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Cover Me Q&A: What Is Your Favorite Cover of a Protest Song?

Posted by Staff at 1:00 pm 2 Responses »

Sep 172025

Welcome to Cover Me Q&A, where we take your questions about cover songs and answer them to the best of our ability.

Here at Cover Me Q&A, we’ll be taking questions about cover songs and giving as many different answers as we can. This will give us a chance to hold forth on covers we might not otherwise get to talk about, to give Cover Me readers a chance to learn more about individual staffers’ tastes and writing styles, and to provide an opportunity for some back-and-forth, as we’ll be taking requests (learn how to do so at feature’s end).

Today’s question, courtesy of staffer Tom McDonald:

What is your favorite cover of a protest song?

Five Good Covers: “Halo” (Beyoncé)

Posted by Seuras Og at 1:30 pm No Responses »

Aug 152025

Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.

When “Halo” was released as single, in January of 2009, it became a massive worldwide hit for Beyoncé, but was far from the most successful of the her songs, attaining only, for her, a lowly #5 in the US chart. It was elsewhere that it received grater acclaim, with such disparate statistics as a 13x platinum certification from Australia, making it one of the country’s highest, and the most-played song, 2000 – 2010, on Brazilian radio. Not bad, given only one year within which to beat all the others and olders.

Ryan Tedder and Evan Bogart (with some apparent input from the singer) wrote “Halo” to give a personal flavor to the image of Beyoncé away from the spotlight, minus all the media razzmatazz. Not that there wasn’t some controversy; other performers suggested that the arrangement was recycled from songs written earlier, for Kelly Clarkson and Leona Lewis. All the more intriguing is the suggestion that the song’s premise was based on “Shelter,” a 2004 song by Ray LaMontagne, an artist in about as opposite a field as you could find. (See what you think.)

It has attracted a fair amount of attention in Coverland over the years, and there are north of a hundred versions out there. Many do little than retread the boards, but that is only to be expected. No real outliers, sadly, from the nether fringes of musical tastes: no Tuvan throat singing, no Celtic punk, and nothing remotely Bardcore. Of course there are some stinkers, with some Norwegian black metal from Leo Moracchioli gaining the coveted overall prize for the absolute nadir. So, bypassing those, let’s go for the zeniths.
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In The Spotlight: Bread

Posted by Hope Silverman at 12:00 pm 2 Responses »

Jul 182025

Even during their absolute peak of popularity in the early ’70s, when I was kid living for AM radio, the gushy, on-bended-knee, soft-rocking romantic balladry of Bread held no allure for me. My musical palate at that time, was as unrefined as my daily afterschool snack of a single Devil Dog™ with a Hawaiian Punch™ chaser. Sammy Davis Jr.’s “The Candy Man” and The Aristocats soundtrack were unironically being spun in my blue shag carpeted bedroom on a daily basis. I thought the Bay City Rollers were amazing and as good as The Beatles. But even my sugar-pickled brain with its relentlessly questionable taste, was able to discern that softer-than-soft rocking Bread were not cool.

I knew this because their songs were all icky-lovey-dovey like you’d hear at a wedding. I knew because in my grade school music class, their song “If” was deemed unthreatening and un-rock ‘n’ roll enough for we innocent children to be taught to sing. I knew this because they weren’t like, you know, cute, or at least cute enough for a table of pop-worshipping little gals at a lunch table to ever gush over (never happened ever). I knew this because easy listening crooners Andy Williams and Perry Como seemed really into covering Bread songs on their lame, grandma-seducing TV specials.

Bread’s imperial years ran from 1969-1973, during which time they released five (!) studio albums and landed nine songs in the Top 20 of the U.S. pop chart, every one of which is now a massively-streamed, seventies pop-soft rock monster standard. “Everything I Own”. “Make It With You”. “If”. “Baby I’m-a Want You”. “The Guitar Man”. Hits, hits, hits! The band—David Gates, Jimmy Griffin, Mike Botts, Rob Royer (from ’69-’71) and Larry Knechtel (’71-73, ’76-78)—broke up and reunited twice (1976-78, 1997-98)…and, as the timeline hints, there was a fair amount of inter-band drama.

Gates and Griffin were both were gifted songwriters but the former’s compositions featuring his lead vocals were the ones consistently released as singles. This led to a fair amount of bad blood and resentment which later manifested in a lawsuit over use of the band name which Gates and Griffin co-owned. Along with this excess of alpha dogs, there were drugs. Yes, even the sonically gentle Bread weren’t immune to all the traditional band-related tropes.

So why am I writing about these sappy suckers? Well, because as the years have passed, I’ve come to realize that while Bread weren’t “cool,” they definitely didn’t suck. They were in fact really good. Bread were a bottomless pit of memorable, lovely windblown pop songs…and they’ve inspired a staggering number of covers.

I’ve written a couple of lengthy, nerdy love letters on Cover Me about R &B covers of soft rock (here) and hoary old regular rock (here). While researching those pieces, I was struck by just how many covers of Bread songs there were. Not only were there a whole lot of soulful reinterpretations but there were a ton of alternately fascinating, weird and impassioned pop-flavored takes of Bread songs…and we are gonna explore.

Welcome to the gorgeous and goofy world of Bread covers.
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In the Spotlight: The Harmonica

Posted by Tom McDonald at 10:00 am 1 Response »

May 202025

Consider the lowly harmonica. When was the last time the harmonica–aka the mouth organ, the mouth harp, or simply the harp–truly stirred an audience or moved any musical needle in anyway?

Was it the mid-’90s, when John Popper shredded on “Run-Around” and other Blues Traveler hits? Maybe, but that was decades ago. What’s the harp been up to since? And what were other highlights in its pop cultural history?
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The 40 Best David Bowie Covers Ever

Posted by Staff at 8:00 am 4 Responses »

Mar 282025

‘The Best Covers Ever’ series counts down our favorite covers of great artists.

If you feel safe in the area you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area. Always go a little further into the water than you feel you’re capable of being in. Go a little bit out of your depth. And when you don’t feel that your feet are quite touching the bottom, you’re just about in the right place to do something exciting. – David Bowie

In March 1975, David Bowie released Young Americans, the album that saw him move from glam rock to Philly soul. It was his first top ten album in America, featuring his first number one song in “Fame.” Fifty years later, that golden anniversary is enough of a hook to hang a Cover Me Best Covers Ever feature on. But the remarkable thing about David Bowie is, this was little more than a blip in his career. He had other personas to invent, other forms to master, other brilliancies to create. And he wouldn’t rest until (long after) he did.

Bowie’s influence on popular culture cannot be overstated, and not just in the music world – I’m convinced that roughly one-third of Tilda Swinton is David Bowie. For millions of misfits worldwide, he himself was the freak flag, the one who made it okay to be other than. I’ll help you with the pain, he sang. You’re not alone. Give me your hands. ‘Cause you’re wonderful. It’s a message that still sings out today, in Bowie’s songs and in the work of those he influenced.

Now, with these forty covers, we have a combination of the two. Bowie recorded the earliest song here at the age of twenty, the most recent at sixty-eight, months away from his death. It’s a true wonder how high the bar of quality stayed for nearly half a century. It’s not a wonder how good the covers are, though – when inspired by the one who inspired them to step up, step out, step on stage, everyone here went a little bit out of their depth and did something exciting.

And now, let’s dance.

– Patrick Robbins, Features Editor

Say She She Get Seasonal with Marvin Gaye’s “Purple Snowflakes”

Posted by Mike Tobyn at 12:00 pm No Responses »

Dec 162024

Say She She have worked extraordinarily hard in 2024 to consolidate their breakthrough success of 2023. They have taken their soulful harmonies on tour several times, honing a legendary live act. Throughout the year they have also given us the stories of their influences with well-curated series of classic songs, road tested live and then released with studio versions. With no more shows on the cards for the year they have given us their first seasonal song, a cover of “Purple Snowflakes” by Marvin Gaye.

Although conceived and recorded in the ’60s the song was never released during Gaye’s lifetime, as the theme and music were adapted to become “Pretty Little Baby,” which Motown must have thought would have year-round appeal. The original did eventually appear on a Motown Christmas compilation in 1993, since which time it has become like a Shibboleth of Soul, a song that those with deep love and appreciation for the art form use to signify their appreciation for the season and the music. There are great versions by Laura Mvula, Gregory Porter and John Legend. “Pretty Little Baby,” for whatever reason, has attracted less cover attention over the years.

Say She She could be forgiven for sounding jaded and tired after a year of constant activity on the road and publicity trail. Of course they may have, in the classic style, recorded their winter holiday classic in June. Nevertheless their reading is upbeat, warmly enveloped in an upbeat Major Key, with their harmonies as tight and uplifting as ever. The snowflakes may be cold but the atmosphere is warm. It is dark but comfortable, and everyone is cuddled up with someone they love, or alone if that is what they wish. A fitting reward for a busy year.