Sometimes the cover surpasses the original. I'd venture to say that Soft Cell's Tainted Love gets more airplay than the '64 recording by Gloria Jones. Younger generations discovered Aerosmith in the '80s because of their collaboration with Run-D.M.C. and Bowie in the '90s with Nirvana's version of The Man Who Sold the World.
I particularly like when a Top 40 pop song is done in a different genre. Most of us have heard Marilyn Manson's take on Sweet Dreams but I prefer one of Madonna's Like A Virgin. An internet favourite, it's often attributed to Manson, though the actual performers aren't verifiable. We all know the original: chirpy with stock, almost campy lyrics. The cover makes it insistent and lewd, including provocative, sensationalistic samples. I like the tension between the coy words and the harsh style. Separate industrial bands reshaped Like a Prayer and Da Ya Think I'm Sexy? I ended up liking Beyoncé's Crazy In Love after hearing Hawksley Workman, and other artists, turn it into a rock song in concert.
With covers there's always something new out there, whether it's a jazz arrangement of Radiohead's Exit Music or a salsa Billy Jean.
Here are my current top 10 covers. I tried to think of songs where the newer one stands alone and is a departure from the original. If I expanded my criteria to include pure novelty, though, Mike Flowers Pops' '60s lounge rendition of Wonderwall would've been on the list.
Across the Universe - David Bowie (Original: The Beatles)
All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix (Bob Dylan)
A Whiter Shade of Pale - Annie Lennox (Procol Harum)
Fell In Love with a
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley (Leonard Cohen)
Hotel California - Gipsy Kings (Eagles)
I Bet You'd Look Good on the Dance Floor - Baby Charles (Arctic Monkeys)
Jolene - The White Stripes (Dolly Parton)
Just Dropped In - Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings (1st recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis!
Popularized by Kenny Rogers & The First Edition)
Walk on By - The Stranglers (Burt Bacharach, recorded Dionne Warwick)
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| Street art, Spadina Cresc, Toronto, circa 2004. Photo: Moonage Wolf. |
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