The 10 Best Cover Songs You've Never Heard - Volume 2 Feb 08 '07 (Updated Mar 09 '07)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Music Jersey Boys [Original Broadway Cast Recording] by Original Broadway Cast From $8 Mai by Eri Sugai From $4 The Bottom Line 10 tracks you've never heard...guaranteed. I haven’t quite figured out why anyone would want to read a list of cover songs that they’ve never heard. But, since page hits can’t lie, I guess some folks enjoy the process of reading some joker arrogantly implying that he’s aware of something they’re missing. So, here it is - round two. A second chance to offer more music that you’ve likely not heard in hopes to conquer the demons of radio and MTV who seek to destroy all things of heart, soul, and quality with overproduction, commercialization, and skantly-clad females. I won’t let obscurity or run-on sentences stop me. No official rules exist for round two. However, the following guidelines do exist: 1 – The original artist is not singing. 2 – These aren’t the 11th through 20th best unknown cover songs. They’re just the top ten discoveries since the last posting. Several of them are quite better than songs at the bottom of volume one. 3 – With guideline two in place, these songs are listed in order of importance. For example, #1 is the first song you should track down…then, #2, #3, etc. And, with all that mumbo-jumbo out of the way… 10. Bruce Springsteen – How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live? – We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions American Land Edition Somewhat in the spirit of the last list, our tenth pick isn’t a straight cover song, the artist adds some new lyrics. Bruce takes his first verse from Blind Alfred Reed’s 1929 folk song and creates new verses for the rest of the song. The original version has the feel of a Woodie Guthrie song, it almost sounds better with a little static hiss. Bruce turns it into a rocked out hilly-billy anti-Bush barn stomper. I like to give George W the benefit of the doubt as much as possible, but Bruce lures me into a disgruntled smile every time I hear this song. How Can a Poor Man makes its way into the never-heard list because it symbolizes something about the potential of a cover song. The best cover bands are folk bands and blues bands. Why? Because covering songs to them is more than just a gimmick, it is their music. They pass the songs on from generation to generation because they are always reinterpreting the music and keeping it current. This is what Bruce does with this track (and with the whole Seeger Sessions project). He makes the song new and he makes the song his own – this is the requirement of a good cover song. 9. Pete Yorn – Suspicious Minds – Live From New Jersey It’s hard for me not to like Pete Yorn cover songs. His energy level seems to pick up a notch. He somewhat known for his Springsteen covers, but here he’s singing an Elvis classic. (He introduces it as a Mark James song, which is who wrote it.) Pete’s voice and the driving piano riffs create a song that feels like a perfect fit for the Pete Yorn rock and roll catalog. I’m not going to say that he’s created something that rivals Elvis’ version…but, I will say that Pete’s good time and energy find a way of contagiously seeping through your speakers. 8. Meat Loaf – It’s All Coming Back to Me Now – Bat Out of Hell III The Meat Loaf / Jim Steinman match is one of the more underrated combos in rock and roll. Their over-the-top style takes you just a few steps past what you can take seriously, and yet they cram in enough fun and swagger that their 8 minute songs can become radio hits. Steinman originally wrote It’s All Coming Back to Me for the Loaf, but it ended up in other’s hands before Bat Out of Hell III came out…including Celine Dion. …so, again, I’m bordering on breaking my own rules – how can Meat Loaf cover a song written for him? …My only justification is that Celine Dion pretty much made this song hers in the 90s. But, Celine doesn’t quite get Steinman the way Meat Loaf does, and so her version leaves me hanging out in the “can’t take this seriously” territory. Meat Loaf takes me to the same place, but his bravado…his Meat-Loaf-esque…makes me enjoy my stay in a way that only Mr. Loaf is capable of. 7. Angie Aparo – Champagne Supernova – One With the Sun “The world’s still spinning around and we don’t know why…” Matt Pond PA’s version of Champagne Supernova was supposed to be on this list. However, at the last minute I found out about a guy named Angie Aparo who had a cover of the song. I heard the song and almost immediately realized that it was better Matt Pond’s version…and, possibly Oasis themselves. His slender style brings more precision to the lyrics and points to their underlying confusion. Oasis’ pretension finds its way into their version and parts of the song leave me bored…but, Aparo’s version takes you by the hand and guides you note by note through the whole song. 6. Melissa Etheridge – Refugee – Greatest Hits Melissa’s web-site offers the following quote regarding her Tom Petty cover: I decided to cover 'Refugee' because I wanted a song that spoke to my heart, my mind and my soul, a song about where I was at, something I could share with an audience that I knew they could relate to, something that was recognizable but that I could also make my own. Considering what I've experienced recently, I think 'Refugee' speaks to it perfectly. (I won’t let run-on sentences stop me…) I don’t follow Melissa’s career enough to know what “she’s experienced recently”…but, I know she sings this song with every ounce of gusto she’s got. You don’t need the quote to realize that this song speaks to her. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that she places her first recorded version of it as the first track on her greatest hits album. There’s some obvious respect going on. 5. The Eels – Girl From the North Country – Live At Town Hall Bruce Hornsby also has a great piano version of this song. However, the Eels have piano and strings…so, their version of the Dylan tune wins the prize. Eels’ head honcho Mark Oliver Everett’s rusty voice intersperses itself perfectly with his string quartet. He brings a rough-edged thinking person’s sadness to the song. In my mind it’s the highlight of his live album. (On the same album, covers of Poor Side of Town & Pretty Ballerina are also worth checking out.) 4. Bright Eyes – Devil Town – Discovered Covered Daniel Johnston was a weird dude. He’s one of those guys who might be the undiscovered genius that people claim he is…or, he may just be a perverted wacko who made tapes in his parent’s basement. Johnston’s version is a disturbing vocal track sung in some sort of strange first-grader adult voice. Bright Eyes adds instrumentation and instead of ruining Johnston’s a cappella version it strengthens it in a different way. About halfway through the song he gets to the lyric, “found out I was a vampire myself in the Devil Town”, the song hits home, and you realize that sometimes you yourself are part of the problem. Depending on my mood, this song’s simple repetitive lyrics can strike me as quite profound…I suppose that’s sort of the theme with Daniel Johnston. 3. M. Ward – Let’s Dance – Transfiguration of Vincent M. Ward’s first good decision in covering this song was to cut two minutes off David Bowie’s album version (no offense to any Bowie fans). Additionally, he slows it down, and pays attention to what the song is saying. Ward shows so much respect toward the lyrics that he impairs any possibility of listening to the original without feeling like Bowie is making a mockery of his very own song. What used to be a synthesized mess, M. Ward has smoothed out into an honest love song. (Also, check out M. Ward’s cover of Green River done for a group called Mercy Corps.) 2. Bruce Springsteen – Give My Love to Rose – Kindred Spirits: A Tribute to the Songs of Johnny Cash Bruce covers a slightly obscure Johnny Cash song. The narrator stumbles upon a man by the railroad tracks who is “nearly dead”. This dying man has just been released from prison and he’s heading back to see his wife, Rose, with money. The song tells the dying man’s story and expresses the message he wants conveyed to his wife and kids. Springsteen’s interpretation of the song presents a man who is revealing the heaviest sorrow and disappointment imaginable. You hear the care in the dying man’s voice as he imagines his wife buying some ‘pretty clothes’ with the money he provided…you can feel the defeat as he suggests that his wife should find another husband. But, a faint pulse of hope exists which breathes a unique form of life into this song: “give my love to Rose”. Everything tangible tips the balance to the side of the scale labeled what-a-waste & how-depressing. Slowly this scale moves in the other direction, it evens out, and eventually tips to the other side. What’s brought about the difference? The opportunity to experience love. 1. Mat Wendle – Hey Ya What I’ve done with the number one track is inexcusable in one sense. The track is not officially released. It’s a video from YouTube (you can download the song for free on MySpace). So, list-anarchy develops as soon as I allow live, unreleased cover songs on my list. This opens up too many options as artists are always covering songs in concert, and none but the bravest weed their way through bootlegged concerts. There are too many possibilities once we’ve cracked this door. But, Mat has done something amazing with this Outkast song and the video has done nothing but become an intricate part of the song’s expression. I’ll explain: At an open mic night, this guy Mat Wendle performed an acoustic cover of Outkast’s Hey Ya. A video was shot of the performance, it switched hands a little and ended up edited together with the Hey Ya music video…and YouTube popularity poured itself into Mat’s life. There’s good reason for the song’s popularity. Mat takes everything that Andre 3000 put into the song…the immaturity, the live-for-today, the naivete…all the stuff that makes Outkast’s track so fun and appealing…Mat reverses it all. His voice and his guitar say slow down…here’s the real world. Mat’s interpretation preaches Ecclesiastes with the unusually non-explicit lyrics of Outkast. You think you got it…but, “got it” just don’t get it…‘till there’s nothing at all. Mat says: Figure it out or trouble is waiting. Andre 3000 says: No worries... If…nothing is forever, then what makes love the exception? Mat says: Love won’t solve your problems. Andre 3000 says: Lot’s of ‘loving’ will solve your problems. Why are we so in denial if we know that we aren’t happy here? Mat says: Why are we ignoring our unhappiness? Andre 3000 says: Don’t bother me I’m dancing. What’s cooler than being cool? I can’t hear you now? Mat (with the help of video editing): Look at Outkast…popular, successful…cooler-than-cool? (Silence) …Maybe not? Andre 3000: What’s cooler than being cool? (Screaming fans) …I can’t hear you, it must be me. There’s always the possibility that it’s just me…but I think Mat has created a level of emotional irony that is impossible to create on purpose. Not to discredit Mat (or his band), but this is one of those cases (as with Izrael on the last list) where the stars have aligned to create the perfect song. http://www.myspace.com/obadiahparker I’ll end my gushing. Thanks for sticking around for another dose of pretentious suggestion writing. Hopefully, you’ll get some good leads on some good songs. Feel free to drop me a note or a song suggestion in the comment section. ----- The 10 Best Cover Songs You've Never Heard - Volume 1 Also, check out: 20 Questions with Mat Weddle by Scott Semegran http://www.quirkee.com/interviews/20-questions/20-questions-with-mat-weddle.html

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