Your Favorite Cover Song?

[goofy4prez]

I'm curious as to what your favorite cover song is. Notice I said favorite rather than greatest. It would be way too speculative to possibly pick the greatest cover song of all time. There are so many great cover songs, so let me start by listing two of my favorites.

This one goes back to my youth. I'll be 59 in a couple of weeks and the song just never gets old to me when I hear it. Most people don't even know that this was written and sung first by Bruce Springsteen.

There have been many covers of this song. The only ones in my opinion that matter is the original by Leonard Cohen and this one by Jeff Buckley. The one by Jeff Buckley just blew me away when I first heard it. The guitar work and the raw emotion of his voice make it one of my favorites. RIP Jeff Buckley

 

[E&Cmom]

I have several but these are probably my most listened to.

 

[Lumpy1106]

These are the ones that make me forget there was ever an original.
Cake, I Will Survive;

DEVO, Satisfaction;

Foo Fighters, Darling Nikki;

 

[goofy4prez]

I have to add one more. This band and their sound are completely out of my taste in genre; in fact, you could say I can't stand them. But this version of The Sound of Silence left me, well... In silence. I know, that's cheesy. LOL

 

[Cogswel_Cogs]

Not sure if this is considered a cover

I know she has a bigger cover on her debut album but I always loved this one better.

They just nailed this one pretty sure this is exactly how Dylan visioned it

 

[Praying Colonel]

Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash.

Written by June Carter and originally recorded by her sister, Anita.

I also really like Warren Zevon's cover of Steve Winwood's Back In The High Life Again. Completely different feel and sad, especially given his illness and untimely death.

 

[_19disnA]

Good question always wondered what the definition of a 'covers song' was and how it differed from a 'remake'. Good article about this topic..........

https://www.masterclass.com/articles/cover-song-music-guide

They also mention W. Huston's "I Will Always Love You" as one of the 7 best known covers and I would agree with that. I think people to this day are divided over which version they think is better. I will leave the subjective topic of favorite/greatest/best known to others who like to debate such things. They consider the Devo song a 'remake' since the soundtrack/tempo/instrumentation have changed significantly. Clearly there is some ovelap between what is a cover song vs. a remake.

“I Will Always Love You”: Dolly Parton penned this heartfelt ballad in 1973, and it topped the Billboard Hot Country charts on two occasions: once during its initial release in 1974, and later, with a re-recording in 1982. Whitney Houston’s cover, recorded in 1994 for the soundtrack to The Bodyguard, spent fourteen weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, making it the best-selling single by a female artist in music history.

Not a lawyer, but I believe you have to get the original artist's permission to do a cover (not sure if that would also apply to a 'remake'). I have seen an interview where D. Parton talks about how much she has made in royalities from Whitney's version of her song. Dolly mentioned that E. Presley once asked for permission to do his version of that song and she would not agree to the terms they wanted.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

If You Don't Know Me By Now- Simply Red

And the original by Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes:

I love both versions.

 

[superme80]

Zombie by Bad Wolves

 

[mylilnikita]

I have a few to start with:

 

[brittlh]

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My top favorite is also Sound of Silence by Disturbed. (Low key used to get a big kick out of that, lol.)

A few others, probably not all.

 

[RedAngie]

(Talk Talk cover)

 

[Moliphino]

This one probably is the greatest, too.

 

[Mysterian]

Some great ones mentioned!

I'm just going to toss out all the rest I can think of:

Tori Amos - Lovesong (The Cure)

Johnny Cash - Rusty Cage (Soundgarden)

Postmodern Jukebox - Crazy (Gnarls Barkley)

Crash Test Dummies - The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead (XTC)

Primus - Amos Moses (Jerry Reed)

Vanilla Fudge - You Keep Me Hangin' On (Supremes)
https://youtu.be/R3ChToIvLRM

 

[RedAngie]

(Al Green cover)

 

[georgina]

I tend to prefer the original versions of many songs, including those of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, The Cranberries. Nanci Griffith did a whole cover album called Other Voices, Other Rooms, which I like but I had not heard the original version of most of those songs.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Stones Buddy Holly cover, 1964, Not Fade Away

 

[Dan Murphy]

Beatles Chuck Berry cover, 1964, Rock and Roll Music

 

[RN2003AZ]

Two of my favorites…

P!NK-Time After Time

Bon Jovi-Hallelujah