Cover songs that are better than the original

Jun 27, 2012
8,114
13,182
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Tottenham Hotspur FC
disclaimer: not better than the original but hauntingly beautiful nonetheless.
there's actually 2 versions. one is a scratchy recording done i think for instagram with arpeggio keys. the second is a professional recording for the short film Shy Radicals and the chords are played straight in this one...i prefer the first.








Arlo Parks said:
“‘Creep’ is a simultaneously delicate and brutal exploration of inner turmoil and human relationships. This song has acted as a refuge for me, during times of self-reflection and low mood, for many years and Radiohead as a band has deeply influenced my music.”
 

CliffMcTainshaw

Premiership Player
Apr 11, 2015
4,113
4,969
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Cill Chainnigh
Hallelujah, a Leonard Cohen classic. All the versions that follow are better, because although Leonard is an unbelievably great songwriter, he can't sing for nuts.


Three great versions, but Morgan James is my favourite. Wonderful crystal clear voice, accompanied by harp and guitar.



Jeff Buckley a classic


Pentatonix surprisingly good harmonies.
 
Last edited:
How do do a cover properly.
Show respect to original, don’t just change it, slow it down, or make an acoustic version just for the sake of it.
Make it your own.
Case in point-
The original- Public Enemy




The cover-Tricky




 
Last edited:

stax on the mull

Norm Smith Medallist
Dec 26, 2010
5,112
6,707
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Matildas
I bought an import copy of the New Order album 'Power Corruption & Lies' when it came out in Australia. Joy Division/New Order were a kind of foundation stones when I began listening to uni radio, and being even more clueless about music then than I am now, I went and saw them play live Perth in a small venue the first time they toured Australia.

It was one of the first gigs I went to, the first time I went to a venue on my own, so I wasn't sure what the expectation was for a band to reproduce something on stage that replicated their records, but I remember I couldn't hear anything that sounded like the handful of their songs that I already knew. Really, I couldn't decipher any words the lead singer was singing. If there was any interaction between the band and the crowd of about 150-200 people (like speaking between songs) it was minimal - they were a tuneless racket - they were f*cking awful.

Anyway, I still bought their records and with each new single accepted how their sound was changing from mostly guitars with some keyboards to dance beats. From " Ceremony" to "Everything's Gone Green" to "Temptation" to "Blue Monday" . "Confusion" I always thought was crap - but I don't recall now if it came before or after the LP but each of these records took some adjusting to on first listen, and when I got "Power, Corruption & Lies" it seemed like it was a bridge too far. I was very disappointed with the music on it - wishing there were more songs on it like the opening track ("Age of Consent") and the final track ("Leave Me Alone") even though both seemed lyrically slight.

I wanted to keep the record partly because of the aesthetics of the album art but within a couple of months I cashed it in, searching for something new, just as it started getting airplay on radio with its local release - and I would hear it more times on radio than I had done when I owned the record.

With the passage of 30 plus years, re-listening to some of the tracks from it again on youtube I guess its a pretty decent entry into the canon of electro pop - if that's your bag.

Anyway, I got this Thurston Moore 7" in a recent online record store sale - and it has a cover of "Leave Me Alone" on the b- side.

Its not so much a cover that's better than the original (though it is), it gives me a better appreciation of a band that I thought I'd moved on from.

 
Last edited:
Hallelujah, a Leonard Cohen classic. All the versions that follow are better, because although Leonard is an unbelievably great songwriter, he can't sing for nuts.
Can't agree on this. Leonard is the gold standard - his voice just carries so much gravitas.
 
Back