Top timeless cover songs

Michael Ventre

When you slip under the covers, it’s a warm feeling. That’s because you’re safe, secure, cozy.

It’s much the same in music. When you get into the covers, there is a special kind of comfort. You’ve been there before. You can trust that you’ll feel good again.

Of course, some covers are more enjoyable than others. Some of our favorite songs can be turned ugly in the wrong hands, or more specifically, vocal cords. Some people who cover classics without the proper expertise to do them justice should probably be locked in a small room with Connie Chung and a piano as punishment.

But this is not about them. This is to celebrate the covers that went right, the ones that make us feel privileged to listen to people who copy other people’s songs.

Admittedly, covers are rampant, so culling a “top 10” list is a bit quixotic. There are so many that deserve inclusion. So don’t think of this as a definitive list. Think of it as a tasty sampler, which will cause you to salivate and want more.

And remember, covers aren’t necessarily better or worse than the originals. They’re unique. The best of them are versions that the cover artist has made his or her own.

So without further ado, these are the 10 covers we’re covering:

“LOTTA LOVE” by Nicolette Larson. This was penned by Neil Young, who performed it with his usual country rock flair. Larson had established her reputation in the music biz as a backup singer, mostly in country and bluegrass, for the likes of Hoyt Axton, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt and Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen. Her take on “Lotta Love,” which was her first single from her debut album in 1978, was breezier, with more energy and a fuller arrangement. The album went gold, but she could never duplicate that initial success. After forays into pure country, for which she received solid reviews and appearances on country charts but not the commercial success of “Lotta Love,” she went into semi-retirement. Larson died much too soon, in December of 1997 at the age of 45, from complications arising from a cerebral edema.

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“BACK DOOR MAN” by the Doors. Lots of artists have covered this Willie Dixon composition, from Howlin’ Wolf to Black Oak Arkansas. But the Doors’ 1967 version is the one most folks remember for Jim Morrison’s lascivious delivery of lines like, “You men eat your dinner, eat your pork and beans; I eat more chicken any man ever seen.” It’s hard to believe straight-arrow Jim would embrace a song about someone who sneaks in through the back door to rendezvous with another man’s wife, but the music doesn’t lie. In fact, Jim was confronted by police backstage at a show in Connecticut in ‘67 after a sexual encounter with a young woman and became so incensed that he went onstage and exposed himself while performing this song, which brought about his arrest. Fortunately, the Doors omitted a verse in the original Dixon song about committing murder.

“PERSONAL JESUS” by Johnny Cash. The original was done by techno-pop downers Depeche Mode. The group got the idea for the song from Priscilla Presley, who in a book described her relationship with Elvis as one in which he played a spiritual role. “Feeling unknown and you’re all alone, flesh and bone, by the telephone, lift up the receiver, I’ll make you a believer.”  Cash might appear to be an unlikely candidate to translate this staple of alternative airplay into his own brand of earthy country and western, but his “Personal Jesus” resonates with the Man in Black’s unique power. Cash did a series of recordings in the ‘90s with producer Rick Rubin, which helped him connect with a whole new generation of music lovers, and “Personal Jesus” appears on one of them entitled, “American IV: The Man Comes Around.”

“KILLING ME SOFTLY” by the Fugees. “Killing Me Softly With His Song” was written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, who also wrote the theme song to the “Happy Days” TV show. They wrote “Killing” for Lori Lieberman after she described to them her feelings about seeing Don McLean perform at a concert. Roberta Flack heard Lieberman’s 1971  version and decided to record it herself. The result was three Grammys for Flack in 1974. In 1996, the group Fugees, with Lauryn Hill on lead vocals, did a cover mixing their special brand of hip-hop, soul and reggae, and it went to No. 1 in both the U.S. and UK. While this might be the song mainstream music lovers identify with the Fugees, it also caused somewhat of a backlash by hardcore fans of the group who felt this was a crossover sellout engineered by the record company.

“ODE TO BILLIE JOE” by Satan and Adam. This duo’s history is too rich to cram into one blurb. In a nutshell, Sterling “Mr. Satan” Magee was an African-American Mississippi blues devotee who hit on hard times and was performing in the streets of Harlem when Adam Gussow, a white Columbia grad student and part-time guitarist and harmonica player, happened by. They joined forces to re-invent modern blues in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. “Ode to Billie Joe” was a No. 1 hit by Bobbie Gentry and tells the story about a young man who commits suicide by jumping off the Tallahatchie Bridge in Greenwood, Mississippi. It caused all kinds of speculation about what Billie Joe and the song’s narrator threw off the bridge the day before he jumped. A baby? A body? Satan and Adam’s lowdown version keeps the mystery alive.

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