Songs covered by another artist
- Thread starter Captain Pre-Capsize
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My vote for the best (or at least most comprehensive) Beatles cover of all time.
Who is it? Its coming up blocked for copyright.
Anything covered by Govt Mule.
Anything covered by Leo Moracchioli
Bort - Everybody Wants to Rule World (Tears for Fears)
Phil X and The Drills - Superstition (Stevie Wonder)
Janis Lives - Piece of My Heart (Janis Joplin)
Anything covered by Leo Moracchioli
Bort - Everybody Wants to Rule World (Tears for Fears)
Phil X and The Drills - Superstition (Stevie Wonder)
Janis Lives - Piece of My Heart (Janis Joplin)
The White Stripes (early) - Jolene (live on Conan O'Brien show)
Or maybe one of these:
Janis Joplin doing Bobby McGee is a cover (someone quoted it as a Joplin line the yesterday and I didn't correct them and say it was Kris Kristofferson who said it).
I’m hard-pressed to come up with a cover of a Beatles song that is better than the Beatles’ recorded version.
Here’s one:
The Rolling Stones, « I Wanna Be Your Man ».
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Everyone needs to hear at least once Johnny River's version on "Positively 4th Street" which Dylan wrote in "Chronicles" is one of his favorite covers of his beacuse so many Dylan covers people take intio left field, but Rivers really honors the essence of the song.
.Here's Beatles song done better by someone else:
Although there is the issue of whether there was ever really a Beatles version released. A Beatles version appears on Anthology, but it may have been simply a demo never intended for release.
Although there is the issue of whether there was ever really a Beatles version released. A Beatles version appears on Anthology, but it may have been simply a demo never intended for release.
Johnny Rivers is so underrated/under discussed! Very cool of Dylan!
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I love "Atlantic City" by The Band. It was originally sung by Bruce Springsteen, but I think The Band just made the song so much better. It's like Bruce made it for them to perform. A great song to listen to in the car with the windows down while you're driving to the shore!
I love "Atlantic City" by The Band. It was originally sung by Bruce Springsteen, but I think The Band just made the song so much better. It's like Bruce made it for them to perform. A great song to listen to in the car with the windows down while you're driving to the shore!
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Tom Petty playing homage to the Byrds - So You Want to be a Rock and Roll Star, I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better, Eight Miles High, Ballad of the Easy Rider, but the best is his cover of the Byrds cover of Dylan's My Back Pages - TP really loved the Byrds!
Warm Leatherette covered by Trent Reznor and Peter Murphy.
Actually, I think there are tons of great covers of the Beatles. Cocker's "She came in through the bathroom window" and "With a little help from my friends" are the first of many. I actually think Cocker's 'help from my friends' is better than the Beatles.
I was thinking about this some more. Sorry if any of this has been discussed in this thread earlier. I did not go back and read every entry in this thread. The OP's inquiry was "well-known songs" covered by another artist. I think implicit in that is covered "well" by another artist. And there is an issue of what is a "well-known song" and what was not well-known before the cover.
I think Linda Ronstadt did a lot of really good covers. I do not think she quite gets acclaim for that now that she did back then. But how many of those songs were "well-known" before she covered them? For that matter was Mr. Tambourine Man" well-known before The Byrds covered it? Was All Along the Watch Tower well-known before Hendrix covered it? I mean Dylan was well-known and popular, but could those songs be considered well-known? I would argue that lots of what Ronstadt covered brought those songs to the public's attention and they probably never would have become well-known but for her covers.
Certainly lots of traditional-type songs have been covered over and over by various more modern folks. Was Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" well known before Cream covered it? Better, was Skip Spence's "I'm So Glad" well-known when Cream covered it?
(What is a cover anyway? Cream's versions of those songs sound very different from the originals.)
Just some thoughts anyway.
I think Linda Ronstadt did a lot of really good covers. I do not think she quite gets acclaim for that now that she did back then. But how many of those songs were "well-known" before she covered them? For that matter was Mr. Tambourine Man" well-known before The Byrds covered it? Was All Along the Watch Tower well-known before Hendrix covered it? I mean Dylan was well-known and popular, but could those songs be considered well-known? I would argue that lots of what Ronstadt covered brought those songs to the public's attention and they probably never would have become well-known but for her covers.
Certainly lots of traditional-type songs have been covered over and over by various more modern folks. Was Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" well known before Cream covered it? Better, was Skip Spence's "I'm So Glad" well-known when Cream covered it?
(What is a cover anyway? Cream's versions of those songs sound very different from the originals.)
Just some thoughts anyway.
I think you mean Skip James, not Skip Spence.
You bring up some good points. I think that one of the skills of a recording artist can be their ability to find the rare tune that has been overlooked and bring attention to it. But if we are to limit ourselves to covers of « well-known songs » then we need to agree upon what « well-known » means.
« Louie Louie » and « Hey Joe » are interesting in this regard.
« Louie Louie » a minor 1950s R&B hit written and performed by Richard Berry, started to be played by Northwest frat-house bands like the Kingsmen, the Sonics, and the Wailers in the early 1960s. Yet it was the Kingsmen’s version that became the big hit by which the song became well-known.
The origin of « Hey Joe » is more complicated as examples exist in the folk tradition before the 1960s. But by the folk-rock boom of the mid-1960s, groups like the Leaves, Love, and the Byrds were all covering it on their records. Yet it was Jimi Hendrix’s version that really made it known for the generation to come.
The problem with a well-known cover is that it can be parodied. This is why I’m more inclined to search for what I think is a better cover of a song as given, be it the original, well-known or obscure.
Yes! I sure do mean Skip James, the, to my mind the currently under-discussed, but just as authentic as any of them, blues man. And not the seminal San Francisco psychedelic warrior, who came to a particularly early and bad end. Excellent catch. Thanks.
Louie, Louie and Hey, Joe are instructive cases.
Another early example of similar ilk is House of the Rising Sun. As I recall, the Animals were really doing Bob Dylan's version, which Dylan got from someone else. Although in this case it is more or less a traditional song that no one can take credit for writing.
Louie, Louie and Hey, Joe are instructive cases.
Another early example of similar ilk is House of the Rising Sun. As I recall, the Animals were really doing Bob Dylan's version, which Dylan got from someone else. Although in this case it is more or less a traditional song that no one can take credit for writing.
Townes Van Zandt’s cover of ‘Dead Flowers’
