cover versions

[Martin Milner]

Do you think people in general are more prone to like the original of any given song or tune better than covers? What about you personally?

Depends which one I first heard. If I heard the cover before the original, and liked it, then the original is going to sound like a cover.

[fearfaoin]

I guess it depends on what you consider a "cover".
Steve Goodman wrote "The City of New Orleans", and Arlo Guthrie put it
(and Goodman) on the map. I recently heard Steve Goodman's recording
of the same song, and I didn't like it at all. So, which version is the cover?
I'm not sure. But Arlo's is definitely better...

[dwest]

Any covers by the Young@Heart Chorus, or Rotary Connection.

[s1m0n]

Dick Gaughan's version of the Byrd's Turn, Turn, Turn
.

Or for that matter, the Byrds version of Pete Seeger's Turn, Turn, Turn.

[s1m0n]

Two-hit wonders Nazareth with Joni Mitchell's This Flight Tonight.

Both Nazareth and Gram Parsons' covers of Boudleaux Bryant's Love Hurts.

[Wombat]

Hendrix's version of 'Hey Joe' blows all earlier versions away. Has anybody dared do it since?

Swamp Dogg's version of 'Sam Stone' is unforgettable; John Prine's original is just good.

I prefer the Pogues version of 'The Band Played Waltzing Matilda' to Eric Bogle's good but less good original.

Although British invasion bands had hits with covers of black American songs, none came close to the originals. Do Wah Diddey, Chains, I'm Into Something Good, I'm a Man, Go Now, Under the Boardwalk all come to mind. But the Animals version of 'House of the Rising Sun' is the best version of that song I've heard.

Dick Gaughan's cover of Robin Williamson's 'October Song' nudges out a great original version.

[mamakash]

I've listened to Tori Amos' cover of "Smells like Teen Spirit" but was unimpressed. The song doesn't have much to recommend it and without percussion, it falls flat.

One of my favorite covers comes from The Bangles, waaaayyy back in the 80's. They did a great cover of Simon and Garfunkle's "Hazy Shade of Winter" for the movie "Less Than Zero". I heard their version before I had heard the original. I like the cover better.

And speaking of covers . . . anyone familiar with Ashley MacIsaac's cover of "What an Idiot He Is"? I've not heard the orginal (written and preformed by Bob Snider) but I LOVE Ashley's version. I used it for a Buffy video . . . which I've yet to post on the internet . . . because I need a faster connection. Ah well. Hoping that happens in the near future.

[CHasR]

Stevie Ray Vaughn's version of most anything

I'll give you everything but "Little Wing". I'm in the Hendrix camp on that one.

even compared with Derek + the Dominoes? live?

[Jack]

I really, really like Fiona Apple's version of the Beatles' "Across the Universe."

Here is a YouTube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gLWTtlMwo4

I had never heard the song until I heard Apple's version and I had no idea it was a Beatles' song, and I tend to like Apple's version better.

[Father Emmet]

I just heard two really good ones today. Ritchie Havens doing Dylan's "Tombstone Blues" and a version of "New York, New York" by a band with a female jazz vocal, drums, bass and electric piano (maybe some guitar). Does anyone know who does that one?

[cowtime]

Stevie Ray Vaughn's version of most anything

I'll give you everything but "Little Wing". I'm in the Hendrix camp on that one.

even compared with Derek + the Dominoes? live?

Didn't we hash this out a few years ago?

( I tried the "search" but couldn't come up with the thread)

[Denny]

ya like either of these?
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... ing#540413
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... ing#313410

[s1m0n]

I prefer the Pogues version of 'The Band Played Waltzing Matilda' to Eric Bogle's good but less good original.

The Men They Couldn't Hang got to Bogle's other great ww1 song, Green Fields of France (aka Willie McBride, No Man's Land) first, but the Pogues should have done it anyway.