Cover Songs That Really Took You By Surprise..

Horace Andy has a few. I like the "groove" on this one more than Paul Simon's version.

 

Four guys from Vermont bring the funk to a Stevie Wonder tune. Badass. At about the 6 minute mark, Trey decides to take this out for a walk...seriously epic...


Phish

 

Well..Willie wrote always on my mind..would that still be a cover?

 

It doesn't sound like Devo and it doesn't sound like typical Rage Against The Machine: Rage Against The Machine "Beautiful World"



Devo's original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3MxuDk7wqo

 

Steve Albini did a wonderful pulverizing version of James Brown's "The Payback" via his old band Big Black's "The Big Payback" (at 54:34 of this album video):



James Brown original: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IST6qRfVqwY

 

Another great Yusef (Cat Stevens) cover right here. Labelle flipped me out when I heard this:

 

The version of "On Broadway" that really shocked me was Neil Young's:

 

If you think that's good, wait until you hear them do Nirvana's "Stay Away":

 

You Can't Do That by Harry Nilsson.

 

Here's an excellent cover of Harry Nilsson's "Turn on Your Radio" by Marc Cohn. He throws in a bit of The Beatles for good measure:

 

"Always on My Mind" was written by Johnny Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson.

 

johnny winter doing Dylan's highway 61 revisited

 

''Cold Sweat'' James Brown cover by John Mellencamp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTsqu_rQucY

 

Wow, thanks for the correction..I really thought it was a willie tune.

 

Graham Parker does The Jackson 5! It totally threw me for a loop when I first heard it.

 

This is gorgeous

 

you are right..not typical of either...

 

You ain't kidding!

 

Totally new to me..and amazing.

 

ah, brings me back to my college days..this was on the walkman..as a casette.

 

I don't know what to say! Surprisingly good.

 

A cover of "Be my baby" without repeating the drums pattern? you may like it or not, but, this band was brave enought to try it. Good result in my opinion, I was becoming tired of the original one till I found this:

 

I remember being amazed by the Cardigans' "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" when it first came out -- just really fresh and invigorating and perfect for the times it was in...total opposite of the original but still very true to it....

 

This version of Dolly Parton doing "Stairway to Heaven" is a real surprise.

I looked up a live version on YouTube and noticed she wrote(?) some additional lyrics for the end:

And as we walk on down the road
Our shadows longer than our souls,
All that glitters is not gold
Wanna be a rock and not a roll
Oh, the great almighty dollar leaves you lonely, lost and hollow
You can't fool yourself forever
You gotta work to get to heaven
Stairway to heaven.
If we listen and hold fast
To every question that we asked
The truth will come to us at last
And she's buying a stairway to heaven

 

Nouvelle Vague's cover of Dead Kennedys: