Favorite covers of other people's music
Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2011 1:25 pm
What are some of your favorite cover songs?
Some musician's do straight forward covers, but I like when an artist takes someone else's music and makes it their own.
Tori Amos' cover of Eminem's '97 Bonnie and Clyde
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7YxrYKQBP8
(Eminem's original version)
Tori Amos started Rape Abuse and Incest Nation Network (RAINN) and is an outspoken feminist. You can imagine that Eminem's misogynistic fantasy about a man that murders his wife and runs off with their daughter rubbed Tori the wrong way. But where others have protested and tried to ban Eminem's music, Tori just took it and reappropriated it. Where Eminem's version is tongue in cheek and comical enough that you might roll along with his actions, Tori digs into the disturbed nature of it and makes it clear that this is someone clearly not right in the head. In so doing, her rendition is much more frightening and suggests you might want to think a little deeper about the misogyny and insanity behind the beats that you bob your head to when listening to rap music like Eminem's.
Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ ... ure=fvwrel
(Trent Reznor's original version)
"Hurt" was always one of my favorite NIN songs. It is so intensely personal that I never thought anyone could cover it successfully. But Johnny Cash has something Trent Reznor doesn't: age. When Cash sings this song he brings with it his long and varied life with a somewhat checkered past. The lyrics suddenly take on a new meaning and weight. In my mind these are two different and distinct songs now, each one about a different person. Reznor owns one. Cash owns the other.
Venetian Snares featuring Billie Holiday's cover of Rezső Seress' Gloomy Sunday (aka The Hungarian Suicide Song)Öngyilkos Vasárnap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAHjsMgq ... re=related
(Rezső Seress' original version)
(Billie Holiday's version)
This is one of the most covered songs in music history due to the legends that surround it. Supposedly the song was banned from the radio after a wave of people committed suicide after hearing its sad melody. There are many wonderful covers of this song, but my favorite is the Venetian Snares remix of the Billie Holiday cover. It just shows how timeless this song is that it was originally released in 1933 and now it has been re-imagined as something with breakbeats, strings, and jazz vocals all at once.
Some musician's do straight forward covers, but I like when an artist takes someone else's music and makes it their own.
Tori Amos' cover of Eminem's '97 Bonnie and Clyde
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7YxrYKQBP8
(Eminem's original version)
Tori Amos started Rape Abuse and Incest Nation Network (RAINN) and is an outspoken feminist. You can imagine that Eminem's misogynistic fantasy about a man that murders his wife and runs off with their daughter rubbed Tori the wrong way. But where others have protested and tried to ban Eminem's music, Tori just took it and reappropriated it. Where Eminem's version is tongue in cheek and comical enough that you might roll along with his actions, Tori digs into the disturbed nature of it and makes it clear that this is someone clearly not right in the head. In so doing, her rendition is much more frightening and suggests you might want to think a little deeper about the misogyny and insanity behind the beats that you bob your head to when listening to rap music like Eminem's.
Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ ... ure=fvwrel
(Trent Reznor's original version)
"Hurt" was always one of my favorite NIN songs. It is so intensely personal that I never thought anyone could cover it successfully. But Johnny Cash has something Trent Reznor doesn't: age. When Cash sings this song he brings with it his long and varied life with a somewhat checkered past. The lyrics suddenly take on a new meaning and weight. In my mind these are two different and distinct songs now, each one about a different person. Reznor owns one. Cash owns the other.
Venetian Snares featuring Billie Holiday's cover of Rezső Seress' Gloomy Sunday (aka The Hungarian Suicide Song)Öngyilkos Vasárnap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAHjsMgq ... re=related
(Rezső Seress' original version)
(Billie Holiday's version)
This is one of the most covered songs in music history due to the legends that surround it. Supposedly the song was banned from the radio after a wave of people committed suicide after hearing its sad melody. There are many wonderful covers of this song, but my favorite is the Venetian Snares remix of the Billie Holiday cover. It just shows how timeless this song is that it was originally released in 1933 and now it has been re-imagined as something with breakbeats, strings, and jazz vocals all at once.
