Song of the Day posts one cool cover every morning. Catch up on past installments here.
The point of the Song of the Day series is to spotlight a cover worth hearing. Generally, “worth hearing” means “good.” Not today. Sometimes something can be so bad, so horridly unpleasant, that it hits instant gold. Judas Priest covering Joan Baez falls into that category.
On the one hand, you gotta give them some credit. The cardinal sin of cover songs is carbon-copying the original. Judas Priest steered well clear of that pitfall. Too bad they hit every other. They might have even invented some new “Cover Don’ts” with this one.
I’m not sure which is crazier: the fact they covered this song or the fact that people liked it. All I know is that for some reason I’m really happy it exists. Check out a live video from 1982. Wow.
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Check out more Judas Priest at their website.
You clearly have an issue with classic metal, as this version is definitive in Priest’s and therefore metal’s discography. It’s a brilliant meld of electricity & power with JB’s picturesque lyrics, and is one of the few tracks by anybody that I can play on repeat.
“Horridly unpleasant”? Are you kidding? Go get your ears checked, mate!
Stephen,
You hit the nail on the head. Horridly unpleasant? Rubbish! This is a great cover of a great song. J.B. has stated that she loves the cover and bands take on her music. Stay away from Metal, you know not what you are reporting on.
Lolwut?
This version is fantastic. It works as well as JP covering Fleetwood Mac’s Green Manalishi. Priest were brilliant in that they could choose material written by others and make it their own and make it excellent.