Five Hypothetically Amazing Cover Songs
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A true sign of music nerdery is finding yourself sitting around, dreaming up exciting, imaginary cover versions of songs. It's kind of the musical equivalent of playing Dungeons & Dragons. None of these covers have actually been done, of course. But if they were, I'd be first in line to hear them.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs cover "Seven Nation Army" by the White Stripes
Drummer Brian Chase adds a post-punk backbeat, Nick Zinner's effects pedals and shredded Strat crank out Jack White's monster guitar riff, and with her signature screech, Karen O sinks her teeth into a line like "I'm gonna work the straw, make the sweat drip out of every pore."
Björk covers "Hoppípolla" by Sigur Rós
Björk re-enlists Mark Bell (co-producer of Homogenic) for her take on the climactic anthem from her Icelandic countrymen. Björk's reading keeps the lovely strings and grand scope of the original but adds skittering electronic beats, organ, and of course her bold soprano pipes.
Arcade Fire cover "No Surprises" by Radiohead
Arcade Fire gives the Radiohead original a good kick in the pants with Win Butler's demanding vocal and a hearty helping of stringed instrument firepower. Régine Chassagne's harmony vocals mirror the arrangement: first calmly sedate, then undulating into a dramatic, end-of-the-world crescendo.
M.I.A. covers "So What'cha Want" by the Beastie Boys
Maya Arulpragasam knows exactly what'cha want. Her inimitable flow calls out the Boys: "You think that you can front when revelation comes?" Trusty producer Diplo ratchets up the tempo, adds some tribal drums, 8-bit blips, and a children's choir, and turns the head-bobbing original into a Sri Lankan jungle throwdown.
Tom Waits covers "Lua" by Bright Eyes
This Conor Oberst-penned tune about a ragged early morning trip home—post-raging party—requires nothing more from Waits than his sandpapered vocals and a busted old acoustic guitar. On the line "We might die from medication but we sure killed all the pain," his voice cracks in a way that couldn't possibly be affected.
Comments (6)
Complete sucker for covers, especially when it comes to foreshadowing who might do what with whom. Kudos to your choices.
hah..great idea.
I dunno if Waits is gonna bite though..his wife would probably frown on him doing a drinking song.
I'd like to hear Konono No.1 do some Sigur Ros..
Is Waits sober now? I'm not familiar with the backstory on his drinking. His wife is his manager though, correct?
Yeah - one Icelander (?) to another Bjork ----> Sigur Ros. Better yet, a cover version w/ Bjork translating the SR song into English might be fun.
Kathleen Brennan (I'm no expert on this so I might be off a little), TW's wife, is his main songwriting collaborator. She has helped to keep Tom on the straight and narrow (which is wild and divergant to most of us) for a number of years now.
Maybe Kath would be okay with "Lua" since Tom didn't write it? Also, it's not so much about drinking. More about being strung out ;)
True indeed..although she does seem strict..but I guess Tom needed strict. Hell, I'd be interested in an album of Waits doing covers..just to see what he'd pick.