Artists doing Artists

I wanted to come up with a clever title for a post about musicians that cover other peoples music, but THAT was the best I could come up with. Regardless of my inability to come up with clever article titles, there IS something cool about a well-done cover song. I could argue that some of the songs in the list below are actually better than the originals, but thats very subjective… so I wont.

The following is a list of interesting covers along with the original version of the song. Some of the songs do not have videos so you’ll have to forgive the cheesy user-generated montages.

Foo Fighters – Baker Street

While the song was originally performed by Gerry Rafferty, I didn’t even know who that was until 5 minutes ago.  What I like the most about the Foo Fighters cover of the song is the way they managed to make a pretty fruity sounding song into something that feels like a staple of 70’s rock music.

The Cover

The Original

Iron & Wine – Such Great Heights

These two versions of the Postal Serivece’s original, Such great Heights seem to compliment each other rather well.

The Cover

The Original

The Flaming Lips – Borderline

This is a cool remake of Madonnas song Borderline, nice video too.

The Cover

The Original

Weezer – Kids (live)

This is a pretty cool performance of MGMT’s original Kids. It’s not mind-blowing, but it is interesting to see older musicians pay tribute to new comers.

The Cover

The Original

Fiona Apple – Across The Universe

It takes some serious balls to cover a Beatles song, and the fact that she didn’t completely ruin this song for me deserves a spot on this list based on that principle alone.

The Cover

The Original

Nirvana – Man who sold the world

Personally, I like both versions of this song. The original Bowie version had it’s creepy charm and Nirvanas version had Kurt eff’ing Corbain. Enough said…

The Cover

The Original

Gary Jules – Mad World

Tears for Fears fans may get upset about the Gary Jules version of Mad World, but if you are a Tears for Fears fan, you have bigger problems then a simple cover. Nonetheless, it’s a pretty good song for those times you feel like contemplating in detail  just how fucked up the world is.

The Cover

The Original

Smashing Pumpkins – Landslide

Writen by Stevie Nicks and performed by Fleetwood Mac, Landslide is one of those songs that makes me nostalgic of a time I didnt even live. Weird how music can have that effect. Couldnt find the studio version of the original, so a live version from 1976 will have to do.

The Cover

The Original