My Favorite Cover Songs

I haven't been writing much lately. As i have said before i have been very busy working on setting up my new office. Normal workload + new workload = less time and more stress. Stress is as bad for your muse as it is for your blood pressure and heart.

When you can't think of anything new you return to old topics and see if there is anything fresh there that you can work with. Of the topics i covered in the past one of my most popular posts was My Ten Favorite Songs so i thought i'd try a variation on that theme.
And without further adieu: My Favorite Cover Songs

A cover song doesn't need to be better than the original to make this list. To make this list a cover song needs to bring something new or strike a different note that resonates in a way the original did not. The point here is that these are cover songs that i like regardless of their actual merit.

Love Song covered by 311
This song makes the list merely because i like the original by the Cure so much. This could be my favorite song ever so even an inferior version is still good. This version has a light Caribbean feel to me but the reason i like it is that while i love the original the 311 version does not make me sad. I still feel pangs of lost love when i hear the Cure's Love Song, but have no such problem with the 311 cover.

Enjoy the Silence by Lacuna Coil
Again we have another remake that makes the list based on the strength of the original. Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode is another of the songs that invokes powerful feelings of the past in me for the same reasons Love Song does. Depeche Mode was introduced to me by Jenny so my feelings about the band are intertwined with my feelings about the girl.
The Lacuna Coil cover has more of a heavy and modern feel. When i hear it i still feel how strong the song is but it doesn't feel trapped in the past; or maybe it is just me that feels trapped sometimes.

Every Little Thing He Does is Magic by Shawn Colvin
There are not a lot of good memories i have of working third shift at Scotts in college, but this song is one of them. Scotts was unwilling to pay the royalties associated with popular songs by popular acts so they frequently had cover songs. This was the best of them.
Shawn Colvin's cover of this Police song puts an acoustic twist on the original. Combined with the sweetness of Ms. Colvins voice this song was often the highlight of my miserable third shift life.

Ring of Fire by Social Distortion
I am not much of a punk fan but occasionally there is a song i like put out by a punk band, not that they care if i like it or not, not that they care if you like it or not, not that they care that anyone likes it at all for that matter.
The funny thing about this song is that for years i loved the original Johnny Cash version, complete with its mariachi horns. But it turns out that Johnny's version is a cover of Anita Carter, Johnny's sister in law. June had written for her sister who released it to little acclaim. Mr. Cash would later go on to great success with this ditty and eventually Social Distortion would cover it. The Social Distortion version lacks the mariachi horns.

Hurt by Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash is likely the only artist to appear twice on this list which is a little odd given that i generally dislike country music. Johnny Cash transcends country music and this song transcends its Nine Inch Nails source. I like Trent Reznor and no one does Nine inch Nails better than Trent, but Johnny Cash does this song better. Mr. Cash conveys an honesty and earnestness that the original lacks. Johnny Cash's version makes me hurt.

Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) by Nancy Sinatra
Sonny Bono wrote this song for Cher. She released it in 1966. In 1967 Nancy Sinatra would release her cover. There is a reason Quinten Tarentino chose the Nancy Sinatra version over Cher's. (And it is not because Cher is a bitch.) Nancy's version is a classic and Cher's will win you a game of Trivial Pursuit.

Smooth Criminal by Alien Ant Farm
This is the song that inspired this post. As i was watching American Pie 2 tonight i heard this song. I really like this song, but i love the video. Alien Ant Farm manages to send up Michael Jackson's video excesses in a way that is not derogatory or mocking of the source.
Michael's version is a classic, if you doubt it watch Moonwalker again. Alien Ant Farm's version is a fine tribute to a great song and a formerly great artist.

Putting on the Ritz by Shiny Toy Guns
This song is a cover of a cover, near as i can tell. STG is covering the Taco cover of the Irving Berlin originally written and recorded in 1929.
As good as this version is, you have not heard it until it is being sung to you in an attempt to seduce you. That puts a completely different spin on the song and that is the reason it was selected for this list over STG's cover of Stripped by Depeche Mode even though i do so much prefer Carah's songs to Chad's.

Well, nine hundred and fifty words and nine cover songs ought to be enough for now.

Later

Bob