A “cover” is a previously recorded song that has been “covered” by another artist. Think Joe Cocker redoing The Boxtops’ The Letter. (“Give me a ticket for an aeroplane. Ain’t got time to take a fast train. Lonely days are gone. I’m a comin’ home. My baby just wrote me a letter.”) Or take the spate of covers for Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
In your opinion, what is the best cover of all time? Here’s a short list just to get the juices flowing: Jimi Hendrix doing Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower; Aretha Franklin covering Otis Redding’s RESPECT; Cocker covering the Beatles’ With a Little Help From My Friends; the Beatles themselves remaking the Marvelettes’ Please, Mr. Postman; or possibly Janis Joplin’s cover of Kris Kristopherson’s, Me and Bobby McGee.
You’ll have your favorite. I think mine is by the Beatles – not a song they wrote but one they covered: The Isley Brothers’ Twist and Shout (which, by the way, was itself a cover of The Top Notes’ version, written by Phil Medley and Bert Berns).
I’d love to hear (actually listen to) your favorite covers. Go to the bottom of the page, just below the Facebook and Twitter sharing icons, and click “Leave a Comment.” Share with us your all-time favorite cover. Then listen to others just for the fun of it. Happy listening.
The Way Home 
Jenny’s favorite cover is Rufus Wainwright’s cover of Hallelujah, I really like that one too.
None really spring to mind as being my favorite, but here are a few I like:
– Dwight Yoakam’s cover of Queens’ Crazy Little Thing Called Love
– Placebo’s cover of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill
– The Clash’s cover of Bobby Fuller Four’s I Fought The Law
and then a more recent one
– Weezer’s cover of Toto’s Africa.
Probably my favorite song is Adventure by Angels & Airwaves, not a cover (the singer is from Blink 182, which you might have heard of).
Michael
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Thanks, Michael. I listened to “Adventure” and have heard Rufus Wainwright’s “Halellujah.” I remember Toto and heard my kids talk about The Clash and Weezer, but it’s clear that we know different generations of covers. Glad you are a music lover! – Shayne
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