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.

[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. :)

[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.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

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

[grimmwire.livejournal.com]

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