These 5 Artists Did Covers, You Won’t Believe What Happened Next
Since I forget that I can’t always put out the long-form stories I want to tell, I’m going to start posting more short-form words for your entertainment needs. Today we talk cover songs.
Any of us that claims to dislike cover songs are lying to ourselves. Covering a song, and attempting to make it your own is everywhere in music. Everyone has covered another artist, and many of the best artists have been covered to death. Covers sometimes end in disaster, such as Psuedo Echo covering a one-hit wonder, and becoming lesser-one themselves. Sometimes it works perfectly, like Brother IZ, who’s most known to the mainstream for his What A Wonderful World cover.
So I’ve compiled a wild list of covers for our ears to gobble up, let’s get to it…
Come Together- Robin Williams and Bobby McFerrin
The Late Great Robin Williams is a pop-culture legend. His singing adventures aren’t as immortalized as his acting career, but he can perform. In this video, which has background footage to prove that it was recorded together, Williams performs with one of the most legendary vocalists of all time. Not everyone realizes how amazing Bobby McFerrin’s resume is, but it’s far beyond the scope of this list. It’s a collab that doesn’t seem to make sense, but my goodness does it work.
Sweet Caroline- Mick Harren
This is one of those songs that lives in my head rent-free. One of my high school teachers showed this to class, and it just never left my head. The overly techno beat is as wierd as it is mesmorizing. It’s just so wierd, and I love it. Words fail me when it comes to this song, so just trust that it’s worth listening to.
Those 3 notes in the chorus are punched beautifully in here, if nothing else.
In The Air Tonight- The Protomen
Any Cobra Kai fans in the audience may recognize this tune since it showed up in the most recent season. The Protomen have a synthwave rock style that works perfect for the cover album the song originally comes from. It makes the drum breakdown so much more impactful12 when it drops in this version. Unfortunately, The Cover Up isn’t a movie that these guys did a soundtrack for, but if they did it could rival the best film soundtracks ever. Their original concept albums are worth listening to if the covers don’t get you going.
The 12 Days of Christmas- Straight No Chaser
Ok I know it’s not the holiday season, and that this is A Cappella, but it’s worth checking out. It’s the most chaotic vocals I’ve ever heard in a Christmas tune, and it breaks from the original 12 Days structure almost immediately. Straight No Chaser got a record deal partially because of the ever-growing popularity of this song. They cover many songs and are among the most successful A Cappella groups in modern times. For my money, they’ve never put out a better cover than this one.
Can’t Rock My Dream Face- Umphrey’s McGee
Covering “Can’t Feel My Face” by The Weeknd & “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac
In my experience, people have either never heard of Umphrey’s McGee, or they’ve seen a minimum of 30 concerts by them. It’s the most devoted music fanbase I’ve met since I learned about Phish. Their album Zonkey has a bunch of mashup covers, and this one is among the wildest. They blend songs together that seem to have no business doing so. In their many recorded live shows, you can see them flipping songs on their heads and mashing them up like a potato. I recommend diving deeper into these guys more than anyone else I’ve mentioned today
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