George Harrison: Got My Mind Set On You (James Ray) But even his take on “I Don’t Want to Talk About It” can’t quite convey the weariness that Danny Whitten, Neil Young’s doomed collaborator, brings to Crazy Horse’s original, which can go toe-to-toe with Young’s most affecting songs. Rod Stewart possesses one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most distinctive voices – an inimitable rasp that lends gravity to even the most simple material. Rod Stewart: I Don’t Want to Talk About It (Crazy Horse) A number of popular folk artists covered the song throughout the 60s, culminating in Roberta Flack’s simmering, soulful take, which became the biggest-selling single of 1972 after its appearance in Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut Play Misty for Me. The British folk singer Ewan MacColl wrote “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” back in 1957 for Peggy Seeger, with whom he had fallen in love (and would eventually marry). Roberta Flack: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Peggy Seeger) Nilsson’s version no doubt helped the song become a standard, but Fred Neil’s original still feels like the definitive version – not least because, like the song’s narrator, Neil would eventually leave behind the hustle and bustle of celebrity in favor of a quiet life in Florida. Harry Nilsson won a Grammy Award for his cover version of “Everybody’s Talkin’,” which was used as the theme song in the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy. Harry Nilsson: Everybody’s Talkin’ (Fred Neil) But it was the Flashcats, a Pennsylvania bar band, whose raucous live performances of “Big Ten Inch Record” convinced Jackson to resume his musical career in the 80s after a two-decade hiatus. Its bluesy shuffle and suggestive humor made it a natural fit for Aerosmith, who covered it on their 1975 album Toys in the Attic. “Big Ten Inch Record” was not a hit for Bull Moose Jackson when it was released as a single in 1952, with most radio stations (understandably) hesitant to play such a risqué song. (And one year later, Quiet Riot would score another hit with another Slade cover song, “Mama Weer All Crazee Now.”)Īerosmith: Big Ten Inch Record (Bull Moose Jackson)

It wasn’t until the mid-80s that they finally found a foothold in the American market thanks to Quiet Riot’s faithful cover version (right down to the unusual spelling) of “Cum on Feel the Noize,” which helped usher in the trend of hair metal.

Slade were glam-rock godheads in their native England, but they struggled to replicate their success across the Atlantic. Quiet Riot: Cum on Feel the Noize (Slade) Raitt was one of many artists who enjoyed more commercial success by covering John Prine than Prine ever did singing his own songs, but that’s to take nothing away from his original recording of “Angel from Montgomery,” which ranks as one of his very best compositions. “I think ‘Angel from Montgomery’ probably has meant more to my fans and my body of work than any other song,” Bonnie Raitt once said, so it might come as a surprise to learn that Raitt did not compose it. Dylan’s late-60s material exists in the shadow of his incredible trilogy of Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde, and it would be easy to imagine newcomers to Dylan’s catalog glossing over an album like John Wesley Harding if not for Hendrix’s cover version of “All Along the Watchtower.” Which would’ve been a shame – “All Along the Watchtower” stands as one of Dylan’s most unsettling tunes.īonnie Raitt: Angel from Montgomery (John Prine) Jimi Hendrix Experience: All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan)īob Dylan was so impressed by Jimi Hendrix’s reimagining of “All Along the Watchtower” that whenever he performed the song thereafter, he did so in an arrangement more similar to Hendrix’s than his own. While you’re reading, listen to our Best Cover Songs playlist here.

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