Pick a Classic, Rank its Covers

I'll do a song that I know has been covered many, many times. I know I know, another post made by me related to Hank Williams, sorry. heh. I kinda obsess over covers of his songs, and this is one of his most covered songs.

Original by Hank Williams
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This lonesome song basically defines heartbreak and lonesomeness. If you are a Country music fan, you've no doubt heard this song, and this song has been covered by so many and throughout so many genres many many non-country fans have had the chance to hear it. Anyway, this song just captures feelings you've never known were there before. If you're feeling down this song can almost pick you up out of it because you realize you're not nearly as down as ol' Hank seemed to be when he recorded this.

First Place cover: By Johnny Cash and Nick Cave
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I think this version of the song worked it so well because Cash done a very good job at capturing the overall mood of the song. He had that very rough sounding voice in his later years and put such a depressive spin on everything. I suppose he was a fairly depressed man at this particular point in his life though. Also, Nick Cave does a very good job with the backup vocals in my opinion.

Second place cover by Dax Riggs
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Alright, maybe this isn't fair but its too good not to include and honestly what of the best versions of the song I've heard. Its live and the only recording I can find of Dax doing this, sadly. He does a damn good job with this cover and I highly recommend it.

Weird and cool versions of this song,
By The Residents
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Well, you can't expect anything but weird out of The Residents, but that's certainly not a bad thing. This is them mixing up a bunch of old Folk songs to make I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry. Wow, this is different but very cool. This has such an eerie atmosphere that its super depressive and once again catches the overall mood of the song.

Sorry for the kinda hurried writing guys. I'll write something else for this thread at a later time.
 
I Heard It Through the Grapevine​

This song has quite an interesting early history. It is probably the most famous Motown RecorRAB song and most people know it as a Marvin Gaye song (including me before this research). It was written in 1966. by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and was recorded first by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, although went unreleased at the time. The next two versions were both recorded in 1967. a few months apart from each other. Marvin Gaye song was recorded first, but Gladys Knight & the Pips version was released first in 1967. and went to become a big hit. Marvin Gaye's song was added to his 1968 album In the Groove and after its success, 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' was finally released as his single and became an even bigger hit then the Gladys Knight version and one of the biggest Motown hit singles.

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Now, I won't rank these first three versions, but will rather pick a classic. All three songs are very good for different reasons, be it an r&b cool flow of The Miracles version or Gladys Knight's strong, almost gospel feel, but my favorite is by far Marvin Gaye's song. He added a certain melancholy and sadness that give those lyrics even more layers. His song is undeniably the classic, as it is the version that is covered the most.

5. The Temptations (1969)​
The Temptations were one of the first acts to record their own version in 1969. after Marvin Gaye made a huge hit out of it. This one is more in that soul line of Gladys Knight & the Pips version and since I like that one a lot more, The Temptations take 5th place.
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4. Roger Troutman (1981)​
Roger Troutman, singer of the funk band Zapp made this extremely catchy, dance version for his solo album The Many Facets of Roger in 1981. This song was a big hit in the 80s and another 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' version that managed to top the charts. And I can just see why :afro:
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3. The Slits (1979)​
Well, everybody on this forum knows The Slits, I hope, a famous female punk/post-punk band. Their highly energetic cover is on the 1979. album Cut and it almost made it to the second place on this list. Actually, I'll consider it a tie with the 2nd place. With heavy bass opening, funky groove and African rhythms it still manages to retain that punk feel, which makes it a great post-punk cover of a soul classic.
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2. Creedence Clearwater Revival (1970)​
This is maybe the most famous 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' cover and the one I heard first, even before Marvin Gaye. That is one of the reasons it's in the second place, as this is the band I used to listen a lot when I was in my classic rock phase. Beside nostalgic reasons, this is a ****ing great song, especially the 11min. album version from Cosmo's Factory (1970)
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1. Tuxedomoon (1977 - 1983)​
This cover appears on the compilation of band's rare songs from 1977 - 1983., PinheaRAB on the Move (1987). So why is this bizarre, iconoclastic version in the first place? Tuxedomoon took a classic, transformed it and totally made it their own. We can still recognize the song just fine as it retains the same lyrics, although delivered with a lot of humor and hinting on a gay relationship. But beneath this seeming bizarre playfulness there is a constant intense whirlpool of contrasting sounRAB that give us a feel of madness and desperation that's going on in the mind of a lover when he finRAB out he's been cheated and is not loved anymore. So, in some strange way this cover actually complement that pain which can be sensed in Marvin Gaye song. And, of course, I'm incurably biased towarRAB Tuxedomoon.
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City of New Orleans

original:

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covers:

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perfect. the song is perfect. the atmosphere is perfect. the singularity and the sobriety is perfect. may be the most sincere version of this song i've ever heard.

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god bless shotgun willie. this is the first version i heard and deep down still probably my favorite.

i'm going to be really biased here and not include any other covers---but! a lot of other great artists cover this song so don't let me discourage you from checking their versions out---John Denver, Arlo Guthrie, Jerry Reed---these are songs for the day

but the good versions--the johnny cash and the willie nelson versions--are songs for the night. these are the versions you scream out the window on a midnight drive. the voices of the disappearing railroad blues.
 
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