Worst cover versions

[middle_aged_dutchman]

Now that this thread has been excavated, here's my two cents.

Worst cover ever: 'Blowing in the wind' by the Hollies.

Close second: almost any cover of 'Yesterday'.

Until last year I would have said the third worst was 'Summertime' by Billy Stewart, but last year I heard a version by a female singer (don't know her name) that was even worse. 'So hush little baby whoohoohoo don't you whoohoohoo cryhy.' The song was meant as a lullaby. When you sing it that way, the baby is sure to cry.

Best cover ever: 'Not fade away' by the Rolling Stones. This was the track that won me over to pop music, by the way.

[Pervert]

If you're going to cover a standard, you should at least make sure it isn't just a clone of the original. Just check out the last few covers of Unchained Melody to hear how it shouldn't be done.

Some should just never be attempted at all. Paul Young's melodic version of Love Will Tear Us Apart was rubbish because the song needs the bleakness Ian Curteis had in his voice.

Summer Breeze is an example of how to do it----the distorted guitar, the melody and the soulful singing made it much better than the original (apologies again to Messrs Seal and Croft).

Worst cover I ever heard (and a major crime against humanity) was a talentless jazz dwarf called Jamie Cullum murdering Cole Porter's I Get A Kick Out Of You. If I ever see Cullum in real life, he certainly will!

MAD is right about Yesterday. Everyone seems to think they can sing it, but no one else manages to capture that wistful, pained quality Macca brought to it.

[JamieL]

My two penn'orth: 82 wca is a cock.

And a brilliant cover of a brilliant track - Social Distortion doing Johnny Cash's Ring Of Fire.

[Robches]

"Yesterday" is a load of shite no matter who's singing it. It must be the most overrated song of all time.

[andy at handiwork]

Caractacus wrote:

>>
> Worst cover I ever heard (and a major crime against humanity)
> was a talentless jazz dwarf called Jamie Cullum murdering Cole
> Porter's I Get A Kick Out Of You. If I ever see Cullum in real
> life, he certainly will!
>
>

Not the first time that tune has been slaughtered. Remember Gary Shearston's 1974 version?

[matt_hudson10]

my band supported him last year! he is now in a texmex band called los pacominos, they were mexican hats flowery shirts and drink tequilla between every other song. i recomend drinking tequilla after every other second to make the listening experience more pleasurable!

[Pervert]

I do remember---and that was Handel's Messiah compared with Cullum.