@painter24 - I'm so with you on the merits of Graham Nash. Nothing against the guy - I loved him in the Hollies and he's a fine photographer, but his CSN(Y) songs, to me, are about the most insipid things I've ever heard (and back then, I listened to a lot more insipid music than I do now! 🤣). Might as well listen to Air Supply or something! Crosby and Stills had some great ones, though....
what’s a song cover that you think is better than the original?
The first ones to come to mind are Whitney’s version of I Will Always Love You and Allen Stone’s Georgia On My Mind but I would love to hear other contributions as well! I feel like there are a lot of songs where a covered version gets more popular than the original and people end up not realizing that it is a cover (ex. i had a friend that genuinely believed the Jonas Brothers wrote Year 3000). so, what‘a a song that was written by one artist but (figuratively) owned by another?
Showing 11 responses by larsman
@rrm - how is it compared to Kris Kristofferson's original? |
@kangatrax + 1 - The Grateful Dead and JGB almost always had wonderful taste in songs to cover, and I generally really enjoyed those, too. |
@painter24 - I much prefer the JA version of 'Wooden Ships', and Paul Kantner did co-write it with Crosby and Stills. But then, I like JA a whole lot more than I do CSNY anyway. |
I don't know if it's better than the original, 'cause 'Billie Jean' was a pretty great song to begin with, but the late, great Chris Cornell slowed it down to almost a blues type of song, and he puts so much feeling into the lyrics; I really understood stuff about that song I hadn't realized, 'cause Chris forces you into the words; nobody's dancing to his version. He did some pretty inspired cover versions; he's got a recording of 'A Day In The Life' that was recorded live at Royal Albert Hall, and I think John Lennon would have been mighty pleased. He even does those 'AHHHH's before the final verse in a way that sent chills down the ol' spine... |
@pesky_wabbit - Before I even looked to see what the link went to, I was thinking, 'my favorite version of 'Walk On By' is by the Stranglers!!' Big Stranglers fan, here... |
@nickofwimbledon - indeed, Johnny Cash has done a number of great covers. 'Personal Jesus' is excellent, but my favourite is his version of Nick Cave's great 'The Mercy Seat'. Really like 'Rusty Cage', too.... |
@unreceivedogma - Very true about 'Wooden Ships' - I pointed that same thing out further up the thread. And I definitely prefer the JA version! 👍 |
@bondmanp - a Rob Dickinson fan - yes!! You were aware that he is the cousin of Bruce? |