Covers of Beatles' songs U favour over the original (1 Viewer)

[Rachael B]

Anthony, indirectly, has brought up the burning question, why are there so many raspy voice singers. from the U.K.? ...of which Faithfull is just one of many, Ian Lloyd, Mod Rod, Mr. Cocker, Peter Gabriel, and 'mo... Is it something about how much less nasal their speech pattern seems, or what?

I kind'a like Marrianne Faithful. In her early years she butchered many a kover! I think she didn't get older, she got better. Anybody hear her chanteuse album, 20th Century Blues? She sangs en Franch, 'an everything. Actually, most of the songs are in Anglish. She sounds all together comfortable singing rasp-ill-ly en Fran-sa-wah. I'd really dig hearin' her live as displayed there.

I like her cover of Working Class Hero but it's stale cheese wiz compared to Why'd Ya Do It, IMO! Her Yesterday recording from the 60's could make a blackboard shreek! She had her moments as a folk-see singer in the 60's but I hated her cover songs of the Stones and Beatles,...which, hmnnn, her label proably imposed on her...? BTW, the Stone's song Sister Morphine is allegedly about her.

I heard PM Dawn's Norweigan Wood and I liked it for it's liberties but not a title buster to me.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I like her rendition of AS TEARS GO BY.

 

[Henry Gale]

It's really Marianne's song. She wrote the lyrics and her version, backed by the Glimmer Twins, was released before the Stone's version. Ms. Faithfull's serious drug problems came later and it has been suggested that other's drug abuses (Anita Pallenberg) may have been her muse.
One of my rarer LONDON 45rpm discs is Sister Morphine by Marianne Faithfull.

 

[Jim_F]

OK, I thought of one: A Taste of Honey by Herb Alpert and the TJ Brass. The charm of the original is not lost on me and the cover is nothing like it, but it works for me.

Honorable mention to Stevie Wonder's version of "We Can Work it Out" and EW&F's of "Got to Get You into my Life"-not up there with the originals, but pretty good.

 

[Henry Gale]

As with most early Beatles recordings, A Taste of Honey is a cover. It was written by Bobby Scott and Ric Marlow.

 

[Jim_F]

Doh!:b

 

[Citizen87645]

Another nod to Fiona Apple's cover of "Across the Universe."

I'd be interested to hear Johnny Cash's "In My Life" but I find Judy Collins' version very good too. It was used at the end of an episode of Wonder Years and it has stuck with me ever since. The original just sounds too peppy to me now.

 

[Rachael B]

Yeah, a Taste Of Honey don't count no matter how sweet it is.

Fiona, sure garners alot of love for Across The Universe. She must surely influence alot of younger folks to try the actual Insect brand...?

 

[cwhite]

"Got To Get You Into My Life" by EWF.
"We Can Work It Out" by Stevie Wonder
"Eleanor Rigby" by Aretha Franklin.

 

[Rachael B]

It's been so long since I've heard Stevie Wonder's We Can Work It Out that I cannot remember how much I like it...

 

[Darren Conroy]

I don't think it's possible to make a version of a Beatles song I prefer to the original, but don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of covers.

Too many people will look at someone who does something totally different from the original and say the song was murdered, but that's the point of covering a song; do something different with it. Try to replicate a song verbatim, you won't have anything to show for it if people prefer the original (which most probably will).

But, yes, I absolutely love listening to Beatles covers. I'm going to have to check some of these out.

 

[Ron Etaylor]

Picking Beatles covers is kinda like naming your favorite Rolex knock-off. Sure, it keeps time, but it doesn't have the class of the original.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Yep. And I love it. Considering all he's been through, and how much he loves the Beatles, it strikes me as poignant than anything else.

I like the following:

Rufus Wainright - "Across the Universe"
- I would prefer the one where he sings with Lennon's kid and that other guy who's name escapes me. The one where they did a tribute to John Lennon's music.

Alison Krauss - "I Will"
- Love the banjo intro. Makes me want to raft on the Mississippi.

Aimee Mann and Michael Penn - "Two Of Us"
- Just love it.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

Well, since everyone seem to love Fiona Apple's version of Across the Universe, I just want to go on record as a dissenting voice, I find her version almost unbearable...

David Bowie's version, OTOH, while perhaps not better than the original, has a lot of, eh, personality (or is that lack of focus?)

 

[Rachael B]

Mikael, I really like Fiona's ...UNIVERSE. However, I'm not at all a big fan of her's, in general. To me, she's just a singer, not really much of a musican. She brought a new shelf-life to the song, das goode, me thinks.

 

[Rachael B]

Darren, as yet another skeptic, on this thread, who thinks the Beatles can't be equaled....try:

Eddie Hazel's I Want You (she's so damn big)

...or Spooky Tooth's I Am The Walrus


...or Marvin Gaye's Yesterday cover

In my way of thinking, nothing is (totally) sacred or impossible...

 

[Mike Broadman]

My favorite Beatles cover by far is Isaac Hayes' extended soul workout (with strings and horns) rendition of Something.

 

[Mark Ram]

Fiona Apple - Across The Universe
Aimee Mann & Michael Penn - Two Of Us
Sweethearts Of The Rodeo - I Feel Fine

 

[JonZ]

Im suprised how many people like Apples cover of Across The Universe. I think its horrid.

I love the original, especially with the Eastern additions.

I havent heard alot of these covers, but I cant think of any I liked better than the originals.

(Maybe Eltons Lucy, but I never really cared for that song itself)

Just thought of one - I always really liked Jimi Hendrixs Sgt Pepper.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I think the reason this works so well is because it manages to mantain the bouncy feel of the original without merely copying the background instrumentals.

I also found the "I Am Sam" soundtrack. It's fascinating watching a variety of artists constrained not only by the lyrics of the original but also by the precise tempo of the original.