My all-time favorite cover tune. What's yours?

Posted over 2 years ago

Artist:

Devo
Album:

Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo
Track:
- PLAY
- QUEUE
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

My numero uno requirement for a band when they cover someone else's song is: Make it your own. That's what Devo did with "Satisfaction". The tempo is different, the rippin' bass line funks it up, it's almost entirely drums and bass, and Mothersbaugh has his way with the melody. When Hendrix did "All Along the Watchtower", he made it his own. When Sly did "Que Sera Sera", he made it his own. Lyle Lovett's version of "Friend of the Devil" is fantastic. When 10,000 Maniacs (sans Natalie Merchant) attempted to cover "More Than This", it wasn't that much different than Roxy Music's version, and they ended up with a more-than-disastrous musical train wreck. What's the point of singing someone else's tune if you're going to sing it like it's already been sung?

Comments (13)

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Kate says I wouldn't dare pick a favorite, but I do love Them's version of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", Caetano Veloso's cover of "Come As You Are" and Iggy Pop doing "Family Affair". I also avoid covers that sound exactly like the original :)

Permalink posted 07/20/2007
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dachmo says Big Devo fan here, I put up a post of a great cover. Not my favorite but two good, and different, songs in their own right.

Permalink posted 07/20/2007
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contrabandwidth says I have posted a near identical thought to this before. I agree, the cover-er has to own it. Although it gets a bit over played, Jeff Buckley's cover of "Hallelujah" would be at the top. I also love his cover of Van Morrison's "The Way Young Lovers Do." Check out this site, Cover Vs. Original.

Permalink posted 07/20/2007
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ZeppoNoir says Hmmm, at the moment my favorite cover is Walking The Cow by fIREHOSE, but I'd say a cover that may be at the top of my all time fave list is Soul Kitchen by X. They just rip that one up boyeeee!

Permalink posted 07/20/2007
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cpetersonart3 says I would say Frigid Pink's version of "House of the Rising Sun " made it a garage rock classic or Patti Smith's "Gloria "also did the same thing.

Permalink posted 07/20/2007
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soulrocket says good point & excellent choice. at the moment im digging the "19th whole" cover of "slippin' into darkness" a lot.

Permalink posted 07/21/2007
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PopeyePete says Love it! Spuds Unite!

Permalink posted 07/21/2007
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FastRMacR says "All Along The Watchtower" -that was my #1 choice. Jimi had this uncanny ability to make everything his own flavor. Did you ever hear his version of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"? I'm also real partial to his version of "Born Under A Bad Sign" off the Blues album -no finer bit of blues fretwork have I ever heard (play it nice and loud). I'll also put a vote in for Lennon's "Stand By Me" - he's got a great version of that classic. "Baby, Now That I've Found You", a 1967 hit by The Foundations, was done by Alison Krauss in 1995. She sings that song like it was written for her - just gorgeous vocals.

Permalink posted 07/21/2007
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FastRMacR says ..ok any cover Jimi Hendrix does of any blues tune. ..........no one like Johnny "Cash":http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmVAWKfJ4Go sings 'Hurt"

Permalink posted 07/21/2007
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fairportfan says Jason & the Scorchers - *Absolutely Sweet Marie*; they make it so their own that they did it and Dylan *didn't* when they opened for him in Atlanta... People actually in the music biz (and i don't mean label execs) have told me absolutely straight-faced that Jason wrote it and Dylan covered it. (Jason & the Scorchers also rip hell outta a couple of Hank Senior's songs ["Lost highway" and "Honky Tonk Blues"] and "Nineteenth Nervous Breakdown".) Fred leBlanc (Cowboy Mouth) has a hell of a time with *Don't Come Home A'Drinkin' (with Lovin' On Your Mind)*. Fairport Convention's *Chelsea Morning* (arguably the original release, actually, since it came before Joni's own recording), without actually changing any words, seems to be about the one in London, rather than about the hotel in New York. Herman's Hermits also pulled the same trick, releasing *Dandy*, by Ray Davies, before the Kinks did. Peter Noone manages to make it a cheerful upbeat pop number that dissuades you from listening too closely to the lyrics - a cynical meditation on a back-door man...

Permalink posted 07/23/2007
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wassonii says Many, but recently, "Coil's take on Tainted Love":http://mog.com/wassonii/blog_post/81321 as well asir version of Cohen's Who By Fire (the latter taken from Horse Rotorvator) but, too, Johnny Cash's Redemption Song take is rather poignant. Dig the DEVO, tho. I can remember staying up late one night as a kid and seeing them performing that song on SNL. Brilliant!

Permalink posted 07/23/2007
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Hororo says To me it's a tie between Failure's Enjoy the silence (the only cover that I know of that is considered superior to the original by the band that wrote it) and another Depeche Mode cover, but by the Deftones, To have and to hold. I'm trying to think of other covers that I might love but apart from Converge's take on a Black Sabbath tune, that I've heard years ago, I can't think of anyother songs.

Permalink posted 07/23/2007
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avenustylee says The latest cover song I dig is Green Day's cover of John Lennon's "Workingclass Hero." When I listen to it, it makes me wonder if Lennon was being sarcastic about being being a working class hero or what. "Till you're so f-in crazy you can't make sense of it all."

Permalink posted 07/24/2007