In My Forty-Plus Years As A Music Writer ...

[andy-hughes]

… I have seen more than my fair share of classic songs butchered beyond redemption - but I wonder if anything is going to eclipse this!

[fender62]

andy-hughes, Scissor Sisters' Comfortably Numb, also a big floyd fan
and mmm just seems weird to cover floyd as they are so iconic, perhaps im to entrenched with reguard to floyd, i did like hearts cover of zeps stairway to heaven,

[Mozz71]

//I loved the video - with all the starched shirts trying to get their tonsils around a Lou Reed song and looking like they had brush handles up their bottoms.//

For years I thought that was Michael Hutchence in that video, only for it to be Evan Dando of The Lemonheads.

[Mozz71]

Can I just take a moment to state that the young Linda Ronstadt was quite possibly the most perfect example of womanly loveliness ever.

[richtee]

Totally agree with bakers dozen- awful version of the song-the original, written and sung by Dolly, is the one for me. Linda Ronstadt has -or should I say had, sadly, one of the best female voices around, so her version is good too. Incidentally, this song (I Will Always Love you) was number 1 in the country charts, number one 1 in the Billboard pop charts, and I heard sometime ago Kathleen Jenkins was going to include it on one of her albums, which if that made number 1, would make it one of the best crossover song ever.

[Mozz71]

I may be wrong Richtee, but I think Dolly's version was a number one country song twice. Once in the early Seventies when it first came out, then once in the early Eighties when it featured in one of her movies (Best Little Whorehouse in Texas I think).

[Ken4155]

Fender @ 11;16. Very good cover version. Looks as if JP and RP enjoyed it, too.

[BAKERS DOZEN]

I first heard Dolly's version on an double LP I bought back in the 80's called Broken Dreams/28 heartbreaking love songs. I'm sure she has recorded it again because I have listened to versions that don't quite sound half as emotional as this one. Andy - have you ever written for the Manchester Evening News?

[richtee]

Yes Mozz, I think your right- I was just going from my(not to accurate any more) memory. She corrected the "an dye" phrase that should have been "and I"- in that version- Houstons version was much worse!

[ummmm]

The worse cover imo - Boyzone 'Father and Son'

Best - Nirvana 'The Man Who Sold the World'

[andy-hughes]

Mozz - // Can I just take a moment to state that the young Linda Ronstadt was quite possibly the most perfect example of womanly loveliness ever. //

You absolutely can!

If I have a 'type' of woman to find attractive, and it's by no means limited to this description, but I have always loved small dark-skinned women with lots of black hair, big eyes, turned-up noses, long legs, and pretty hands.

Linda ticked all those boxes on her album covers, and a voice to cry for as well!!

[jno]

a beautiful song, later butchered by the Righteous Brothers

[Mozz71]

We've had our differences in the past Andy, but in this case we are in complete agreement. Those eyes! **swoon**

[fiction-factory]

Mick Jagger and the band were okay. The problem was Taylor Swift who looked the part but showed she couldn't sing in tune live

[fiction-factory]

I think the best covers are generally where the singer changes the speed and style.
Something like Mad World by Gary Jules, or this Springsteen cover

[Mamyalynne]

The very first version of Unchained Melody.

[fiction-factory]

This must be one of the worst covers

[fiction-factory]

I liked this even if most other Oasis fans didn't

[MargoTester]

Unchained Melody by Robson and Jerome was pretty awful too

[jno]

this is Pete Townshend's dad's version

[andy-hughes]

Margotester - // Unchained Melody by Robson and Jerome was pretty awful too //

It was, but when a song is as strong as that, it's quite hard to murder it.

They did do it some serious damage, but nothing terminal.

It's like Nessun Dorma and Hallelujah on the X Factor - they are so emotional with such a huge buildup that by the end, everyone is carried along bv that surge of emotion, and tend to ignore whether or not the song is actually being sung well or not.

I know zilch about opera, but i do remember reading an opera singer who obviously knows a lot about it, who advised that Paul Potts, who built an entire career on his Ex Factor showing, was not actually that technically proficient. Knowing nothing, as I and 99% of the viewing public don't, it sounded OK to me, but that just goes to show.