Best Cover Versions Ever Named (Hendrix "All Along the Watchtower" #1)

XFM Radio ^ | 9/30/06

[Mr. Brightside]

Best Cover Versions Ever Named

A new poll of the Top 50 best cover versions of all time has just been published with Jimi Hendrix's version of Bob Dylan's ‘All Along the Watchtower’ topping the list, while the Top 10 includes The Beatles, Sid Vicious and Scissor Sisters.

The list of the Top 50 cover versions was chosen by Daily Telegraph music critics and includes well known favourites such as Johnny Cash’s version of U2’s ‘One’, Ryan Adams’ reworking of Oasis’ ‘Wonderwall’ and The Vines’ take on Outkast’s ‘Ms Jackson’.

Topping the list though was ‘All Along the Watchtower’ by The Jimi Hendrix Experience as recorded by the guitar legend in 1968, only one year after Bob Dylan wrote and recorded the original on his album ‘John Wesley Harding’.

Also in the Top 10 were Soft Cell’s legendary ‘Tainted Love’ from 1981, which has totally eclipsed the success of the 1964 Gloria Jones original, The Byrds version of another Dylan song, ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ and from this year ‘Comfortably Numb’ by the Scissor Sisters, which turned Pink Floyd’s 1979 ode to isolation and fear into a rather peppy glam disco track.

Many other entries in the Top 50 are far less well-know, though no less interesting sounding, including bearded folky Richard Thompson’s ‘Oops I Did it Again’, Brazilian samba combo Señor Coconut & His Orchestra take on Krafwerk’s ‘The Robots’ and ‘Rock el Casbah’ - Rachid Taha’s version of The Clash classic.

The full top 10 was:

‘All Along the Watchtower’ Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1968 (orig. Bob Dylan, 1967)

‘You Were Always On My Mind’ Pet Shop Boys, 1987 (orig. Elvis Presley, 1972 - after Brenda Lee, 1971)

‘My Way’ Sid Vicious, 1979 (orig. Frank Sinatra, 1969 - after Paul Anka, 1969)

‘Hallelujah’ Jeff Buckley, 1993 (orig. Leonard Cohen, 1984)

‘Respect’ Aretha Franklin, 1967 (orig. Otis Redding, 1965)

‘Tainted Love’ Soft Cell, 1981 (orig. Gloria Jones, 1964)

‘Mr Tambourine Man’ The Byrds, 1965 (orig. Bob Dylan, 1964)

‘Twist and Shout’ The Beatles, 1963 (orig. the Isley Brothers, 1960)

‘Comfortably Numb’ Scissor Sisters, 2004 (orig. Pink Floyd, 1979)

‘Mr Bojangles’ Nina Simone, 1971 (orig. Jerry Jeff Walker, 1967)

[Mr. Blonde]

Hard to argue with number one, although I would probably put Jeff Buckley's Hallalujah at number 2. Where is Johnny Cash's Hurt and Rusty Cage both much better than the originals.

[jocon307]

Excellent choice for #1, although Aretha Franklin's RESPECT is arguably just as good and should have ranked higher, imho.

[VastRWCon]

I thought Rob Zombie did a great version of BLITZKRIEG BOP by the REMONES.

[MikefromOhio]

good pick for Hendrix.

Really though, Aretha Franklin should be #2, she really made that song....

[Mr. Brightside]

I am listening to Dave Matthews's cover of All Along the Watchtower right now.

Personally, I like his version much better.

[MikefromOhio]

I'm more into the rock and roll type of things anyway though :)

[SamAdams76]

For those who like covers, there is a podcast dedicated to covers. "Coverville" by Brian Ibbitt. These are usually very good shows (6 cover songs about three times a week).

[dirtboy]

such as Johnny Cash’s version of U2’s ‘One’,

I'll take Johnny Cash's version of Hurt any day of the week - one of the most haunting songs ever recorded.

And how in the HELL can you have a top 50 cover list that does not include Zep's version of When the Levee Breaks - IMO their finest song, and probably the most subsequently ripped-off drum riff in history.

Who compiled this list, anyway?

[Lil'freeper]

And I like U2's. Seems like everyone and their cousin has done a cover of that tune. :)

[thegreatbeast]

Twist & Shout is, in the mind of this genius, the PERFECT rock and roll song. High energy, driving melody and John Lennon's glorious lead vocal combine to make it a priceless work of art graced by God. The Beatles had been working all day in the Abbey Road studios and squeezed this song out at the end. And the song is about what rock is about: DANCING.
The scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off of the parade & the crowd going wild to Twist & Shout is an exemplar of how the song works.
Curious, isn't it, how the Beatles most perfect number was not an original composition of theirs?

[lesser_satan]

Zep's version of When the Levee Breaks...

I thought they wrote that themselves. Who did it originally?

[dirtboy]

When the Levee Breaks

When the Levee Breaks" is a blues song written and first recorded by husband and wife Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie in 1929. The song is in reaction to the upheaval caused by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.

[trisham]

‘All Along the Watchtower’ Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1968 (orig. Bob Dylan, 1967)

*************

Absolutely. It still sounds fantastic today.

[BallyBill]

‘Mr Tambourine Man’ The Byrds, 1965 (orig. Bob Dylan, 1964)

I don't know why, but that version popped into my head this morning and just stuck there. Must've been on a TV commercial.

Dave Mason did an awesome cover of "All Along the Watchtower" when I saw him live many years ago. I wasn't even a fan of his and I had gone to see the headliner(who I forget), but I remember thinking Mason's version was closer to Hendrix than Dylan.

[Northern Yankee]

I love Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World, but have to admit the Joey Ramone's version is alot of fun.

[Mr. Brightside]

bump

[MotleyGirl70]

‘Tainted Love’ Soft Cell, 1981 (orig. Gloria Jones, 1964)

And it's redone again, in a fun way by a young singer now.

I'll get back to you on this...(it's a great re-re-make).

[Lurker]

In a just world Led Zepellin would be dead broke and starving and the people they ripped off would be rolling in cash.

L

[VOA]

"‘Mr Tambourine Man’ The Byrds, 1965 (orig. Bob Dylan, 1964) "

Now there's an outrage.
The best cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man" isn't mentioned.
Heck, it's even been remastered and reissued.
And also a killer cover of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"...
(/sarc)

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