A song murdered by someone.

Oh man forsooth, great one! Talk about a bludgeoning! Vanilla Fudge was the most grossly untasteful band I’ve ever heard. I lost a lot of respect for Jeff Beck when he hired Carmine Appice and Tim Bogart, one of the worst rhythm sections to make it to the big time. All the drummers in L.A. laugh at Carmine behind his back. The worst of the worst!

The Flamin' Groovies picked some great Beatles songs (early ones, as was to their taste), and did them really cooly. If Bowie wanted do a Beatles song, couldn't he at least have chosen a good one?

@acresverde---We have a winner! I have no idea what was suppose to be funny about that. Why mock such a thing?

Al---I had forgotten about "Stroll On"! You’re exactly correct about the reason for the change in lyrics. I’m sure they would be sued for plagiarism these days. I have a friend who saw The Yardbirds twice in one week in ’67. The first time their line-up was just as seen in the movie, with rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja having moved to bass (to make room for new member Jimmy Page. Original bassist Paul Samwell-Smith had left the group, later producing the audiophile classic, Cat Stevens Tea For The Tillerman), the second with Jeff Beck gone, Page now the lone guitarist. That line-up made The Yardbirds final album---their only bad one---Little Games.

For another example of a song that is an obvious remake of another with different lyrics, check out The Chocolate Watchband’s "Don’t Need Your Lovin’", performed by them in the Roger Corman-produced teen-exploitation movie Riot On Sunset Strip. It’s a remake of The Kinks 1965 version of the old Blues song "Milkcow Blues" (The Watchband also covered The Kinks "I’m Not Like Everybody Else, but with no changes in lyrics). The Chocolate Watchband were local heroes in my hometown of San Jose, for reason’s no longer clear ;-) ---they were nothing more than a glorified cover band. Singer Dave Aguilar was a shameless Mick Jagger impersonator, right down to the double maracas. Drummer Gary Andrivasevich (who still performs around Santa Cruz, the beach town just over the mountains from San Jose) was a couple years ahead of me at Cupertino High School, and played in both the school’s orchestra and it’s marching band. I’d see him marching on the field at an afternoon football game, then see him on stage that night with The Watchband!

There will be those who consider a subject such as this too negative, and a waste of one’s precious time. I empathize and even agree with that point of view, and usually refrain. But if you have to vent, at least this isn’t about politics. And there may be nominations which have those who love them. That’s great, each to his or her own. So don’t take this personally anyone, but I know of some songs which really disgust me, others which I merely feel should not have been done, just as some movies should not have been remade. But, just as Martin Scorsese’s remake of Cape Fear is MUCH better than the original (with an added moral complexity), there are plenty of song covers I actually prefer to the original. I consider Dave Edmunds’ version of "I Hear You Knockin’" much cooler than the Smiley Lewis original. Here are some I really, really don’t like:

"Train Kept A Rollin’’’ as done by Aerosmith. The first version I heard was that by The Yardbirds, and it is great. The 1957 version by The Rock ’n’ Roll Trio (sometimes referred to as The Johnny Burnette Trio) is even better. Way, way better. Aerosmith’s is just awful. The Rock ’n’ Roll posturing I so hate about this band and others like them is on full, unapologetic display. Really, really disgusting.

"Love Hurts" by both Nazareth and Bon Jovi. The 1960 original version by The Everly Brother is unbelievably beautiful, heartbreaking. By the way, that The Everly Brothers were making music this good in 1960 puts the lie to the myth that there was no good music in the 60’s until the British Invasion. The two Arena Rock Bands above absolutely butcher "Love Hurts", making the performance of this magnificent song as to be in service to themselves rather than the song, something I detest. Roy Orbison covered the song in ’61, and it’s very nice, as is the version by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris from the early 70’s. The song is often credited to Gram and Emmylou by those who don’t know any better, just as I thought The Yardbirds’ "Train Kept A Rollin’" was an original (I didn’t read songwriting credits in 1965 ;-) .

"All Along The Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix. I know, I know, you love it. Fine, but I don’t. Bob Dylan’s original is perfectly performed---a quiet, contemplative, spiritual prayer with Biblical references. And the music is performed by Bob’s favorite Nashville musicians, including drumming great Kenny Buttrey, whom Neil Young had play on his Harvest album. Jimi sings the words as if they mean nothing to him, and he and his band just butcher the song musically. I could explain how, but if you like his version you wouldn’t understand (that’s not said with an attitude of smug superiority, but rather from experience), and if you don’t, no need to! But Dylan supposedly likes Jimi's take on the song, so what do I know? ;-)