I have always been a big fan of song covers. There’s a homeliness to them — like reworking a tried and true recipe.
They’re often mistaken as simple replications, but, like recipes, not all covers are equal.
Some add their own spices, some use the same ingredients but try a new method, and some just buy packet mix and get someone hot in their 20s to pop it in the oven.
To me, great covers aren’t the songs you’re shocked to find out are remakes.
Instead, they’re the covers of songs that give you a new-found appreciation of the originals you already know and love.
So, here’s my personal (and possibly contentious) list of best covers of the last 25 years.
Hey Ya by Obadiah Parker
Originally by Outkast
I discovered a version of this song while I was bingeing Scrubs about a decade ago and I’ve been obsessed ever since.
This song takes the cake for the best soft, sad song played over a montage of doctors learning hard life lessons, which is stiff competition considering that’s how every episode of Scrubs ends.
The 2003 original by Outkast was an electro-funk chart-topper but it was hiding some of the most emotionally confronting lyrics.
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But the 2006 version by US singer-songwriter Obadiah Parker strips away the twinkling synths and comical call and responses.
Lyrics like, “Why are we so in denial when we know we’re not happy here?” finally hit like they were meant to.
Feel Good Inc. by Little Simz
Originally by Gorillaz
I fear by writing about this song I may somehow bring down the level of how cool it is.
Played in 2019 by Little Simz for triple j’s Like A Version, this cover is so cool it makes me feel like I’m just a giant tube of eczema cream, wearing transition lens glasses and a pair of New Balances (and not the kind that are back in fashion).
The beloved 2005 original by Gorillaz was already smooth as hell, but Little Simz takes it to another level as she laces the verses over the iconic bass riff.
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Linger by Royel Otis
Originally by The Cranberries
These talented guys from Sydney have no business trying to make us all fall in love with them like this, but for whatever reason, they seem to be hell-bent on it.
Following up from their dreamy cover of Murder On The Dancefloor by Sophie Ellis-Bextor that went viral, their latest cover was recorded in April and has racked up almost 10 million views on YouTube.
This cover is just as haunting and melancholic as The Cranberries’ 1993 original and will make you blush like a teenager with a crush.
Bulls on Parade by Denzel Curry
Originally by Rage Against the Machine
Until I heard this I only knew of Denzel Curry as a rapper.
My mind was totally blown when I watched him explode into the triple j Like A Version studios covering Rage Against the Machine with the supreme screamo vocals of a seasoned hard rocker.
Curry’s version is the kind of song that makes you remember where you were the first time you heard it.
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Valerie by Mark Ronson, feat. Amy Winehouse
Originally by The Zutons
For the longest time, I thought this song was just a perfect jazz cover by some 1950s crooner about his girl, Valerie.
I was gobsmacked to discover it was originally recorded by The Zutons in 2003 as an indie-pop song about a makeup artist with a DUI charge.
Four years later, Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse dropped this soulful, flawless cover.
It’s now played at every single wedding where, I’m sure the bride has to take a deep breath before everyone on the dancefloor chants at her: “Why don’t you come on over, Valerie?!”
It’s this imagery that pushes this cover right to the top of my list.
Burning Down the House by Tom Jones & The Cardigans
Originally by Talking Heads
There are not many songs I will force upon people when I gain control of the AUX cord, but I insist everyone I know listens to this raw sexual cover of Talking Heads’ 1983 original, Burning Down the House.
This cover from 1999 chooses to be big and fun at every opportunity with Tom Jones coming in hot with the “WATCH OUT!” with such vigour and intensity it could wake the dead.
Play it at your Nan’s funeral just to be sure.
Bec Charlwood is a comedian, writer, podcaster and guest on the latest season of Spicks and Specks. She likes music, TV, short walks on the beach and spending roughly $30 at the chemist.
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