Cover Songs by People Who Don't Understand the Original

[jwsamuel]

In the spirit of the worst song lyrics thread, how about cover songs by people who don't know what the song is about.

I'll start with this. It's one of the newer songs.

 

[Greenmachine]

Reminds of the time I was five and called my uncle a bimbo. He thought that was hilarious.

 

[Peegoo]

Oh, there is plenty of white bread to go around!

 

[NoTeleBob]

In the spirit of the worst song lyrics thread, how about cover songs by people who don't know what the song is about.

I'll start with this. It's one of the newer songs.

Classic. I always figured that the artists knew what they were doing and they were just enjoying putting one over on old Lawrence Welk.

 

[NoTeleBob]

I don't have a specific video reference, but how about the endless use of "Born in the USA" by Springsteen?

He wrote it as an anti-war protest song and movies and sellers have used it repeatedly as a pro–America song because of the chorus. Did they even look at the lyrics sheet?

 

[Winky]

I saw an upbeat and cheery cover of Pearl Jam's "Better Man" on daytime TV a few years back. Difficult to imagine a worse interpretation of one of the grimmest songs ever written.

 

[Robert Booker]

In the spirit of the worst song lyrics thread, how about cover songs by people who don't know what the song is about.

I'll start with this. It's one of the newer songs.

LOL.....that one's historic.

 

[Knows3Chords]

I went to a Catholic elementary school in the 70's. Every month we had a day they made you sing a song in front of the class. Most kids did hymns or other "safe" songs of the day. One day in third grade I got the bright idea to go up there, grab the fake microphone, and just start belting out Smoking in the Boys Room by Sweet. My older brother had the 45, and I thought it was a great song. I had no idea what is was about. I got about half way thru the song and was yanked out of class by a nun with a yardstick a flyin'. I was so confused. I had no idea what I was singing about. In the end though, I was a legend with the class once they all learned the real meaning too.

 

[Winky]

I don't have a specific video reference, but how about the endless use of "Born in the USA" by Springsteen?

He wrote it as an anti-war protest song and movies and sellers have used it repeatedly as a pro–America song because of the chorus. Did they even look at the lyrics sheet?

100% this.

See also: Keep on Rocking in the Free World. I mean, get a load of this...

There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes

But there's a warnin' sign on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin' we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan, but I am to them
So I try to forget it any way I can

… Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world

… I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
There's an old street light (near a garbage can)
Near a garbage can (near a garbage can)
And now she put the kid away and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life and what she's done to it
There's one more kid that'll never go to school
Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool

… Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world

… We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler machine gun hand
We got department stores and toilet paper
Got Styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people, says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive

… Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world

 

[posttoastie]

Ed Sullivan understands and wants you to use different words for your song.

 

[KeithDavies 100]

In the spirit of the worst song lyrics thread, how about cover songs by people who don't know what the song is about.

I'll start with this. It's one of the newer songs.

OMG that's hilarious!

 

[RomanS]

Every cover band that sings Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at a wedding...

 

[brookdalebill]

Oh, there is plenty of white bread to go around!

PB had the #1 hit in the US on my birthdate.
I’ll never live it down.

 

[posttoastie]

 

[smartsoul72]

Every cover band that sings Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at a wedding...

I was just about to post that song. Around here it gets A LOT of play on the Xmas music station. Unreal haha

 

[jwsamuel]

I don't have a specific video reference, but how about the endless use of "Born in the USA" by Springsteen?

He wrote it as an anti-war protest song and movies and sellers have used it repeatedly as a pro–America song because of the chorus. Did they even look at the lyrics sheet?

How about the people who think "This Land Is Your Land" is a patriotic song about the greatness of America? They never get beyond the first verse.

The often omitted 5th and 6th verses:

As I went walking I saw a sign there,
And on the sign it said "No Trespassing."
But on the other side it didn't say nothing.
That side was made for you and me.

In the shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

 

[Marc Morfei]

Oh, there is plenty of white bread to go around!

OMG that it too hilarious. If Weird Al had covered this it could not have possibly been this funny.

 

[Killing Floor]

Watch ANY episode of The Voice.

 

[Knows3Chords]

Every cover band that sings Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at a wedding...

Or a funeral.

 

[Knows3Chords]

Watch ANY episode of The Voice.

I didn't think they could come up with an even worse singing contest show.

Then The Masked Singer said "hold my beer".