Do Over Do Over

This week, Janet asked what some of our favorite remakes favorite remakes are. I'm tempted to say The Office, but I haven't seen the original to make a comparison make a comparison. Additionally, she seems to be referencing song remakes, so I'll stop typing like an Insecticon Insecticon since that's annoying, and get right to the music.




Say what you will about the politics behind the videos for the Genesis original and Disturbed remake of Land of Confusion, but both versions are great and the videos look amazing.




Why would I put Guns ‘n' Roses before Bob Dylan? In my sheltered existence, their rendition of Knockin' on Heaven's Door was the first one I heard, and for years I operated under the assumption that it was the original. It's hard for me to sing along to any version of it and not add an extraneous “hey...hey...hey...yeah yeah yeah!” to it.




The Tears for Fears rendition of Mad World is decent, though not my cup of tea, but I really can lose myself in the more haunting Gary Jules execution from the soundtrack to Donnie Darko. This song has been covered many times with many different approaches. One guy even played it on an accordion, tempting me to risk copyright infringement with another Video Blog Wednesday. I still haven't decided....




When B13 tipped me off earlier this week to Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, a cover band that translates all kinds of music into punk, and I saw Janet's question, I knew I'd be mentioning them, especially after they showed up in Lyndon's response as well. Here we see Take it on the Run by REO Speedwagon along with the punk cover. I wish I could have found videos for their renditions of Always on My Mind and The Rainbow Connection to share as well.




Lake of Fire was first recorded by the Meat Puppets, but I could easily argue that the song was popularized by Nirvana and that I'm not the first to have heard the second version first. I did pick up the Meat Puppets album after I learned of the existence of the original. I liked it, but I liked Nirvana's better.




This might be a question for another week, but in the case of Layla, I actually prefer the faster original version, at least when I’m in the mood for it. Sometimes I’d prefer the smooth cool melancholy of the remake. The flavor is so different, that they could really be considered two different songs. While I was familiar with the guitar riff from the first rendition, I didn't even realize the first few times I'd heard the unplugged version that it was a cover of that song.





There's more than one version of Because the Night, originally by Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith, first released by Smith. My undisputed favorite version is by Natalie Merchant. I love her voice, and her rendition is inspiring.




Once again, I find I can separate my appreciation as an artist for a song and not necessarily endorse that song's message or intent. Neil Young's Rockin' in the Free World is a good song. When Pearl Jam plays it, especially with Young in the clip above, it's so much better.

These are some but, of course, not all of my favorite remakes. Feel free to join in the fun and list some songs you like you like!