Cover Up

Last year I watched the ITV series ‘Cilla’, which documented the rise to fame of ‘our’ Miss Cilla Black.

Very good it was too, with Sheridan Smith absolutely nailing the titular role. In particular she delivered some faithfully tasty cover versions of Cilla Black’s most famous songs, including ‘You're My World’ and ‘Anyone Who Had A Heart’... which prompted a discussion about the quality and merits of cover versions.Can the cover ever be better than the original? Is it even allowed to be considered so?It’s probably fair to say that MOST of the time, the original is indeed the best, but that’s not to say that there haven’t been some amazing covers, because there have been some belting good attempts.In fact there are some absolute standards recorded over the years that people probably have no idea were actually covers themselves, such as these randomly selected tracks:

The Beatles ~ ‘Twist & Shout’ – originally by the Top Notes

Blondie ~ ‘The Tide Is High’– originally by The Paragons

Elvis Presley ~ ‘Hound Dog’– originally by Big Mama Thornton

Cyndi Lauper ~ ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’– originally by Robert Hazard

Beach Boys ~ ‘Sloop John.B’– originally by Carl Sandburg

Natalie Imbruglia ~ ‘Torn’– originally by Ednaswap

Soft Cell ~ ‘Tainted Love’– originally by Gloria Jones

Righteous Bros. ~ ‘Unchained Melody’– originally by Al Hibbler (Vocal version)

Aretha Franklin ~ ‘Respect’– originally by Otis Redding

Nilsson ~ ‘Without You’– originally by Badfinger

Just a few examples of songs that the above artists arguably made their own, but that actually belong to someone else…

So to answer the question as to whether the original is always better than the cover or not, surely it has to be each song on its merit.

Whilst not an extensive list, below are some of my favourite covers that I think offer something different and maybe better than the original:

How Deep Is Your Love?

Originally made famous by the Bee Gees, covered by Take That

You Showed Me

Originally made famous by the Turtles, covered by the Lightning Seeds

Always On My Mind

Originally made famous by Elvis Presley, covered by the Pet Shop Boys

I Think We’re Alone Now

Originally made famous by Tommy James & The Shondells, covered by Tiffany

And a special mention to Flawless

Originally made famous by The Ones (and in part Gary’s Gang), and not so much covered by George Michael as lyrically enhanced. The original was more of an instrumental, until George had a crack at some words for it. Love it! >