The Greatest Cover Songs of All Time
Nov 13 '00
I don't know much about art (although like a good philistine, I know what I like) but I'm fairly illuminated when it comes to craft.
Which is why cover songs thrill me so.
Craft is for people (like myself) who are better with boundaries. We love a juicy topic and loathe a blank page. We're happiest chewing over something that someone else has already served up—finding irony in the deadly serious, humor in the sacrosanct and streaks in the squeaky-clean.
We are not artists but (hopefully) brilliant craftsmen: wrists and facilitators and go-betweens who revisit the Truth of the artist and illuminate it through ingenious, earthly nuance. (We are not, however, humble.)
But I digress.
In coordinating this hit parade of interpretive genius, my criteria were these: the cover in question had to have been (a) originally recorded by an established artist, either the songwriter him/herself or a known vocalist, thereby setting it as a "standard" that could be covered; (b) established in the canon by virtue of its lasting power or significance in musical history; or (c) some hidden gem I just happened to like.
You'll notice that many of these songs have been served up by misfits, outsiders and oddballs: it takes a finely-honed need to craft something capable of piercing my jaded, post-modern-ironic armor. Or maybe it just takes a heavy wacko factor to ring my bell.
So here, in no particular order, are the songs that continue to change my life and rock my world:
1. "September Song," Lou Reed, September Songs - The Music of Kurt Weill; Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill
You want May-December tragedy? Lou serves it up with a wide, wizened smile on this hoppin' track. We know Weill can swing (Look out, ol' Mack is back!), but it took the Velvet Underground veteran to make him rock. All this, and The Truth, to boot. A mostly rotten album worth buying for one song alone.
2. "Woodstock," James Taylor, performed live on the Howard Stern Radio Program
Aside from the regular, gut-busting laughs that keep me from blowing my brains out on the San Diego Freeway, it's the sundry serendipitous gem that has me hooked on Howard. Yes, Joni did a great job with her own song; yes, Crosby et al did a fine cover. But with his plaintive voice and gently insistent guitar strumming, James Taylor made this song seem so immediate and relevant I felt I was hearing it for the first time. In fact, I did hear one part of the lyric for the first time: We are stardust, we are golden/We are million-year-old carbon/And we've got to get ourselves back to the garden. By his own admission, it sent shivers down even the shock-meister's spine. Pray that he releases a Stern Show Vault Anthology. Better yet, let's start a fax-and-email campaign.
3. "Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars (Corcovado)," Frank Sinatra, Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim
I was introduced to bossa nova in an elevator, fell in love with it over a Coca-Cola commercial from the 1980s, and finally learned what it was all about three years ago when I heard Frank Sinatra pour himself into Antonio Carlos Jobim's masterpiece of melancholic longing. Buy this album. Buy it now. It will transport you to a land of warm, tropical breezes and eloquent heartbreak by the third track or that girl ain't from Ipanema.
4. "Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend," T-Bone Burnett, Trap Door
I first heard this song on Chicago's excellent rock station, WXRT. Alas, I've only heard this song on that Chicago station—an obscure EP apparently contains the only recorded version of this truly twisted cover by prolific producer, sometime performer, full-time genius T-Bone Burnett. It's a low-key, hypnotic take on a fruity, 1950s-uber-girl classic (<cf> Julie London), and therein lies its genius: never again will you watch Marilyn in her hot pink satin (or Ms. Ciccone in her sassy pink homage) without the mental picture of a burly, been-there/done-her cowboy. Time to hit eBay.
5. "Peel Me A Grape," Lyle Lovett and Blossom Dearie, Banana Republic in-store giveaway
A saucy jazz cocktail also ably covered by the sassy Anita O'Day, this paean to the Catered Life is doubly delicious as rendered by the Crossover King and the itsy-bitsy chan-toosy with the wee, wee voice. Sweeter than Miss O'Day's rendition, Lovett and Dearie's cover still crackles with cheekiness. When it came on the "Morning Becomes Eclectic," KCRW's excellent hodge-podge of Things Hip and Wonderful, it stopped the a.m. work crew at my manager's office dead in their tracks.
6. "Almost Blue," Chet Baker, Bespoke Songs, Lost Dogs, Detours & Rendezvous: The Songs of Elvis Costello and Soundtrack to Let's Get Lost
Elvis Costello insisted Baker re-record "Almost Blue" for inclusion on his tribute compilation album rather than using the nearly flawless recording Baker had already included on the soundtrack to the film because (supposedly) he felt Baker's first attempt was overly sentimental. To this I say, "Hey... even Elvis isn't infallible." As a rabid EC fan, I can't advise anyone not to buy it—Roy Orbison's cover of "The Comedians" is reason enough to own this CD—but the best of Chet's two takes is on the soundtrack album.
7. "Stardust,"—Willie Nelson, Stardust
Fans of my writing have already heard me blather on about the genius of this song and the eponymous album. I've done my bit and will say no more, save this: no one I've heard—and I mean no one—has illuminated the sentiments in this song more clearly, simply, and unexpectedly than Willie Nelson. This is an album for all fans of well-executed art. It is also an excellent album for the drive from L.A. to Vegas.
8. "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, The Cowboy Junkies, The Trinity Sessions
Margo Timmins doesn't so much sing as she prays to a long-vanished god to release her from pain. This song redefines haunting, which is what singing cowboys like Hank Williams, Sr. are all about. Hank would approve. You will, too.
9. "One For My Baby," Ida Lupino, from the film Road House
You saw the Bette Midler version on Johnny's farewell show? Bully for you. This one blows it out of the water. Not that we don't adore the Divine Miss M, cover queen supreme ("Lullaby of Broadway!" "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy!") But where Bette was sweet, heartfelt and tender, Ida burned a hole through the screen with a smoldering desire I've not since the likes of since. Not, alas, available anywhere that I've found. You'll have to scare up a copy of the film at your idiosyncratic video store or wait for serendipity to introduce you to this gem on the Late, Late Show.
10. "R-E-S-P-E-C-T," Aretha Franklin, The Blues Brothers Soundtrack
The only person who could best Aretha with this song is the Queen of Soul herself. Sure, her original (cover) rocks: it is the seminal sista battle-cry. It is powerful, moving and true. And boy oh boy, can you dance to it. (In fact, if you don't own Aretha's Gold or one of the many discs with the song on it, get moving!) So what's better? Watching—and hearing—Sister 'Re re-do and refine the magic in one of the best production numbers put on film. Yes, you can buy the album. But rent the movie, fast-forward to the cafe scene and keep your finger on the rewind button.
Honorable mentions:
"Mack the Knife"—Ella Fitzgerald, Ella in Berlin
Bobby Darin did the definitive modern version of this darkly comic showtune in his swinging, Sinatra-influenced style, but Ella edges him out—even as she pays homage—with her adorable (not to mention extensive) mid-song ad lib of a forgotten lyric.
"Johnny One Note," Anita O’Day, Verve—Jazz Masters 49
Well, there had to be one singin' showstopper on the list. Miss O'Day swings, and swings hard. She blows off the entire intro and I couldn't care less. What's left is pure gold. Now there's a broad I could put away a few bourbons with.
"I Heard It Through The Grapevine," Gladys Knight and the Pips, various discs
CCR produced a lot of good songs. Marvin Gaye did a great job with this one. But my money's on Gladys' take-no-prisoners, Sister 'Re-style gospel wail.
"Cry Me A River," Julie London—Julie Is Her Name
The great pouty-white-girl cover of all time. Originally written for the smoky blues diva, Dinah Washington (who ended up covering it, and well), "Cry Me A River" qualifies as a cover even though Julie ended up with first crack at it. Why? Even with her tiny, heavily-mic'd voice, the girl hit it out of the park. Very "lounge," yet somehow, not kitsch.
"Black Coffee,"—kd Lang, Shadowland
With her rich, velvety tones, she almost makes us forget the legions of pussycat vixens and bourbon-etched crooners who torched it up before her. Somehow, the Sapphic spin lang adds to this wholly hetero love cry adds to the thrill and makes this a love battle cry for the ages. Oh, kd, do it again! Patsy's old producer, Owen Bradley, oversaw this lushly produced confection, and boy oh boy, does it show.
"Stand By Your Man," Lyle Lovett Lyle Lovett and His Large Band
Such a delightful prank it almost seems smug, this is still a fine cover based on its musical merits alone. And it was a delightfully groundbreaking take back in the day.
"The Hallelujah Chorus," The Roches—Keep On Doing; We Three Kings (their Christmas album)
The close harmony of these three New Jersey sisters has illuminated any number of old songs, but Handel? Look at it this way: now you can skip that annual pilgrimage to hear The Messiah. As my mother used to say, "It's a long way to go for one 'Hallelujah Chorus.'"
"Sweet Jane," The Cowboy Junkies, The Trinity Sessions
I heard them do this song live at the Park West in Chicago and by the end of it, I thought I was high on horse. Gives the word "languid" new meaning.
"Cocaine," Jackson Browne, Running On Empty
A blues tune originally conceived by the Rev. Gary Davis as, one can only assume, a cautionary tale, Browne—with a few lyrical additions—turned it into a matter-of-fact manifesto—nay, celebration of road life. Part of an excellent concept album about life on the road for a rock-and-roll band, you can almost hear the band of strung-out musicians picking out a tune through their druggy haze on this track. Apparently, if you catch him in concert these days, Jackson's doing the rehab version.
"My Way," Sid Vicious, Sid Vicious and Friends
If you've seen Sid & Nancy or were cognizant in the 70s, you know why. If not, see Sid & Nancy, Hey, it's new millenium--what else are your options?
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cwainwright
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Member: Colleen Wainwright
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Reviews written: 27
Trusted by: 29 members
About Me:
Call me 'the communicatrix.'
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