Gavin B.

My Favorite Cover Song Performances

I have a rather large collection of notable & not so notable artists performing cover songs. I've been collecting cover songs for years. Generally speaking, you won't find the best cover song performances on those hundreds of ill conceived artist tribute albums which are ubiquitous items at record store cut-out bins, garage sales & flea markets.

A lot of the best cover songs are often found on eps, on the flip sides of single releases or on soundtracks in which a prominent band will contribute a single track which is a cover song. Rebeka Del Rio's stunning operatic Spanish language performance of Roy Orbison's classic song Crying can only be found on the soundtrack to the David Lynch movie, Mullholland Drive. Del Rio has an amazing mezzo-soprano voice but for some unknown reason she's never recorded anything other than that single song for the Mullholland Drive soundtrack.

I've compiled comprehensive list of my favorite cover songs that I've come across over the years. I place more of a value on stylistic interpretation rather than faithful replication of the original source material.

You may also notice that 3 of the 5 songs I've embedded are acapella renditions of songs. That reflects my own view that superfluous layers of instrumentation & production techniques can be a distraction and often a minimalist acapella interpretation captures the simple essence of a beautiful song in a way that gives the listener a fresh perspective on the meaning of the song.

A few of the cover songs have been out of issue for years & I'm happy to send a digital MP3 file of any song on the list to persons who are having trouble locating the songs, free of charge of course.

Gavin B's Comprehensive List of Notable Cover Songs
(Original artist is in parenthesis)

Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds- Aimee Mann (Beatles)
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction- Devo (the Rolling Stones)
Games People Play- Bettye LaVette (Joe South)
Sweet Jane- Cowboy Junkies (The Velvet Underground)
Mustang Sally- Silver Apples (Wilson Pickett)
Just Dropped In- Sharon Jones & the Daptones (Kenny Rogers & the 1st Edition)
Billie Jean- Shinehead (Michael Jackson)
How Do You Mend A Broken Heart- Al Green (The Bee Gees)
Not Fade Away- The Rolling Stones ( Buddy Holly)



Llorando (Crying) - Rebeka Del Rio (Roy Orbison) Embedded Above

Love Will Tear Us Apart- The Swans (Joy Division)
Life on Mars? - Seal (David Bowie)
Viva Las Vegas- Shawn Colvin ( Elvis Presley)
Viva Las Vegas- Dead Kennedys (Elvis Presley)
Twist & Shout- The Beatles (Isley Brothers)
What A Wonderful World- Victoria Williams (Louis Armstrong)
Jealous Guy- Roxy Music (John Lennon)
I Started A Joke- Richie Havens (BeeGees)
Everyday Is Like Sunday- The Pretenders (Morrissey)
The Boy in the Bubble- Patti Smith (Paul Simon)



Making Plans for Nigel- Nouvelle Vague (XTC) Embedded Above

Stuck in the Middle With You- Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (Stealer's Wheel)
Don't Fear the Reaper- Heaven 17 (Blue Oyster Cult)
Electric Aunt Jemima- The Persuasions (Frank Zappa)
Ripple- The Persuasions (The Grateful Dead)
I'm Not In Love- Olive (10cc)
Dust In the Wind- Daughter Darling (Kansas)
Cupid- Amy Winehouse (Sam Cooke)
Police & Thieves- Get Back Guinozzi! (The Clash/Junior Murvin)



Killer Queen- Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs (Queen) Embedded Above

Here There & Everywhere- Emmylou Harris (the Beatles)
For No One- Emmylou Harris (the Beatles)
Working In the Coal Mine- Devo (Lee Dorsey)
Street Fighting Man- Lake Trout (The Rolling Stones)
Sin City- Emmylou Harris (the Flying Buritto Brothers)
I'll Never Fall In Love Again- Elvis Costello (Dionne Warwick)
Wild World- Maxi Priest (Cat Stevens)



Disco Inferno- the Bobs (The Trammps) Embedded Above

Rivers of Babylon- the Neville Bros. (the Maytones)
Almost Blue- Chet Baker (Elvis Costello)
Sail Away- Etta James (Randy Newman)
Across the Universe- The Kennedy Choir (The Beatles)
Walk Away Rene- Ann Savoy & Linda Ronstant (Left Banke)
Sisters of Mercy- Emmylou Harris & Linda Ronstant (Leonard Cohen)
Dedicated to the One I Love- Linda Ronstant (the Shirelles)



I Can See For Miles- Petra Hayden (The Who) Embedded Above

The Acid Queen- Tina Turner (The Who)
Hey Joe- Jimi Hendrix (The Leaves/Love)
I Am Not Willing- Lloyd Cole (Moby Grape)
Just Like Heaven- Katie Melua (the Cure)

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There are two types of music: the first type is the blues and the second type is all the other stuff.
Townes Van Zandt