Greatest Cover Tunes Ever

[kenjib]

Here are some -

Camper Van Beethoven: Pictures of Matchstick Men
The Byrds: Turn Turn Turn, Mr. Tambourine Man, many others
Peter, Paul, and Mary: Blowin' in the Wind, others
Johnny Cash: Ring of Fire, Sunday Morning Coming Down, tons of others
James Taylor: You've Got a Friend
Whitney Houston: I Will Always Love You
Sonic Youth: Ca Plane Pour Moi

You can find a ton of them by backtracking from Bob Dylan, btw...

 

[kenjib]

This will probably help you out: http://www.coversproject.com/

 

[kenjib]

Two More - The Beatles: Twist & Shout, Rock & Roll Music

EDIT: Oh, and The Buggles: Video Killed the Radio Star
ANOTHER EDIT: The Cramps: Strychnine
AGAIN: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts: I Love Rock N' Roll

 

[hong]

Rolf Harris: Stairway to Heaven.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Rolf Harris: Stairway to Heaven.

I had - but lost - an album comprised solely of Stairway covers.

That was one of them.

Amazingly, I don't think it was the weirdest. Stairway to Heaven makes a strange Reggae track.

Edit - and I'm pretty sure I have a memory of one of them being an operatic version... :-\

-Hyp.

 

[Robbert Raets]

Venus by Bananarama? (that's what's playing now, so....)

 

[Mark Chance]

oooo oooooo

Van Halen - Girl You Really Got Me

Blech. Van Halen = Overwrought.

Oingo Boingo's Girl You Really Got Me. Now that's a classic.

Also, David Bowie does wonderful covers of Let's Spend the Night Together on Alladdin Sane and Wild Is the Wind on Station to Station.

 

[jester47]

yes, but Van Halen's is the one you hear ALL THE TIME. Thus it makes it on to my compilation...

Aaron.

 

[jester47]

Is Kim Wilde's cover of Hanging On the spring-to-mind version?

Vanilla Fudge did the original; the Supremes covered it; Rod Stewart, I think, covered it; but Kim Wilde's version is the one that does it for me...

-Hyp.

If its the song I am thinking of, I think it is...

Johnny Cash gets on board with Ring of Fire and Hurt even though he had many different covers in his career. Those are essentially the bookends. (Yeah, I know ring of fire was not his absolute firth thing the way Hurt was his last, but it was one of his biggest.

 

[jester47]

Tainted Love - Soft Cell
Don't let me be misunderstood - Elvis Costello
It must be Love - Madness
Smoke Two Joints - Sublime
Hendrix - All along the watchtower

Bonus points - Now name the originals artists...

Hendrix watchtower is at the top, but Smoke Two Joints is a definate candidate. Mainly because that is the version I hear all the time, but I can't for the life of me tel you who did the original.

Aaron