In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song, usually by someone other than the original artist. On occasion a cover becomes more popular and well known than the original, such as Santana's version in 1970 of Peter Green's and Fleetwood Mac's 1968 song "Black Magic Woman" or Jimi Hendrix's version of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower."
Cover versions of many popular songs have been recorded, sometimes with a radically different style, sometimes virtually indistinguishable from the original. New artists are often introduced to the record buying public with performances of well known, "safe" songs as evidenced in American Idol and its counterparts in other countries. It is also a means by which the public can more easily concentrate upon the new performer without the need to judge the quality of the songwriting skills.
However, some new artists have chosen to radically rework a popular song to exemplify their approach and philosophy to music. Prime examples include Joe Cocker's soul reworking of The Beatles' originally-jaunty "With a Little Help from My Friends," the band Devo's radical reconstruction of the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," or Marilyn Manson's version of the Eurythmics' "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)."
Many musicians have other goals, such as to create publicity as in Sid Vicious' notorious version of "My Way."
Teenage Kicks
Debut single by Northern Irish punk rock/new wave band The Undertones, written by the band main songwriter John O'Neill in 1977, released in 1978:
My Way
"My Way" is a song popularized by Frank Sinatra. Its lyrics were written by Paul Anka and set to music based on the French song "Comme d'habitude" composed in 1967 by Claude François and Jacques Revaux, with lyrics by Claude François and Gilles Thibault. "Comme d'habitude" had in turn originally been written in English, titled "For Me". Anka's English lyrics are unrelated to the original French song or the earlier English version.
"My Way" is often quoted as the most covered song in history:
With A Little Help From My Friends
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, released on the Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967:
Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
Second single by singer-actress Cher from her second studio album The Sonny Side of Chér. The song was written by Cher's then-husband Sonny Bono and released in 1966:
Nancy Sinatra version - it remained relatively obscure until it was used in the opening scenes of the 2003 Quentin Tarantino's movie Kill Bill Volume 1