My Favorite Cover Versions

      Let’s accept the Wikipedia definition of a cover song as “a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song.”  

      We might all agree that in our generation the worst covers of pop music hits were by Pat Boone, the insipid vocalist from the 1950s and ‘60s who first made his reputation by blandly singing songs by immortal R&B stars like Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti” and Fats Domino’s “Ain’t That A Shame.”

      Here instead are my dozen favorite cover songs in the post-1950 period (see note below for the ground rules guiding my choices). I encourage readers to send in their own favorites:

      The Beatles and “Twist and Shout”: Written in 1961 by Phil Medley and Bert Berns and first recorded by the Top Notes, this terrific dance tune became a strong hit for the Isley Brothers in 1962. But the Beatles’ slightly faster version, included on the Fab Four’s first British album in 1963, featured exuberant musicianship and an incredibly passionate, raspy vocal by John Lennon that brought it to the level of greatness. White bands and singers often have been rightfully criticized for appropriating music written and performed by black artists and delivering weak and soulless versions of the originals—see Boone, Pat, above—but in this case, the Beatles outdid a group as talented as the Isleys.

      Otis Redding and “Try A Little Tenderness”: This song is so closely associated with the great R&B singer Otis Redding that it’s surprising it was originally written in 1932 by Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly and Harry M. Woods, and recorded in the 1930s and ‘40s by Ruth Etting, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra. But when Redding, backed by Booker T. and the M.G.’s (the Stax label’s house band), recorded it in 1966, he completely transformed the song as it built from a gentle beginning to an emotionally powerful climax, earning its place in the soul music pantheon.  

      Them and “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”: This remains one of my favorite Bob Dylan songs since it appeared on Dylan’s 1965 “Bringing It All Back Home” album. But the version released one year later by Them, the rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland, featuring a young Van Morrison as lead vocalist, has amazed me for decades because of the power and emotion Morrison brought to it. From the beginning of his long career, Morrison poured his heart into his singing, and he absolutely killed it here. (It was hard to include this over Jimi Hendrix’s version of Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” but …)  

      Aretha Franklin and “Respect”: Aretha Franklin’s 1967 version helped establish her as a preeminent voice in American music and brought the song to its rightful place as one of the greatest recordings of all time. It was originally written and performed in 1965 by Otis Redding, and his performance is quite good. But Franklin’s version, with a new arrangement and new lyrics emphasizing the treatment of women, raised it to the new heights. (I was riding on the NYC subway the day after Franklin died in 2018, and as our train pulled into a station in Tribeca, I was moved when I saw someone had put up posters just under the Franklin Street signs that simply said “Respect.”)

      Jimi Hendrix and “Johnny B. Goode”: Chuck Berry’s original version of his 1958 song about a country boy who could really play guitar remains definitive. But if any cover version came close it was Jimi Hendrix’s live performance from May 1970 that was captured on 1972’s posthumously released “Hendrix in the West.” Hendrix’s rapid-fire solos are simply jaw-dropping, a combination of showmanship (he plays his Fender Stratocaster behind his back and with his teeth) and technical virtuosity that has never been equaled.

      Al Green and “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart”: Although lots of people have bashed the Bee Gees, particularly those who disliked their “Saturday Night Fever” disco phase, the Brothers Gibb actually wrote some memorable songs. This sad ballad, from 1971, was the trio’s first Number 1 hit in the U.S. But the gifted soul singer Al Green took the song to another level of heartbreak in his 1972 cover version, from his “Let’s Stay Together” album. Later on, Green’s version was featured on the soundtracks of at least four movies, including the mega-hit “Notting Hill.”

      Toots & The Maytals and “Take Me Home Country Roads”: It was hard to imagine that John Denver’s pretty 1971 country-folk paean to the beauty of West Virginia could ever be successfully transported to the Caribbean, in particular, West Jamaica. But the reggaefied 1974 version by Toots & the Maytals, led by the great singer Toots Hibbert, turned out to be magical. Pure joy.

       The Tourists and “I Only Want to Be With You”: The infectious 1963 pop hit by British singer Dusty Springfield, one of my guilty pleasures, became a rousing and even more infectious New Wave hit in 1979 Great Britain by the Tourists, a band best known today as the first group of future Eurythmics stars Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. The Tourists’ arrangement was appropriately bouncy and snappy, but it was Lennox’s fantastic voice that made it so memorable.

       UB40 and “Kingston Town”: The popular multi-racial reggae-pop band from Birmingham, England, whose name comes from the British unemployment benefits form, was a hit-making machine from 1979 until well into the 2000s. In addition to playing their own material, the band specialized in cover versions of vintage songs from Jamaica and the Caribbean as well as American pop tunes —so much so they released three big-selling albums of covers in their “Labour of Love” series. Though one could easily choose the band’s versions of Elvis Presley’s “(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love With You” or Neil Diamond’s “Red Red Wine”—both Number One hits in the UK and the U.S.—my favorite is the group’s 1989 treatment of “Kingston Town” (from “Labour of Love II”), a gorgeous interpretation of the Trinidadian vocalist Lord Creator’s song from 1970. Lead singer Ali Campbell’s voice is unique and unforgettable.

       Rosanne Cash and “I Count the Tears”: Could any group or any singer come close to the original 1960 hit recording of this Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman song by the Drifters and lead singer Ben E. King? Listen then to Rosanne Cash’s terrific version, especially the slight catch in her beautiful voice, featured on “Till the Night Is Gone,” a 1995 tribute album to Pomus. Almost as good: Cash’s New Wavey cover of John Hiatt’s “Pink Bedroom.”

       Pearl Jam and “Last Kiss”: This admittedly schmaltzy tune from the late ‘50s/early ‘60s sub-genre of teenage tragedy songs (see “Teen Angel,” “Tell Laura I Love Her,” “Leader of the Pack”) was written and first recorded in 1961 by Wayne Cochran. It became a huge one-hit wonder, selling over one million copies, in 1964 by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers. But Pearl Jam’s stripped-down version from the late 1990s, sung with conviction but not a hint of pathos by the exceptional Eddie Vedder, is much better. The song became Pearl Jam’s highest-charting single, reaching Number 2 on the Billboard charts in 1999. (Not to be confused with a Taylor Swift song with the same title.)

       Mavis Staples and “99 and ½”: First recorded in 1949 as “99 and ½ Won’t Do,” a fast-paced gospel song by Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Her Mother with the Sam Price Trio, and later covered by Rev. Timothy White and Hezekiah Walker, my favorite is Mavis Staples’ 2007 version. Recorded with guitarist Ry Cooder on “We’ll Never Turn Back,” their collection of songs from the Civil Rights Movement, this version added some new lyrics that turned the song into an anthem for struggle and justice. And Staples’ singing, as always, was powerful and committed. (Not to be confused with another fine song with a similar title: “Ninety-Nine And A Half (Won’t Do),” recorded by Wilson Pickett, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Bruce Springsteen, among others.)

       Honorable mention: “It’s All Over Now” (The Rolling Stones covering Bobby Womack and the Valentinos); “Suspicious Minds” (Both the Heptones and Fine Young Cannibals covering Elvis Presley); (“What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding” (Elvis Costello covering Brinsley Schwarz); “Needles and Pins” (The Ramones covering both Jackie DeShannon and the Searchers); “La Bamba” (Los Lobos covering Ritchie Valens); “Universal Soldier’ (Donovan covering Buffy Sainte-Marie); “Six Days on the Road” (Taj Mahal covering Dave Dudley); “A Change Is Gonna Come” (Leslie Odom Jr. covering Sam Cooke); “I Will Always Love You” (Whitney Houston covering Dolly Parton); “Nothing Compares 2 U” (Sinead O’Connor covering Prince); “Don’t Let Me Be Understood” (The Animals covering Nina Simone), and “Tears of a Clown” (the English Beat covering Smokey Robinson & the Miracles).

       Note: When choosing these favorite cover versions, I added these additional ground rules for practical reasons:

•       Excluding covers of songs from Broadway musicals and Hollywood movies. I’d love to include Audra McDonald’s fantastic interpretation of “Somewhere” from “West Side Story” or Bonnie Raitt’s heartbreaking take on “Baby Mine” from “Dumbo.” But there’s simply no room to list great show tunes by the likes of the Gershwins, Rodgers and Hart, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Bernstein and Sondheim, and Lerner and Loewe along with later versions of their songs by many singers and groups.

•       With one exception, excluding covers of songs by Bob Dylan, because otherwise I could fill this list with Dylan songs recorded by such brilliant performers as Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, the Heptones, Pearl Jam, the Byrds, Sam Cooke, Nina Simone, the Rolling Stones and the Staple Singers. Here, I’ve narrowed it down to one song.

•       Also with one exception, excluding covers of Chuck Berry songs. One of the founding fathers of rock ‘n roll, it was almost a rite of passage for aspiring rock bands to show off their chops by covering a song of Berry’s – see the early albums by the Beatles, the Stones, the Kinks, the Blues Project, the Lovin’ Spoonful, the Yardbirds, Johnny Winter, et al. Again, I’ve included only one Berry cover.

•       For diversity’s sake, I limited my choices to one original and one cover version per artist.

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Bruce Dancis spent 18 years as the Arts & Entertainment Editor of the Sacramento Bee, where he also wrote a syndicated column about DVDs. During a long career in journalism, he served as an editor at the Daily Californian, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Mother Jones, M.I. (Musicians’ Industry) Magazine and the Oakland Tribune. He also wrote about politics, history, movies and rock music for these publications, as well as for Rolling Stone’s Record, In These Times, Guitar Player, Keyboard, the East Bay Voice and San Francisco magazine. He is the author of “Resister: A Story of Protest and Prison during the Vietnam War” (2014, Cornell University Press) and appears in the documentary film “The Boys Who Said No! Draft Resistance and the Vietnam War” (2020). He lives in Cardiff, CA, and Putnam Valley, NY.