NPR Music - More cover songs that are better than the originals

Episode Date: September 8, 2026

We share more reimagined and reinterpreted songs that rival the originals, including Janis Joplin’s iconic take on Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee,” a reggae version of The Beatles' ���Don’t Let Me Down,” and more.NPR Music’s Dora Levite and Lars Gotrich rejoin host Robin Hilton for another round.Leave us a review on Apple or Spotify wherever you listen to podcasts. Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: [e-mail] artists and songs:(00:00) Intro(04:30) Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt & Emmylou Harris: Neil Young’s “After the Gold Rush”(09:31) Frodus: Devo’s “Explosions” (12:58) Janis Joplin: Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee”(17:12) Jai Paul: Jennifer Paige’s “Crush”(22:26) Luther Vandross & Mariah Carey: Lionel Richie & Diana Ross's “Endless Love”(27:40) Nico: Jackson Browne’s “These Days”(32:34) Tricky: Public Enemy’s “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”(35:29) Cassandra Wilson: Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon”(40:04) Phoebe Bridgers: The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love”(43:56) Marcia Griffiths: The Beatles’ “Don’t Let Me Down”Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

This episode of All Songs Considered comes to you from NPR Music. You're home for the best new songs, albums, reviews, career-ending hot takes. Career ending. Well, we're still here, but we're going to, we'll talk about it. Impair music also where you will find Tiny Desk editor, writer Lars Gottridge. What's up, Robin? And one of our Tiny Desk contest producers, Dora Levitt. Hey.

So a few weeks ago, the three of us did an episode, All of us. about cover songs that we think are better than the originals. Yeah. And the responses we got from listeners were so passionate. Passionate. Passionate. Passionate. That I figured we should just maybe strongly worded. Strongly worded, yes, exactly. Enthusiastic. Lots of enthusiasm. I love the enthusiasm. I figured we should just take another run at it right now. So yes, we got a lot of mail, a lot of comments online. For the most part, I think people were. They enjoyed the show. They enjoyed the show.

They were down with our picks. But one pick that people really, really had a problem with was one of Doris. I know. And you know, when I picked that song, I was like, this. The song's Beyonce's before I let go. And it's a cover of Frankie Beverly and Maze's before I let go. And when I picked that song, I was like, this is a no-brainer choice. Beyonce takes this incredibly iconic song and just skyrockets it

and builds it out to be even better than an already great song and people just honestly wanted me fired. Yeah. Here's some of them. I wrote some of the comments. Oh, here we go. Yeah. Let's get some tea.

Horrible, horrible take. They clearly don't know what they're talking about. That's you they're talking about. Yeah, they're talking about me. The Beyonce selection is a travesty. They lost all credibility. with that one. All of it.

Oh, God. And I'm new here, by the way. Yeah. I'm new here. Yeah. There were... Fred was, it was very little to begin. Yeah, totally.

And now it's just like, so I'm going to get fired. Very, very far to go there. There were plenty more, but honestly, nothing we got comes close to the deluge of outrage that we got over my take on the Beastie Boys song, Fight for Your Honor. Which was insane, by the way. Oh, wait. My take? Or all the...

Your take. Well, all right. So I argued that it was better as a slow, quiet acoustic song. Yes, he did. I would say that the tide of public opinion really was not with me on this one. Here are some of the select comments. Literally the worst take imaginable, completely discredits all songs considered. Here's my favorite.

You should delete your channel, destroy your phone, burn your equipment, cut yourself off from the internet for the rest of your life, Which honestly, I read that and I thought, that sounds great. Yeah, that's actually like just kind of a life hack. Oh, my God. I did not know about that comment. Oh, so many more. I was going to say that I was surprised that literally not one person agreed with my take. But I did force myself to go through the hundreds of hateful comments.

I did find a few in there that were like, actually, this is really, really, really nice. I will say, Lars, somehow, and I really don't get that. this at all, but somehow you seem to have emerged completely unscathed from that episode. Even though you said that early bubblegum pop Beatles is better than Sergeant Pepper's late era Beatles, no, nothing. By the way, my dad was upset about that. Oh, okay. Sorry to your dad.

Yeah, he was really upset about that. Well, we all brought more picks, more songs that we think are better than the originals, because we left a lot on the table in that first episode. And there were also a lot of really great recommendations that listeners sent in. Lars, you started off the last time, Dory. You want to go first this time? Yeah. The first pick that I have is actually a cover from the late Dolly Parton and her group Trio with Linda Ronstat and Emmy Lou Harris.

And so I found I listened to a whole bunch of her covers. And the one that stuck out the most to me is Neil Young's after the Gold Rush from 1970. Oh, I was afraid you were going to say that. Okay. You disagree with me already. Well, it's a pretty untouchable song, but I mean, a lot of people have done it. Let's listen to the originally. Well, I dreamed I saw the knights in armor come and saying something about a queen. There were peasants singing and drummers drumming and the archer split the tree.

So there have been a lot of covers of the song. Yeah. But I think where everyone falls short when covering Neil Young is they try and imitate Neil Young's voice. There was an after the Gold Rush cover by Tom York where he does an amazing Neil Young impression. Well, he kind of sounds like Neil Young. But either way. Tom York, do you think? Yeah, but that nasally high nasal voice.

But it's Neil Young but British. I disagree. He does a great Neil Young impression on his cover. But the reason why this cover by Trio, and it's from the second trio album stands out and is, in my opinion, the greatest cover of this song and sometimes tops this song too is because they don't do that. They don't do a Neil Young impression. Well, I dreamed I saw the knights in armor coming saying something about a queen. There were peasants singing her strumming and the archers.

split the tree there was to the sun there was floating all the vocals are doing all the work here I mean the music itself is not that different arrangement or anything It's the same range

Basically the same yeah Yeah Which is where it's strength lies I think because obviously Neil Young is one of our greatest songwriters ever But his voice is really distinctive And sometimes it can be distracting

And I do find it distracting In this song after the Gold Rush You find Neil Young's version of his voice in that version, distracting? I find it to be the most Neil Young-esque. And so I think that in this version, Trio provides a new perspective on the story in a way that makes me see the song differently. Neil Young-esque is a feature, not a bug. And I generally think it's a feature as well. I just think that a great cover song provides a new perspective, and this song does that in the best way possible.

All right. Tiebreaker, Lars, go. So I love Neil Young, and in fact, I'm probably going to share someone covering a Neil Young song at some point during the September. All right. Because I do generally think he's like one of our greatest songwriters, but a great song means that you give that song to the world, right? So, and in this case, with Trio, what's so magical about those two records in particular is that Dolly, Linda, and Emmy, Lou all have such distinct voices, but they know how. to sing together. And so they are finding harmony in that song that didn't exist before. And you can peek each one of their voices out, but it also comes together in a nice, like, beautiful strand. It

comes together in this like, this braid of harmonies that otherwise did not exist in this stunning song. I don't know that I think it's better, and that's okay. I love listening to this version of this song. In fact, after Dolly died, there was a live performance clip that went around of them performing this song and we're like, well, damn, it's really great. I mean, we kind of kicked this whole thing

off a few episodes back. Even before we did this cover song episode, Dora, you were on, we did the King Princess cover of the song Helpless, which is part of a Neil Young tribute that's coming up. I love lots of Neil Young covers. I'm not sure. I think that one is working for me as much as the original. But

But I appreciate you. Thanks, Robin. And that is just your opinion and my opinion and nothing more. Okay, Lars, what do you got? I think the great thing about a cover song is that you can pick something more obscure and bring it to light. And I think in that case, Devo, their fifth album called, Oh, No, It's Devo. There's a song in there called Explosions. I thought you were going to say, I can't get no satisfaction.

That's what I thought, too. A little ditty no one's heard of. No, that was on, that was, are we not men, we are divo? That was like their debut. And that's a legitimately great cover that Devo does of the Stones. But I want to play the original Devo song, Explosions, and then I want to play a cover. This is an instance where I heard the cover first. Oh, okay.

I was actually just telling somebody about this recently, and they were shocked that I, that I didn't even know Devo when I was like 14 years old. But in 1998, the DC punk band Frodez covered Explosions for their album Conglomerate International, and it just completely explodes the original. What I like about this cover is the song, Explosions, was sort of a response to how people treated Devo as a novelty band. Because they just heard Whippit, and I thought, oh, they're the Wippit band. And so they decided to make the most ridiculous commercial new wavy song that they could and then poke fun at the listeners and themselves at the same time.

So here's this album from Frodis that's all about deconstructing corporate America and they're just twisting it a little bit to their own devices. I have to say, I know Devo. I don't know Frodoz. Yeah, I also don't know Frodoz. And you're talking about like, here's a band that finally put another band on the map. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think Frodo is much more obscure than the D.V. Here's a funny story. So when Devo came to the tiny desk, Jason Hamaker, who's a drummer in Frodez, he still lives in D.C. He texted me. He's like, can I come? It's like, how did you find out about this? So he comes. He brings a seven-inch copy of the explosions, seven-inch, and he shoves his way in, and he shows it to Mark Mother's Ba. And it's like, hey, when I was 20 years old, I made this record with my friend. and it had like the Devo hat on it and everything.

That's awesome. Mark Mothersball was very chuffed by it. And I love making those little connections. So it was like a full circle moment. Like 14-year-old me would flip out knowing that he introduced a member of ROTUS to a member of Devo. That's awesome. I love that. So on the previous episode, we talked a lot about how there are cover songs that are so good.

They not only eclipse the original version, but they end up becoming a defining song. from that artist's entire career, the artist who covers the song for their career. And I want to play one of those. Another example of one of those. The song is me and Bobby McGee. Here is the original version. It was written and performed by Chris Christofferson

from his self-titled album in 1970. Busted flat and batting rooze and heading for the trains. Feeling nearly faded as my jeans. Bobby thumbed a diesel down Just before it rained Took us all away to New Orleans So Chris Christofferson

Doing his song, Me, Bobby McGee The cover and the version that I think a lot of people If not most people think of first Is by Janice Joplin from her album Pearl It came out in 1971 I pulled my harpoon and my dirty red eyes playing soft while Bobby's saying that. When she'll wipe her slapping time I was holding Bobby's hand in a man. We sang every song that drive the new in my Bobby.

It really needs that groove. Yeah, it really does. I mean, the Chris Christofferson version is, it's kind of weary. Hers is just so freewheeling. It has this whole sort of come what may, we're just going to follow this road wherever it takes us, just be free man kind of vibe to it. This is also a song that's been covered by so many people.

It is one of those songs that's now something like Wild and Blue or Crimson and Clover. It's one of those old standards that is covered so much. But in a lot of those covers, I feel like it's hard to point to one and be like this one is the best, except for here where it is like when people cover this song, they're covering the Janice Joplin version. Yeah.

It's sort of like Mad World we talked about. When people cover that song, no one's covering the original version anymore. They're covering the Gary Jules version of that song. I don't agree. You look skeptical. You think that people, when they cover, they're covering the... The Tears for Fears?

Yeah. Absolutely. The original version of it. Yeah. No, every cover version I hear has that sad little piano version. It's the Gary Jules version. I don't agree. Well, we were talking about the, we're talking about me and Bobby McGee, though.

Oh, we were? Oh, that's right. We're still talking about being Bobby McGee. If you listen to the end of the song, that sort of la-da-da-da, like if you listen to Christofferson's version of that. It sounds like he's like taking a bicycle trip down the road. She found a dirt road. Safe to himself. Just kind of like an air of resignation or something to it.

Yeah. And then you listen to Joplin's version of that. She finds the community in the song too. Yeah. She did tons of great cover. She was mostly known for doing cover songs. So, yeah, me and Bobby McGee, that was one that came up a lot in the comments.

Listeners picked this one. One of my favorite types of cover songs is a cover of a 90s pop girl song. I almost brought Caroline Paul Checks Breathless, which is a very great version of an old 90s Billboard Hot 100 kind of one-off pop song. But my very favorite version of this type of cover song is by the enigmatic musician Jai Paul. And he's covering a song from 1998 called Crush by Jennifer Page. So let's hear that first. Jennifer Page, Crush.

Oh, yeah, I love this song. It doesn't take a scientist to understand what's going. You see something maybe. This is 90s pop radio in a song. Yeah. Couldn't tell you another song by this person. No. But this song, it was basically like Cardigan's Light.

Yeah. All right. So that's the original Crush by Jennifer Page. And the cover comes from a leaked debut album of Jai Paul's, which was only released on band. camp for a very short amount of time and then was pulled because the demos and the unmastered versions were stolen off of his laptop. And then the entire leak was re-released six years later in 2019. And it wasn't finished, so it was just the demos again. And it included a cover that was called

Crush Unfinished. I think one of the things that I react really well to or strongly to is when an art artist just brings more character and color and life to the song. And it doesn't necessarily have to be energy or a faster version of it or whatever, but just some different kind of shading to the song. And that's what he's doing here. Absolutely. I hear a lot of prints inspiration here. I love how overcompressed it feels and how clipped all of the lyrics are. And granted, I mean, technically it is unfinished. So who's to say whether that over compression was. It does actually Sound unfinished to me because you hear those little dips and you can hear where there might have been a little bit more production or a little bit more bass or something there.

I still, I mean, I'm a 90s kid. And I listen to a lot of 90s pop radio like when I was in middle school. So I still love the original version. But I hadn't heard this one before. I do like it. Yeah. Not better. Not better for me.

But that's just because nostalgia hits very hard. The thing that speaks to me a lot here in this song, he really, it's clear, grew up listening to this song and really does appreciate this song. And he is wrapped up in the world of Jennifer Page's crush and is really building it out himself, which paints it in a different picture and does what the best cover songs do, which is tell a love story to the older song. All right, Lars, we're back to you. So I did read some of the comments. And the one thing that quite a few people mention is like, why is there no love for Mariah Carey? Blah, blah, blah, blah. And I think you even asked me either after the show or maybe.

Yeah, at some point I was like, I was surprised you hadn't picked any because I knew she's your queen. She is my queen. And the reason why I didn't, because there are some artists who I just prefer their original material so much more. But she's done several great covers that had kind of become hers over the years. When she did, I'll Be There by the Jackson Five for MTV Unplugged. Great version. Great. Like, I love that version of that song.

She also did the beautiful ones by Prince for Butterfly, which is my personal favorite Mariah Carey album. But I kind of want to feed two birds with one seed. That's to quote my great friend, Marissa Lou Roose. Feed two birds with not killed two birds. Yeah, because why would you want to kill a bird? Don't you know the PETA alternatives? Feed two birds with one seed? Yeah, it's much more gentle.

Or feed two birds with one scone. Oh, I like that one. That's good. I didn't hear that one. Yeah, PETA's going to come for you next, Robin. This is very N-G-G-R, guys. This is like, what was it, a Friends episode where they said, was it Phoebe on Friends who kept saying doggy dog?

Yes. Dog-y-dog. It's like, why would it be dog-eat-dog? It's a dog-y-dog world. It's terrible. It's got to be doggie-dog, right? All right. Anyway, anyway.

You feed your two birds. Mariah Carey and Luther Vandross, they did Endless Love together on the Luther Vandross album songs in 1994, which was a cover of Diana Ross and Lionel Ritchie. And the title track to the movie Endless Love, which was a Brook Shields movie. I know, I know it well. Yeah. My love, there's only you in my life, the only thing that's right. first love your every breath that I take your every step I made I actually really love this original version really yeah and I remember seeing this movie

when it came out on I well I saw it on HBO when I was like 12 or 13 years old had a very big impact on me okay yeah I also have like a feeling about this because in the early 90s in late 80s Carrie didn't have much say over her career. And the label didn't know what to do with her most of the time. And so I feel like protective of that era of Maria Carrie. But it's hard for me to deny what Mariah and Luther bring to endless love. Because the original to me, I don't like the original just fine, but it's pretty schmaltzy.

You don't think your every breath that I take, your every step on me You don't think this is just as schmaltzy is the original? What's different? It's still, like, this is very much like Mariah in her ballot era. But what I love about this version in that it brings, it brings more of a mature realization of what the song is trying to get across. That not that Danor Ross and Lionel Richie didn't treat the text with the care that it deserved, I just think that Mariah and Luther, they give it a little bit more gravitas.

They are a little bit more tender with how powerful these two people feel about each other and that their love is endless. That's actually something that stood out to me a lot. It reminds me of our first conversation about trio, about the way that their voices work together and the chemistry that's there and also the... And after the Gold Rush cover, you mean? Yeah, after the gold rush cover,

the space that their voices fill and the way that they wind together adds such a quality to this song that makes it feel more than just belting a ballad for a ballad sake. Not to say that Diana Ross and Lionel Richie don't have that. I love the dynamics of their voices, too, because Luther Van Dross, he has such a deep, robust register. And to pair that with the Butterfly Register of Mariah Carey is such a unique pairing.

It's what, this isn't the only duet they've done either. Like, they would go on to have, like, a beautiful series of duets over, over both of their careers. This cover, to me, is, to me, is the definitive version of. of endless love. All right, I got a question for you. Is it a cover song if the person who wrote the song, the original version, releases their version after the cover version comes out? So an artist, I think this happened with Prince, right?

With nothing compares to you, he wrote the song and recorded his version of it. But he didn't release his version of it until after Sheney O'Connor released her version. Or like a Carol King kind of situation where she wrote a bunch of great songs, other people saying them, and then she's saying them, and people were like, oh, Dang, she can really sing. Sure, I'll allow it. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, my instinct is to be like, well, a great cover song takes a performance of a song that you really admire and takes a fully formed song.

And you hear the songwriting, the production, the intent. And you're like, oh, I can build off of this. Right. But also, who's to say that that moment didn't happen in private? The reason I ask is because I want to play Nico's version of the Jaguar. Yeah, these days. the Jackson Brown song. Is that when you wanted to play? Well, so, well, I'm curious to hear what you think of this as well, because the Jackson

Brown version, well, he wrote the song when he was all of 16 years old. He was 16 years old when he wrote the song. That's the song these days. That was somewhere around 1964. It made its way to Nico, who recorded it for her debut album in 1967 called Chelsea Girl. Jackson didn't record his version or release his version until a few years later in 1973 for his album called For Every Man. Let's hear his version first, even though it didn't come out first. Let's hear his version. Well, I've been out walking.

I don't do that much talking these days. These days I seem to think a lot. I don't know that I've ever sat down with this before. With Jackson Brown's version. Really? What do you think? This is lovely. It's lovely. It's so nice.

I mean, his voice is just amazing. All right, well, let's hear Nico's version. So, actually, this is Jackson Brown playing guitar on this recording. Oh. This song, when he was all of 18 years old. or so when this came out. But again, I just think the Nico version adds so much more life to it, so much more color and character. And the Jackson Brown version to me, maybe if I'd heard it first, I'd feel differently, but it just kind of plods along. It's kind of slow. Everything

about this is soft and moving and shimmering and it just kind of buzzes with more life. Well, that's the interesting thing about with Nico's version, because Nico has like a very idiosyncratic voice. It's very sharp. You think sharp? Because I are very soft around it. Well, you know what? Oh, I find her voice sharp too.

Really? Yeah. I might get in trouble for this. But you know the way that like Arnold Schwarzenegger was perfect for Terminator? Oh my God, Lars. Are you really comparing me to Arnold Schwarzenegger? But it's kind of like it's kind of like there's a sharpness, there's a little bit of a rigidness to the way that Nico sings that was.

touching in a strange way. But ultimately, like, when you pair it with those strings, you pair it with this different approach to the way the guitar was played. It's more of, like, a pizocado situation. That was always the thing that's kind of, like, kept me at arm's length with Nico. Not with this song in particular, but just Nico generally. I found her so stark. And so I've never enjoyed, like, listening to her records unless she was, like, with the

Velvet Underground. I just find her voice so... I like her. I like her as a contrast to whatever else is going on. Well, so just the sound of the song aside, I think the other thing that this arrangement does is that it's kind of doing what me and Bobby McGee and that cover does, which is it's finding light in the darkness.

It's kind of the sun on a rainy day. You know, there's hope in this song and a lightness to it that is missing in the original. It's interesting that you say that because this to me is one of the most heart-wrenching, one of the most sad songs I've ever heard. It's almost sometimes I don't want to. I love the song a lot and sometimes I don't want to

because it does make me so emotional. And it's because I find the brightness to be so nostalgic and to like heighten the melancholy within the song that doesn't make it lighter. It actually just makes it more reflective in life. Yeah. I know what you're saying. I played the two, both of these versions for my daughter.

And she said, Oh, God, no, the Jackson Brown version is 100 times better. She couldn't. Interesting. She said, whoever that woman is, it just sounds weird. And I said, you know what? You're 11 years old. You don't know what you're talking about.

But, yeah, I've always found the Nico version very, very moving and was surprised when I started digging more into it to find out that Jackson Brown, well, first of all, that he was 16 when he, I mean, what a genius. My God, genius songwriter, that he was 16 years old when he wrote it. to capture that kind of emotion in those words at that age. But I was surprised that his version had come out after her version. I've been struggling to think about whether I want to play the next song or not. Because I don't necessarily think that it's better than the original, but it is a song that rivals the original perfectly.

Okay. So the original is Black Steel and the Hour of Chaos by Public Enemy from 1988. I got a letter from the government The other day I opened and read it It said they were suckers They richer me giving a daddy Okay so the cover

Is by Tricky From his 1995 album Max in Kui And it's featuring the vocals From Martina Topley Bird And it's called Black Steel Better I don't know But I think it's a fair rival

It's taken a good run at it Well the original song Is this epic story that is around seven or eight minutes long, and it's about someone who, it's a protest song and someone's been drafted into the resistance, then there's an unjust imprisonment and a armed escape from imprisonment,

and it tracks this entire story. But what tricky does is he takes the first half of this story, the enlisting, the planning, the unjust imprisonment, and elongates it. So he transforms this song, an excellent, excellent hip-hop into this like trip hop with this sample from an old Indian movie. That's the drums that you hear. And he delves into the first half of this story in a way that is almost like an asterisk.

Like he's expanding the footnote. Exactly. He's expanding the footnote. And he does it in this really epic way that heightens the action of this story. Honestly, it has me reflecting a lot and something that I've a feeling that I've been tampering down throughout these past two episodes, which is that I don't believe covers should be better than the original. And I think that a good cover should be or can be. I don't believe that it matters, whether they're better or not. Because it's just about expanding the story and adding your voice to an ongoing conversation. I have an echo to that in the song that I want to play.

Perfect. So we talked about Neil Young earlier. And Neil Young's my dude. He's my guy. I mean, his albums have soundtracked significant milestones in my life, including my own wedding, and including the song that my wife and I dance to at our wedding, Harvest Moon. Come a little bit closer. I'm not sure how I feel about going at Neil Young twice in one episode here, but... We did it with Prince.

Okay, that's fair. All right, so what do you got? I kind of struggled with this one, to be honest, because, like I said, I literally danced to that song at my wedding. But like Dolly Parton, that we talked about earlier, who recently passed away, the great jazz singer Cassandra Wilson just passed away as well. Well, in 1995, Cassandra Wilson released this album called New Moon Daughter, and she was establishing herself on the jazz scene. She was starting to grow and cross over into the pop world a little bit, and she decided to cover pop songs, at least a few of them. She covered the monkeys on this album. I really like it.

This is a great album. The monkey's version, the monkey song that she does. The last train to Clarksville. It's so good. It also helps the situation where I don't like the original, so it's like she completely transformed it into something that I adore. But what she does with Harvest Moon reaches into the, she engages with the text in a way that not even Neil Young does.

Come a little bit closer. Hear what I have to say. Just like children sleeping, we could dream this night away. Yeah, one thing that I will say is very nice about this version is that she finds a sense of mystery and wonder in it. Yes, that's exactly what it is. Yes. Because there is such a sweetness in the original that both my wife and I have been and are still drawn to. The thing about Cassandra Wilson's version is that it seems to think more deeply about what a harvest moon actually means.

The reason why we call it a harvest moon is when farmers could work late into the night. And so what her version does is lean into a kind of like worn work ethic. It's like we had to work hard for this love. And we are going to continue to work hard for this. love for the rest of our lives. That's magical. Oh my God. Like I was listening to it the other day.

I was listening to New Moon Daughter, just the whole thing. And Harvest Moon is what closes out the album. And I literally welled up with tears just because the story that she tells with that song is so different than what Neil Young tells. And I think even Neil would probably say, yeah, she's telling a different story. I don't necessarily think this is better. I disregard the premise. But it's one of those things where it doesn't matter in this case because it's such a radically different version of the song.

You're both cowards. You know, I'm playing along, Robin, but in this case, it's like, it's really hard for me to say that this version is better because the original is so meaningful, personal to me. but what Cassandra Wilson is just so radically different, and it gives me a new appreciation of the song, which is what a great cover should do. All right, I got another one that I bet people are going to take issue with because it's by a band that has a lot of very loyal fans. The song is Friday. I'm in love.

Oh, no, what are you doing? I know exactly what he's doing. By The Cure. From their 1992 album, Wish, here's the original. Okay. That's great. I don't care if Tuesday's gray and Wednesday to Thursday. I don't care about you.

It's Friday I'm in love. The cur. The cur. I'm pretty sure it's cur. Decur. The cure doing Friday, I'm in love. The cover I want to play that I personally think is better, even though Dora is already rolling her eyes.

Okay. Is by who? Phoebe Bridgers. I don't care if Monday's blue Tuesday's gray and Wednesday too Thursday I don't care and fall apart Tuesday, Wednesday break my heart

Thursday doesn't even start It's Friday Saturday Sunday always comes too late Friday never hesitate Tuesday Wednesday or Thursday

Never looking back It's Friday I'm in love So another reason I think people are going to take issue with this one is that apart from believing that The Cure is untouchable is that this does exactly what that Beastie Boys cover Yeah does

It's not just that it slows it down You know or takes this up-tempo pop song and turns it into a, you know, a quieter acoustic song, it's that it changes the whole vibe and meaning of the song. Sure. This pulls out all that uncertainty of youth, particularly in this case, young love. And I really do think it's a great song.

I've never been much of a cure fan, but I think Robert Smith wrote a great song. I love the lyrics. I just think that Phoebe brings out the emotional heart of this song a lot better. Well, I think that's exactly what Lars and I have been saying, which is that a really good, cover does something different with the song, and that doesn't mean it needs to be better, and it doesn't mean that it needs to disregard the original.

This song, I do love this cover, even though I was really rolling my eyes, but I love it, and I don't love it more. I love it differently. Love it. Howard. Love it differently. And I love that sadness to her voice, Phoebe Bridgers, to her dismay, writes the saddest songs. I saw a quote from her recently being like,

I don't only write sad songs. But her voice has that incredibly emotional quality, and she does bring this fear of the future to this song in a way that The Cure is kind of dance pop version doesn't highlight, which is fine. All right. Well, look, we could just keep going on here. There are so many other songs that we, I know all of us have a long list of alternatives here that we could have picked.

But I don't want to go out on a sad, somber note, as much as I love that Phoebe Bridgers one, And one of you got one that maybe is a take us out on a high note. You know, in the last episode that we did, I talked about the Beatles, how I prefer the bubblegum beetles. Yeah. I figured, let's go to the opposite end of the spectrum. Let's go to the end of the Beatles. And here's the original, don't let me down from the Let It Be sessions.

I, you know, I like this song, but I've always kind of taken issue. I don't know if that's the right word, but I've always found it kind of aggressive for what John Lennon's singing about. It's a love song to Yoko, basically. And I just found the delivery so harsh and catterwalling a little bit. Yeah. I don't know. It's kind of.

You just go ahead. You just keep going to Mars. But like I said in the previous episode that we did, there was this whole cottage industry, particularly like in the 70s of a lot of black artists who would cover the Beatles. And one of my favorite covers of a Beatles song is by Marsha Griffiths. She's the queen of reggae. And she actually released her cover of Don't Let Me Down as a single, the same year. that the Beatles put out, don't let me down as a B-side.

I think the thing that works so well with this cover is that it simultaneously smooths out and ruffs up the edges. Because I think that was the problem I had with the original is just so harsh, at least to my ears. And what Marsha Griffith does is she sees the sweetness in the song, because it is, it's a sweet love song. Yeah, she cuts out a little bit of the desperation. Yeah.

And, but she still preserves all the wanting and all of the pining. Yes, exactly. And I thought this would be like a really sweet way to go out. I mean, Beatles fans will come at me. It's fine. Keep digging, Lars. But, you know, this is a B-side, people. Don't hold on to things so deeply.

Well, a lot of people suggested we play Joe Cocker's version of a little help with my friends. Oh, sure. And I actually, I was thinking of playing that one, but no, this is great. We'll go out on this. And we've got a playlist that we started with the last show. If people search for NPR music and cover songs, they'll find it in Spotify or Apple Music. And we'll add all of these songs and maybe some others to that playlist. But Dora Levitt, Lars Gottridge, thanks as always.

Thank you, Robin. Thanks, thanks for having us again. It's all songs considered from NPR Music. Now