Under the cover versions....

[ckd]

I'd asked folks to guess how many different artists' versions of songs I have. Here are the answers, along with lists of the artists represented.

All Along The Watchtower:
9: Bob Dylan, Bryan Ferry, Indigo Girls, Jimi Hendrix, U2, Neil Young, Eddie Vedder & The Million Dollar Bashers, Tom Landa & The Paperboys, The Fratellis
(I didn't count the Bob Dylan collaborations with The Band and The Grateful Dead separately.)

Don't Fear The Reaper:
4: Blue Öyster Cult, The Beautiful South, Heaven 17, s.e.k.s

Ever Fallen In Love:
5: The Buzzcocks, Fine Young Cannibals, Nouvelle Vague, Thea Gilmore, Pete Yorn

Hallelujah:
9: Leonard Cohen, Brandi Carlile, Jeff Buckley, k.d. lang, Patricia O'Callaghan, Willie Nelson, John Cale, Rufus Wainwright, Bono

Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want:
8: The Smiths, The Dream Academy, Hootie & The Blowfish, OK Go, The Autumns, The Caulfield Sisters, Elefant, She & Him

Smells Like Teen Spirit:
5: Patti Smith, Paul Anka, Tori Amos, Dsico That No-Talent Hack, Abigail

Spirit In The Sky:
3: Norman Greenbaum, Doctor & The Medics, Gareth Gates with the Kumars

Tainted Love:
4: Palast Orchester w/Max Raabe, My Brightest Diamond, The Finger, Soft Cell

Total Eclipse of the Heart:
6: Bonnie Tyler, Guster, Hurra Torpedo, Nicki French, Stickboy, Tori Amos

Video Killed The Radio Star
5: The Buggles, Ben Folds Five, Erasure, The Presidents of the United States of America, Tom Baker Says

Wuthering Heights
6: Kate Bush, Pat Benatar, The Puppini Sisters, The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain, James Reyne, White Flag

Stairway to Heaven
27: Led Zeppelin, Dolly Parton, Heart, Justin Hayward, Pat Boone, and 22 additional versions from The Money or the Gun including Rolf Harris's with didgeridoo and wobbleboard.

The two I don't have the originals of are "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and "Tainted Love"; while the Soft Cell version is probably the best known, the original recording was by Gloria Jones in 1964.

Comments

[pocketpolina.livejournal.com]

I love Gloria Jones' "Tainted Love"

[aedifica]

Heaven 17 covered "Don't Fear the Reaper"? I'll have to look for that!

I have heard "Stairway to Heaven" played on the accordion. And danced to it--we call the dance "Bustle in the Hedgerow," and it's one of my least favorite dances that we do but it's still a good joke.

[ckd]

The iTunes Store has the Heaven 17 cover.

[aedifica]

I used that $3 credit Amazon is giving out to buy it, the original, and one other song last night. Thanks for telling me this cover existed!

[gingicat]

You should ask lyonesse if she has a recording of the "Don't Fear the Reaper" cover she did with her band some years back; they did it mixed up with a folksong, but I'm not remembering which one.

I think I'd like to browse through your iPod sometime. :)

[ckd]

I don't think I know lyonesse, but I could be wrong. In any case that sounds like something I'd love to hear.

Next time I come over I'll try to remember to bring the big iPod; I can't fit everything on my iPhone, so browsing that will give you a good idea of my taste (I keep all the 5-star stuff on it, etc) but won't have all the weirdest stuff from the corners of my collection.

(Though I do have the "WTFcovers" playlist loaded on it, in order to break people's brains when necessary.)

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Occasionally, the cover is better. At least, to my tastes. Okay, more than occasionally when it comes to Bob Dylan...

I love the Big Daddy version of "Once In A Lifetime" and don't really like the original Talking Heads.

Similarly, the Chantmania version of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" works for me in a way the original doesn't. Of course, so does the Weird Al parody.

[ckd]

iTunes has the Big Daddy cover...and that album also contains their "Welcome to the Jungle", with added Wimoweh. Oh my. *clicky-buy*

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Yup, one of my favorite CDs. I'm waiting for the other two Big Daddy records to go digital.

If you like Big Daddy, you might like Tonic Sol Fa (http://www.tonicsolfa.com/). A local Minnesota a cappella doo-wop group. They don't do parodies ala Big Daddy, but they do marvelous covers. Start off with By Request (http://www.tonicsolfastore.com/By-Request-p/0002.htm), as they redo/update some of their hits. Doesn't have their version of Eleanor Rigby, but Cecelia, Brown Eyed Girl and others make up for it. If you like this one, fill in.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

...I am trying to imagine OK Go doing that song and my brain just keeps going, "Click...whirrrrrrr," instead.

[ckd]

See my earlier comment to tigerbright about breaking brains....

[grimmwire.livejournal.com]

XTC did a cover of "All Along the Watchtower" on their first album, White Noise. Unfortunately it's terrible!

[ckd]

Speaking of XTC and covers, though, Sarah McLachlan's "Dear God" is amazing.