Genre-Crossing: 5 Covers that Re-Define & Revamp the Originals

In the arena of cover songs, there are your run-of-the-mill covers, where a song is simply reproduced by another artist as closely to the original as possible.

Then you have the super-cover, a new version of a song that re-shapes the original through unique interpretation. These covers blow past mere reproduction into re-definition.

Sometimes the new version of the original remains within the original genre, like Aretha Franklin's cover of "Respect", a song originally written and performed by Otis Redding. Both the original and the cover that redefined it are described by the R&B (or soul) genre.

On some more rare occasions, however, there are redefining cover songs that cross over the divisions between genre and put a completely new spin on the original. Here is a list of five such genre-crossing covers.

"All Along the Watchtower"

This song crosses genres from folk to rock as Jimi Hendrix takes the apocalyptic poetry of a Bob Dylan ballad into a whole new area of music. "All Along the Watchtower" remains one of Hendrix' best known songs and many believe that he wrote it because the song feels so much like one of his own.

He truly owns it in his version. Bob Dylan is said to agree.

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow"

"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" was written by a pair of song writers in the 1930's as a ballad with orchestral backing. Judy Garland famously led the song in The Wizard of Oz, where the song expressed perfectly her character's (Dorothy) longing for excitement and success outside of Kansas.

The Hawaiian musician Iz took the song several years ago and did a genre-crossing cover rendering the song into a light, tropical tune with his ukulele.

Iz strips the song down to its essentials and accompanies himself singing with just his ukulele in a version that suggests the wish laid upon a star in the song has come true. He sounds so...happy.

"Human Nature"

In a genre known for its adaptations and genre-crossing, Miles Davis translated and transmuted many famous songs. However, pop songs were not his usual fare.

While in the midst of a comeback in the 1980's Miles Davis co-opted the Michael Jackson song "Human Nature" to the great pleasure of audiences.

This cover was performed while Jackson was a superstar among superstars and while Miles Davis was done with his most extreme electric experimentation.

"Gold Digger" & "I Got a Woman"

Ray Charles famously crossed-genres to make his career, deciding to take the gospel and church music of his youth and writing pop songs with it.

Charles took songs about god and wrote about love.

Then Kanye West came and took a Ray Charles song and used it to write about greed. From church music to soul music to hip hop, "I Got a Woman" has made a musical journey that matches the transformation of blues music in the 20^th century.

Kanye West's "Gold Digger" makes the list of great genre-crossing covers because it finds a way to stay true to the original song while layering contemporary style with electronic instrumentation and Ray Charles' impersonation by Jamie Foxx. The song is fun to listen to next to Charles' original because it is so different and also so similar.

"No Woman, No Cry"

The Fugees had one hit album. The hip hop trio meshed a sensibility for melody, infectious rhythms and decent rap to produce an album that stands as a high-water mark for popular 1990's hip hop.

On this album the group covers one of Bob Marley's best known works, "No Woman, No Cry". In doing so, they take the song from a big band, reggae ballad and genre-cross it or genre-blend it into a soulful hip hop number.

After hearing the Fugees cover "No Woman, No Cry", it is difficult to go back to the original without a deepened sense of the stoic, bitter-sweet feeling behind the lyrics.