Seven Cover Songs That Squash The Originals Like Grapes

I love cover songs... I love hearing new versions of songs I already enjoy, even though I rarely think that the imitators match up to the imitatees. It's fairly uncommon to find a cover that can compete with its source, but there are certainly a handful of remakes I'd be just as happy to listen to as the original. "Caroline, No" by They Might Be Giants, for example, is pretty much just as good as the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" cut... and I like both Cowboy Junkies' and Lou Reed's versions of "Sweet Jane" for different reasons.

Every now and then, though, I'll hear a cover that TOTALLY blows away the original. They're as good as gold... Here, in no particular order, are seven cover songs that squash the originals like grapes:

Johnny Cash - "Hurt" (originally by Nine Inch Nails)

I love the original "Hurt," of course... I grew up in the Nineties... it's required by Gen-X/Y (whatever the heck I am) law that you must think fondly of "The Downward Spiral." Still, for as tortured as Trent Reznor can sound, Johnny Cash sounds legitimately hurt as he sings a folk rendition of the industrial mope-rock classic. While Trent seems like an angsty high schooler scrawling sad rhymes into his notebook, Johnny Cash makes the words resonate with honest-to-goodness emotion. And, class act that he was at the end, he substitutes a "crown of thorns" for Reznor's more yecchy image

Jose Gonzalez - "Heartbeats" (originally by The Knife)

Jose Gozalez, a Swedish singer-songwriter, took The Knife's nice-enough (but relatively bland) electronica song "Heartbeats" and transformed it into an absolutely haunting acoustic guitar ballad. It's the a rare cover that not only totally alters the original, but wholly transcends it. Usually, these sorts of exercises result in the mutilation of a good or great song. In this case, Jose's radical reworking of his fellow Swedes' techno track elevated a middling song to something fantastic.

Clem Snide - "Beautiful" (originally by Christina Aguilera)

I'm not sure when, exactly, the trend of indie bands recording pop hits began, but I'm a big fan of it. There's a lot of great pop songs out there, pop songs that hipsters can't touch with a ten foot pole for fear of having their music geek pass revoked. Clem Snide allows us to listen to Christina Aguilera's self-esteem-bolstering anthem without having to turn in our nerd glasses. What's more, though, Clem Snide replaces the syrupy arrangement of X-tina's version with an awesome jangle-rock sound that wouldn't sound entirely out of place on an R.E.M. record. The empowerment lyrics about liking ourselves even with our puzzles left undone are a lot more palatable in Eef Barzelay's faux-country drawl.

Feist - "Inside And Out" (originally by Bee Gees (as "Love You Inside Out")

This might sound mean, but what doesn't sound better when NOT sung in Barry Gibb's irritating falsetto? Leslie Feist totally kicks this song's funky rump, in no small part because her voice is infinitely more pleasing than anything the Brothers Gibb ever put on record. Feist maintains the disco vibe of the song, but speeds it up and adds some squiggly synth sound effects that I think you'll agree are pretty spiffy. Once you hear hers, the original sounds excrutiatingly slow and empty.

Cake - "I Will Survive" (originally by Gloria Gaynor)

Ok, sure, Gloria Gaynor's version is a disco classic... but it's so overplayed and, well, just kind of lame. Lame the way most disco is lame. It's great for bad movie trailers and (I assume) drag clubs, but it's not all that fun to listen to on its own. But Cake's version? It's like a fun sandwich topped with tangy funyonaise! Granted, it doesn't sound all that different from any other Cake song, but what's wrong with that? You've got plunking bass, jazzy trumpet and John McCrea's sublimely monotone vocal. Plus, it throws in an unnecessary cuss word.

The Postal Service - Against All Odds (originally by Phil Collins)

Despite my loathing of Phil Collins, I always kind of liked "Against All Odds," even though it was ridiculously sappy and tailor-made for rom-com soundtracks. There was something prettily and eerily heartbreaking about it, even though Phil kind of, well, over-emoted all over it. The Postal Service did everyone a great service by covering this song and giving it the sort of understated, streetlight at three a.m. mood it really deserved. Their version starts out with barely a whisper, and evolves into a sparse little lament. It retains all the best aspects of the original while excising the ham-fistedness that marrs Phil Collins' version.

Neko Case & Her Boyfriends - "Bowling Green" (originally by the Everly Brothers)

One of the last hits for oldies radio staples The Everly Brothers, Canadian alt-country hottie Neko Case remade it for her first album. And it's awesome. It's peppy, rhymes "lucky" and "Kentucky," and makes reference to the fact that in Bowling Green, unlike other parts of America, they let you "think your own mind." And, because Neko Case is singing it, and not the ultra-square Everly Brothers, it won't gunk up your speakers with lame. Oh, that's not fair, really... I like the Everly Brothers... just not nearly as much as I love Neko Case.