Worst Cover of an Elvis Song
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Worst Cover of an Elvis Song
What is the worst ever 'cover' version of an Elvis song ?
Not sure if it was based on Elvis or Chuck, but the UK DJ Mike Read had a toe-curlingly bad version of Promised Land out in 1984 !
He re-wrote the lyrics so that the song was about England !
"I left my home in Hounslow etc. etc."
Somehow, mentioning towns like Chiswick and Basingstoke didn't seem to improve the song in any way!
The record disappeared without trace.
Do you know of a worse effort ?
Not sure if it was based on Elvis or Chuck, but the UK DJ Mike Read had a toe-curlingly bad version of Promised Land out in 1984 !
He re-wrote the lyrics so that the song was about England !
"I left my home in Hounslow etc. etc."
Somehow, mentioning towns like Chiswick and Basingstoke didn't seem to improve the song in any way!
The record disappeared without trace.
Do you know of a worse effort ?
Colin B
Judge a man not by his answers, but by his questions - Voltaire
Judge a man not by his answers, but by his questions - Voltaire
Re: Worst Cover of an Elvis Song
With this confession we now all know whose collection it disappeared to!ColinB wrote:What is the worst ever 'cover' version of an Elvis song ?
Not sure if it was based on Elvis or Chuck, but the UK DJ Mike Read had a toe-curlingly bad version of Promised Land out in 1984 !
He re-wrote the lyrics so that the song was about England !
"I left my home in Hounslow etc. etc."
Somehow, mentioning towns like Chiswick and Basingstoke didn't seem to improve the song in any way!
The record disappeared without trace.
Do you know of a worse effort ?
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Re: Worst Cover of an Elvis Song
No, no - I heard it on channel 5's 100 Embarrassing Moments from the 80's tv prog.Luuk wrote: With this confession we now all know whose collection it disappeared to!
Colin B
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Re: Worst Cover of an Elvis Song
That'll teach you to watch channel 5!!ColinB wrote:No, no - I heard it on channel 5's 100 Embarrassing Moments from the 80's tv prog.Luuk wrote: With this confession we now all know whose collection it disappeared to!
Although i'm gonna have to resort to their cricket 'highlights' in the summer - or may just stick to the radio!
Andrew
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They were covering Elvis. I read in an interview with one of the Pet Shop Boys that they wanted to redo an Elvis song and they chose "Always on My Mind" because it was not an obvious choice.
Opinion is sort of split on the Pet Shop Boys' remake with some fans and critics rating it as kind of decronstructive masterpiece and others rating it disposable junk.
Opinion is sort of split on the Pet Shop Boys' remake with some fans and critics rating it as kind of decronstructive masterpiece and others rating it disposable junk.
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shakira and celine dion's performances at the divas concert doing elvis...boy, were those grating beyond belief. shakira couldn't pronouce the english words right, or something because she sounded like a frog. and celine dion just did her oversinging schtick, but also sounding like a frog.
cher and the dixie chicks were the only two of that group that could sing their songs (jailhouse rock / that's all right). cher pretty much came out and made everybody else look like amateurs.
and i enjoyed gwen stefani's suspicious minds (?).
if i recall, from that special...there were several other catastrophic attempts.
oh, and there was this disney channel kids band doing can't help falling in love cover because of the lilo & stitch movie...it was pretty horrendous to do that to such a classic song.
cher and the dixie chicks were the only two of that group that could sing their songs (jailhouse rock / that's all right). cher pretty much came out and made everybody else look like amateurs.
and i enjoyed gwen stefani's suspicious minds (?).
if i recall, from that special...there were several other catastrophic attempts.
oh, and there was this disney channel kids band doing can't help falling in love cover because of the lilo & stitch movie...it was pretty horrendous to do that to such a classic song.
"Thank you very much. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the big, freaky International Hotel. Those little weirdo dolls on the walls. And those little funky angels on the ceiling. Uh, this is my first live appearance in 9 years. H-uhh! Thank you. I've appeared dead a few times, but this is my first live appearance. Before the evening is up, I will have made a complete and total fool of myself, and I hope you get a kick out of watching it." --EP
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actually, one of the things i noticed about those specials is that the country singers tended to have better luck with the songs.
basically the singers who are naturally a bit more earthy/country/soulful are the ones that can sing the songs.
the singers that want to sing the songs with wispy little voices that hide the fact that their real talent is surely not their vocals (add in most folk singers into this category) or oversinging opera-wannabes...those people wouldn't be able to capably sing an elvis song if their lives depended on it.
nobody comes close to elvis...but i'd actually say the non-oversinging power voices (cher) and various country artists...that are earthy enough to get the feel...manage to at least make a passable tribute. and the oldies artists for the most part understand how to sing the music.
i think celine sang can't help falling in love...or something along those lines (clearly outside of her style)... all i remember is how painful it sounded--her canadian-french accent didn't help either, because it came out way too clearly, while her slightly throaty singing style hurt the performance... she's definitely not the kind of singer who can interpret oldies-styled or southern music. perhaps if she had just sung one of the opera tunes instead of a non-frilly sung love song which is supposed to stay at an even register (no up and down cords)... it would have worked out better.
my big beef about celine (besides my distaste for her singing) is that she is somewhat of a one-hit wonder who just keeps going on, and on, and on. i mean, who can really think of more than "my heart will go on"? better yet...can you think of that song without thinking of a sinking ocean liner? really. my mom has a cd of her's. to my ears, it's excruciating. she sells...but most of her popularity i feel is riding on that one song.
i would seriously challenge all of these "up and down scales" singers, to attempt to sing in a more simplistic style (like elvis), where their ranges are used in moderation to put emphasis only on the parts that need to stand out in the song. if you go up and down chords all the way through a song...it's hard to figure out which part of the lyrics are supposed to be the most meaningful. nobody (or at least not me) wants to hear a tutored scale-singer running through rehearsal to get to their notes.
one thing that stands out about elvis, is...he could sing all the genres that these people sing and he could emote properly without a need to 'prove himself' in all of them. he sang a song a certain way because of what the song required to have the best emotional meat, rather than singing to prove to people his vocal range. it seems to be a trap for a lot of singers to want to 'prove' themselves at the expense of the song's actual meaning.
basically the singers who are naturally a bit more earthy/country/soulful are the ones that can sing the songs.
the singers that want to sing the songs with wispy little voices that hide the fact that their real talent is surely not their vocals (add in most folk singers into this category) or oversinging opera-wannabes...those people wouldn't be able to capably sing an elvis song if their lives depended on it.
nobody comes close to elvis...but i'd actually say the non-oversinging power voices (cher) and various country artists...that are earthy enough to get the feel...manage to at least make a passable tribute. and the oldies artists for the most part understand how to sing the music.
i think celine sang can't help falling in love...or something along those lines (clearly outside of her style)... all i remember is how painful it sounded--her canadian-french accent didn't help either, because it came out way too clearly, while her slightly throaty singing style hurt the performance... she's definitely not the kind of singer who can interpret oldies-styled or southern music. perhaps if she had just sung one of the opera tunes instead of a non-frilly sung love song which is supposed to stay at an even register (no up and down cords)... it would have worked out better.
my big beef about celine (besides my distaste for her singing) is that she is somewhat of a one-hit wonder who just keeps going on, and on, and on. i mean, who can really think of more than "my heart will go on"? better yet...can you think of that song without thinking of a sinking ocean liner? really. my mom has a cd of her's. to my ears, it's excruciating. she sells...but most of her popularity i feel is riding on that one song.
i would seriously challenge all of these "up and down scales" singers, to attempt to sing in a more simplistic style (like elvis), where their ranges are used in moderation to put emphasis only on the parts that need to stand out in the song. if you go up and down chords all the way through a song...it's hard to figure out which part of the lyrics are supposed to be the most meaningful. nobody (or at least not me) wants to hear a tutored scale-singer running through rehearsal to get to their notes.
one thing that stands out about elvis, is...he could sing all the genres that these people sing and he could emote properly without a need to 'prove himself' in all of them. he sang a song a certain way because of what the song required to have the best emotional meat, rather than singing to prove to people his vocal range. it seems to be a trap for a lot of singers to want to 'prove' themselves at the expense of the song's actual meaning.
"Thank you very much. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the big, freaky International Hotel. Those little weirdo dolls on the walls. And those little funky angels on the ceiling. Uh, this is my first live appearance in 9 years. H-uhh! Thank you. I've appeared dead a few times, but this is my first live appearance. Before the evening is up, I will have made a complete and total fool of myself, and I hope you get a kick out of watching it." --EP
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Not only that, they debuted the song in August 1987 on a tribute show to Elvis, which featured various artists covering different tunes. The single came out several months later.likethebike wrote:They were covering Elvis. I read in an interview with one of the Pet Shop Boys that they wanted to redo an Elvis song and they chose "Always on My Mind" because it was not an obvious choice.
Opinion is sort of split on the Pet Shop Boys' remake with some fans and critics rating it as kind of decronstructive masterpiece and others rating it disposable junk.
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Without a doubt you are 100% correct; When I saw the title of this thread, this song immediately came to mind. Lick The Tin's version of "Can't Help....." was 100 times better than Corey's and a pretty unique cover too. As for Willie's "Always....." over the years it has grown on me but does not in anyway compare to Elvis' version, however in no way is it one of the worst covers and I have always enjoyed the Pet Shop Boys "Always..." but again it can't even compare to Elvis. I never cared for Travis Tritt's T-R-O-U-B-L-E either but at least it isn't as bad at the Corey Hart attempt. There was some other country hick version of an Elvis song that reeked but it must have been so bad that hopefully I have forgotten it....LOLlikethebike wrote:Corey Hart's "Can't Help Falling in Love" won't be winning that song any new fans.
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Yeah !Deke Rivers II wrote: Lick The Tin's version of "Can't Help....." was 100 times better than Corey's and a pretty unique cover too.
I was beginning to think I was the only one who remembered that great Lick The Tins version !
Colin B
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Wasn't that in the movie Some Kind of Wonderful with Eric Stoltz?ColinB wrote:Yeah !Deke Rivers II wrote: Lick The Tin's version of "Can't Help....." was 100 times better than Corey's and a pretty unique cover too.
I was beginning to think I was the only one who remembered that great Lick The Tins version !
Cool flick from my late teen years.
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This thread, Ritchie, is about other singer's covers of 'Elvis' songs.ritchie valens wrote:hey jude from the 1969 sessions is one of the worst even elvis thought so he wanted the recording to remain unreleased.
Not the covers that Elvis did.
Colin B
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I stumbled across Ral Donner's version of "Girl Of My Best Friend" last night.
I was powerless against the sheer force of its awfulness.
Unable to continue listening, yet unable to turn down the volume as the gory spectacle unfolded before my ears. I was paralyzed by its unmitigated excrementatiousness.
I was powerless against the sheer force of its awfulness.
Unable to continue listening, yet unable to turn down the volume as the gory spectacle unfolded before my ears. I was paralyzed by its unmitigated excrementatiousness.
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But did you like it ?Scatter wrote:I stumbled across Ral Donner's version of "Girl Of My Best Friend" last night.
I was powerless against the sheer force of its awfulness.
Unable to continue listening, yet unable to turn down the volume as the gory spectacle unfolded before my ears. I was paralyzed by its unmitigated excrementatiousness.
Colin B
Judge a man not by his answers, but by his questions - Voltaire
Judge a man not by his answers, but by his questions - Voltaire