What’s a ‘cover version’? According to wikipedia: ‘In popular music a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song.’ That’s straightforward enough, in which case the greatest cover is Wichita Lineman, written by Jimmy Webb and recorded by, among many others, Glen Campbell. Wichita Lineman is, of course, arguably, the greatest song ever written, too. How many other songs have an entire,and quite brilliant, book written about them? But what makes a great cover version great? That’s in the ear of the beholder, too, so what follows are opinions which I firmly believe in.
A general rule, although there are exceptions as I shall explain, is that the artist covering a song offers something new, something different, something perhaps unique, the make that song their own. Yet there are some covers which bear a close resemblance to the original song that are still brilliant.
Some covers just don’t cut it for me. The otherwise admirable Christians’ version of Harvest for the World is surely the most pointless cover of all time. You can hear it isn’t the Isley Brothers, but the band makes zero effort to bring something new to to the table. Perhaps, they just loved the song – and how could you not? – and just fancied singing, playing and recording it, or maybe there were other motives at play, the Simon Cowell X Factor/Britain’s Got Talent formula for choosing a very well known, often great, song which with the show’s plugging can virtually guarantee a hit record? Hell, that’s what acts, particularly manufactured acts, have done for years. Think the Monkees, whose ultimately stellar career was built on singing, and sometimes playing on, other people’s songs. And think, for example, Neil Diamond’s I’m A Believer.
There are the covers which many people believe are better than the original, like Joe Cocker’s incredible version of The Beatles’ With A Little Help From My Friends and the Jimi Hendrix cover of Bob Dylan’s All Along The Watchtower. For this blog, I’m going to dig slightly deeper. This is an off-the-top-of-my-head collection, not a definitive list, so doubtless as soon as I have published this blog, I will find some startling omissions. But for now, I shall go with these songs and I hope you enjoy reading about and listening to them.
- Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) by The Doobie Brothers. In 1975, the Doobies released a killer album of largely original songs, called Stampede. The one exception was this Holland, Dozier, Holland Motown classic. They turned it into something very different and very beautiful, a kind of hybrid rock and soul song, with Tom Johnston’s blue eyed soul voice combining with a superb rock groove. The guitar solo around two thirds through is a classic of the genre.
- ‘Cello Song by Fontaines D.C. The Endless Coloured Ways: The Songs of Nick Drake is a 2023 compilation album by various artists serving as a tribute to English folk musician Nick Drake. At the top of the list is this brilliant interpretation of ‘Cello Song by Irish rockers Fontaines D.C. Everything a great cover should be and more.
- Stand By Me by John Lennon. In 1962, Ben E. King released a great album called Don’t Play That Song. The stand out track was this song, which he wrote with Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller. I didn’t think it could be improved upon until Lennon recorded it for his 1975 covers album Rock ‘N Roll. I think Lennon was the greatest rock and roll singer of all time.
- Harvest Moon by Poolside. Again, how could you improve upon perfection? I’m not saying the American popular beat combo outfit have improved it but this version, from their 2012 album Pacific Standard Time goes very close.
- Tumbling Dice by Linda Ronstadt. Few artists were as good as covering other people’s songs as Ronstadt and this one of The Rolling Stones’ classic from 1972’s Exile On Main Street illustrates her brilliance. It’s not too different from the original, but it’s wonderful in its own right. The opening line, “People try to rape me” was not the original lyric, though. Ronstadt changed that bit.
- I Heard It Through The Grapevine by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Most covers of the Marvin Gaye classic have verged on the sacreligious, but this one, 11 minutes of classic soul converted to swamp music, is staggering. Comes from the 1970 album Cosmo’s Factory.
- Too Much Monkey Business by Bruce Hornsby. From 2022’s ‘Flicted, this is a quite wonderful update of the Chuck Berry song. Beats the original IMHO.
- Junior’s Farm by Steve Miller. This is SO Steve Miller, even though it’s a Macca classic. It’s taken from the 2014 album The Art Of McCartney on which artists cover various Macca and Beatles songs. It’s not that different from the original, but it’s definitely a top version.
- This Guy’s In Love With You by Herb Alpert. It’s stretching it a bit, I reckon, to call this a cover because all the great man Herb did was to record Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s beautiful song, but a British singer, Danny Williams, had released it on his own album before this version came out in 1968. For all his great trumpet playing, this is surely the great man’s greatest song?
- Hello Hooray by Alice Cooper. I had no idea that this tune, from Alice’s classic Billion Dollar Babies LP from 1972, was not an original. Instead it was written by Rolf Kempf and first recorded by Judy Collins in 1968. How on Earth did Alice get the idea to cover this? I’m glad he did.
My list goes far longer than the ten songs I’ve shared with you, my loyal reader, and I know you can’t have too much of a good thing. I just don’t have the time today.
Hope you find some music you like here. What’s your favourite cover version?
