10 Great Cover Songs

I like to fancy myself a discerning music listener. Generally, I agree that cover songs are blatant attempts by lazy or uncreative artists to make easy money off of someone else's sweat. Or more perniciously, unscrupulous entertainment executives attempt to dilute classics so that they become more palatable to younger ears. You can't start marketing to future consumers soon enough, you know. Most covers are not worth the listening time. After all, that's three to five minutes of your life you'll never get back.

That being said, however, I strongly assert that when a cover is done right it is extremely valuable. In fact, some covers are so good that they even surpass the original. I think the trick is that an artist shouldn't just cover a song because they like it-or they want to make a buck. The cunning artist finds a song that speaks to him or her and then attempts to transform it into something completely new. A great cover can become as much the property (artistically speaking) of the cover artist as the original performer.

Now, I don't pretend to claim that this list contains the ten all-time greatest cover songs because I admit I haven't heard everything, right? Here then, is a list of just a few of my favorite cover tunes.

Metallica "Turn the Page" (Bob Seger)

Most of the time, I don't like to hear rock stars lament about how rough it is for them out on the road. Those of us who only dream of that kind of life usually find it difficult to sympathize. So I never really could get behind Seger's original (to be honest, I've always found Seger on the dull side). But in the late 90s, when Metallica cranked it up and James Hetfield belted out the lyrics with heartfelt metal angst, I fell in love with this tune about the hardships of being a traveling troubadour.

Bryan Ferry "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" (Bob Dylan)

Ferry is obviously obsessed with Dylan (like so many of us). I count at least 14 covers, and his most recent collection is made up entirely of Dylan songs. In my opinion, his best is his first; "Hard Rain" was recorded on Ferry's first solo album back in '73. A full rock combo and female back-up singers help Ferry make this tune sound almost upbeat. Yet somehow Dylan's lyrics retain their dark, prophetic power. Ferry always strikes me as slightly perverse in his arrangements, particularly in his early years with Roxy Music - and hey, that's why I'm a fan.

Voivod "Astronomy Domine" (Pink Floyd)

Psychedelic poster child Syd Barrett penned and recorded this song for the first Pink Floyd album back in '67. The best tune on the album, it remains fascinating to this day. In the late 80s, French-Canadian heavy-hitters Voivod brought it up to date with some highly original guitar work by the late Denis D'Amour. It's backed up by a concise and propulsive rhythm section and slithery vocals that pay fitting homage to the accomplishment of the recently deceased Barrett. This version nicely captures the sense of threatening eeriness that can creep over you when you contemplate the great unknown.

Madeleine Peyroux "Weary Blues From Waitin'" (Hank Williams)

I love Hank Williams, but this version is so wonderfully different that I didn't even recognize it on first listen. Backed by a smooth jazz combo, Peyroux's version sounds more, well, bluesy. Some fine guitar and a great trumpet solo make it perfect listening when you're feeling broken hearted in a more jazzy than country way.

Patti Griffin "Stolen Car" (Bruce Springsteen)

At the risk of disrespecting "The Boss," I admit I have listened to Griffin's version of this achingly lonely song more than the big man's. Granted, Griffin's take is not altogether a huge departure from the original, but I'm a sucker for that plaintive, crystalline voice. My car was recently stolen; if the thief had only shared his hard luck story with me I might have just given him the car (not bloody likely). As angry as I was I still love this song.

Johnny Cash "Rusty Cage" (Soundgarden)

If I remember correctly, even members of Soundgarden thought Cash hit the (broken?) nail on the head with his heavy country rendition of this hard rock track. The beauty is that the tune comes across just as aggressive and masculine as the original, if not more. And it's easier to make out most of the lyrics without referring to liners.

k.d. lang "The Air That I Breathe" (Phil Everly)

Covered many times since the 70s (too many if you ask me), most know this song in the popular version by The Hollies, so this is a superior cover of a cover that was already superior to the original (in my opinion, of course). Lang's version is lush and languid, her soulful voice soars above a great arrangement helped in large part by the atmosphere created by guitar phenom David Torn. My wife and I don't officially have an "our song," but this one rates high for both of us and if I'm feeling sentimental enough it can even bring a tear to my eye.

Richard Thompson "Oops, I Did It Again" (Britney Spears)

Leave it to a master songwriter to find the beauty in what I took to be just another bland, insipid pop song. This has become a staple for Thompson's live performances in the past few years. Stripping away the superfluous poppy flash, he uncovers the bare essentials using just his voice and acoustic guitar. Mind you, he presents it clearly with tongue in cheek but he does persuasively show that the song actually has redeeming features.

Tom Waits "Heigh Ho" (from Snow White)

The incomparable Waits brings to the surface the dark underside of a seemingly light and happy tune. Instead of a paean to the joy of working class attempts at capitalism, Waits turns this into an exposé of greed, the delusional nature of get rich quick schemes and the hopeless exploitation of human cogs in the soul-devouring machinery of mass production. In other words, a tribute to what most of us know as work. The result is disturbingly beautiful.

John Cale "Heartbreak Hotel" (Elvis Presley)

Don't worry "King" fans, I'm a loyal subject as well, but you've got to hear Cale's rendering of this classic from his '74 album Slow Dazzle. When Cale screams he's so lonely he could die, you don't doubt him for a second. Add a creepy guitar riff and some chilling synthesizers by techno-wizard Brian Eno and you hear the full possibilities of interpreting a song over merely covering it. Cale's live version with just piano and voice is altogether another interpretation and also definitely worth repeated listening.