This was going to be a post to go with the one about sampling in music.
They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, so does that extend to musical cover versions?
Was it a bit precious of Metallica to release (and subsequently recompile and re-release) a whole EP/Album of covers?
What cover versions do you like?
What cover versions do you hate?
Do you think Courtney Love watches The Voice? If she had a go at the Muppets for their rendition of Smells Like Teen Spirit, should Viktoria be nervous?
Since this is post #666 to be published, Here’s Powderfinger covering Iron Maiden.
What do you think of that?
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Got you covered54 comments to Got you covered |
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I don’t mind groups doing covers; even releasing entire albums of covers.
What I don’t like are groups that try to completely reinvent a song by changing the meter, or trying to use politically correct lyrics.
One of the more common examples of bad covers is the US National Anthem. I’m sorry, but when you’re performing it you don’t get to do a 5-minute throat-warbling show-off vocal solo at “the land of the freeeeeeeeeee…”
Then there are great covers. Yeah, a band can put their own style into the performance, but the song comes out as a performance of the original work. Guns-n-Roses doing Knocking on Heaven’s Door for instance.
I did enjoy Hendrix’ 20 minute (or it felt like it) version though. It’s been a while since I heard that one.
I remember sitting and having lunch one day in the mall here when they were playing Black Betty. Overheard a young bloke remark to his companion, “somebody covered Spiderbait already?”
{facepalm}
Yep. In the 80s people I knew were talking about a new guy on the music scene. Pretty good too. Had a group called The Honeydrippers.
{facepalm}
My favourite cover is Rolf Harris’ ‘Stairway to Heaven’ complete with wobble board. Must get hold of that ‘Money or the Gun’ CD one of these days.
That one made me think of the Bohemian Rhapsody cover by Hayseed Dixie, a bluegrass cover band.
What about Bohemian Rhapsody covered by the Muppets?
That one was brilliant.
Mama?
I had a video of it and it got ‘lost’ somehow. Did they ever do A DVD of it? Some of the acts were hilarious. That opera group cracking up as they did it always amused me.
I’ve got the video clips on VHS, and have transferred it down to DVD…?
Possibly. I didn’t like a couple of the covers, but their cover of Nick Cave’s Lover Man really rocked.
POST HIJACK
Sorry D@mO, couldn’t resist.
That’s In Queensland
Brilliant!
LOL, awesome!
SUBSEQUENT HIJACK
For my daily squee I discovered there’s been another giant squid float-by cameo. This time off Jervis Bay.
Covers I quite like:
Jeff Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah”.
Quindon Tarver’s version of “When Dove’s Cry”.
Also, I didn’t mind the entire I Am Sam soundtrack as an exercise in covers…
Covers I didn’t like:
- Madonna attempting “American Pie”
- Boyzone howling through “She Moved through the Fair”
- Sheryl Crow butchering “Sweet Child of Mine”
- Bono’s talky talky version of “Hallelujah” (in fact, mostly just Bono in general)
- pretty much every rendition of “Amazing Grace” – seems to be a rampant excuse for pop princesses to warble.
Sheryl Crow butchering “Sweet Child of Mine”
Yes! If you don’t know the lyrics, don’t do the song!!!
Oh crap. I’d forgotten about this one. Thanks a bunch.
I sort of think that ‘American Pie’ is such a classic that no-one should *ever* do a cover of it. Is that reasonable? Are there any other songs that should never be covered?
I don’t know about never be covered but I know that every cover I’ve ever heard of American Pie either mirrored the original and was tolerable or they did their own thing with it and completely stuffed it up. Some songs work best a certain way I think.
a few favourites below:
Hit me baby one more time – Travis
Hit me baby one more time – Children of Bodem (for those metal heads out there)
Hotel California – The Cat Empire
to name a few.
and a lot of the ones already mentioned
Love the iron maiden cover !!!
Very timely as I saw “Across the Universe’ last week on dvd and LOVED the covers. ‘Dear Prudence’, ‘If I fell’ and ‘Oh Darlin’, but especially ‘Don’t let me down’ were incredible. Check out the soundtrack. Now I’ve come from a rock background and the first 3 bands I was in were cover bands. I also sing at kareoke at least once a week and well – the only option there is to cover songs, nest-ce pas?
Covers I love – I’m with niamh on Buckley’s Hallelujah and Quindon Tarver’s ‘When Dove’s Cry’. I also have a version of Dilana Robichaux http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilana who was on a reality show called ‘Rock Star:Supernova’ do an insane version of ‘She talk to Angels’ by the Black Crowes. Its spinetingling.
Moulin Rouge soundtrack is also quirky and good – the cover that Ewan McGregor and Nic Kidman do of ‘Come what may’ is also lovely for its sheer ‘who knew’ factor.
Love the I am Sam sountrack, and obviously the The Across the Universe Soundtrack
I also have a CD of swing classics called ‘Red Hot and Blue’ with some brilliant artists like Deb Harry and Iggy pop doing ‘Well did you evah’, and Neneh Cherry doing ‘I’ve got you under my skin’. I also adore Norah Jones singing ‘The Nearness of You’ . Gives me goosebumps.
Was just listening to the Gunners in the car doing ‘Knockin on Heaven’s door’ and I must admit I love that one. Also have Spiderbait doing ‘Black Betty’ on my ipod too.
I guess – I only really relate to ones I love and the ones I don’t like pretty much go by the wayside.
Oh Em Gee! I think we might actually be musical soul mates…
If we went on a road trip, I promise there would be no music related arguments. I do have to stop to pee a lot, but the music? Not a problem!
Lol! Heys its fine. I have had three kids.
We can be the Sisterhood of the Travelling Quips!
Come What May isn’t actually a cover. It was written for the film and first sung by Kidman and McGregor.
How bout that. Thanks Pokey – I just always thought it was a cover hey!
Oh! Who can forget Nick Cave and Kylie’s version of ‘Where the wild roses grow’!
I’ve been trying to…
Just found this. Really interesting
http://www.coversproject.com/
I particularly like it when the cover is the only version someone has heard and they mistake the original for a cover. Makes you feel like a real music know it all. “Kids these days…don’t even know when they are listening to a cover”.
My kids think I’m “uberkewl” when I know the words before they do. I just never have the heart to fess up….
They think you are cool because you ARE cool.
Another one I quite like is Robbie Williams’ and Nicole Kidman’s cover of ‘Something Stupid’. Not sure why I like it. I also quite like Williams’ ‘We Are The Champions’.
That version of Something Stupid was a lot of fun; it had just the right amount of schmaltz.
I think some covers can be fantastic, acoustic covers of heavy metal for example, but I don’t like covers where they try to make it sound “new” or “different.”
If you don’t have the artistic talent to write a song of your own that’s fine. A lot of singers have professional song writers, but don’t try to change 1% of someone else’s work and claim it is your own. Didn’t we all learn that lesson in high school?
*warning, rant at medical community coming*
So I have to go to a specialist re the cysts, nothing to get worked up about, I mean I did see a specialist about this issue 2 years ago and got diddly for my money.
Being a good patient and not wanting to waste the new specialists time (or my money) repeating tests, I tried to contact my specialist in QLD to get a copy of my records.
He has retired, the practice is closed. I can’t get a copy of my records from him because there is no way to contact him to find out where he sent them! (At this point I’m thinking yikes, that was like $5k that I spent with him on different tests, oh no!)
Luckily my operation was performed in the hospital so I can at least get a copy of the surgical notes.
The GP I saw last week I had a follow up with yesterday, she said just to get those records faxed to the clinic come in and collect them and take them to the specialist.
I organised for the QLD hospital to fax them to the clinic, then called the clinic to try to organise collection. Unfortunately the clinic is of the belief that I am not entitled to a copy of my own personal health records. Apparently as soon as they receive them at the clinic they become the property of the clinic?! (This is where I start to get angry)
I hang up after thanking them for nothing (and arguing with them that they are actually my records therefore I am entitled to them no?!) Promptly call back the hospital in QLD and get them to fax the records directly to the specialist. I’ll be damned if I’m going to spend $70 to go and get a copy of my records from a doctor who couldn’t even understand medical terms yesterday (see angry!)
I then called my Mum to vent a little, she googled the Freedom Of Information Act and found me the right information to quote to get access to a copy of my records. I call back the clinic have another argument with them, where they try to tell me that I can’t have access. I quote the act to them and they grudgingly admit that I do have a right to the information (I paid for it after all!) But (and this is where Jessmeca fly’s into a rage at the health system) I have to make a written request, which will take 14 days to be actioned then an appointment with the doctor to actually get a copy of my records. My specialist appointment is next Tuesday.
GAH!
I figured if anyone would understand this infuriating issue, it would be my lovely Splatfriends, thank you all for listening and letting me vent.
What a bunch of douchecanoes!! Way less important and frustrating, but I experienced a similar thing when trying to get the name of the doctor, midwife and anaesthetist that delivered DJ. Transferred to umpteen areas of the hospital and finally told I had to submit a written request!! I don’t want it for anything bad, just to record their names in his memory book.
Douchecanoes! I knew there was a word for them
Frustrating. But, medical records are something that doctors and clinics have to be *really* careful about. They can’t just release them to someone on the phone who says they’re you. The clinic has no idea who’s on the other end of the phone and they have to be sure they’re actually releasing them to the right person.
Having said that, I don’t see why you need to make an appointment with a doctor to collect them. Surely turning up with photo ID should be enough for the receptionist to hand them over. And fourteen days? Puh-leeze.
I often get in fights with my doctors because, whenever I have scans or x-rays or tests and I’m handed the results in a sealed envelope, I open them anyway before I get to the specialist. I know they’re only trying to make sure I don’t misinterpret the results but, I’m an intelligent person, I know better than to do that. But they’re my results and I have a right to see them.
Oh I completely agree re the needing to prove ID.
However I rang up the hospital and gave them the specialists name and fax number, I should have just been quick off the mark and given them the specialists name and Mum’s fax number!
It just frustrates the hell out of me that they think they have a greater right to my health information and test results (that I paid for thank you very much!) than I do?!
That is such a pain Jessmeca! Seeing a Specialist gets me fired up in general. It’s not their fault but Medicare stipulates you need a referral to see a specialist. That’s fine, it is of course important that GP’s funnel through people to the appropriate specialist for their issue. However, I have to have 6 monthly (now yearly I hope) check ups for a certain issue. At my third appointment (so just over12 months from the initial referral) I get there and am asked for my referral as the old one has expired. I explained that the specialist asked me to come back again for this visit and its for the exact same issue as the other visits. Due to Medicare though they are not allowed to see anyone after the referral has expired. This referral was for 12 months and not marked ongoing so I had to call my GP and convince them to fax through an ongoing referral to the specialist’s office to avoid cancelling my appointment, paying to see the GP again just so they can write a referral for the same issue as last time, and then try and get another appointment. Bah! If the specialist says the issue is ongoing why do I need to trot back and waste a GP’s time and my money to get the referral updated! Why can’t the specialist have that power?
Don’t get me started on what is and isn’t covered by medicare and private health either. A biopsy is covered but the actual procedure that the specialist uses to determine if a biopsy is needed is not covered. And rather expensive too.
Completely agree re the medicare / private health / gap scheme!
TLG gets very upset with healthcare in Australia. In the UK GP’s are free and if you are happy to pay you can go direct to a specialist.
Yep, referrals are a pain in the rear end and I’ve been caught out by expired referrals a few times. These days, when I have a specialist appointment (which is pretty often as I’m old and decrepit), I ring them about two weeks beforehand to see if I’ll need a new referral.
Are not!
Referrals are such fun – not! When I was first diagnosed with Melanoma and was told that I would be having regular reviews for the next five years, the specialist sent me to the Oncologist with a three month referral. It did not even cover my second visit! I got a new referral and that was only for 12 months. I had a massive dummy spit and then it was only then that I got an indefinite referral.
Talk about causing excess stress!!
Sorry they are being such pains, Jessmeca.
Splugs!
xxx
I admit to enjoying a lot of cover versions, even when the cover artist does weird stuff to it. One of my favourite authors says that book once they are published no longer “belong” solely to their creator in as much as the audience interpretation of the work is as valid as the intended interpretations of the author. I think if you look at songs the same way then a cover can be as valid as an original for the person performing it.
I’m a sucker for folksy covers of rock songs or rock covers of bluegrass type stuff, I’m trying to think of examples but without access to YouTube it’s hard to come up with the name of any.
Wasn’t/isn’t there a whole show dedicated to country music stars and performers from other genres covering each others songs?
Yeah there are a bunch of YouTube channels that do that all the time, just having trouble remembering the ones that do good ones as opposed to all the rubbish that is out there.
For some strange reason I absolutely hate the Nine Inch Nails song “Hurt”, but I don’t mind Johnny Cash’s cover.
I do hate it when someone takes part of a song and then butchers it and puts it into something else. There is one around at the moment that has bits of Toto’s Africa in it. Can’t they write something original?
Yeah I have heard that, I think it’s a cack! I thinks it’s covered by Jason Darulo (sp?) so all the teeny boppers probably think it is original
Close. It’s Derulo. Or Deruuuuuloooooooooooooooo, if you’re a smarty pants like me who wants to take the mick out of him for saying his name like that in every single song he makes…
Anyway, that song of his (Fight For You) is God-awful. I mentioned this a little while ago, but he’s got a track record of taking people’s songs and butchering them – he took an Imogen Heap song and ruined it for his first ever single.
Post hijack:
Every Doctor Who fan needs to watch this. (And even if you’re not a Doctor Who fan.) Bloody brilliant.
Covers I dig:
- Jeff Buckley’s version of Halleujah. I challenge people not to like it. Beautiful.
- Adele’s version of Bob Dylan’s Make You Feel My Love. I have heard the original and I dunno, despite her being everywhere in the last year or so, I still love her cover of this.
- Caro Emerald covering Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance. Not fussed on the Gaga original, this is more peppy.
- Currently digging Lanie Lane’s cover of The Black Keys’ Gold On The Ceiling. I think she may have converted me to liking the original too.
Covers I don’t like:
- Alanis Morrisette’s cover of Seal’s Crazy. Took all the magic out of it & made it boring IMO.
That’s all I can think of right now. I’m sure there’s more in both categories though.