I Got You Covered...

No, this is not me finally telling the tale of my time as a sharpshooter for the Midwestern Chapter of the ASPCA , that is a story for another day...No, I'm talking about cover songs. I was sitting in my office, playing some vicious air guitar to Derek & The Dominoes cover of Hendrix' 'Little Wing", and I had this thought: "Is there another song where the cover version and the original song, while vastly different, are both as kickass as "Little Wing" ?"

Now, I'm sure that there are, but I am having a hard time thinking of any. I did, however, come up with some of my all time favorite cover songs, and I thought that I would share them with you.

"Like A Virgin" -Lords Of the New Church- Stiv Bators really gets to the emotion of this song from a male perspective and...Oh who am I kidding, it's just damn funny.

"All Along The Watchtower"-Jimi Hendrix : The music matches the menace of Dylan's lyrics.

"I'm Easy"- Faith No More: Great version of this Commodores tune.

"Do You Wanna Dance ?","California Sun","Let's Dance","I Don't Wanna Grow Up"-The Ramones: Really, is there anything the Ramones don't make better ?

"My Way"- Sid Vicious- pure genius.

"Proud Mary"- Ike & Tina Turner: This one might be an answer to the "Little Wing" question. Ike & Tina take a great song by CCR and make it even better.

"When I Paint My Masterpiece","Good Morning, Little SchoolGirl","Morning Dew","Knockin' on Heaven's Door","You Win Again",etc:-The Grateful Dead: See Ramones above.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit"-Paul Anka: Sorry, I love this song. the Nirvana version is obviously better, but I still love this version.

"Ship Of Fools/Must Have Been The Roses"-Elvis Costello: Elvis covering the Grateful Dead,genius on top of genius. Great acoustic medley of these songs.

"My Ride's Here"-Bruce Springsteen: Bruce's tribute to Warren Zevon. Great tune, great version.

Edit: How could I forget ? Frank Zappa doing "Stairway To Heaven !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Okay, that's all I got for now. I know there are more, but I can't think of 'em right now. I'll have to come up with my list of the worst cover versions as well.


Now you tell me your favorites, why dontcha ?