The Perfect Cover SIngle

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RufusMoses

(212) 513-0888
#1
#1
So by popular demand here is a place to stake a claim for the perfect cover single. By this we mean (1) the song was first recorded by someone else and gained some degree of attention as an individual song and (2) was later recorded by someone else in a way that reaches a new or different level of perfection.

It should be a cover that was actually recorded, but fantasy cover singles might be interesting as well. For example, "My Way" by Sid Vicious... Oops! That actually happened! Well...you get the idea...
 
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RufusMoses

(212) 513-0888
#2
#2
From that other thread...

The Stranglers - Walk On By

the genius of which includes a "stealth cover within a cover" because the arrangement/structure is entirely lifted from Light My Fire by the Doors...I almost never like covers, but I can't express how much I love this one...
 
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howardnotstern

#5
#5
this is just off the top of my head, and not really a serious answer, but

"walk away renee" by the four tops.

since the cover is much more widely known than the original
 
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Phantom

#6
#6
Originally posted by howardnotstern
"walk away renee" by the four tops.

since the cover is much more widely known than the original
Click to expand...
Sorry, but I have to disagree. IMO the original by the Left Banke is more widely known.
 
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greyfox

#8
#8
"We Can Work It Out" Beatles/Stevie Wonder
This was a nice return the compliment kind of cover by Stevie.The first big hit cover of a Beatles tune by a black artist that I remember.I wonder whose idea it was at Motown?"Standing in the Shadows of Motown", a"Buena Vista Social Club" type of documentary about Motown's Hitsville studio session musicians,including legendary bassist James Jamerson, is scheduled for commercial release on Nov.15,last I heard.

"This Time Baby"O'Jays/Jackie Moore
The O'Jays version was a good song on the B side of the 7" 45rpm issue of "Used To Be My Girl",a funky song with a Gamble/Huff sound but produced for radio play.The Jackie Moore version ,I think,was only available as a 12" 33 1/3rpm,with a "classic disco" sound,produced with dance club play in mind less than a year later in '79.I still hear it sometimes in a stripclub.

There are apparently some people with even more free time on their hands than UG posters who have an interest in "cover chains".

http://covers.wiw.org
 
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Ozzy

#9
#9
There are so many great covers I wouldn't know where to start. But the one thing that makes a great cover is to not make it exactly like the original and to make it your own... and possibly make it better.

I'll start with some of the more well known ones.....

Van Halen..... Pretty Woman, You Really Got Me, Ice Cream Man

Jimmy Hendrix..... All Along the Watchtower, Star Spangled Banner


But my favorite is still Joey Ramone doing "What a Wonderful World", which was the last thing he recorded only weeks before his death.
 
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howardnotstern

#12
#12
garland jeffreys "ninety-six tears"

john cale "heartbreak hotel"

ry cooder "little sister" or "down in the boondocks"

graham parker "cupid" or "you can't hurry love"
 
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gritsman

#14
#14
Take my money, my cigarettes ...

"Take Me To the River," Talking Heads
"Time Is on My Side," The Rolling Stones (covering Irma Thomas!) and "Fortune Teller" (Allen Toussaint/Benny Spellman ..(?).

"Satisfaction," by the Residents, covering the Stones, and then DEVO.
 
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stranger

#19
#19
"Mr. Tambourine Man" by the Byrds was probably the most influential "cover" ever. In a single stroke, it ushered in "folk rock" as the first and most enduring sub-genre of rock, enabled Dylan to go electric and inspired the Beatles to become more musically and lyrically adventurous.
 
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