared on stage together took me by surprise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJVTCRpaPjw


Taking a step further, were that not enough, witness BD's repayment of Elvis Presley's covering of a couple early Dyl tunes.
Most interesting aspect, however is the pschotropical gtr part
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77FY7yhFHWQ


This one I'll let each find their own value in...& yes it is the EAP career starter, not "That's Alright Mama, I'm Only Bleeding"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDYgiqtpkss

Before I forget, here's a rather surprising version of "Man O'Constant Sorrow" put out as a single by Ginger Bakser's Airforce, featuring then-former Moody Bluester Denny Laine on vox...along w/pedal steel, fiddle & a brass section.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBWQquBiGMk


Hear also here a version restructured &, itself much covered
(see YT list = https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=maid+of+constant+sorrow)
by one of my greataunts who performed this, with other material, at the World's Fair, late 1930s NYC, as a exhibition of folk musicians from Appalachia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nn5F_UQMPLM

original:



cover:

Well, I ASKED for "interesting", and got 'em for sure!

But since d gave us Dylan covering "It's Alright" and others included the originals to compare the "covers" to, I think since the ELVIS version of "It's Alright" was too, a "cover" of an eight year old Arthur Crudup tune, I think it fair we include the original to IT as well.



Oh, and I'd like to thank HUGO for that old footage of Tim Buckley. It's been years since I've heard him sing "straight", "Greetings Fron LA" being the only stuff of his I have. His vocals on most of THAT is most unique, to say the least.
Whitefang

Stagger Lee (aka many other names)

First recorded by Lovie Austin



Worst (IMHO) cover - Pat Boone



One of best:

That song went through many changes of both musical content and lyrics over it's long history. Written in the late 19th century, most early recordings were instrumentals. I did find Lovie's '24 recording, but it was titled "Skeeg-a-Lee Blues" and didn't sound anything like the song we've later came to enjoy. Ma Rainey "covered" it the same year, singing a song that closely resembles "Frankie And Johnny".

It also was known by the title "Stack-O-Lee" and the version Price does is his own reworking of the long belabored tune.
Whitefang

Most historians use Mississippi John Hurt's version as the definitive one.

So let's give it a listen.....



Whitefang

Gotta say, too little discussion of any track's merits.....

Mights well justs drag the wheel across the screen....

Kinda melding two threads in one, I'm sure many "boomers" remember somebody "borrowing" a theme from J.S. Bach and coming up with this little "pop" ditty in the '60's. Long claimed to be from Bach's "Minuet in G major" that piece is now believed to have been written by CHRISTIAN PETZOLD. And recorded in the 1940's by FREDDY MARTIN, an "A Lover's Concerto...

Couldn't find Martin's version, but we all know THIS one:


Which eventually led to this "novelty" cover---


The woman had a nice little "late life" career covering well known pop tunes with her(ahem) unique vocal "styling's". In some retrospect, I wonder if it was a way of making fun of modern "pop" artists of the time by showing anyone can have a "hit" record in the (then) modern "pop" genre. I'm sure Mrs. Miller didn't mind though that people laughed at her "singing", as she too, was busy laughing. All the way to the BANK!
Whitefang

Heh!

All this stuff about covers, and I left out probably one of MY all time favorite "covers".

Like the use of original source material and how it's squeezed in at times throughout the piece....


Whitefang

It only takes a moment to hear the derivation from Bach.


Whether he wrote lyrics is debatable.

FWIW, here's Martin's version which has no relationship w/the Motown track


I think a better variation than the one you foist on our ears is this one which at least offers a few new rhythm ideas

No, of course Bach didn't write the lyrics. I'm not really sure who did.

And sure, Vaughn's version( as one track of many on an album recorded sometime later)) is nicer on the ears, but never really released as a single, and The Toys' version is more familiar with American audiences. And that Freddy Martin clip has no connection to the Bach piece in question. In fact, plowing through several clips that followed his version of "A Lover's Concerto" is STILL not found for some reason. But interesting.....

Most people( me included) probably didn't realize DICK DALE'S biggest "hit" was also a "cover"

?list=PLWdxh7guuhVYvcqJajRxjKpd433ra3Bbm

Dick Dale (not his given name) is Lebanese & 'Misirlu' is claimed by Greece, Turkey, Lebanon & probably a few other Middle Eastern countries. It was popular in the early 20th century in that part of the world.

Is there a full sentence there ?

You suggested that attribution for that song should go to someone else rather than Motown staff producers appropriating Bach's melody & that Fred Martin recorded a version of the song decades before....but you couldn't find the Martin recording, although it popped up instantly on YT when I looked for it.
So....the fact that it has neither Bach's melody nor the lyrics to the Crystals song is as to-the-point as anything could be.

Going 2 completely diff directions from the same place




as they say, WAIT, THERE'S MORE !

1. The '60's pop tune "A Lover's Concerto" was given songwriting credits by SANDY LINZER and DENNY RANDELL, and was recorded by THE TOYS. Not The Crystals. It's their version that's the most covered.

2. The melody was made popular by Freddy Martin sometime in the '40's, who then gave it the title of "A Lover's Concerto". And if anyone can find a clip of it, please POST it, as just about anything ELSE by Martin is easily found BUT that one.

3. Long attributed to Bach, in the '70's it was determined and decided that the "Minuet in G" was instead composed by CHRISTIAN PETZOLD( 1677-1733).

Note: Neither Linzer nor Randell were EVER Motown songwriters or producers. They wrote other hits for other people, like The Four Season's "Working My Way Back To You."
Whitefang

Looking this up surprised me on several levels-first being, an original that I thought was a cover:



The second being a cover that I thought was the original-and actually isn`t even a cover. It`s the same tune with new lyrics-and in a different language. I had it on a cassette many moons ago, along with some other Nina Hagen music:



The third being a cover version that I was unaware of until I looked up the song-I`m listening to it for the first time while I`m typing this:

Hah!

I'll only opine with a quote from Dobie Gray's "The In Crowd"--

"The original's still the greatest."
Whitefang

That's pretty good. But more "straight up" than unique and interesting. But it also made me chuckle for a minute.

Remembering when Crimson did it, we all thought the 21st century was SO far off....

I HAD attempted to post an original followed by a cover I thought was not only interesting, but quite unique too. But friggin' YouTube didn't have a clip of the original. That'd be the title tune of Dylan's HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED followed by Johnny Winter's landmark cover.
Whitefang