The 411 Music Top Five 09.04.12: The Top 5 Soundtrack Cover Songs
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 09.04.2012
From Nine Inch Nails' "Dead Souls" and Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" to Ewan McGregor's "Your Song" and more, 411's Jeremy Thomas counts down his top 5 cover songs from soundtracks of all-time!
THE TOP 5 SOUNDTRACK COVER SONGS
JEREMY THOMAS
Honorable Mention: White Zombie - "I'm Your Boogieman" (The Crow: City of Angels), Urge Overkill - "Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon" (Pulp Fiction), Marilyn Manson - "Tainted Love" (Not Another Teen Movie)
5. Nine Inch Nails - "Dead Souls" (The Crow)
The Crow is without question one of my favorite soundtracks of all-time. Every single song is quality, from The Cure's "Burn" at #1 all the way through to Jane Siberry's "It Can't Rain All The Time" at #14. It also contains one of my favorite covers from a soundtrack in Nine Inch Nails' cover of Joy Division's "Dead Souls." It's a great version that manages to stay faithful to the original while still coming off as more than a direct rip-off.
4. Ewan McGregor - "Your Song" (Moulin Rouge)
Moulin Rouge is not everyone's favorite movie, which is fair; I love it but I understand why some may not. That being said, the musical performances are all really well-done and for my money you can't beat McGregor nailing Elton John's classic "Your Song." I love the original and it's a better performance, don't get me wrong. But McGregor sings it with such enthusiasm and innocence that it's almost perfect in and of itself. The arrangement is a bit more complex than John's, but that differentiates them nicely. It's a wonderful little piece of work and makes for a great moment in the movie.
3. Joaquin Phoenix - "Get Rhythm" (Walk the Line)
Johnny Cash and June Carter got to approve who picked who would play them in Walk the Line. Clearly, they picked well as Reese Witherspoon won an Oscar and Joaquin Phoenix was nominated. They also both sang and performed all the songs in the film and hit them to a T. There are so many great options to choose from; Phoenix's "Cry Cry Cry" is exceptional and the duet of "It Ain't Me Babe" is classic work. My personal favorite though is Phoenix's cover of "Get Rhythm." The song is pitch-perfect from start to finish; Phoenix is just on at every instant throughout and it's a very fun version to.
2. Timothy T. Mitchum & Carol Woods - "Let It Be" (Across the Universe)
I've mentioned this song before; its my favorite cover of a Beatles song and in fact I think it actually tops the original. The song is from the Beatles-themed musical film Across the Universe, itself a stunningly good movie considering how bad it could have been, and there are a ton of great covers in it. This is the top though, being both technically flawless and emotionally impactful, both devastating and inspiring. I'm not even a big fan of gospel music but this takes that tone and transcends it. There's nothing more that you can really say; this is just an amazing piece of musical work.
1. Whitney Houston - "I Will Always Love You" (The Bodyguard)
Whitney's version of "I Will Always Love You" is not only the greatest cover song on a soundtrack, but it's one of the greatest cover songs period. There's something to be said for the fact that after Houston's death, some legitimate news sites misattributed the song to Houston and not Dolly Parton, who wrote and first performed the song. That's because while Parton made it, Houston did it better. It was almost as if Parton created the song specifically for Houston without ever realizing it; the song was just perfectly suited to the late R&B icon's vocals and it became her signature song. The Bodyguard soundtrack became one of the best-selling albums of all-time and with all due respect, no one bought the album for "Queen of the Night."
The Final Word
As always, the last thoughts come from you, the reader. We're merely unpaid monkeys with typewriters and Wikipedia. Here's what you need to do: List your Top Five for this week's topic on the comment section using the following format:
5. Artist - "Song": Why you chose it
4. Artist - "Song": Why you chose it
3. Artist - "Song": Why you chose it
2. Artist - "Song": Why you chose it
1. Artist - "Song": Why you chose it
