Cover Songs by People Who Don't Understand the Original

[Lowerleftcoast]

In the spirit

"One Toke Over The Line"

...gotta love the "modern spiritual" comment from Mr. Welk. smh.

 

[radtz]

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?

If they're anything like me, they didn't listen pass the first half of the first phrase "sung".

 

[Jim622]

Cocaine by J.J. Cale was against the drug. Clapton had no idea.

 

[Jim622]

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

Yeah, but he isn’t going back to the great white north. He’s always been hipocritcal.

 

[Spox]

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you..

 

[David Barnett]

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

...or The Police "Every Breath You Take" for the first dance

 

[David Barnett]

Springsteen "Born In The USA" is frequently misused.

 

[radtz]

...or The Police "Every Breath You Take"

This wins by a factor of 10. I used to love playing this song out just to snicker at the dance floor filled with slow dancers making out.

 

[Tricone]

Schmaltz.


When bad gets worse..

 

[nojazzhere]

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.

Personally, I can't think of a more appropriate show to feature One Toke Over the Line than The Lawrence Welk Show.

 

[posttoastie]

"You cannot on Network television say the word "higher"

 

[1 21 gigawatts]

Johnny Cash's version of Hurt had a completely different meaning than the original. Reznor wrote it about drug addiction, but Cash saw it as an old man's regrets prior to death. The Cash video was fantastic.

 

[effzee]

So I guess I'll have to do the dirty and post this



Ken Lee ... tulibu dibu douchou

I think it's the legendary example of misheard lyrics

 

[GGardner]

I used to cringe whenever I heard Joan Jett's cover of "Roadrunner." I think--but could be wrong--that Jonathan Richman wrote it from the perspective of the wimpy lonely high school outcast who found solace looking at paintings in the Boston MFA or listening to AM radio alone in his car when all the popular kids were rebelling, partying, and listening to FM. ("I don't feel so bad now in the car/Don't feel so alone, I got the radio on.").

Joan Jett's version, on the other other hand, sounded more like a sing-along anthem for the tough cool kids. And yeah, she changes the lyric from "AM" to "FM."

 

[effzee]

"the Robert E Lee" wasn't a boat



I recall either Robbie or Levon complaining about her screwing with the lyrics of that song.

 

[4pickupguy]

Here’s a twofer:

 

[Winky]

Johnny Cash's version of Hurt had a completely different meaning than the original. Reznor wrote it about drug addiction, but Cash saw it as an old man's regrets prior to death. The Cash video was fantastic.

I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't like Johnny Cash's version at all.

 

[Tarkus60]

This should never be allowed on any forum or you tube....Pat Boone will be stuck in my head all day.

 

[Tarkus60]

I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't like Johnny Cash's version at all.

Yes you are....

 

[Johnny Dubs]

I'm the only person on the planet who doesn't like Johnny Cash's version at all.

Nope.