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Is it sacrilege to like a cover more than the classic original?
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All of this makes me wonder if artists have favorite covers of their songs.
The Twins got a plug from Townsend and Daltry for My Generation.
I can’t think of any other examples. -
Guns.n.Roses sound like they wrote it.
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Glad Dylan was brought up. Even he liked Hendrix’s version of All Along the Watchtower better than his own, and proceeded to perform it Hendrix’s way thereafter. While I personally don’t mind his singing, the fact that so many of his songs made other acts famous is a testament to his incredible and timeless songwriting.
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So true Roger. Let see the Turtles, Peter, Paul & Mary, Sonny and Cher, The Byrds to name a few. The list goes on and on. Dylan is God when it comes to song writing. My opinion anyway…
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A bit late here, sorry but I Agree about Bob Dylan’s voice. To me, 2 songs he sounds ok, Like a Rolling Stone and Lay Lady Lay and the others? Well his voice is a bit tough to listen to but what a hero in my book with his song writing. So to dig a bit deeper on liking Mona and Lisa’s versions of cover songs and in some cases better than the original? Here’s my input , when the original first came out? I remember hearing and being so excited and loving it. Example would be ( my goodness so many to choose from ) Lola. My goodness I went nuts back in 1970 hearing it for the first time, and love it , just love it, but here we are and Mona and Lisa bring it back after 50 years and I have the same excitement and love all over again, which tells me they make this song their own. Kinks own it hands down and of course the original which will be never taken away, but for Mona and Lisa to re due this song and make it their own? Wow that proves again to all of us that they are in a class of very and I mean very few people who can cover a song. Elvis is in that small group that covers songs, You lost the loving feeling from 1970. Yes Rightuous Brothers did this great song and Elvis took it to another level. So I guess there is a fine line with the phrase better than the original, i guess a personal preference and how it is being viewed at a certain time in ones life.
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Hi Jung, No, its not sacrilege, when the cover is done with respect to the original, or when it’s simply better. I’ll give you an example: Aled Jones’ Walking Thru The Air was – to me at least – B#####y awful. It used to turn my stomach, all that schoolboy soprano stuff. Yet, Mona & Lisa re-invented the song on their recent Christmas CD, gave it a rock & roll beat and I just couldn’t stop playing it, especially through my TV via You Tube. I still play it now & then, even here in March, its that good. So no, when a song is covered well, with respect, it is always good. {I always preferred Venga Boys’ We’re Going to Eivissa’ to Typically Tropical’s ‘Barbados’ too}. Most, if not all, of Mona & Lisa’s covers are as good as, if not better than, the original, although could I suggest, respectfully, that their version of Wonderful Christmas Time, was perhaps not their finest hour. {Sorry, guys} Hope this answers your question.
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I could not possibly agree more about The Twins vs that schoolboy soprano on “Walking…”.
To be fair, i heard the MLT version 1st.
But they put everything else to shame. -
Andrew, Thomas, yes with Walking In The Air the MLT version raises the song to a new plateau like none other before it, and I heard many versions over the years. Up until MLTs version, the one I enjoyed the most was a piano solo by George Winston which is quite touching, but MLT really gave it wings, and made it all their own, it’s so breathtaking, and I’m so glad they did it. It’s simply transformed into something much better and I can never return to the other versions after this one!
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Ditto!
Nothing else sounds listenable.
Some people might like the Celtic Woman version.
I never knew about the George Winston version. -
Jung,
there’s no need to apologize for seeing similarities betweem musical genres.
You help make this forum classy. -
Thanks very much Thomas! 🙂
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