Covers you prefer to the Original Songs.

"G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3" (gbodyman)
04/13/2015 at 17:17 • Filed to: None

Occasionally, you come across a cover that's so great, you actually like it better than the original. In my case, that's the Reel Big Fish version of Take On Me. It just seems to have more energy.

It's the same thing with the Headstones version of Tweeter and the Monkey Man.

So have at it, Oppo. What covers do you prefer to the original songs?

DISCUSSION (33)

WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 17:19

Jimi Hendrix's version of All Along the Watchtower, Johnny Cash's version of Hurt.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 17:19

About 50-60% of the Byrds' covers of Dylan.

Also Turn, Turn, Turn, but obviously. Misirlou also, by many of those who covered it *including* Dick Dale.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 17:19

Just. so. good.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 17:21

Here's another one: Nazareth - Morning Dew.

E. Julius > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 17:22

The Sexton Blake cover of "Bette Davis Eyes". The "Take On Me" cover is good as well, although I really enjoy both versions.

ttyymmnn > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 17:27

Gary Jules, Mad World . Original was by Tears for Fears .

Kate Rusby, You Belong to Me . Original by Jo Stafford .

505Turbeaux > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 17:28

Fuck reel big fish, they stole my girlfriend in college away on tour, just like a Zappa song.

Anyhow, I have always liked Braid's version of "This Charming Man/There is a light that never goes out" by the Smiths

nFamousCJ - Keeper of Stringbean, Gengars and a Deezul > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 17:29

mazda616 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
04/13/2015 at 17:29

I love the Eurythmics' version, but Marilyn Manson's "Sweet Dreams Are Made of This" is an awesome song.

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > 505Turbeaux
04/13/2015 at 17:35

That's gotta be one hell of a story.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn
04/13/2015 at 17:36

I actually heard the Gary Jules version first, and found it absolutely gutwrenching in its pathos. But, over time, I've grown to like the Tears for Fears version better, and I can't really articulate why.

505Turbeaux > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 17:38

haha not really, she wanted to go to the show and I didn't. She was 6', blonde, and drop dead gorgeous (and prone to stealing, I bagged her from her high school boyfriend who was in his senior year when she was a freshman). She went to the show, she got on the bus, and I never saw her again until about 5 years ago. Her parents were mad as hell with her but I just cut her loose. Once you get on the bus the taint is strong.

ACESandEIGHTS > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 17:40

This inspired ukulele cover of Welcome Back Kotter.

I think he moves away from the mic to breathe in.

Shaka.

DasWauto > ttyymmnn
04/13/2015 at 17:43

Mad World is an excellent choice. I don't know if you're a fan of Seether but give this a listen:

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > 505Turbeaux
04/13/2015 at 17:46

What can I say. It happens. A friend of a friend has gotten in above their heads. Heroin is a hell of a drug.

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
04/13/2015 at 17:46

I would have been a junior in HS in 1983 when Mad World came out by TFF. But I never heard it until after I discovered Jules' version last year. I generally really like '80s music (I was listening to Falco's Einzelhaft just this morning), but I just can't get into the TFF version. I'll have to go back and give it a serious listen.

Mr. Ontop, No Strokes, No Smokes...Goes Fast. > 505Turbeaux
04/13/2015 at 17:52

I'm friends with several musicians, been in a few bands myself, so I can confirm that you are correct when you say " the bus taint is strong" Don't go after the ones with bus taint.

DasWauto > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 17:54

Breed 77 - Zombie (The Cranberries)

Disturbed - Land of Confusion (Genesis)

Orgy - Blue Monday (New Order)

Anthrax - Got The Time (Joe Jackson)

Those are the ones that jump to the top of my head. I tend to enjoy modern/rock/metal covers of classic rock songs when the band is able to apply their own style to the song without straying too far from the original.

ttyymmnn > ACESandEIGHTS
04/13/2015 at 18:09

Well, that got me into the Wabac Machine and I started thinking about that song and Welcome Back, Kotter which I watched regularly back in the day. I hadn't realized the song was written by John Sebastian (formerly of The Lovin' Spoonful). I had a huge crush on Marcia Strassman back in the day.

Kinja'd!!!

Flat Six > 505Turbeaux
04/13/2015 at 18:27

Nice! That's such a good song to cover :) I always liked this version which is super chill:

Sneaky Pete > WesBarton89 - The Way to Santa Fe
04/13/2015 at 18:41

I was gonna drop Hendrix's version of All Along the Watchtower (Bob sounds like he's singing while riding a roller coaster Dylan) in here.

Instead, I'll leave Van Halen's version of You Really Got Me (The Kinks).

Flat Six > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 18:41

I like Chromatics version of Neil Young's "Into the Black"

Jose Gonzales version of "Heartbeats" by The Knife (his version of Massive Attack's "Tear Drop" is also great but not better than original)

Regarding "Take On Me", I think ska should probably be disqualified from this contest, but since you started it:

Grindintosecond > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 19:27

Bauhaus covering Ziggy Stardust.....just rocks better.

aquila121 > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 19:36

Mighty Mighty Bosstones- Detroit Rock City gets my vote (original by KISS).

not for canada - australian in disguise > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 20:10

Come the fuck at me.

glemon > DasWauto
04/13/2015 at 20:53

Here is the blasphemy of blasphemies, but I like this American Idol version better than the Beatles. Can't believe I just wrote that, but listen:

wafflesnfalafel > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/13/2015 at 23:25

Smooth Criminal - MJ vs. Alien Ant Farm

ACESandEIGHTS > ttyymmnn
04/15/2015 at 10:34

I was shocked when I put two and two together and realized the guy who sang Welcome Back Kotter was the same guy who opened Woodstock.

So, that whole 70s/80s sellout thing... it was for real. Super f'ing commonplace today, like it's normal for LCD Soundsystem to have one of their songs placed in a Big Mac commercial, and Arcade Fire is selling juice boxes and tampons, but back then it just seemed odd I'm sure.

I watched some PBS special once about marketing, advertising and other crass commercialism and they put these like 16 year old kids on camera and said "What is a sellout—-what do people mean by saying someone sold out?" And these kids in their Underarmour ball caps, Sean John shirts, Ralph Lauren shorts, Nike sneakers, talking on their Apple phones and peering through Tommy Hilfiger sunglasses sputtered and ummed their way through explanations that had no concept of commercial endorsement and sounded like "Yeah, well, it means that like you'll never be on top of the game again, that you're never going to be #1, making bank." Painful in its hilarity.

P.S.: Marcia Strassman RIP.

ttyymmnn > ACESandEIGHTS
04/15/2015 at 11:05

Not sure this is really a sell out. I read this when I was looking for info on the song:

Sebastian recalled the story of the song to Uncut magazine June 2014: "I got a call from a guy called Alan Sacks from Brooklyn, who was writing a TV show with Gabe Kaplan. He wanted New York guys to do older writing. I saw a pilot and read some early scripts, and went away thinking, 'I could hit this out of the park!' I came back with this song 'Welcome Back,' and their reaction was to change the name of the show from Kotter to Welcome Back, Kotter ."

Note that the song never once says the name "Kotter" in it. Sebastian wrote once verse for the TV show, but the song was such a hit that he wrote a second verse and released it as a single. It was his biggest hit.

And I was also sad to hear about Strassman. In this day, nobody should die from breast cancer.

ACESandEIGHTS > ttyymmnn
04/15/2015 at 11:19

Well, OK, and it was a pretty good song, and fit with the times, and wasn't a corny-as-hell Cheers theme, or an awful Friends theme. Funny, 'cause I can sing the whole song and I haven't heard it in years.

Bet you and I might have watched that on the same TV station. You remember Esskay franks/meats commercials? They had a theme song based on Ohio Express' "Yummy Yummy Yummy," which was absolutely dreadful and of course had the intended effect: a kid watching TV telling his parents he wants some delicious Esskay®-brand cold cuts from his local Giant™ market because no doubt this makes watching Welcome Back, Kotter all the better.

ttyymmnn > ACESandEIGHTS
04/15/2015 at 11:22

Never grew up with Esskay. In 1975 I was living in Chicago, then a year later I moved to Virginia. But social engineering is the same wherever you are.

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/15/2015 at 14:19

I love Real Big Fish (well, maybe not as much as 505's old GF). Their cover of Take on Me is much better.

I've got two of them that come to mind. The first one might be the best cover song of all time, IMHO.

Johnny Cash Hurt

And Foo Fighters Baker Street (which I can't find a video for)

Quattro-luvr, Powered by Datsun & Stinger > G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3
04/15/2015 at 14:20

Hendrix, All Along the Watch Tower. Original by Bob Dylan.