Fan Favorites: Cover Songs (Episode 6 - July 2022)
Added 2022-07-31 22:04:36 +0000 UTCThis month, I was interested in hearing your favorite cover songs. The submissions were eclectic, and the voting was quite close...especially towards the bottom of those that were vying for a spot in the video. I enjoyed this listen, and I hope you do as well!
Thanks as always for your participation and support. Note that our Fan Favorites series starts on the Discord server with submissions and community up-votes. Then, we bring the top handful of options here for the Patreon Poll. Megan (my wife) also does a Monday night 'Megger Kegger' once or twice a month on the Discord, as the community listens to many of the Fan Favorites Submissions. We'll announce the August genre/topic soon!
In this video:
10. Sympathy For the Devil (Rolling Stones) - Blood, Sweat, and Tears
10. The Trooper (Iron Maiden) - 2Cellos
9. I Want You (She's So Heavy) (The Beatles) - Umphrey's McGee
8. Somebody To Love (Queen) - George Michael
7. Tubular Bells (Mike Oldfield) - The Brooklyn Organ Synth Orchestra
6. Nothing Compares 2 U (Prince) - Chris Cornell
5. Karn Evil 9 2nd Impression (ELP) - Rachel Flowers
4. Bolero (Maurice Ravel) - Frank Zappa
3. Tenement Funster / Flick of the Wrist / Lily of the Valley (Queen) - Dream Theater
2. Hurt (Nine Inch Nails) - Johnny Cash
Meg's Choice - Light Of A Clear Blue Morning (Dolly Parton) - The Wailin' Jennys
1. Funeral For a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding (Elton John) - Dream Theater
Comments
That opening song by Blood Sweat & Tears was something... wow. The instrumentation actually reminds me a lot of some of Frank Zappa's orchestral works.
Tim van der Leeuw
2024-10-26 21:21:12 +0000 UTCJust rewatching this and thought it'd be interesting to add that the vocals on the Dream Theater cover are actually completely overdubbed, his mic wasn't even working for the first half of the song. This was also about a month after James ruptured his vocal chords in December '94, so it makes sense that they'd need to redo the singing.
matty
2023-05-10 13:25:29 +0000 UTCStone Temple Pilots did a great acoustic version of "Dancing Days" that definitely enhances the song's rhythmic structure.
Allen
2022-08-07 10:41:38 +0000 UTCYeah... Nazareth, Love Hurts - a real cry from the heart. Gets me every time.
Les Mable
2022-08-06 19:14:04 +0000 UTCThat’s an interesting thought. Of course it is subjective, but for example I don’t think anyone would have said DT’s covers of Elton or Queen were better than the original. Speaking of The Byrd’s, I almost submitted My Back Pages, which I think is better than the Dylan original.
Aaron West
2022-08-02 14:30:04 +0000 UTCSomeone mentioned a list of songs that are better than the originals. Well I answered that question on Quora, and here it is: You’ll notice that I prefer The Beatles covers to their original sources. I also prefer the American blues guitarists (Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, BB- Albert-Freddie King, etc.) filtered through British musicians (Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Jimmy Page, etc.). This does not however, mean that I don’t fully appreciate the older musician’s innovation and development of musical forms, whether by blues artists or older rock-and-roll artists who inspired the musicians that I still love today. That said, let’s start with my favorite band: THE BEATLES COVERS THAT ARE BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL 01 A Shot of Rhythm and Blues - Arthur Alexander 02 Anna - Arthur Alexander 03 I Feel Fine* - Bobby Parker/Ray Charles 04 Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey - Willy Littlefield via Wilbert Harrison/Little Richard 05 Leave My Kitten Alone - Little Willy John 06 Money - Barrett Strong 07 Please Mr. Postman - The Marvelettes 08 Roll Over Beethoven - Chuck Berry 09 Slow Down - Larry Williams 10 Twist and Shout - The Isley Brothers 11 Words of Love - Buddy Holly * What?!?! John (mostly) and Paul didn’t write I Feel Fine? Well, of course they did, but I include it here to illustrate an important point. John took the guitar figure (as he himself explained) from Watch Your Step by Bobby Parker and the rhythm (according to Paul) from What’d I Say by Ray Charles. BLUES COVER SONGS THAT ARE BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL 12 Back Door Man - The Doors over Howlin’ Wolf 13 Ball and Chain - Janis Joplin (live 1967 Monterey Pop) over Big Mama Thornton 14 Born Under a Bad Sign - Cream over Albert King 15 Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix over The Leaves 16 The Killing Floor - The Allman Brothers over Howlin’ Wolf 17 The Lemon Song* - Led Zep over Howlin’ Wolf/Robert Johnson 18 One Way Out - The Allman Brothers over Elmore James 19 Sitting On Top of the World - Cream over Mississippi Sheiks via Howlin’ Wolf *Similar to the note on I Feel Fine above, The Lemon Song is a song credited to Page/Plant, but it’s not really their song. Other Led Zep songs are of similar origins (Whole Lotta Love, for instance), but The Lemon Song is the most obvious, and so I mention it here. This Page/Plant song is a rework and amalgamation of Howlin’ Wolf’s The Killing Floor, Robert Johnson’s Travelling Riverside Blues, and Albert King’s Cross-cut Saw. ARTISTS WHOSE COVER SONGS ARE BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL 20 Alabama Song - The Doors over Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill via Lotte Lenya 21 All I Really Want To Do - The Byrds over Bob Dylan 22 Big Bottom* - Spinal Tap over Cream 23 Black and Tan Fantasy - Jimmy Lunceford over Duke Ellington 24 Black Magic Woman - Santana over Fleetwood Mac featuring Peter Green 25 Blues in the Night - Jimmy Lunceford over William Gillespie 26 Caravan - Cozy Cole over Duke Ellington 27 Chest Fever - Three Dog Night over The Band 28 Chimes of Freedom - The Byrds over Bob Dylan 29 Cocaine - Eric Clapton over J.J. Cale 30 Cotton Fields - Creedence Clearwater over Lead Belly 31 Crossroads - Eric Clapton (live 1970 Fillmore) over Robert Johnson 32 Help!** - The Beatles over Deep Purple 33 I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Creedence Clearwater over Marvin Gaye 34 I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow over The Strangeloves 35 If Not For You - George Harrison over Bob Dylan 36 Let’s Be Natural*** - The Rutles over The Beatles 37 Love Hurts - Nazareth over The Everly Brothers 38 Love In Vain - The Rolling Stones (live 1969) over Robert Johnson 39 Mama Told Me Not To Come - Three Dog Night over Randy Newman via Animals 40 Mama You’ve Been On My Mind - George Harrison over Bob Dylan 41 Maybelline -Johnny Rivers (Live at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go) over Chuck Berry 42 Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds over Bob Dylan 43 My Back Pages - The Byrds over Bob Dylan 44 Not Fade Away - The Rolling Stones over Buddy Holly 45 One - Three Dog Night over Harry Nilsson (no, I changed my mind on this…) 46 Only You - Ringo Starr over The Platters 47 Piggy in the Middle*** - The Rutles over The Beatles 48 Ring of Fire - Dick Dale over The Carter Family via Johnny Cash 49 Sloop John B. - The Beach Boys over The Weavers 50 Stand By Me - John Lennon over Ben E. King 51 Suzy Q - Creedence Clearwater over Dale Hawkins 52 Tequila - Alt and the Lost Civilization over The Champs 53 Tobacco Road - The Nashville Teens over J.D. Loudermilk 54 Train Kept-a-Rollin’ - Aerosmith over Tiny Bradshaw via Burnett via Yardbirds 55 Without You - Harry Nilsson over Badfinger 56 Woodstock - Crosby Stills Nash and Young over Joni Mitchell 57 You Better Move On - The Rolling Stones over Arthur Alexander *Not really. But the triple-bass line of Spinal Tap’s Big Bottom recalls Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love. ** Obviously, Help! is John’s song and Deep Purple did the cover. Actually, John had long maintained that Help! should have been recorded with a much slower tempo. Voila! Deep Purple does it in a very heavy style befitting the tenor of the lyric. Honorable Mention. *** Okay, you probably saw this one coming. If you haven’t yet seen The Rutles in “All You Need Is Cash” (which I saw on TV in 1978 while in high school) then there’s a great treat in store for you. Mix in the blender the following: three cups of Monty Python’s Flying Circus, with a cup of the original SNL cast, do the frappe, then blend in a helping hand of John-Paul-George-Ringo (in that order - it’s more natural that way), and serve in front of the boob-tube. So to complete this list: Let’s Be Natural is, admittedly, a pastiche-homage of Child-of-Nature/Mother-Nature’s-Son/Dear-Prudence/Here-Comes-the-Sun, and not the other way around. The same is true of Piggy in the Middle and I Am the Walrus, which is not to be confused with that other song, I Am the Waitress, that you’ve probably heard about. (You haven’t? Then you must see the The Rutles’ movie - it’s on YouTube.)
DJ Marquis Marc Rambeau du Tacoma
2022-08-01 22:37:06 +0000 UTCI would have loved to have been there. I have a recording of a series of songs he sang that way in Sweden and it's great, What a voice!
DJ Marquis Marc Rambeau du Tacoma
2022-08-01 22:27:58 +0000 UTCIn hindsight, Doug could have asked for covers that - in the eye of the beholder of course - were better than the original. If I may add one (as mustard after the meal as we say in Dutch): I See You. Original by The Byrds, cover by Yes on their first album. Yes did a great job on this one.
Frits van Voorst
2022-08-01 20:50:16 +0000 UTCWOW...what a FF!
Don K Mal 1
2022-08-01 17:49:28 +0000 UTCSaw Chris Cornell on his acoustic tour. Just him, another acoustic guitar, and a cello. It was amazing.
Nick Johnson
2022-08-01 13:34:36 +0000 UTCIt's great to see Rachel Flowers included in this video, joining this fine group of other, better known artists. To me, Rachel is the epitomy of a rare musical talent who has persevered despite her visual disability, and now is ready to thrive and shine, being recognised as the composer and original (multi-instrumental and multi-genre) musician she actually is.
MaxH
2022-08-01 09:47:36 +0000 UTCMark my words. Someday I will get Van Halen on a FF video...
Matthew Hackbert
2022-08-01 01:46:30 +0000 UTCI'm glad Johnny Cash's "Hurt" made the list. One of my favorite cover songs.
BRIAN MILLER
2022-08-01 00:55:41 +0000 UTCGreat FF this month, loved the blend of some covers staying fairly faithful to the original versus radical departures.
Bill C
2022-08-01 00:10:34 +0000 UTC
