The Best Cover Songs of 2012

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Dec 212012
 

Adele dominated the cover song landscape in 2011, but Two-Aught-Twelve saw no similar galvanizing figure. Yes Lana Del Rey got covered a lot, but Leonard Cohen and Arcade Fire also seemed to garner an unexpected landslide of great covers (and speaking of landslides, so did Fleetwood Mac). “Call Me Maybe” was a huge hit that didn’t lead to much in the way of classic covers, and few seem to have even bothered attempting the Korean raps on “Gangnam Style.”

Which means that cover songs in 2012 were more diverse, ambitious, and left-field than ever before. A given YouTube search or Hype Machine browse would be as likely to turn up forgotten hits or underappreciated songwriters as it would the latest Top 40 smash. Find a sampling of all the diversity in Cover Me’s official Best Cover Songs of 2012 countdown. Start with #40-31 on the next page, and check back daily as we’ll be adding more til we hit #1.

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  12 Responses to “The Best Cover Songs of 2012”

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  1. This is a great and marvellous topic ! Thank you for this best of ! i love it !

  2. so far, Triggerfinger is my favourite…great cover, sounds like completly different song

  3. “Father John Misty gets through the many lyrics of “One of Us Cannot Be Wrong,” but the most powerful moment comes when he dispenses with words entirely and just starts crying out.”

    That’s how Cohen’s version is

  4. We Found Love – Fleet Foxes Sing cover was really good!

  5. I think you’re missing Janne Schra’s cover of Asaf Avidan’s song ‘One day/Reckoning Song’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b6ADabIFRY

  6. Uh, She Drives Me Crazy was a huge hit:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She_Drives_Me_Crazy

    and they weren’t a “one hit wonder”:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine_Young_Cannibals

  7. How can you mention I’m Shakin’ and not tip your hat to The Blasters who covered this 30 years ago? for shame

  8. Ane Brun’s cover of “Tunnels!” (Arcade Fire)
    https://soundcloud.com/arugalas/ane-brun-tunnels-arcade-fire

  9. How can you mention “I’m Shakin’” and not tip your hat to The Blasters…and the guy who wrote it, 50 years ago, Rudy Toombs? Toombs, who also wrote “One Mint Julep” and “One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer” among other hits, deserves more attention.

  10. I only found one or two of these interesting. You post better covers than most of these every day.

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