Many times when an artist covers a song by another artist, the song selection makes perfect sense, as the covef has a similar feel to the original's sound (or vice versa).

These are NOT the cover songs we are looking for.

We're looking for the weird, the nutty, the "how high was the person that greenlit this?" covers.

Here's a sample:

From 1977,here's the Sex Pistols song "No Feelings"


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And from 1983, here's a cover by Bananarama of all bands:


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I've got more, but I'm curious to see what other people come up with.

I always found this cover a bit unusual, not necessarily "nutty" though -

Beach Boys - God Only Knows (1966)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u90beUXTKwo

David Bowie - God Only Knows (1984)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnu61JbAVvQ

Johnny Cash did a number of very odd covers towards the end of his life, like covering "Hurt" by Nine Inch Nails. Another one he did that I liked quite a lot was his cover of "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode:


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David Crosby & Graham Nash
"My Country Tis Of Thee"
2004

Not the slightest bit weird or nutty, but somewhat unexpected and with a very unique arrangement. The guitar is by late, great guitar player Michael Hedges.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbMSxxWucwY

John Lennon
"Lady Marmalade"
during an interview, mid-70s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcTSOXOgCIY

I never thought I'd see Art of Noise (with Tom Jones) covering Prince, but here you go:


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Tiny Tim - Do you think I'm sexy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBhkvlTcAag

Tiny Tim - Do you think I'm sexy


    ;D    :D    ;D

The big daddy of them all. An utterly defining 1960s moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjzZh6-h9fM

In an apparent attempt to stay "relevant", Pat Boone covered a bunch of heavy rock songs in his 1997 album In a Metal Mood: No More Mr Nice Guy.

Here's his version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven":

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Other covers included:


Judas Priest - "You've Got Another Thing Coming"
Deep Purple - "Smoke on the Water"
AC/DC - "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)"
Van Halen - "Panama"
Alice Cooper - "No More Mr Nice Guy"
Everly Brothers / Nazareth - "Love Hurts"
Metallica - "Enter Sandman"
Dio - "Holy Diver"
Guns N' Roses - "Paradise City"
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "The Wind Cries Mary"
Ozzy Osbourne - "Crazy Train"
Led Zeppelin - "Stairway to Heaven"


I think this qualifies as a



"how high was the person that greenlit this?" covers.

An aging Ethel Merman sang disco versions of her Broadway hits like "There's No Business Like Show Business", "I Got Rhythm" and "Alexander's Ragtime Band" on this 1979 disco album.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/EthelMermanDiscoAlbum.jpg

In an apparent attempt to stay "relevant", Pat Boone covered a bunch of heavy rock songs in his 1997 album In a Metal Mood: No More Mr Nice Guy.

Here's his version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven":

c-qHJ-Y0JXA

Other covers included:


Judas Priest - "You've Got Another Thing Coming"
Deep Purple - "Smoke on the Water"
AC/DC - "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)"
Van Halen - "Panama"
Alice Cooper - "No More Mr Nice Guy"
Everly Brothers / Nazareth - "Love Hurts"
Metallica - "Enter Sandman"
Dio - "Holy Diver"
Guns N' Roses - "Paradise City"
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - "The Wind Cries Mary"
Ozzy Osbourne - "Crazy Train"
Led Zeppelin - "Stairway to Heaven"


I think this qualifies as a


Good choice. I had been planning on posting Enter Sandman later.

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction is a classic song by one of the all time greats, the Rolling Stones


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So naturally, one of the other all time greats, Devo, had to cover it in their own inimitable style:


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John Lennon
"Lady Marmalade"
during an interview, mid-70s


Interesting, I never knew of this one.

However, I do know the early 2000s cover recorded by the four-way collaboration of Christina Aguilera, Lil Kim, Mya, and Pink.

I never thought I'd see Art of Noise (with Tom Jones) covering Prince, but here you go:


The AON/Tom Jones version of Kiss is IMO the better version.  The way Prince screams the song has always been nails on a chalk board, which led to it being my least favourite song of all time.  In the AON version, they sample other hits they had, and it was so good

In 1988, The California Raisins had a minor hit with a cover of the Marvin Gaye classic I Heard It Through the Grapevine.  You would think that a bunch of singing raisins doing a Motown song would be like super terrible, but it worked out better than most people thought and it's actually really good.

I can only imagine the original pitch idea for this, the record exec would be like "Are those raisins made with a special ingredient and have you been eating a lot of them by chance?"

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We've likely all heard Little Richard's "Tutti Frutti" or at least have some awareness of it:


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However, German band Trio covered it during the 80s. Trio were best known for their hit song "Da Da Da (I Don't Love You, You Don't Love Me):


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The AON/Tom Jones version of Kiss is IMO the better version.  The way Prince screams the song has always been nails on a chalk board, which led to it being my least favourite song of all time.  In the AON version, they sample other hits they had, and it was so good



Exactly my thoughts on the two versions.

Tom’s version of Burning Down the House is pretty good as well.

Many years ago, the Commodore released "Easy", a nice love ballad.


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So of course, hard rock/metal band Faith No More had to cover it:


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Tbh, I'm not particularly fond of either version.

Paul McCartney did this one after his song "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" was banned by the BBC.

Wings
"Mary had A Little Lamb"
1973

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg0KTpUelWk

Marie Osmond sings opera

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZVtyx5ITos

Tiny Tim - Do you think I'm sexy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBhkvlTcAag



Are you sure that isn't Buffalo Springfield.  ;) :D ;D ;D ;D



Cat

Marie Osmond sings opera

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZVtyx5ITos



WOW!


Cat

Ther is always this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_gtGfAail4

I'm surprised no one mentioned this one yet-Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds by William Shatner


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH06aNXWb8U


Cat

Some younger people may not have heard of comedian Moms Mabley, but she was everywhere in the 1960s. Her routine was to look like something of a "bag woman", as they used to be called, while making hilarious and often very socially relevant comments. But she shocked everybody with such a good version of this song. I recall it getting some airplay also.

Moms Mabley
"Abraham. Martin and John"
1969

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgMJiH440XM

Camptown Races is a song from the 1800s that has been performed by many artists, but let's be honest here, the best known version is of course sung by Foghorn Leghorn...

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But have you heard the 1999 version by a Danish Eurodance 1950s inspired novelty group called Cartoons?  Its called DooDah and features slightly modified lyrics and was a Top 10 hit in many parts of Europe, including the UK and even made the Top 20 on the Canadian dance chart.  This one is fun!  I am sure Foghorn would approve!

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I'm surprised no one mentioned this one yet-Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds by William Shatner



Oh.  That reminds me:

I didn't know it back then, but Leonard Nimoy recorded a bunch of albums in the late 60s and early 70s.  Some of the songs were orignal, but most were covers.  A sample of some of the more famous songs he covered:

"Sunny" - Bobby Hebb
"Both Sides Now" - Joni Mitchell / Judy Collins
"If I Had A Hammer" - Pete Seeger, Lee Hayes / Peter, Paul and Mary
"It's Getting Better" - Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil / Mama Cass
"Abraham, Martin and John" - Dick Holler / Dion
"Everybody's Talkin'" - Fred Neil / Harry Nilsson
"Put A Little Love In Your Heart" - Jackie DeShannon

Here he is with "Proud Mary" by John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival:

Big wheel keep on toining
Proud Mary keep on boining

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Sebastian Cabot did an entire album of Bob Dylan songs as dramatic readings.

Is that weird shadow/silhouette thing supposed to be Dylan??

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41hMmcQybcL.jpg

If you were around during the 80s, you know Vsn Hale's Jump:


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Well, a few years later, Pop/New Wave band Aztec Camera released an acoustic version:


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Dolly Parton's version of "Stairway to Heaven" is surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly) good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhTvxVxXJLQ

Dolly Parton's version of "Stairway to Heaven" is surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly) good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhTvxVxXJLQ



I have never heard that one before. That was good. But, who would have thought Dolly Parton & Stairway to Heaven would have been a great match.


Cat

I have never heard that one before. That was good. But, who would have thought Dolly Parton & Stairway to Heaven would have been a great match.


Cat


That's why it's "unexpected or surprising", like the topic says.  :D  ;D

I posted one from this band might as well post another: Sweet Child O' Mine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpETnTAhqgM

Joe Cocker
"Cry Me A River"
1971

Everyone knows this hit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH10FN2RETU

...but when you consider the original hit sounded like THIS:

Julie London
"Cry Me A River"
1955

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCGNYJOrebA

This silly version with it's Rocky Horror-like ripoff video was a minor novelty hit. The MTV video era occasionally generated things like this. And the fact that there were originally characters in blackface in the video (subsequently removed in current versions) would not fly today.

Taco
"Puttin' On The Ritz"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5txyTYkZt8

This silly version with it's Rocky Horror-like ripoff video was a minor novelty hit. The MTV video era occasionally generated things like this. And the fact that there were originally characters in blackface in the video (subsequently removed in current versions) would not fly today.

Taco
"Puttin' On The Ritz"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5txyTYkZt8



I think it was more like a Young Frankenstein rip-off


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab7NyKw0VYQ


Cat

Husker Du covered "Sunshine Superman" by Donovan

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Actually, it might not be quite as surprising once you learn something about the band.  Grant Hart was influenced by the psychedelic music of the 1960s; they also covered The Byrds' "Eight Miles High".

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Alice Cooper covered (and had a hit with) "Hello Hooray" which he first heard on a Judy Collins album in 1968.

Judy Collins
"Hello Hooray"
1968

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB0TtT6NVcA

Alice Cooper
"Hello Hooray"
1973

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpgD_tecTGg

In 1983, an Icelandic group called Mezzoforte had a hit in the UK called Garden Party. Later that year, Herb Albert covered it and it became a minor hit the US.  You can hear Herb's version is a bit slower, and the reason for that was when he first heard the song, he was unknowingly listening it to it at the wrong speed and apparently even after realizing that, he still went with it and you know, it works.  Both versions sound great!

Mezzoforte - Garden Party (1983)
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Herb Alpert - Garden Party (1983)
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Bob Dylan
"Blue Moon"
1970

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNZNxcW80es

And a seasonal one from Dylan...

Bob Dylan
"Here Comes Santa Claus"
2009

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOaZ96kr1WM

Grace Slick
Counting to 10 on Sesame Street ("Jazzy Spies")
1969
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71C0sidK0vw

And a seasonal one from Dylan...


Speaking of seasonal, I always found this cover surprising (I do like it, though)

Bryan Adams - Must Be Santa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAuKuyAZ7YM

covering this 1961 version, perhaps?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcNogS9lb_g

Prior to this, I believe Bob Dylan also covered the song...

Those Christmas songs reminded me that I heard a surprising cover version from the king of Christmas Michael Buble. He recently covered Drivers Licence

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHjjx86Isgs

Not sure if this has been released as an actual track or is just being played on the BBC

Just seen on television a version of "Jailhouse Rock"by Queen, sung live on stage, I cannot give the year but definitely the 1970s.