Cover Songs

What makes a great cover tune? The general criteria I've read before, which I tend to agree with, is that a great cover should evoke the feeling or attitude of the original yet sound unique, as if it were part of the covering artist's own catalog. This is easier said than done. Most cover songs pale in comparison to the originals, often copying the style, tone, and lyrics exactly, yet possessing none of the original depth or feeling. Why would I want to listen to a remake that's a lame version of the original? The best cover songs, a rare breed indeed, sometimes surpass the originals and become more associated with the cover artist rather than the original. "Police & Thieves" by the Clash is a good example of this. Who remembers who wrote the original? (Junior Murvin, by the way...). The following are some of my favorites listed off the top of my head. There should be more to follow. Let me know if you agree...

Hüsker Dü - "Eight Miles High" (The Byrds)

If the merits of a cover song were be based purely on how much it surpasses the original in terms of emotive impact and power, then Hüsker Dü's version of "Eight Miles High" is the greatest ever recorded. I first heard this on a jukebox in the early '80's in a tiny bar called Downtown Beirut in New York City's Lower East Side. That same juke box had Divine's "Born To Be Cheap" (the first and only time I've ever seen it anywhere) and Flipper's "Brainwash", a "song" some of those in the know consider to be one of the most annoying of all time. I remember one night, my buddy Bob played it about 10 times in a row then drunkenly challenged anyone who dared complain to a fight. As one might surmise, Beirut had one of the more eclectic juke boxes I've ever come across over the years and "Eight Miles High" was, for me, the highlight track. Hüsker Dü took a trippy-dippy-hippy song with obscure lyrics allegedly about flying in airplanes and grey towns and forced it through a meat grinder at 300 MPH. Lead singer Bob Mould sounds like the microphone was two feet over his head and he had to scream up in the air at it as loud as he could. The guitars zoom through the song overloaded with feedback, yet still retain the originals catchiness. The original had an ethereal, detached quality to it (something unfortunately common among the flower power set back then) but Hüsker Dü turned that tone on it's head. "Eight Miles High" becomes a paranoid, primal scream-fest with fuzzed up guitars and drums driving the song thru a wall.

Annie Lennox - "Don't Let It Bring You Down" (Neil Young)

The original version of this song, from Young's 1972 depression-fest, After The Goldrush, is a contemplative, semi-hopeful piece about accepting loss and death and, hopefully, moving on from some unnamed tragedy. With Annie Lennox' much more deft vocal stylings, "Don't Let It Bring You Down" becomes, if not cheerful, at least way more hopeful. Part of this is due to the lovely arrangement, with it's subtle strings and backing vocals, but mostly it's because of Annie's delivery, which soars when necessary, but remains understated and clear even when she's singing about "dead men on the side of the road". The original, on the other hand, is comparatively stripped down and emotionally raw. Neil's delivery evokes weary acceptance, and, while it's not arriving at some inevitable dead-end, there's not a whole lot else to look forward to. While both are equally powerful, the feel of each rendition lies at opposite ends of the emotional spectrum. In Young's version, the bus full of orphans has already fallen off the cliff, everyone's dead and now it's time to pick up the pieces. In Lennox', the bus is teetering on the cliff but there's hope that Superman might still fly in and save the day. Both are worthy, but evoke utterly different moods.

Sid Vicious - "My Way" (Frank Sinatra)

How do you scream "I don't give a fuck" in a song and not actually say it? I'm not entirely sure, but this Sex Pistols cover of the Sinatra classic (written by Paul Anka) would be a good place to start answering that question. It's starts off with Sid Vicious purposely singing as off-key as his limited range will allow. After that follows a fairly straightforward, yet undeniably catchy, punk cover delivered by Sid in an exaggerated cockney accent. It's hard to deliver a song this corny, with it's self-absorbed, hyper-dramatic lyrics, convincingly and not get laughed off the stage, yet both succeed admirably for very different reasons. Sinatra did it because, well, he was Sinatra. He DID do it his way, at his own pace and he ran over anyone who got in his fucking way. He was the Chairman of the Board. When he sang about His Way, you just believed him. Sid Vicious, on the other hand, was essentially a semi-talented junkie, who only got into the Sex Pistols because he was best friends with lead singer Johnny Rotten. Despite his utter lack of talent Sid exuded - along with a touch of charisma - quite a "fuck you" attitude, which is evident in his delivery of "My Way". Sid doesn't care if you give a shit about him, his song or anything else. Hell, he sings about shooting up at one point. It's that attitude that carries the song and prevents it from veering into intentional (or worse, unintentional) parody. It's tragic, yet ironically appropriate, that after recording this he died of a heroin overdose shortly after allegedly murdering his junky girlfriend, Nancy Spungeon.

Metallica - "Last Caress" (The Misfits)

Metallica's taken this ghoulish, yet incredibly catchy, Glen Danzig punk-metal tune about rape and child murder and turned it into a driving, adrenaline-fueled heavy metal song about rape and child murder. There's no denying Metallica could play circles around the Misfits, as the obvious polish and better production of their version attests to. The original succeeds because of the catchy lyrics and hooks, and Danzig's brilliant vocals (of course, that can be said for a majority of Misfits songs) while Metallica's version is pure testosterone-filled, pump-your-fist-in-the-air metal. You want to sing along despite the horrific lyrics and the accompanying visuals they evoke. "Last Caress" is such a good song, you can make up your own horrible lyrics and it would still work: "I've got something to say, I drowned kittens today" works just as well as "..I killed your baby today". You get the idea. Try it, it's fun. To be continued...