Top 10 Cover Songs That Took On a New Meaning

WatchMojo

Same song, different meanings! Join us as we explore covers that completely transformed the original intentions behind the music. From punk reworkings of classy standards to feminist anthems that were once male perspectives, these artists didn't just change the sound - they reinvented the message!

Transcript

00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we're counting down our picks for cover songs that, through

00:12slight modifications or a radically different tone, changed the central theme of the original

00:18lyrics.

00:1810. My Way – Sid Vicious – Originally by Frank Sinatra

00:31Paul Anka didn't really change the essence of Claude Francois' Comme des Habitudes when

00:37he adapted it to English. After Frank Sinatra debuted My Way as a glitzy ballad of individualism,

00:43many artists ironically interpreted it faithfully.

00:48Then Sid Vicious of Sex Pistols did it very much his way for a solo single. The fast-paced

01:01punk rock rearrangement is enhanced by vulgar lyric changes and deliberately belligerent

01:06vocals.

01:12In a 1988 interview with The Guardian, Leonard Cohen famously praised this version for stripping

01:18away Sinatra's polished vanity. My Way finally felt like an anthem for the amateurs rising

01:24above the grind. It ain't as pretty as Sinatra's moment of triumph, but Vicious' messiness is

01:30undeniably more relatable.

01:399. Billie Jean – Chris Cornell – Originally by Michael Jackson The idea of an iconic grunge

01:48singer covering a Michael Jackson dance pop classic sounds a bit novel. But Chris Cornell's

01:56Billie Jean enriches the drama in trying to convince the public that a scandalous allegation is

02:02false. The haunting rock epic sounds more like a man trying to convince himself.

02:16Cornell replaces Jackson's distress with an evolving desperation, as if he's gradually

02:21coming to terms with the possibility that the kid is in fact his son. In any case, there

02:27doesn't need to be a change of words to shift Billie Jean's pressure from pop star scrutiny

02:32to a consequential hard rock lifestyle. A simple change of vocal phrasing can completely reframe

02:39a character study.

02:468. The Girl from Ipanema – Norman Gimbel – Originally by Perry Ribeiro American songwriter Norman

02:57Gimbel changed more than just the language with his adaptation of the Brazilian ballad, Garada

03:02de Ipanema.

03:11Vinicius de Moray's lyric, first interpreted by Perry Ribeiro, philosophized on the beauty

03:17of a teenaged model, Heloisa Pinheiro. The girl from Ipanema told a more personal story

03:23with his observation to lament unrequited love. This became the more popular interpretation

03:35after saxophonist Stan Getz and guitarist Zhao Gilberto turned the song into a bossa nova staple,

03:42with Astrid Gilberto on vocals. Of course, the world can also relate to the original's more

03:48abstract musings about the nature of ephemeral beauty. It's a bittersweet theme for such a cool

03:54composition either way. 7. He Hit Me And It Felt Like A Kiss – Grizzly Bear – Originally by

04:08The Crystals Jerry Goffin and Carole King had no romantic vision when they wrote about a woman

04:14rationalizing her abusive relationship. But producer and future convicted murderer Phil Spector

04:19made an eerily upbeat arrangement for The Crystals' version of He Hit Me And It Felt Like A Kiss.

04:32While this style ostensibly conveys the narrator's cognitive dissonance, many heard the controversial

04:38single as romanticizing domestic violence. There was no mistaking the tone of Grizzly Bear's

04:44foreboding psychedelic rock variation 45 years later. The crashing instrumental sections only serve the

05:00horror of the lyrics. Several modern artists have upheld He Hits Me's initial minimalism,

05:05while being less ambiguous about the theme. Grizzly Bear nonetheless made the most explosive

05:11statement about the common tragedy Goffin and King unpacked.

05:266. Tainted Love – Coil – Originally by Soft Cell

05:31It was radical enough when Soft Cell put their 80s synth-pop spin on Gloria Jones' 60s soul single,

05:37Tainted Love. Both versions exemplify the misguided passions of their respective era behind a toxic

05:52love story. Peter Christofferson, who directed Soft Cell's music video, made a version with his band

05:58Coil that was… much darker in its timeliness. The slow, intensely experimental cover was the first

06:14single ever released to benefit AIDS-related charities. This context and the tone tied the lyrics' steamy

06:20premise to the most harrowing perils of expressing one's sexuality. Much more thought-provoking than

06:27provocative, Coil's Tainted Love is its own important archive of 1980s culture.

06:325. Hound Dog – Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys – Originally by Big Mama Thornton

06:45Though much controversy surrounds Elvis Presley's star-making hit, it's actually a cover of a cover.

06:515. Hound Dog – Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys – Originally by Big Mama Thornton. Though much controversy

06:59as a raunchy blues tune about a good-for-nothing man with sleazy intentions. The tawdry lyrics weren't

07:05exactly suited to radio at the time, but teen records dug the vibe. They commissioned the Las

07:11Vegas comedy act Freddie Bell and the Bell Boys to clean up the lyrics for a rock and roll piece.

07:166. By the end, they were scolding an actual dog. A less novel rearrangement that Elvis ultimately

07:28covered more or less split the difference by alluding to a braggart. This version may have

07:33been too honest about teen culture for parents' comfort, but it's still cleaner than Thornton.

07:396. Sweet Dreams Are Made of This – Marilyn Manson – Originally by Eurythmics

07:50It's incredible how a change in genre can completely flip a song's sentiments.

07:566. Sweet Dreams Are Made of This – Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams Are Made of This was an 80s synth-pop

08:07staple that encouraged people to embrace their individual ambitions. Marilyn Manson's decidedly

08:13less-danceable industrial rock twist suggests that such ambition is futile. No matter how far you reach for

08:20the stars, the ones who use and abuse you will always be there. Nothing records were reluctant to

08:31release this distortion of an upbeat pop classic, but Dave Stewart of Eurythmics actually admired the

08:36antithetical take on Sweet Things, along with the fans, who made it Manson's first major hit. As both

08:43versions acknowledge, everyone has different interests in the world.

08:553. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper – Originally by Robert Hazard

09:02It sounds like Robert Hazard wasn't wrong in his observation, but it wasn't really the then-unknown

09:09Philly Rockers plays to say with his 1979 local hit, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.

09:20It was really a provocative anthem for college boys, until Cyndi Lauper stepped in to remind them

09:25that the ladies aren't just there for them. With a pop pluck and a few tweaks to the lyric,

09:30she delivered an uplifting feminist anthem that marked her big commercial break.

09:34And with two Grammy nominations, it's easily eclipsed Hazard's original. Granted,

09:46the original Girls Just Wanna Have Fun has broadened its cult following through the cover,

09:50but Lauper truly made it her own for girls everywhere.

10:032. Hurt – Johnny Cash – Originally by Nine Inch Nails

10:09It was the unlikeliest of personalized covers, but it somehow made the sentiment more universal.

10:15Of course, Nine Inch Nails' industrial ballad, Hurt, is a crucial representation of depression

10:21and substance use disorder. This resonated with country legend Johnny Cash, who had endured these

10:31struggles and was in the December of his life when he covered the song. His powerful voice was shaken by

10:37a painful, poignant perspective that comes to everyone with age. He passed away later that year,

10:53with Hurt being hailed as his swan song and a masterpiece overall. Nine Inch Nails' frontman

10:58Trent Reznor certainly distinguished it from his own niche confessional, recognizing it as Cash's own

11:05statement about his life and the human condition.

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11:271. Respect – Aretha Franklin – Originally by Otis Redding

11:35The main theme of Otis Redding's respect was respected by Aretha Franklin, but the way she

11:41sang it said so much more. The soul anthem started as a man pleading with a woman to go easy on him.

11:53Franklin naturally flipped the genders, with a sweeping sass that seemed to voice the grievances

11:59of all women. She literally spells it out for you in an iconic added bridge.

12:04I-R-E-S-P-C-T, you know what it means to me. I-R-E-S-P-C-T, you can't see me.

12:13This political metaphor resonated with both feminism and the contemporary civil rights movement.

12:19Listeners were also encouraged to consider a deeper meaning to a black man asking for

12:23dignity in the original. Though Redding's respect is probably not that complicated,

12:29Franklin's rendition makes it a classic of conscience as well as catchiness.

12:35What other cover songs sound different to you in both style and meaning? Give your interpretation

12:48in the comments.

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