Unexpected Cover Songs

I will start with Lake Shore Drive's cover of Hall & Oates "Rich Girl" as a jazz/funk tune with a female vocalist.

Tom Jones + The Art of Noise - “Kiss”

(I'm realizing this may not be the best time to do this thread given that Previews aren't working for most (all?) posters.

R2 meant to post the link

Tori Amos Angie was interesting (and I'm not usually a fan ).

Links to YouTube super helpful on this. Thanks!

Mad World

This Charming Man - originally by the Smiths. I actually like the cover version from the Stars better than the original - very different.

Joe Cocker's cover of With a Little Help from My Friends?

Donna's version of MacArthur Park was quite different. I prefer her cover, although the original is quite beautiful.

Stevie Nick's barking out Silent Night was just wrong on many levels.

Disturbed- The Sound of Silence. Even Paul Simon was blown away by it.

For the longest time I didn't know that Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" was a cover.

Joy Williams, "Ordinary World"

Bette Davis Eyes

Jackie Deshannon v. Kim Carnes

And even the cover artists mentioned are 70 years old or dead!! PLEASE no more Linda Ronstadt style dreck. Those of us under 45 are begging you to STOP.

I will always love you, different but whether it’s better is debateable

Ryan Adams's version of Oasis's Wonderwall is a completely different song.

RHCP's version of Ohio Players Rollercoaster of Love

[bold] TRIGGER WARNING FOR ELDERGAYS!!!! [/bold]

Ryan Adams cover of "Like A Virgin"

Cowboy Junkies’ version of Sweet Jane. Lou Reed once said he liked it more than his original.

Material Girl - Madonna

Ed Sheeran covers Christina Aguilera's 'Dirrty'

Johnny Cash’s cover of NIN - “Hurt”

I've mentioned it before but Reba's version of "If I Were a Boy" was unexpectedly good. I like both Beyonce and Reba, but I never would have expected one to cover the other. Reba's version has the added layers of being from an older woman looking back on her life, which makes it more melancholic.

White Zombie's cover of I'm Your Boogieman

Rob Zombie - Blitzkrieg Bop

Giorgio Moroder and Britney Spears cover Tom's Diner

The ultimate cover song is Aretha’s version of Otis Redding’s “Respect”.

Sinead O’Connors Nothing Compares to U.

Scala & Kolacny Bros' eerie cover of Radiohead's "Creep"

Love JC's version R24

And here is the YT

Nan Vernon's beautiful cover of Love Hurts

Gaga's version of Express Yourself.

Rollling Stones cover of Time is on my side

Eurythmics cover of Something in the Air. Way better than the original.

Every song Nina Simone has ever covered. Especially The Ballad of Hollis Brown and Who Knows Where The Time Goes

The song that came to mind first is X's cover of The Doors' Soul Kitchen from their debut album, Los Angeles (which was produced by The Doors' Ray Manzarek). Their Soul Kitchen is a complete reinterpretation and an early LA punk classic. X's cover of Jerry Lee Lewis' Breathless is pretty great, too. I like it when the cover version feels like an original song, which is true with both of these.

R33 That’s gorgeous. She made it all her own.

David bowies cover of Nina Simone's wild is the wind is fantastic. It reminds me of a cool, dry California night.

I dearly love Devo's weird and wonderful remake of "Are You Experienced." Not necessarily beautiful, but mutated!

Adding lots of these to my playlist. Keep them coming.

Robert Wyatt’s version of Elvis Costello’s Shipbuilding, Joe Strummer’s version of Bob Marley’s Redemption Song, Johnny Cash’s version of Nine Inch Nail’s Hurt.

a house remix of a cover

Natalie Cole - Tell Me All About It

Dancing on My Own by Callum Scott is a mournful ballad. The Robyn original is a club bop.

Gillian Welch - Black Star (Radiohead)

Pet Shop Boys - Always on my Mind

Weezer No Scrubs

Big Daddy, "Super Freak"

Jonas Blue covering Fast Car by Tracy Chapman

Adele-Fast Love

Age of Chance covering Prince's "Kiss":

I'd Love to Change the World - covered by Jetta

The Feelies - Everybody's Got Something To Hide (Except Me and My Monkey)

"Don't Let Me Down" cover by Annie Lennox is beautiful.

And she changed "she" to "he".

Jared Leto covering Rihanna

Pretty much every song on Bryan Ferry's first solo album [bold]These Foolish Things[/bold].

English Beat: “Can’t Get Used To Losing You”

Blue Man Group with Kathrine Jenkins I Feel Love. It takes a little while to get there but this girls vocals are incredible.

Ooops better blue man link

Bobby Freemans and The Beach Boys " Do you wanna Dance" by Bette Midler

Suzi Quatro's "Warm Leatherette"

Bettye LaVette - "How Am I Different" (Aimee Mann)

Bettye Lavette - Sleep to Dream / I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (Fiona Apple / Sinéad O'Connor)

Aurora - Half the World Away

This thread takes on a whole new life now that previews are back!

Best Bettye Lavette cover-- Who's "Love Reign Oer Me" -- watch for cutaways to Daltrey and Townsend who were in the audience

Etta James cover of "Welcome to the Jungle" (G&R)

and the other Etta James classic cover "Only Women Bleed" -- Alice Cooper

she makes it completely different song

Blues legend Big Mama Thornton doing Elvis's "Hound Dog"

Ryan Adams did an entire album covering Taylor Swift's 1989

"Blank Space" is probably the best

Great song, R69, but wrong way around. Big Mama Thornton did it first and Elvis covered it.

I thought it might have been that way R71, thanks!

Ryan Adams showing he has a sense of humor by covering *Bryan* Adams' "Run to You"

This is equally good to the original but also stands on its own. Suspicious Minds is also pretty good but doesn't come close to the original.

Elvis covered Big Mama's Hound Dog.

Ane Brun - Jóga (Björk)

Colin Firth and Rupert Everett singing Love is in the Air.

Makes me chuckle!

Lemonheads Evan Dando (WHET, btw?) covering Abba's "Knowing Me, Knowing You"

The Creatures' cover of Wild Thing which is by the Troggs.

Dando and Juliana Hatfield doing Gram Parsons's Thousand Dollar Wedding (Emmylou Harris was on the original)

This is my favorite from Me First and the Gimme Gimme's, who do all sorts of punk covers of pop songs

Cyndi Lauper did some good covers of...

Roy Orbison's I Drove All Night, and Frankie Laine Or Gene Pitney's I'm Gonna Be Strong

Siouxsie & The Banshees did a ton of great covers. Through the Looking Glass is their cover album featuring some amazing covers and some of the original artists praised them.

[quote] Ralf Hütter of Kraftwerk lauded the version of "Hall of Mirrors" and stated: "In general, we consider cover versions as an appreciation of our work. The version of 'Hall of Mirrors' by Siouxsie and the Banshees is extraordinary".[5] Iggy Pop praised their cover of "The Passenger", saying: "That's good. She sings it well and she threw a little note in when she sings it, that I wish I had thought of. It kind of improves it [...]. The horn thing is good".[6]

[quote] Sounds said: "Trust in Me", "Potentially a single, is quite astonishing. Whereas once it was about a python getting ready to crush a little boy to death, now it's a harp-laden lullaby of rampant, swirling eroticism".[7] Mojo retrospectively praised their version of "Strange Fruit" by selecting it for a 2007 CD called Music Is Love: 15 Tracks That Changed the World Recovered By...

R82 I love Cyndi’s cover of I Drove All Night. Celine Dion’s...well, we won’t talk about that.

Just to piss off Morrissey (who hates it).

Did anyone mention Travis “Hit Me Baby One More Time”?

David Arnold's cover of Diamonds are Forever.

The Mike Flowers Pops' cover of Wonderwall (Oasis).

Devo - Working In A Coal Mine

Macy Gray's cover of Sail by AWOL Nation. Beyonces cover of Kings of Leons Sex on Fire. The Civil Wars cover of the Smashing Pumpkins Disarm. Florence and the machine cover of Fleetwood Macs Silver Springs . Daughter Darlings cover of the Kansas hit Dust in the Wind.

Reba's only hit on the Dance/club charts, her cover of The Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On"

I fucking hate Reba.

I fucking LOVE Reba!

John Legend = Bridge Over Troubled Water.

R91 = Extended Remix of Reba Hangin On

Peggy Lee's Bridge Over Troubled Water. It's sublime coming from an old broad who has been around the block a few times.

Golden Girls Theme Song Dance Version....

I always thought this was more of a girls songs since most guys I knew wouldn't get up in front of people & dance by themselves.

This is a live audio from a concert but It's the best version I've heard.

I wish they would put it on an album or something.

This is the definition of unexpected =

Thread Closed

Sonic Youth's cover of the Carpenters' Superstar.

Blondie's 2017 cover of Fragments by An Unkindness (2010). It is a long song that builds up, so give it a few minutes.

Mid-80s utter weirdness: The Fibonaccis doing Purple Haze.

Steve and Edie’s Black Hole Sun is sublime.

I love the cover of Cameo's Word Up performed by Willis. It reminds me of hanging out on the porch on a hot July afternoon. It's completely different than the original

Does Kirsten Dunst covering Turning Japanese qualify as unexpected?

Well, bless her heart. An award winner (ok, it was a participation ribbon). How did I miss this? It's actually not THAT cringe worthy. Mostly makes me sad for LL's trajectory. So much lost opportunity.

Young Hearts Run Free - The Swell Season

The Bangles doing Simon & Garfunkel's Hazy Shade of Winter.

Thank you, R103. You made my night.

My current obsession: Nina Simone’s “Ain’t Got No”, which she brilliantly segues into “I Got Life” (both from “Hair”)

Jealous Guy - Belinda Carlisle (John Lennon cover)

10 cover songs that sound different than the original

Olga Acala Angie Baby

R110, that is amazing.

R114, if you liked that, I highly recommend you watch “What Happened, Miss Simone?”

Calum Scott’s cover of “Dancing On My Own”. Totally different from Robyn’s song.

R104, I loved that.

Outkast's "Hey Ya" by Obadiah Parker:

Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Lorde:

Annie Lennox's cover of "Train in Vain" -- my favorite Clash song. I remember the first time I heard it on the radio in my car. I had just changed stations, joining in mid-song. Obviously, I recognized Annie's voice immediately, and thought, "Cool, a new Annie Lennox song" and turned up the volume.

So, I'm groovin' along with Annie for maybe 15-20 seconds thinking, "Wow, I really like this song." And then it suddenly occurred to me, "Wait a minute! I know this song. Why do I know this song??" I kept listening, but placing it was maddeningly beyond my grasp. (because it is SO different-sounding). Finally the light-bulb went on: "Holy shit! It's Train in Vain!!" I was practically doing a jig in my seat. I went to Tower Records (RIP) the following day and bought "Medusa".

Love Me Tender - Nana Mouskouri

Radiohead - Creep

From the album KAREN SOUZA ESSENTIALS

Sturgill Simpson covers Nirvana’s “in Bloom.”

I really love Pete Townshend's version of Save It For Later.

Actually. It's this version of Save It For Later.

The Sound Of Silence - Joy Williams

George Michael’s cover of Roxanne.

I'm sure a lot will hate it but I like it , Ben Folds & Rufus Wainwright - Careless Whisper

Surprised that the legion of Dolly fans here haven't yet come up with her cover of Stairway to Heaven

The Fugees version of Killing me Softly. So much better than the original!

Tori Amos - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

My favorite Nine In Nails cover.

R128 Surprisingly I liked their cover of Careless Whisper and I thought they did it their way. . Definitely not George.

Every Linda Ronstadt hit. I'm surprised the fat taco troll hasn't been in this thread yet.