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Cover Me Impressed
With a focus on the 60's-90's music scene, CMI is a Paradiso for Lovers Cover Songs! Each post focuses on a particular song and provides its original and most popular recordings as well as covers versions. Patrons of CMI vote on the most deserving cover version, which will then live to compete again, battling other cover songs in a future post.
Bands, musicians, troubadours, and their ilk, submit your cover songs for future CMI competitions.
CMI welcomes the opportunity to introduce new artists.
Contact RDubbs at RDubbsTunage@gmail.com
Music Genres?
We've Got 'em Covered ...
Rock / Alt-Rock / Rock 'n Roll / Rockabilly / Indie Pop / New Wave / Old Wave / Surf / Reggae / Ska / Punk Rock / Psychobilly / Cowpunk / Alt-Country / Bluegrass / Folk / Croon-Tunes / A Cappella / Motown / Gospel / Blues / Rhythm & Blues / Jazz / Big Band / Lounge / Classical / Celtic / Bossa Nova / Worldbeat / Show Tunes / Cartoons / Bizarro / Musical Calamities
Almost sacrilege to cover this song. But a few luminaries have taken it on …
Bob Dylan vs. Beck vs. Michael Stipe
Bob Dylan:
Beck:
Michael Stipe:
Michael Stipe opening for Patti Smith … nice lineup …
SPACE
Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. It is your solemn responsibility to decide which cover song prevails. In other words … Which Side Are You On!??!
Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.
Oh Look Out You Rock ‘n’ Rollers, Pretty Soon You’re Gonna Get Older…
What could you say? Last night we lost an icon, innovator, genius. David Bowie will surely be long remembered as one of the most talented, creative and bizarre musicians of our lifetime!
Enjoy a bevy of tributes to David Bowie. The styles and genres of these cover songs are as diverse as the man himself.
Absolute Beginners
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Carla Bruni:
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Ashes to Ashes
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Paul Dempsey:
Hezekiah Jones:
Happy Rhodes:
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All the Young Dudes
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Billy Bragg & Jill Sobule:
World Party:
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Changes
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Echo and the Bunnymen with Sharleen Spiteri:
The Illinois State University’s Clef Hangers:
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Heroes
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Magnetic Fields:
The Coal Porters:
Nico:
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It Ain’t Easy
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Hazel:
Kelly Hogan & Robbie Fulks:
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Jean Genie
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Camp Freddy:
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Kooks
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Brett Smiley:
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Life on Mars
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Robyn Hitchcock:
Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain:
And of course it would not be a proper tribute without … ABBA!!!:
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Moonage Daydream
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J. Hell:
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Oh You Pretty Things
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Jun Jun Clinic:
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Rebel Rebel
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Iggy Pop & Lenny Kravitz:
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Sound and Vision
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Beck:
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Space Oddity
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Real-Life Astronaut, Commander Chris Hadfield:
(Shatner cannot be happy over this infringement of his territory!)
John Otway:
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Starman
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of Montreal:
Arcadian Walnut:
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Under Pressure
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Flaming Lips:
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Watch that Man
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The Fur Ones:
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Ziggy Stardust
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Def Leppard:
Massacre:
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A Late Addition
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“Life on Mars” happens to be one of my favorite Bowie songs. So when I saw this interesting rendition, I just had to add it to the tribute. Reminds me of the classic Procol Harem church scene in “The Commitments”.
By the way, if anyone has a favorite Bowie cover that is not included then please let me know. If possible I will add it.
Nicholas Freestone (organ scholar at St Albans Cathedral in Hertfordshire):
The Commitments: Jimmy Rabbitte (Robert Arkins) and Steven ‘Soul Surgeon’ Clifford (Michael Ahern):
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Another Late Addition
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This next video is proof-positive of just how cool David Bowie was. From The Cher Show, Bowie and Cher begin a set collaborating on Young Americans, which is weird enough. But things turn completely bizarre as Young Americans morphs into a very long medley of bad songs. Bowie had to be suppressing laughter throughout yet on the exterior appears way-cool to the nth degree. Now I ask you, how many musicians could have pulled this off without looking completely ridiculous?
David Bowie on The Cher Show (November 23rd 1975):
I’ve been a Puppet, a Pauper, a Pirate, a Poet, a Broccoli Man …
Here’s a nice and cheery TGIF song. Heroin was first released in 1967 on the self-titled album, The Velvet Underground & Nico. Coming in at over seven minutes long, the song changes tempos from slow to fast to frenetic before reverting back to slow to begin the cycle anew. This turbulent process imitates in a very effective way, the anticipation, the high and ultimately the frenzy of a heroin trip. There’s been much debate as to what Lou Reed was trying to convey about heroin in the song. Many critics assailed it for supposedly glorifying the use of heroin. But Reed claimed the song neither glorified or condemned the use of heroin; it sought only to portray the effect of the drug as closely as possible. In Reed’s words “Heroin is very close to the feeling you get from smack. It starts on a certain level, it’s deceptive. You think you’re enjoying it. But by the time it hits you, it’s too late. You don’t have any choice. It comes at you harder and faster and it keeps on coming. The song is everything but the real thing.” Music critic, Mark Deming, of AllMusicconcluded, “While Heroin hardly endorses drug use, it doesn’t clearly condemn it, either, which made it all the more troubling in the eyes of many listeners.”
Heroin is one of The Velvet Underground’s most influential compositions. In 2004, Rolling Stone placed it #455 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In addition, Heroin is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
The Original
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The Velvet Underground & Nico:
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THE CLASH of Cover Tunes
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Beck vs. The Vitamin String Quartet
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Beck:
The Vitamin String Quartet:
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Oh the disharmony! Much like Harlan County there are no neutrals here. Only one cover tune will live to play another day and it is your solemn responsibility to decide which one prevails. So tell me … Which Side Are You On?!!?
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Votes can be cast up to three months from the day and time of the original post.
Disclaimer: Votes cast from Florida may or may not be counted.
And In My Hour of Need, I Truly Am Indeed, Alone Again, Broccoli …
Singles are cover songs without a mate (or, for CMI’s purposes, an opponent). My dedicated team and I have diligently searched through our impeccable resources and have come to the conclusion that these particular songs were covered only once. Oh, in some instances, we may have found a cover by a pseudo-musician (think Billy Joel or, gulp, an unfortunate equivalent) but we’ll have none of that here at CMI! You may ask, why would a band cover a song so obscure that no other legitimate group is interested in also doing so? Well let me put it this way: How the hell should I know? But I do have a few of these rarities in my database and it is now part of your solemn responsibility to listen to them. No competition on this day. Rather unabashed reverence, reflection and repose. Enjoy …
cover me impressed 