Comments on: Can A Good Cover Rescue A Song From Drowning In Its Bad Production?

By: iantenna

iantenna — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 05:42:17 +0000

@kaate: west coast dude. check out johnny paycheck's "colorado kool-aid", awesome tune about race relations and beer drinking.

By: bcapirigi

bcapirigi — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 06:09:06 +0000

my father still breaks out the cocktail soundtrack anytime company comes over in the summer. still. as in, he didn't stop in 1989 and then revisit it 20 years later. it's been constant. since it came out. this cd has don't worry be happy on it, for christ's sake.

i just had to say that.

By: Kate Richardson

Kate Richardson — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 04:53:43 +0000

@iantenna: Oh my god, you made my evening. Amazing. Thank you. I love how Jimmy calls Coors Light "Colorado Kool-Aid."

If you live in NYC email me for sure. kate at idolator dot com.

By: ninety_nine

ninety_nine — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 05:10:39 +0000

It took several years (I’m a stoner, I forget Google exists, etc.) to find out the Buzzcocks are the progenitors of ‘Why Can’t I Touch It’, and I think it’s amazing in it’s own right, but the Lambchop cover (done to close shows a couple years back; haven’t heard it in some time) is stunning. Oh, and I love Dump (see below), but their cover of ‘It’s Not Alright’ is absolutely better.

And I don’t know if this post should just be a compendium of Yo La Tengo moments. Gates of Steel, Speeding Motorcycle, Oklahoma, USA, Nuclear War (and though I don’t know it is strictly speaking a cover, when they do Dreaming with members of Sun Ra, but it’s even better), and that’s just the obvious stuff.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:34:37 +0000

Nina Simone wrecks the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody."

Then again, she makes nearly every cover she does sound better than the original, so maybe she deserves a category of her own.

By: BakerStreetSaxSolo

BakerStreetSaxSolo — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:19:11 +0000

this thread could go on forever, there are hundreds of covers better than the original. I’ll add Al Green’s “How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?” (Bee Gees) to the list, and as much as I love Stevie Wonder, I can’t remember how his “Golden Lady” goes after hearing Jose Feliciano’s version.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 11:06:38 +0000

@Marth:

I don't know, I like both takes on "Heartbeats", but something about the original production by the Knife seems more interesting to me. Gonzales' cover is exquisite, to be sure, but turning a song acoustic and soothing seems a little trod to me now.

By: the earl grey

the earl grey — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:49:11 +0000

check out carl’s “long promised road’ on surfs up .

By: Kate Richardson

Kate Richardson — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:00:09 +0000

@iantenna: I think we could definitely be friends.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 06:27:04 +0000

@iantenna: Oooh, I haven't heard Roberta Flack's version of that song, I will have to look it up. Thank you for the suggestion.

After I wrote this I went home thinking about Roberta Flack, actually, and how her cover of "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" always makes me forget that Leonard Cohen exists. I get chills just thinking about the way she sang that song.