What are the greatest cover songs of all time? Here are the ones currently topping my list.
10. Smells Like Teen Spirit – Tori Amos covering Nirvana
9. Beat It – Fall Out Boy covering Michael Jackson
8. Hit Me Baby One More Time – Travis covering Britney Spears
7. Comfortably Numb – Dar Williams and Ani DiFranco covering Pink Floyd
6. I Will Survive – Cake covering Gloria Gaynor
5. Trouble – Kristin Hersh covering Cat Stevens
4. Rocket Man – My Morning Jacket covering Elton John
3. Against All Odds – Postal Service covering Phil Collins
2. You’re the One that I Want – Danielle Duval covering the Grease soundtrack
1. And the best cover of all time is of course Hurt – Johnny Cash covering NIN.
Honorable mentions, with bonus points for interestingness/unusualness:
- Empire State of Mind – the students of PS22 covering Jay-Z and Alicia Keys
- Country Roads – Toots & The Maytals covering John Denver, only they sing “West Jamaica” instead of “West Virginia”
- It’s a Man’s World – Pavarotti covering (and singing alongside) James Brown
- Wonderwall – Cat Power covering Oasis
And five covers of Radiohead’s Creep:
- Moby
- Sad Kermit
- Frank Bennett’s bizarre swing version
- Beck
- The Pretenders
What are your favorite cover songs?
Romeo and Juliet, Dire Straits covered by The Killers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87cLyBR1JTo and Pump Up the Jam, covered by Les Lost Fingers, you have to hear their version! http://wn.com/The_Lost_Fingers__Pump_Up_The_Jam
Can’t argue with anything on this list, except maybe the absence of “Money Talks” by Kathleen Edwards.Loving the “Creep” cover accompanying the trailer for “The Social Network”. Is that one of the 5 covers you mention?
Cowboy Junkies, Sweet Jane
Good call, Tim. The Vega Choir’s cover of Creep—the one used in The Social Network trailer—is possibly the best one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1SvwUuK_P0