angelophile | Cover Versions

Poking at covers of Billy Joel's New York State of Mind earlier with

skalja has prompted me to revive my "great and… not so great cover versions" feature again.

Previous entries saw stuff like Lady gaga covered by Faith No More, the Theme from Shaft played on ukuleles, rockabilly ACDC, a cappella Nirvana, Marillion covering Britney Spears and more…

Under the cut, stripped down New Order, Shirley Bassey covering Pink, truly unique a capella Coldplay, punk Banana Splits, more Gaga, gratuitous lesbians, sea shanties and more.

Frente! - Bizarre Love Triangle

I know absolutely nothing about this band outside of this cover, which takes the New Order electronica masterpiece and strips it down to vocals and a single guitar. It shouldn't work. It does.

Pomplamoose – Telephone

Pomplamoose – Making Lady Gaga listenable to for cranky Brits since… well, whenever they recorded this, I guess.

Of course, Pomplamoose make pretty much anything awesome.

Shirley Bassey – Get The Party Started

Dame Shirley takes Pink's party anthem and makes it into another kind of anthem altogether. Part Bond theme, part magnificent bastard. Part Nigerian, part Welsh, all voice. What a woman.

Metallica – Whiskey in the Jar

Really, there's nothing outstanding about this cover, but I'm including it because A) It's Metallica and B) It has the most hilariously irrelevant fan servicey video ever conceived. There's more faux lesbianism in this video than in an entire season of The L Word.

The Langley Schools Music Project – Space Oddity

If you thought the original was weird and haunting, the Langley Schools Music Project crank that up to 11. So very odd.

Fiona Apple – Across the Universe

I love Apple's voice, which is both amazing and lethargic at the same time somehow. Not the most revolutionary cover of The Beatles, but I like it nonetheless.

Johnny Cash – Rusty Cage

One of the many covers Johnny recorded late in his life, but taking the Soundgarden grunge classic and turning it into this? I don't even know where that idea came from.

Ben Folds – In Between Days

I love The Cure original, but Ben Fold's cover is the version that always has me doing the Snoopy happy dance around the room. It's just utterly infectious joy.

The Dickies - Banana Splits

Punk covers of kids TV themes. How could it go wrong?

Arctic Monkeys – Love Machine

I've always thought that the Arctic Monkeys sound like George Fornby would sound if he got drunk and discovered electric guitars and the fact that the band themselves can't even keep straight faces when doing this cover of Girls Aloud makes it even more bizarre.

Fatima Mansions – (Everything I Do) I Do It For You

A close contender for "oddest cover version ever". I didn't understand it when it came out and I still have no idea what the heck it's about even now.

Ed Harcourt – Farewell Nancy

From the Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys album, Harcourt takes this traditional sea shanty about a cross dressing lass and turns it into a haunting, Nick Cave-esque dirge.

Paul Jisung Kim - Viva la Vida

A magnificent and utterly unique a capella version of Coldplay's classic. Never heard anything like it before. Most likely never will again.