Transcendent cover versions
These last few days I am obsessed with MJ Lenderman’s cover of Dancing in the Club, originally by indie pop band This Is Lorelei (AM / S). The original song is a jangly indie pop tune with a highly auto-tuned vocal that kind of turns me off, but with very heartfelt and heartbreaking lyrics that definitely speak to my general search for beauty and meaning in music. On his recent tour, which my cousin in Sydney was lucky enough to catch at the Opera House, MJ Lenderman, one of my favourite artists of the last couple of years, started performing a cover which he has now released a studio version of. I love this version so much, it brings an entirely new emotional dimension to the lyrics and the song, and it got me thinking about other cover versions which transcend their originals. Of course it means the original was never a bad song, just that someone else was able to get more emotion, something truer to the original vision, than the original performer. So here is a list of some of my favourite cover versions in this vein.
- This Is Lorelei, MJ Lenderman - Dancing in the Club (MJ Lenderman Version)
- Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
- Rufus Wainwright - Hallelujah
- Waxahatchee - With You
- Johnny Cash - Hurt
- Sinead O’Connor - Nothing Compares 2U
- Harry Nilsson - Without You
- Grizzly Bear - He Hit Me
- Chromatics - Into the Black
- Frente! - Bizarre Love Triangle
Photograph: The old town of Hastings, England.