Cover songs are one of our most alluring musical traditions. We love music, and we love it when our favorite artists share music they love; music that inspired them.
From Johnny Cash’s profoundly emotional reimagining of “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails to Guns N’ Roses’ rendition of Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, cover songs are an inherent part of our collective musical experience.
Sometimes, though, a cover winds up in a more “rare” status. Maybe it never made it to an album or was only performed live. Still, it might just hit you as even better than the original… allow me to make a few cases.
Panic! At The Disco’s Brendon Urie does Third Eye Blind’s “Slow Motion”
This is one of those very rare, early-in-the-career covers that not a lot of people know about. Back in 1999, Third Eye Blind dropped their sophomore album, Blue. It’s most well-known for songs like “Never Let You Go” and “10 Days Late”. (That album is insanely brilliant, though, and infinitely better than just a couple of singles. You should revisit it.)
One tune on the record that has some deep lore is “Slow Motion”, which is just an instrumental on Blue, but it has complete lyrics. And let me tell you, it might be one of the most depressing songs ever written. That version is not super easy to find.
Jumping to 2006, Panic! At The Disco frontman Brendan Urie performed a piano-acoustic version of the song during a concert break. Some seemingly professional-shot footage eventually made it online, and this is just a tragically beautiful cover that rivals or beats the original any day.
John Mayer does “American Pie” with Paul Shaffer and the ‘Late Show’ band
There’s no denying that “American Pie” is one of the most iconic Americana songs of all-time. Written and sung by Don McLean, the track was first released in 1971, along with McLean’s sophomore album of the same name.
What people often don’t realize, however, is that the song runs nearly nine minutes long, so it’s usually broken up into two parts. The first section is the four-ish minutes of it that you’re singing along to most commonly.
Over the years, it has been covered relentlessly, but one of the best versions ever was by John Mayer. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter covered it during an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman and performed with the late-night show’s band.
Mayer didn’t just play half of the song, though. He played the whole damn thing, and he honestly killed it.
Prince’s Version of “Best of You” by the Foo Fighters
Maybe the most infamous cover song never recorded was Prince’s version of “Best of You” by the Foo Fighters.
On February 4, 2007, Prince played at the Super Bowl XLI halftime show in Miami. He and his band performed on a massive stage shaped like his symbol. Fascinatingly, Prince only played for about 12 minutes. That performance, however, is widely considered the greatest Super Bowl halftime show of all time.
Notably, Prince began his performance with the intro of Queen’s song “We Will Rock You” and concluded with his own legendary tune, “Purple Rain”. In the middle, he played a few other things, like Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”, which led into “Best of You.”
There is some lore behind why he chose to do this, with some stories being that he did it because the band covered his song “Darling Nikki“. Regardless of the reason, it was an immaculate performance that will continue to go down in history.
The post 3 Covers That Never Made It on an Album, but Are Arguably Better Than the Originals appeared first on VICE.
