Covering My Fifteen Favorite Covers

A lot of people don't like it when people cover songs. Usually they're fans of the original and don't think anyone can do it better/do it justice. Often they're right. There are incredibly unnecessary covers (see anything that Britney Spears has covered) and some that are simply better than the originals, whether it be because they're done by someone with a superior voice or even just the tone of their particular interpretation of the song; emotion counts for a lot, especially when the song isn't yours. I love covers, especially well-done covers, the ones that make me forget someone else sang it or that make me appreciate a certain song all over again because someone found a new way to do it. And there are covers that have introduced me to singers that I'd never even heard of, which creates that weird space where you hear the cover before you've ever heard the original. Well, these are my fifteen favorite covers. Because I couldn't pick just ten. The order isn't important, really, but the number one is my favorite out of all of them.

15. "It's a Man's Man's Man's World," Seal (originally by James Brown)

You can't really ever beat James Brown, let's be honest. Sure, he was crazy in his personal life, but we'd be missing so much great music if he hadn't been around. People not only cover his songs but the beats from his songs have been sampled over and over and over again to make new music. He's always going to be there.

I always feel like this is an underrated James Brown song, even though most people know it. It's nothing like the "normal" James Brown, the "Papa Don't Take No Mess" James Brown. This is sweeping, soulful, epic ballad James Brown. The song has been called chauvinistic and derided, sure (it's lyrics were actually written by a woman, Betty Ann Newsome, to reflect her feelings on the relationship between the sexes), and it can be seen as an overtly chauvinistic statement. But hearing Seal belt this out, with the soaring strings and brass, that seems to fade away. When I hear Seal sing this song, I feel like he's ashamed of the fact that it's a man's world, and while he is listing all of man's achievements (electricity, cars, etc.), when he says it would mean nothing without a woman or a girl, it's like he's saying "but none of this would have been possible without YOU." He reveres the woman, where James Brown simply wanted a woman by his side because all of the money, fame, whatever, was pointless unless he could have a woman to share it with. At least, that's how I interpret it. Whatever your interpretation, Seal is amazing. End of story.

14. "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want," She & Him (originally by The Smiths)

I'm a huge fan of She & Him, so I'm biased. But I'm also a sucker for women covering songs originally performed by men. It's refreshing and offers a new point-of-view. A song that was once whiny and overbearing can become wistful and raw with emotion. That's not to imply that the original version of song is whiny and overbearing, because I love The Smiths and I love that version of this song, but Zooey Deschanel's voice just drips with so much aching sadness and longing, you can't help but fall in love with her. It humanizes the song in a way that Morrissey's voice just can't, and that's why it's here.

13. "New Age," Tori Amos (originally by Velvet Underground)

Tori Amos covers a variety of songs, from every genre. She's covered everything from Public Enemy and Eminem to Radiohead and Joe Jackson. She possesses the ability to inhabit a character and sing a song from the perspective of that character. She's not fucking around, in other words.

This particular cover is from her Strange Little Girls album, which a lot of people mocked at the time for including a cover of Eminem's "'97 Bonnie & Clyde" (which I thought was brilliant) and Slayer's "Raining Blood" (also brilliant). Some of the covers were questionable or just poorly executed, like her version of "Happiness Is a Warm Gun;" she should've just stuck to the piano instead of layering news clips and gunshots all over her vocals. But this song, "New Age," is perfect. It opens the record and really sets the tone for what we're about to hear. This particular version of the song is from a live performance in 1969; the "original" original didn't include most of the lyrics heard in this cover. And that actually makes her version of the song more her own and more unique, because it's not the "New Age" most people know. Tell me you don't want to start yelling with her towards the end when she sings, "All you little sick little fucks!" Just tell me you don't.

12. "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)," Placebo (originally by Kate Bush)

This probably isn't everyone's cup of tea. But then, neither Kate Bush or Placebo are everyone's cup of tea, so that's kinda perfect, huh? I love Kate Bush, but her songs tend to outlive her influence and become better when others sing them. She has a unique voice, but it's a thin voice. The driving beat on this version of the song, coupled with Brian Molko's voice, which is ethereal and creepy but also oddly sad, makes it a winner. It builds to a climax that serves the song better than Kate Bush's original arrangement, which I think tends to be weighed down in that "'80s Sound." You know what I mean. It's dated, and I think this version holds up in a way that her version just doesn't. The lyrics match the overall sonic tone Placebo establishes with the driving drum beat and the tweaky little synth sounds that stay consistent throughout the whole song. It's a song with a beginning, a middle and an end, and it offers the rare(r) chance to see a male vocalist covering a female vocalist's song, adding a level of masculinity and confusion to the lyric that you don't get when you hear Kate sing it.

11. "Train in Vain," Annie Lennox (originally by The Clash)

Annie Lennox could sing the dictionary to me and I would be in awe, let's just say that and get it out of the way, right? To turn a song by The Clash, a punk rock establishment, into a soul song that evokes early Aretha Franklin, is a brilliant step. This song is from Annie's cover record, Medusa, which, like Tori's Strange Little Girls, was an album of songs originally performed by men, offering the female perspective. Annie also covered "A Thin Line Between Love & Hate" and "Downtown Lights" and "Waiting in Vain" and "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and...well, they're all great, but this has always been my favorite from that album. This is a brilliant cover. Brilliant, because it completely changes the tone and intent of the original song until it sounds like something altogether new, and does it well.

10. "Willin'," Linda Ronstadt (originally by Little Feat)

I remember the first time I heard this song back in the early-90s, around the time the movie The Abyss came out, and this song was featured in it. The characters sing this version of the song while they're working in the subs underwater. It was many years before I knew what the hell the song was about, though. But when I did understand the lyrics (and what the hell "weed, whites and wine" meant), I appreciated it even more.

The original is perfect already, mainly due to Lowell George being a genius, but Linda, like the other women I've already mentioned, makes the song her own and gives it a new heft. A woman singing about smuggling cigarettes and people over on a tractor-trailer? Count me in. She gives it a sense of longing and sympathy that the original version doesn't have. When you hear her sing the lines, "And I've been from Tuscon to Tucumcari/Tehachapi to Tonopah/Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made/Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed," you believe it.

9. "Houses," Vetiver (originally by Elyse Weinberg)

Vetiver is one of my favorite bands. Andy Cabic has a clean, relaxed tone to his voice and is one of those people who escapes into the song they're singing. That's all well and good, but when you do it with someone else's song, I think that's an admirable skill. "Houses" fits the style of Vetiver so well, it's hard to believe it's not their song. Everything about it screams "Vetiver." The lazy rhythm, Andy's casual voice, the electric guitar licks...exactly what I expect from them. I originally wanted to put their cover of Garland Jeffreys' "Lon Chaney" in this spot (they're both songs from their 2008 album Things of the Past) but, since I wanted to include a clip of the cover songs for reference, and I couldn't find the Vetiver version of "Lon Chaney," I opted for this instead. But really, just get that album. Every cover they did on that album could be on this list.

8. "The World's Greatest," Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (originally by R. Kelly)

Tell me this isn't brilliant. No one owns a cover like Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (aka Will Oldham...or is it aka Bonnie 'Prince' Billy? Whatever...) and he makes this song HIS. The amazing thing with this cover is that the original was an overproduced, self-fellating "anthem" performed by R. Kelly. It took itself too seriously. When Will sings this song, he is able to make himself endearing and almost adorable. You're rooting for him because, by god, he IS the world's greatest! One of the rare examples of a cover far exceeding the original.

7. "Hallelujah," Jeff Buckley (originally by Leonard Cohen)

Now I love Leonard Cohen, but he's not a "singer." I love HIS versions of HIS songs that HE wrote, but I find that when people cover his songs, they always make them into something Leonard can't. Leonard is a helluva songwriter and he's an amazing man, but he could never sing this song like Jeff Buckley did.

"Hallelujah"'s been covered by everyone. Two of the more memorable covers are by John Cale (which is the version Jeff's cover is based on) and Rufus Wainwright (who based his own cover on Jeff's cover). Jeff Buckley made this song a Jeff Buckley song. I consider it sacrilege to have never heard this version of the song, because Jeff sang this song like he had written it, and puts more emotion into the few minutes he spends on this song than most singers today put into an entire album.

6. "I Must Be in a Good Place Now," Vetiver (originally by Bobby Charles)

This is a summertime song. You know, those days when the sun is so bright and it's so hot that you want to do nothing but lie on the bank of a river and let yourself bake all afternoon. Again, it has that lazy little sway that makes Vetiver who they are, but it maintains the "vibe" that the original singer, Bobby Charles (who just passed away in January) intended it to have. And, on top of all of that, it's just a beautiful song with terrific, simple lyrics that are easy to remember. Sing along.

5. "One Man Guy," Rufus Wainwright (originally by Loudon Wainwright III)

This is an interesting cover because it's Rufus Wainwright covering a song by his dad. It's a completely different song in Loudon's hands than it becomes in the hands of Rufus, though both of them lend it a solitary, sad slant. Rufus's version, though, seems more vain than Loudon's. He gives it a heavier tone, a more self-centered tone. You still feel some empathy for this lonely, lonely man, but not quite as much as you'd feel for the normally jovial Loudon. Rufus's "character" has made his bed, and he sounds resigned to live his life out solo, perfectly alone. (Note: sorry for the video on this one...I couldn't find a version with just Rufus or a copy of the album version, so this is a video of Rufus, his sister Martha and Teddy Thompson singing the song).

4. "Come as You Are," Caetano Veloso (originally by Nirvana)

If you don't know who Caetano Veloso is, you're doing yourself a serious disservice. He's been called the Bob Dylan of Brazil, but I think he's better than Dylan to be honest. Even if I can't understand a lot of his songs (because of the language barrier), he is so emotive and passionate that you can't deny him. I am in love with this man. He is a patriarch of Latin folk music, a god among men. And then he did an album of covers, all in English, and holy shit: it wasn't a sell-out project; it was amazing! And this cover is one of the best from A Foreign Sound. Who would expect a Brazilian folk singer in his 60s to cover Nirvana? Not me. But I'm so glad he did.

3. "You've Really Got a Hold on Me," She & Him (originally by The Miracles)

Zooey and Matt, at again. Really, most of what I said before about "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" holds true here: Zooey Deschanel makes this song more feminine and airy than it has ever been. This song has been through many transformations since it was first released in 1963. The Beatles covered it, the Supremes covered it, the Temptations covered it, Mickey Gilley covered it and a myriad of others have covered it, as well. So that's a lot of influences flying at you when you record a song like this. And this version doesn't sound like any other version of this song that I've heard. It's simple, and in its simplicity lies its beauty.

2. "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," Johnny Cash with Nick Cave (originally by Hank Williams)

No one has ever done a better version of this song, at least not since Hank Williams first sang it. Johnny covered this song years ago in the 60s, and there's even a version with Johnny and Bob Dylan, but it has never been better than this duet with Nick Cave.

Johnny Cash did a lot of covers, especially once he started working with Rick Rubin in the 90s. The most famous one is probably his cover of "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails, but I think this is better, to be frank. It's so painfully simple and bare, and honestly has brought me to tears on occasion for no other reason than it is one of the saddest songs ever written. Add to that Johnny's shivery voice and Nick's almost consoling tone, and you've got a piece of work.

1. "This Woman's Work," Maxwell (originally by Kate Bush)

This is an example of a song that, while a reinterpretation, sonically mirrors the original in a lot of ways. Maxwell's falsetto (and the fact that he maintains it for almost the entire song) is almost indistinguishable from Kate's original vocals at some points. The difference here is really the way the song's meaning changes. Whereas in Kate's hands it is a song about confronting adulthood head-on, and the impending birth of a child (it was written for the John Hughes movie She's Having a Baby in the mid-80s), in Maxwell's hands it becomes a song about a man lavishing praise on the mother of his child, professing love and admiration despite hard times. It's a beautiful transition and he's probably one of the few male singers who can make this work the way he does, falsetto and all. Which is why Maxwell is not only one of the sexiest men EVER, he's also an incredible artist who rarely gets his due.

Well, that's it for now. I might make this a series this week: lists of my favorite kinds of songs. We'll see what I can conjure up for tomorrow. Go. Enjoy these songs. Now.