© Cover us in glory

Yeah, very interesting. Never really thought about the lyrics before, but they are perfect for a really dark interpretation.

John Cale is also from The Wales, isn’t it?

I seem to remember him narrating a Velvet Underground track about a boy in a cardboard box in an incongruously Welsh accent. I thought at the time, there’s lovely for you.

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It’s a shame that this has been so tainted in recent years, but it’s still one of my favourite covers.

If only those that have murdered it in the name of chart success had bothered to ‘listen’ to the words.

A magical interpretation of the ‘laughing’ Leonard Cohen original, brought to life by an artist for whom the song obviously meant something very personal.

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This song reminds me of a holiday in Fiji whilst visiting Australia MANY years ago and of a Australian Jewess call Sharon Freund - and that’s all I have to say about that.

Embarrassed to say that it wasn’t until some years later that I realised Lennon’s was the original.

Perhaps not the most cheery song for a Saturday night; nevertheless, I do like this cover of the S & G classic

Also covered to great effect by my compatriot Mr Cale, isn’t it. Much as I like Jeff Buckley’s version, this one is my favourite. From the same concert as the live version of Hearbreak Hotel that I posted earlier, all found on an LP called Fragments of a Rainy Season. Incidentally, John Cale first recorded this for a Laughing Len tribute LP entitled I’m Your Fan; he knew that Cohen had left a few verses out of his original recording, so he got Cohen to send him the whole lot. His final stanza, for instance, doesn’t appear in the original, but Cale liked it better than the one that Cohen chose. Cohen’s original is less dark which, given his reputation, may come as a surprise.

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A lovely version Fowlly D, but the emotion isn’t there for me.

I’m intrigued by the final verse. It’s the same as Jeff Buckely’s version. Did Buckley copy Cale then? (or vice versa).

Yes, I’m pretty sure that Buckley took the song from Cale’s rendering on I’m Your Fan. At the risk of incurring righteous wrath at posting an original on this thread, here it is:

This is a bit of a classic:

As is this:

Love rock/metal/punk covers. Will no doubt be back to post more :smile:

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Just wanted to say that since this ‘chat’, and following my walk to Hursley where I discussed Love with the same mate mentioned above, I’ve been playing Forever Changes every day.

I found a version that was recorded live - perhaps during the tour you saw, and it’s stunning. The original recording - or at least my copy, features some pretty dodgy stero mixing, so the live version is a real treat.

So whilst this is definitely not a cover, and therefore off-topic, I’ll risk the infraction…

Now that’s a real treat.Recorded in 2003 I notice, which was the same year that I saw them at the RFH.

Crap stereo mixing was endemic in the sixties I think - maybe engineers were still getting used to what could be done with stereo, plus of course a massive number of records were remastered into stereo having originally been released in mono. All too often you’ll find an LP where, for example, two instruments play out of one speaker and two others from the other one - which is pretty rubbish. Many aficionadoes of the Zim reckon his sixties recordings (certainly up as far as Blonde on Blonde) are better listened to in mono.

The CD version of Forever Changes that I have includes a number of excellent bonus tracks, including alternative takes of Alone Again, Or and You set the Scene. There’s also a tracking version of the instrumental track for an unreleased (I think) song, which gives you a real picture of the recording process. This version ends with a full take, following which Lee scolds Johnny Echols for a below-par guitar solo which closes out the song. The next track up is the full version, complete with vocals, followed by Lee’s comment: “That guitar solo was out of sight, man.” Brilliant.

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This one of the better covers i’ve heard

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Didn’t realise it was a cover - excellent choice Art.

On that note, here’s an interesting link,20 Songs You Might Not Know Were Covers. “When the levee breaks” is among them.

One could argue that a fair number of Led Zeppelin songs are to all intents and purposes covers - they just had ‘Plant/Page’ as the writing credit on the record. Examples include Whole Lotta Love (Willie Dixon’s You need Love), The Lemon Song (Howlin’ Wolf’s Killing Floor, with a middle-eight taken from a Robert Johnson song, though he may well have got it from elsewhere). This was all back in the seventies; I have a feeling that more recent copies of Led Zeppelin LPs attribute the songs’ origins rather better.

Of the Papster’s list, I have to admit I hadn’t even heard of a fair number of them - original or cover. My pet hate cover is on that list though - Blondie’s shockingly bad version of the Paragons’ Tide is High.

Here’s a cover - or is it? Writing credits are Jagger/Richards, though many reckon that Gram had a lot to do with the writing - the words certainly sound like his work. His version was released as a single before the Stones released it, but they recorded it first.

That’s a really nice version.

Are you suggesting (conspiracy) that it wasn’t written by Jagger/Richards? How would that be explained?

My mate Halo (the other one) is always trying to get me to listen to Gram Parsons. Haven’t heard enough to be knowledgeable though.

I can’t believe we got this far without me posting this.

I love this song and whilst Costello’s version is great, it’s Robert Wyatt’s that I was first familar with.

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Ditto in both respects. I remember buying the Robert Wyatt LP which has that on (Nothing Can Stop Us) way, way back; I knew that Shipbuilding was an Elvis Costello song, but I’d never heard his version of it. Nor did I for a good few years, now I come to think of it. No question that Costello writes superb political songs, all the more so for their subtlety.

Originally posted by @saintbletch

That’s a really nice version.

Are you suggesting (conspiracy) that it wasn’t written by Jagger/Richards? How would that be explained?

My mate Halo (the other one) is always trying to get me to listen to Gram Parsons. Haven’t heard enough to be knowledgeable though.

Well, Gram was very matey indeed with Keith (apparently Anita Pallenberg didn’t much care for Gram, but that’s another matter). They hung out together, did a load of drink and drugs and all the usual rock star bit. The song itself is reckoned to have been written for Gram by Jagger and Richards; both he and the Stones recorded it. However, there are those who were around at the time, and particularly those closer to Gram, who reckon that the writing credit should either include him or just be Parsons. I guess that if the song was published by Jagger and Richards’ publisher, it would have been attributed to them and copyrighted as such. Gram would quite likely have been way t ofar off his face to notice.

Your mate, the other Halo, is clearly a man of great taste and discernment.

This is a fantastic cover , miles better than the original with the added bonus that Bobby Rondinelli is a way better drummer than Phil collins…

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