Covering U2
The David Cook “ISHFWILF” cover got me thinking – what do you think is the best U2 song covered by another musician? My vote – Mary J. Blige’s version of “One.” A close second is Cook’s cover. I feel that in both of these cases, the cover version matched, if not surpassed, Bono’s vocals on the song.
Out of all the covers out there of U2 songs, who do you think offered the best cover?
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Surpassed Bono’s vocals? Wha, wha, whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?!
Love Is Blindness by Cassandra Wilson
You should never be allowed to post on this blog again. Surpassed Bono’s vocals. David Lee Cook is a poor man’s Scott Stapp. Of course, the rich man’s Scott Stapp is s***!
The best cover of a U2 tune of all time was John Legend’s Pride (in the Name of Love).
I’m going to have to disagree with what you said. In the case of “one”, I think Mary J. Blige went a little to far with the vocals, and in a way I think it changed the whole point of the song. I don’t know how to explain it but hopefully someone understands what I mean. The vocals Bono did for “I still haven’t found..”, I think were one of his best, this ofcourse not taking away anything from David. As for the best cover, well..I don’t really like covers .
Not a big fan of covers. Also not a big fan of Don Wright; everyone is entitled to an opinion. Sorry that not everyone’s is the same as yours.
Definitely hate both those covers, MJB missed the point entirely with one, she’s got a great voice but does it have to be up on eleven all the time?. And why all the show off vocal tricks, we get it you’re good just tone it down. Bono sounded horrible too, its like he was trying to sound bad to make her sound even better.
David Cooke’s performance was just a typical phoned-in Daughtry, Nickelback soulless corporate rock cover. Terrible instrumentation too, the main guitar part was missing entirely. Ricky Minor should be doing cheesy theme songs for latenight talkshows and awful sketch comedies.
Gripe ended
Here are a couple I like, but its all subjective.
Automatic baby – One
The Devlins and Sharon Corr – Love is Blindness
The covers I like best are the ones that do not just (try to) sound as the original, which is what a lot of people will eventually measure them by.
For me it’s the ones that mix the characteristic of the song (energy, feel, …) with the characteristic of the performer.
Johnny Cash – One
Elvis Costello – Please
I collected some here by the way:
http://roeli.olierook.com/labels/cover.html
I have to agree with Don Wright- I think John Legend’s “Pride” is one of the best U2 covers I’ve ever heard. I really don’t like MJB’s “One”. While she does have a beautiful voice, I think she pushed it too far on a song that, to me, is better whispered than wailed. I said before, I usually avoid covers, but there are a few out there that a very good.
Thanks to everyone who has already joined in this discussion – and I encourage more to do the same. Please remember to keep comments respectful as this is a family-friendly blog. Cursing will not be allowed and will be edited.
I know what I posted can be deemed controversial by U2 fans – especially the purists out there. I’m enjoying what y’all are saying. Keep it up!
Tori Amos’s rendition of “Running to stand still” remain the most beautiful U2 cover out there.A perfect example of taking a song somewhere else but keeping the same spirit of the song in her performance.
Yeah, I agree with all of the people who said that they don’t like covers. I really am not a fan of covers. There are VERY precious few covers that I like and there aren’t really any U2 covers I’ve heard but I’m SURE and POSITIVE that they would NOT surpass Bono’s vocals, not necessarily because he can sing it better than they can, but he has a richness in his voice that is deeply rooted in the song’s meanings. He lived inside that song while cover artists can merely visit or rent a song for a while. No one can feel that much for a song they have not lived in. When we listen to music, we may get the chance to experience a bit of what Bono felt, but unless you created it yourself, I don’t think that there can be as much musical talent to go with it. Does that make any sense at all? I hope so.
I loved David Cook’s cover and I think it is one of the best renditions of that song I have heard. Too bad it was so short, but hey that’s AI for you.
He has my vote.
Angelique Kidjo – Mysterious Ways
End of thread.
Agreed Sammybunny, most covers are incredibly disconnected from the original.
One of the covered songs I find most annoying would be the fifty thousand covers of “where the stars go blue”. too many to bother naming, most all are absolutely terrible. Although the Corr’s-Bono version was good I still feel that even that one missed the point, and as much as I like Bono I still wish he wouldn’t add as much to outros unless what he is saying is as brilliant as he thinks it is(shine like stars in the summer night=fits WoWOY perfectly).
Even though I do feel that even Ryan Adams missed the point of his own song a little, Much like Leonard Cohen did with “Hallelujah” and a cover of a song like that is usually the exception. In a way you can think of “Stars go blue” as the new “Hallelujah”, a song that everyone knows is amazing even if it doesn’t sound like it because the execution of the song doesn’t match the feeling. Is covered by people whom do not know how to match that feeling, and are too genre locked to do it even if they could. I’m going to get prophetic here and say the next Jeff Buckley is the person who covers “When the Stars Go Blue” and everybody who hears it instead of fantarding or thinking its great because its the newest version, just stop and think “Wow”.
Having said that songs like “Still Haven’t Found” or “One” that where perfectly executed by the original artist, or songs that where definitively covered like “Hallelujah” or Harry Nilsson’s cover of Badfinger’s 1970 song “I Can’t Live, if Livin is Without You” or Don Henley’s retooled unreleased acoustic version of his own song “Heart of the matter” should probably just be covered live in concert in tribute to them.
Oh, yeah — Spoutnik nailed it. I totally forgot about Tori Amos’ live version of RUNNING. Great, great cover. That’s the one.
There’s a haunting, subtle verson of With or Without You by Keane on the BBC Live Lounge Volume 1 CD set. I liked David Cook’s Still Haven’t Found — he’s going to be a big star and the song was suited for his voice. He’s not Bono, though.
Personally, I LOVED David Cook’s cover. I was really hoping it’d be the full song, but yes, typical AI. I’m always nervous about covers, but he was great. I was never a fan of MJB’s version. I thought she over sang it. But Cook was great! I thought he did the song and the band justice.
Smashing Pumpkins – Stay
I second Automatic Baby “One” as the best
How about the worst? “Where the Streets have no name” by Pet Shop Boys, cringe, cringe…sorry, couldn’t resist.
As much as I love the Smashing Pumpkins, I think they could have done a little better with the cover of stay, again its all subjective.
I definitively agree with Sylvia, what where the Pet Shop Boys thinking “lets mix songs that are nothing alike together because we think there are similarities between them, that way we’ll ruin two songs in the process of covering one”.
Of course everyone’s entitled to his or her opinion, but I can never imagine anyone surpassing Bono on ISHFWILF. That has been my favorite song by the boys since March ‘87 and almost every version I’ve heard Bono sing is superior to Cook in so many different ways (even Milan from the last tour). Paris 1987 is pure magic. Do you *really* think Cook’s version was better than all these? Really???
“Do you *really* think Cook’s version was better than all these? Realy?”
part of being hip is to think new is better Brent…….JK U2isABLE
it is a little obvious to me though(correct me if I’m wrong), that U2isABLE is an idol fan probably more so than a U2 fan in some ways. And I can see why U2isABLE is so up on David Cooke, because after Blake Lewis(Beatboxing runner up) last year and Taylor Hicks the year before. And the only competition this year was a kid with a good voice but no rhythm, no breath control*Gasp* and not much range, David Cooke in comparison looked better then Bono.
Neil – After listening to ISHFWILF for over 20 years now, I found Cook’s vocal on it to be a breath of fresh air. For U2, my favorite version was the simple, accoustic ISHFWILF from the ZooTV tour as it was a wonderful way to present the song and made it more into a prayer than anything else.
As Clive Davis said on Idol, ISHFWILF is a song that speaks to a generation. Given that this song has been covered by many others over these years, I liked the way Cook played with the melody a bit without having the song lose its identity as a U2 song.
As far as being more of an Idol fan over a U2 fan – after following this band for 20 years and writing for @U2 for the past decade or so, I have to disagree with you. I won’t go into the many reasons here, but if you read any of the stories I’ve written, blog posts I’ve posted, listened to any of the Plot 180 segments on our podcast, attended any @U2 events, or been a part of any of the email listservs, such as the original WIRE, you would understand the level of my commitment and fandom to U2.
Wow, if there’s one person on this staff who DOES NOT need to prove their fandom, it’s Sherry. Seriously, Neil, what are you talking about?
I thought his vocal was fine/good, not great. Then again, I haven’t heard a good U2 version of this song in YEARS.
Just joking around about you’re fandom Sherry, sarcasm doesn’t translate well over the internet, nothing real.
My main point was that you obviously watch idol, and I can see why you like him, there are only so many divas, country starlets and backstreet boys you can watch before it gets old. The only other rockers have been Constantine that couldn’t rock an old folks home, Doughtry who actually has his own name tattooed across his back. This season had that guy that was a “genuine” rocker yet he sang like a member of Nsync, oh and Amanda that could stand to be a lot more coherent, So he was basically the only thing close to Bono the show has ever had.
Jars of Clay’s version of “All I Want Is You”
Caedmon’s call In God’s country
Sepultura Bullet the blue sky
Not the best but in the top 10