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Creative Cover Songs via YouTube!
I've written two articles covering the fact that I like cover songs. I've talked about my favorite covers, I've talked about my favorite covers done by youtube artists, and now my friends, I'd like to talk about CREATIVE covers. What follows are nine covers of great songs that have been done in an awesomely creative fashion. These aren't your average covers, ladies and gents. Be it interesting instruments, a funky video, a capella synth sounds or just pure wacky fun, these are covers that have caught my eye and held on tight! so let's go!
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#1:
The Song: Mrs. Robinson
Originally By: Simon and Garfunkel
Cover By: Pomplamoose
Original Info: Mrs. Robinson was a single released in 1968 on the Simon and Garfunkel album "Bookends". In the film "The Graduate", college graduate Benjamin Braddock has an affair with an older, married woman named "Mrs. Robinson." According to Paul Simon (songwriter), "It's not for the movie... it's a song about times past -- about Mrs. Roosevelt and Joe Dimaggio and stuff." The director of The Graduate, Mike Nichols advised Paul Simon: "It's now about Mrs. Robinson, not Mrs. Roosevelt." The chorus of the song appeared in it's rough form in The Graduate in 1967, one year before Bookends was released.
Why The Cover?: Okay okay, is the the MOST creative cover? No. In fact it's pretty straight forward, but we're warming up, okay? It's an interesting video to watch, you can speculate as to what is running through vocalist Nataly Dawn's mind to cause the frightening dead-eyes... which is pretty much what I do when I watch any Pomplamoose video. (Don't get me wrong, I ADORE Pomplamoose, every single thing about them! But that is a sincere lack of emotion...) But above all else, it's a great cover of a great classic! Pomplamoose videos are always very creative and a lot of fun to watch!
Originally By: Simon and Garfunkel
Cover By: Pomplamoose
Original Info: Mrs. Robinson was a single released in 1968 on the Simon and Garfunkel album "Bookends". In the film "The Graduate", college graduate Benjamin Braddock has an affair with an older, married woman named "Mrs. Robinson." According to Paul Simon (songwriter), "It's not for the movie... it's a song about times past -- about Mrs. Roosevelt and Joe Dimaggio and stuff." The director of The Graduate, Mike Nichols advised Paul Simon: "It's now about Mrs. Robinson, not Mrs. Roosevelt." The chorus of the song appeared in it's rough form in The Graduate in 1967, one year before Bookends was released.
Why The Cover?: Okay okay, is the the MOST creative cover? No. In fact it's pretty straight forward, but we're warming up, okay? It's an interesting video to watch, you can speculate as to what is running through vocalist Nataly Dawn's mind to cause the frightening dead-eyes... which is pretty much what I do when I watch any Pomplamoose video. (Don't get me wrong, I ADORE Pomplamoose, every single thing about them! But that is a sincere lack of emotion...) But above all else, it's a great cover of a great classic! Pomplamoose videos are always very creative and a lot of fun to watch!
#2:
The Song: Dynamite
Originally By: Taio Cruz
Cover By: Mike Tompkins
Original Info: Dynamite was released by British recording artist Taio Cruz in 2010. Okay, I had to wiki this song, because I don't really know much about it. I know that there's a pretty hilarious commonly misheard lyric associated with it, but that's about it. (I even had no idea that Taio Cruz was British.) So in lieu of me telling you about this song, I'm going to quote Nick Levine from Digital Spy who rated the song 4 out of 5 stars with what may be the most immature-giggle inducing review I've read in a while: "a suitably Eurohousey club pumper it's essentially a cheap, tasty and entirely satisfying banger" ...yeah, I'm 26... what about it?
Why The Cover: Let's get one thing straight here... A Capella is awesome. The difficulty level is off the charts, ESPECIALLY when you're this dude. This cover of Tao Cruz's "Dynamite" was a YouTube SMASH hit, with over five and a half million hits. (Probably a good thousand of those are me...) On top of being a great cover, the video is super fun to watch! Mike Tompkins took apart every piece of this song and matched the sounds with his mouth. Now, I don't know when the last time you tried to make your mouth into a Korg was, but Tompkins nails it. Take notes.
Originally By: Taio Cruz
Cover By: Mike Tompkins
Original Info: Dynamite was released by British recording artist Taio Cruz in 2010. Okay, I had to wiki this song, because I don't really know much about it. I know that there's a pretty hilarious commonly misheard lyric associated with it, but that's about it. (I even had no idea that Taio Cruz was British.) So in lieu of me telling you about this song, I'm going to quote Nick Levine from Digital Spy who rated the song 4 out of 5 stars with what may be the most immature-giggle inducing review I've read in a while: "a suitably Eurohousey club pumper it's essentially a cheap, tasty and entirely satisfying banger" ...yeah, I'm 26... what about it?
Why The Cover: Let's get one thing straight here... A Capella is awesome. The difficulty level is off the charts, ESPECIALLY when you're this dude. This cover of Tao Cruz's "Dynamite" was a YouTube SMASH hit, with over five and a half million hits. (Probably a good thousand of those are me...) On top of being a great cover, the video is super fun to watch! Mike Tompkins took apart every piece of this song and matched the sounds with his mouth. Now, I don't know when the last time you tried to make your mouth into a Korg was, but Tompkins nails it. Take notes.
#3:
The Song: Tik Tok
Originally By: Ke$ha
Cover By: Cobus
Original Info: Tik tok... er, pardon me: TiK ToK is the debut single by American recording artist Kesha... er, pardon me: ... Ke$ha. Ok basically you either love or hate this song with varying levels of grayscale irony. There's not much else I want to-- er, need to tell you about it.
Why The Cover: This cover caught my eye because I freaking LOVE drums. I love playing them, I love watching play them. This guy is mad talented and somehow makes this song tolerable. More... tolerable. Ok the song is terrible, and there's nothing I or anyone else can do about it, but at least we can watch this guy rock the hell out on the drums!
Originally By: Ke$ha
Cover By: Cobus
Original Info: Tik tok... er, pardon me: TiK ToK is the debut single by American recording artist Kesha... er, pardon me: ... Ke$ha. Ok basically you either love or hate this song with varying levels of grayscale irony. There's not much else I want to-- er, need to tell you about it.
Why The Cover: This cover caught my eye because I freaking LOVE drums. I love playing them, I love watching play them. This guy is mad talented and somehow makes this song tolerable. More... tolerable. Ok the song is terrible, and there's nothing I or anyone else can do about it, but at least we can watch this guy rock the hell out on the drums!
#4:
The Song: Crazy
Originally By: Gnarls Barkley
Cover By: Jimmy Chaos
Original Info: Oh my god. I don't even want to say anything about this song, I just want you to go watch the video immediately. If you want to know about the song, here's Wikipedia.
Why The Cover: Um. What? Because it's a dude rocking the shit out of the violin. That's always awesome.
Originally By: Gnarls Barkley
Cover By: Jimmy Chaos
Original Info: Oh my god. I don't even want to say anything about this song, I just want you to go watch the video immediately. If you want to know about the song, here's Wikipedia.
Why The Cover: Um. What? Because it's a dude rocking the shit out of the violin. That's always awesome.
#5:
The Song: Video Killed The Radio Star
Originally By: The Buggles
Cover By: Some badass at what I can only assume is a Star Trek convention.
Original Info: Fun fact! Did you know that "Video Killed The Radio Star" was the first ever music video to be shown on MTV in the USA? The song celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by television. (I can quote Wikipedia like a boss.)
Why The Cover: Okay, I kid... the cover is done by Jon Bernhardt at the Ethermusic 2005 festival. So why the cover? Because it's a poppy 80's hit played on the THEREMIN. Not sure what a theremin is? That's cool... I know very little about the Theremin. I know that most everybody assumes that a Theremin was used for the Star Trek theme song, but it actually was renouned studio soprano Loulie Jean Norman. so suck on that. Anyway, information on theremins can be found here on Wikipedia.
Originally By: The Buggles
Cover By: Some badass at what I can only assume is a Star Trek convention.
Original Info: Fun fact! Did you know that "Video Killed The Radio Star" was the first ever music video to be shown on MTV in the USA? The song celebrates the golden days of radio, describing a singer whose career is cut short by television. (I can quote Wikipedia like a boss.)
Why The Cover: Okay, I kid... the cover is done by Jon Bernhardt at the Ethermusic 2005 festival. So why the cover? Because it's a poppy 80's hit played on the THEREMIN. Not sure what a theremin is? That's cool... I know very little about the Theremin. I know that most everybody assumes that a Theremin was used for the Star Trek theme song, but it actually was renouned studio soprano Loulie Jean Norman. so suck on that. Anyway, information on theremins can be found here on Wikipedia.
#6:
The Song: Movin' On up
Originally By: Ja'net Du Bois
Cover By: Rhett & Link
Original Info: This song was written by Ja'net Du Bois and Jeff Barry to be used as the theme song from the mid 70's sitcom "The Jeffersons". Not much else to say about that.
Why The Cover: I adore Rhett and Link. Everything they touch turns into comic gold! This cover was done using the Smule (makers of Ocarina and I Am T-Pain) iPhone app "Leaf Trombone". You can check out the Leaf Trombone here!
Originally By: Ja'net Du Bois
Cover By: Rhett & Link
Original Info: This song was written by Ja'net Du Bois and Jeff Barry to be used as the theme song from the mid 70's sitcom "The Jeffersons". Not much else to say about that.
Why The Cover: I adore Rhett and Link. Everything they touch turns into comic gold! This cover was done using the Smule (makers of Ocarina and I Am T-Pain) iPhone app "Leaf Trombone". You can check out the Leaf Trombone here!
#7:
The Song: Poker Face
Originally By: Lady Gaga
Cover By: The Shures and Nick Pitera
Original Info: Lyrically, "Poker Face" is about sex and gambling. Musically it's a perfectly aimed punch in the face.
Why the Cover: This one is interesting for many reasons! #1: Nick Pitera is bitchin, and nobody will ever convince me otherwise. However, The Sures are the world's first ever internet band! Chris Gabz and Ashley met over two years ago on a popular music networking site and loved each others voices so much that they decided to join them together to see what would happen. Only hitch was, they are all three from different countries. (England, Australia and America). So they used the internet to their advantage and started working on demos to come up with something completely freakin awesome.
Originally By: Lady Gaga
Cover By: The Shures and Nick Pitera
Original Info: Lyrically, "Poker Face" is about sex and gambling. Musically it's a perfectly aimed punch in the face.
Why the Cover: This one is interesting for many reasons! #1: Nick Pitera is bitchin, and nobody will ever convince me otherwise. However, The Sures are the world's first ever internet band! Chris Gabz and Ashley met over two years ago on a popular music networking site and loved each others voices so much that they decided to join them together to see what would happen. Only hitch was, they are all three from different countries. (England, Australia and America). So they used the internet to their advantage and started working on demos to come up with something completely freakin awesome.
#8:
The Song: The Backin Up Song
Originally By: The Gregory Brothers
Cover By: Walk Off The Earth
Original Info: The Backin Up song was done by The Gregory Brothers (you know... the Auto-Tune the News guys!). Their source material was an interview done by KMBC of a woman named Diana who was witness to an armed robbery. The woman was quite funny in her recount of the events that transpired, which inspired The Gregory Brothers to create internet smash hit "The Backin Up" song.
Why The Cover: It's not easy to perform a cover of a Gregory Brother's song! But Walk Off The Earth did a smash job with it, and managed to keep it just as funny as the original video!
Originally By: The Gregory Brothers
Cover By: Walk Off The Earth
Original Info: The Backin Up song was done by The Gregory Brothers (you know... the Auto-Tune the News guys!). Their source material was an interview done by KMBC of a woman named Diana who was witness to an armed robbery. The woman was quite funny in her recount of the events that transpired, which inspired The Gregory Brothers to create internet smash hit "The Backin Up" song.
Why The Cover: It's not easy to perform a cover of a Gregory Brother's song! But Walk Off The Earth did a smash job with it, and managed to keep it just as funny as the original video!
#9:
The Song: Bohemian Rhapsody
Originally By: Queen
Cover By: Jake Shimabukuro
Original Info: You don't need me to tell you about Bohemian Rhapsody... perhaps one of the greatest songs to ever exist ever. And if yoU DO need me to tell you about it, shame on you.
Why The Cover: I almost didn't watch this video when I happened across it one day, because I am SOOOO sick of Bohemian Rhapsody covers I want to puke. Between Glee beating it in the face with a lead pipe and Never Shout Never taking a steaming dump on it, I was ready to toss in the "Queen Covers" towel in a major way... but I am so freaking glad I checked it out. This is intense! You will never ever take the Ukelele lightly again... or else this guy is gonna cream you in the face with it.
Originally By: Queen
Cover By: Jake Shimabukuro
Original Info: You don't need me to tell you about Bohemian Rhapsody... perhaps one of the greatest songs to ever exist ever. And if yoU DO need me to tell you about it, shame on you.
Why The Cover: I almost didn't watch this video when I happened across it one day, because I am SOOOO sick of Bohemian Rhapsody covers I want to puke. Between Glee beating it in the face with a lead pipe and Never Shout Never taking a steaming dump on it, I was ready to toss in the "Queen Covers" towel in a major way... but I am so freaking glad I checked it out. This is intense! You will never ever take the Ukelele lightly again... or else this guy is gonna cream you in the face with it.
BONUS!!!
The Song: Smooth Criminal
Originally By: Michael Jackson
Cover By: Stjepan Hauser and Luka Sulic
Original Info: Smooth Criminal was released with Michael Jackson's 1987 album "Bad". It-- OH MY GOD, JUST WATCH THE VIDEO. YOU WON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT THE ORIGINAL SONG I PROMISE!
Why The Cover: Cuz' holy freakin shit.
BACK
Originally By: Michael Jackson
Cover By: Stjepan Hauser and Luka Sulic
Original Info: Smooth Criminal was released with Michael Jackson's 1987 album "Bad". It-- OH MY GOD, JUST WATCH THE VIDEO. YOU WON'T EVEN CARE ABOUT THE ORIGINAL SONG I PROMISE!
Why The Cover: Cuz' holy freakin shit.
BACK
