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A cover version of a song is a rerecording of that song by a different artist. Compare with remake (in motion pictures) and enhanced remake (in video games).
Although cover versions are often produced for artistic reasons, they are commonly released to fill bargain bins in the music section of supermarkets and even specialized music stores, where uninformed customers can easily confuse them with original recordings, especially since the packaging is usually intentionally confusing. It combines the name of the original artist, written in large letters, with a small-letters periphrase like as originally sung by or as made popular by. Sometimes only the presence of the rather uncommon "cover" word indicates the true nature of the recordings. Certain publishing houses push the perversion up to using an expression like original cover versions. Cover versions are often sold in compilations, sorted by genre. When supermarkets conduct a major cover version sale, they sometimes put in place a DJ to play the items from the special collection exclusively.
From early in the 20th century it was common practice among phonograph record labels that if any company had a record that was a significant commercial success, other record companies would have singers or musicians "cover" the tune by recording a version for their own label in hopes of cashing in on the tune's success.
In the early days of rock and roll, many songs originally recorded by African American rock musicians were rerecorded by white artists, such as Pat Boone, in a more toned down style that lacked the hard edge of rock and roll, and vice versa. These cover versions were considered by some to be more palatable to parents, and white artists were more palatable to programmers at white radio stations. Also, many songs originally recorded by male artists were rerecorded by female artists, and vice versa. Such cover version is sometimes called a cross cover version.
Over the years, cover versions of many popular songs have been recorded, sometimes with a radically different style, and in other cases the cover version is virtually indistinguishable from the original. For example, Jose Feliciano's version of "Light My Fire" was utterly distinct from the original version by The Doors; but Carl Carlton's 1974 cover of Robert Knight's 1967 hit single song "Everlasting Love" sounds almost identical to the original. Cover versions can also be in different languages; for example, Falco's 1982 German-language hit "Der Kommissar" was covered in English by After the Fire later in the decade, although the German title was retained. The English version, which was not a direct translation of Falco's original but retained much of its spirit, reached the Top 5 on the US charts.
A type of cover version that existed from the early 1950s to the late 1970s in Louisiana was known as swamp pop. Contemporary and classic rock, R&B, and country songs were re-recorded with Cajun audiences in mind. Some lyrics were translated to French, and some were recorded with traditional Cajun instrumentation. Several swamp pop songs charted nationally, but it was mostly a regional niche market.
Cover versions are often used as a method of making a familiar song contemporary. For example "Singin' In The Rain" was originally introduced in the film Hollywood Revue Of 1929. The famous Gene Kelly version was a revision that brought it up to date for a 1950s Hollywood musical, and was used in the 1952 film of the same name. In 1978 it was covered by French singer Sheila accompanied by the B. Devotion group, as a disco song, once more updating it to suit the musical taste of the era. During the disco era there was a brief trend towards taking well known songs and recording them in the disco style. Director Baz Luhrmann has contemporised and stylised older songs for use in his films. New or cover versions such as John Paul Young's "Love Is In The Air" in Strictly Ballroom, Candi Staton's "Young Hearts Run Free" in Romeo and Juliet, and adaptations of artists such as Nat King Cole, Nirvana, Kiss, Thelma Houston, Marilyn Monroe, Madonna and T Rex in Moulin Rouge, were designed to fit into the structure of each film, and to suit the taste of the contemporary audience for which they were made.
New artists are often introduced to the record buying public with performances of well known, "safe" songs as evidenced in American Idol and its international counterparts. Established artists often pay homage to artists or songs that inspired them before they started their careers by recording cover versions, or perform unrecorded cover versions in their live performances for variety. For example U2 have performed ABBA's Dancing Queen live, and Kylie Minogue has performed The Clash's "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" - songs that would be completely out of character for them to record, but which allow them artistic freedom when performing live. These performances are often released as part of authorised "live recordings" and thus become legitimate cover versions.
Punk music is known for deconstructing classic rock or pop songs by reinterpreting them in punk form. Bands like Me First & the Gimme Gimmes, NOFX and Goldfinger are especially known for doing so. In recent years, several jam bands and related groups have begun covering hip hop songs, most frequently only live in concert. Perhaps the most famous such-cover recorded in a studio and released commercially is a bluegrass version of "Gin and Juice" by Snoop Doggy Dogg, as performed by the Gourds. Other artists like Phish and Keller Williams have covered "Rappers Delight" (The Sugarhill Gang), "Baby Got Back" (Sir Mix-A-Lot) and other hip hop songs.
The Beatles have been covered more than any other band; "Yesterday" has been covered over three thousand times since its original release in 1965. Other songs which have been released many times as cover versions include the infamous "Louie Louie" by Richard Berry, "Free Bird" (Lynyrd Skynyrd), "No Woman No Cry" (Bob Marley & the Wailers) and many of the less recent works of Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen (as of December 31, 2002, there were at least 759 published cover versions of Cohen songs ).
Many popular bands have a tribute album, consisting entirely of covers of their songs performed by various other bands, often quite different from the original. The soundtrack to the film I Am Sam was a particularly popular example of this; it consisted of Beatles songs redone by various modern artists. Another notable example is Conception: The Interpretation of Stevie Wonder Songs, which is an album consisting of covers of songs originally recorded by Stevie Wonder and an original song by Stevie Wonder's mentee India.Arie, singing about Stevie Wonder.
Some examples of commercially successful or otherwise notable cover versions follow showing the song title, original artist and year of original version, followed by the covering artist(s) and the year(s) of release:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
| "Back In The USA" | Chuck Berry, 1959 | Linda Ronstadt, 1978 |
| "Barbara Ann" | The Regents, 1961 | The Beach Boys, 1965 |
| "Because the Night" | Patti Smith Group, 1978 (cowritten with Bruce Springsteen) | 10,000 Maniacs, 1994 |
| "Behind Blue Eyes" | The Who, 1971 (from Who's Next) | Limp Bizkit, 2003 |
| "Bette Davis Eyes" | Jackie DeShannon, 1974 | Kim Carnes, 1981
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| "Better The Devil You Know" | Kylie Minogue, 1990 | Steps, 1999 |
| "Black Betty" | Ram Jam, 1977 | Tom Jones, 2003 |
| "Black Magic Woman" | Fleetwood Mac, 1969 | Santana, 1970 |
| "Blinded by the Light" | Bruce Springsteen, 1973 | Manfred Mann, 1976 |
| "Blue Bayou" | Roy Orbison, 1963 | Linda Ronstadt, 1977 |
| "Blue Monday" | New Order, 1983 | Orgy, 1998 |
| "Blue Suede Shoes" | Carl Perkins, 1955 | Elvis Presley, 1956 |
| "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" | The Andrews Sisters, 1941 | Bette Midler, 1972 |
| "Boy From New York City" | Ad Libs, 1965 | Darts, 1978 |
| "Boyz-In-The-Hood" | Eazy-E, 1988 | Dynamite Hack, 2000 |
| "Da Doo Ron Ron" | The Crystals 1963 | Shaun Cassidy 1977 |
| "Dancing in the Street" | Martha & the Vandellas, 1964 | Van Halen, 1982 David Bowie & Mick Jagger, 1985 Atomic Kitten, 2001 |
| "Daydream Believer" | The Monkees, 1968 | Anne Murray, 1978 Shonen Knife, 1998 Atomic Kitten,2001 |
| "Dear Prudence" | The Beatles, 1968 | Siouxsie and the Banshees, 1983 |
| "Delta Dawn" | Tanya Tucker. 1971 | Helen Reddy, 1973 |
| "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" | Elaine Paige | Julie Covington, 1976
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| "Don't Dream It's Over" | Crowded House | Paul Young, 1991 |
| "Don't Leave Me This Way" | Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes, 1977 | Thelma Houston, 1977 and 1995 |
| "Don't Make Me Over" | Dionne Warwick, 1962 | Sybil, 1990 |
| "Downtown" | Petula Clark, 1964, 1976 (remake 1), 1988 (remake 2), 1999 (remake 3) | Frank Sinatra, 1966 |
| "Downtown Train" | Tom Waits, 1985 | Rod Stewart, 1991 |
| "Dreams" | Fleetwood Mac, 1977 | The Corrs, 1998 |
| "Ebony Eyes" | Rick James & Smokey Robinson, 1988 | Silk, 2000 |
| "Emotion" | Samantha Sang, 1978 | Johnny Mathis & Deniece Williams, 1978 |
| "Endless Love" | Diana Ross & Lionel Richie, 1981 | Mariah Carey & Luther Vandross, 1994 |
| "Everlasting Love" | Robert Knight, 1967 | Carl Carlton, 1974 Rex Smith & Rachel Sweet, 1981 Gloria Estefan, 1995 |
| "Evergreen" | Barbra Streisand, 1976, from the film A Star is Born | Luther Vandross, 1994 |
| "Evergreen" | Westlife | Will Young, 2002 |
| "Everything I Do (I Do It For You)" | Bryan Adams, from the film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, 1991 | Brandy Norwood, 1998, Watt Tyler, 1991 |
| "Everything I Own" | Bread, 1972 | Ken Boothe, 1974 Boy George, 1987 |
| "Feelin' Alright" | Traffic, 1968 | Joe Cocker, 1969 |
| "Fire" | Bruce Springsteen, 1977 | The Pointer Sisters, 1979 |
| "Fire & Desire" | Rick James & Teena Marie, 1980 | Johnny Gill & Coko of SWV, 1999 |
| "For All We Know" | Donny Hathaway, 1971 | Ruben Studdard, 2003 |
| "Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding" | Elton John, 1973 | Dream Theater, 1995 |
| "Funkytown" | Lipps Inc, 1980 | Pseudo Echo, 1987 |
| "Get Ready" | The Temptations, 1966 | Rare Earth, 1970 |
| "Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)" | ABBA, 1979 | The Leather Nun (1986), Erasure, 1992 |
| "Gin and Juice" | Snoop Doggy Dogg, 1993 | The Gourds, 1998 |
| "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" | Robert Hazard, 1979 | Cyndi Lauper, 1984 |
| "Gloria" | Them (with Van Morrison), 1965 | Shadows of Knight, 1966 |
| "Grandma's Hands" | Bill Withers, 1973 | Barbra Streisand, 1987 |
| "The Greatest Love of All" | George Benson, 1977 | Whitney Houston. 1985 |
| "A Hard Day's Night" | The Beatles, 1964 | Goldie Hawn, 1998 |
| "Have You Ever Seen The Rain?" | Creedence Clearwater Revival, 1970 | R.E.M., 1985 |
| "A Hazy Shade Of Winter" | Simon and Garfunkel, 1966 | The Bangles, 1987 |
| "Heat Wave" | Martha & the Vandellas, 1963 | Linda Ronstadt, 1975 |
| "Heaven" | Bryan Adams, 1985 | DJ Sammy, 2002 |
| "Hello, I Love You" | The Doors, 1968 | The Cure, 1990 |
| "Helter Skelter" | The Beatles, 1968 | Siouxsie and the Banshees, 1978 Pat Benatar, 1981 U2, 1988 |
| "Hey Baby" | Bruce Channel, 1962 | DJ Ötzi, 2000 |
| "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" | Mel Carter, 1965 | U2, 1992 |
| "How Soon is Now?" | The Smiths, 1985 | t.A.T.u., 2003 |
| "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)" | Marvin Gaye | James Taylor |
| "Hurt" | Nine Inch Nails, 1994 | Johnny Cash, 2002 |
