The Dish staff provides a lot of great fodder for the popular reader thread. Dish editor Matt writes: What do you get when a country legend hits the studio with an aging punk star to record a Bob Marley song? You get this version of “Redemption Song” by Johnny Cash and The Clash’s Joe Strummer, found … Continue reading Best Cover Song Ever?
The contest keeps going and going: I hope I’m not too late for this one. My nomination is Wilson Pickett‘s cover (with Duane Allman) of the Beatles’ “Hey Jude”: Normally, I’m a Beatles purist – the idea of a cover simply offended me. Why mess with perfection? Then I heard the Pickett cover on the … Continue reading Best Cover Song Ever?
No surprise about this hugely popular choice in the in-tray: I nominate Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah”: The Leonard Cohen version was beautiful, no doubt, but Buckley’s version made it gorgeous! How another reader puts it: It’s a revelatory interpretation that takes a poetic, if unremarkably performed, slow dirge and turns it into a soul-incinerating prayer. It’s an … Continue reading Best Cover Song Ever?
From the latest round of nominees: Faith No More’s “Easy”, a Lionel Richie cover. The deadpan, the guitar solo, the bored drag queens … Love it: Another adds: The ironic thing about this cover? It’s not really that ironic. A little tongue-in-cheek perhaps, but it really is a tribute from a band as far removed from the … Continue reading Best Cover Song Ever?
The submissions keep pouring in: Manfred Mann’s “Blinded by the Light.” Very few people actually realize this song was originally written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen. Manfred‘s version is dramatically different: Another: I would like to nominate The Beatles cover of “Twist and Shout”, which was originally recorded by the Top Notes in 1961 and the … Continue reading Best Cover Song Ever?
A reader recommends an extreme genre-bender: Great contest. Let me nominate an unconventional, but brilliant, submission by Girl Talk. You want genre mixing? How about something that includes parts of Black Sabbath, Ludacris, Dorrough, the Ramones and Missy Elliot, among others (plus equally amazing video): Is it a traditional cover song? No, but if this … Continue reading Best Cover Song Ever?
The latest round of cover contest: “All Along The Watchtower” is an answer that’s too perfect, too obvious, to be fun. So I’ll go with Alien Ant Farm’s version of “Smooth Criminal”, which is nothing if not fun: Another reader: Thanks for the much-needed and timely mental health break! I usually just lurk and read, but I couldn’t … Continue reading Best Cover Song Ever?
This song nominee might win just based on the number of readers who submitted it so far – 84: I’m writing in to nominate my favorite cover of an already well-known song. I’m sure I’m not the only person to submit this one, but it’s got to be the Jimi Hendrix cover of Bob Dylan’s “All … Continue reading Best Cover Song Ever?
The in-tray is inundated with your submissions – over 800 so far. We might close the floodgates later today so we have time to process the Youtubes without hundreds more coming in. So send your top pick to contest@andrewsullivan.com. Cover songs that cross genres are especially preferred. On that note: I’d like to nominate Cake’s cover of … Continue reading Best Cover Song Ever?
A reader throws down the gauntlet in our new contest (guidelines here): “For me, Johnny Cash’s version of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” takes the cake.” He has a point: Songwriter Trent Reznor’s quote is worth reading: I pop the video in, and wow… Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps… Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my … Continue reading Best Cover Song Ever?
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