Music Monday: Cover Songs Are Fun!

Posted on 03.09.08 in Music Monday Music and there are 14 comments.

I love to listen to cover songs. I tend to either love them or loathe them.

There is little middle ground because I click play with high expectations. Some covers make me cringe while others manage to improve upon the original.

My Cover Song Selection

Now, I don’t know that this is my favorite cover of all time, but it is an important one. You see, I’d heard about some 16 year old singer named Bethany Dillon who did a cover of Lead Me On.

L-E-A-D M-E O-N, you know, by Amy Grant.

AMY GRANT, people!

My first thought was, what were those label execs thinking?

“Hmmm...let’s intro this SIXTEEN year old with a cover of Amy Grant’s Magnum Opus.”

No pressure.

Being that I was a huge Amy Grant fan (to the dorkiest extent) growing up, I sought out this cover song with great cynicism and sneering.

I found it on iTunes and when I saw the album cover, my first thought?

Punk.

Then I clicked play. Not baaaad. Pretty good actually.

Ok. Fine. I like it.

Fast forward a few years and Bethany Dillon is now one of the most played artists in my iTunes Library.

I guess those label execs knew what they were doing…

Listen and Enjoy

I have threee videos here for your viewing pleasure. (yes, threee) The first is the original video for Lead Me On. A little blast from the past on this fine Music Monday…

The next one is a clip of Bethany Dillon singing Lead Me On. (I couldn’t find a whole version of the song.)

Speaking of covers, this is of a cover I found on YouTube while searching for the Bethany Dillon’s Lead Me On cover.

YouTube is the home of a million cringe worthy cover songs, but I was pretty impressed by this one of Bethany Dillon’s I Believe In You. I don’t know who this girl is, but she has a great voice…

Your Turn

What’s your favorite cover song?

FYI - a cover song (also called a cover or cover version) is simply “a new rendition of a previously recorded song.” For example, The Beatles’ “Yesterday” is often called the most covered song in popular music history; some allege there are over three thousand different versions. (ht: wikipedia.)

So what’s your favorite “new rendition of a previously recorded song?

Write a post on your blog about your favorite cover song and post the link (to that specific post - not your general blog URL) below.

If you don’t have a blog, share your songs in the comments.

The Comments:

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I also think that, for a brash young girl, Bethany Dillon did a pretty good cover of “Lead Me On”.

"Lead Me On” always bothered me with some rather disturbing theological conclusions - like that God didn’t deliver most of the people she’s singing about.  Good memories, nonetheless.

I also loved Amy Grant. 
Here are some of my favorite covers (sorry...couldn’t stop at just one!):

Michael Buble - “Save the Last Dance for Me” and “Sway”

Harry Connick, Jr.’s “Danny Boy” that he sang in “Memphis Belle.”

Harry singing Merle Haggard’s “She Thinks I Still Care”

Ok, this is the 2nd time I’ve seen this Auto Linky widget.  I’m going to have to install it and try it out at my place some time.  Great idea for a post; I’ll work on it and come back here and give a link for it. 

I’m generally not a fan of CCM covers, but this chick with the guitar covering the Dillon tune does a great job with it.

Nichole Nordeman has a cover of “As” by Stevie Wonder on her album “This Mystery” that I really like. She also covered Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” (great song!) on “Woven and Spun,” which I love even more.  I really like Nichole; I wish she’d release a new album!

Just posted something I didn’t want to move down the page, so no blog entry, sorry : ). But I’m with Texas in Africa about Eva Cassidy, my favorite cover of her’s is “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” Here’s a youtube link of her singing it live.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eUwTdqPkluY

One of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard, cover or not.

Amy Grant will always be one of the best. I used to listen to her all the time when i was little! My favorite is a song Clay Aiken did on American Idol...i still love it!

Amy Grant was one of my favorites growing up.  She’s the first person/band I ever saw in concert.  Ever!  Thanks for the flashback.

Ok, I’m going to be lazy and comment here rather than post this on my own blog.  Hope that doesn’t disqualify me.  Here are some good CCM covers I’ve heard in the past (disclaimer:  I’m not a huge CCM fan):

It’s the End of the World As We Know It - DC Talk

Lonely People - Jars of Clay

Fly Like an Eagle - Third Day (I saw them do this in concert; I don’t think there’s a recording of it anywhere)

Free Ride - Audio Adrenaline (concert)

PS--I’ve been waiting for 13 years to hear Jars of Clay cover Dust in the Wind.  Think it’ll ever happen?

I followed your lead and posted three vdeos in my post (http://pewview.mu.nu/archives/257387.html)

Goldfinger—99 Red Balloons
Ghoti Hook—I Love Rock and Roll
Pillar—Sunday Bloody Sunday

Looks like my musical tastes are a bit more ... aggressive than most of the folks here, but I will admit to being a slight Amy fan back in the day.

oops—posted the wrong link -->http://pewview.mu.nu/archives/257549.html

That’s the right one.

I saw Jars of Clay again last summer and the highlight for me was when they covered “Don’t Change” by INXS.  Never recorded though.  As for recorded covers, I just saw Caedmon’s Call again 2 weeks ago and they covered “In God’s Country” by U2 and it’s recorded on their Guild 2 album from 1998: http://caedmonscall.net/song-vault/guild-2/

I like Smashing Pumpkins’ cover of Stevie Nicks’ “Landslide”.

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