It’s Good to be King. It’s Just More Magical to be Prince
May 30, 2023 1:53 AM Subscribe
40. Tom Jones & the Art of Noise – Kiss
39. Montys Loco – Paisley Park
38. Ginuwine – When Doves Cry
37. Derailers – Raspberry Beret
36. Holly Humberstone – I Would Die 4 U
35. Sam Bettens – Little Red Corvette
34. The Replacements – I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
33. Foo Fighters – Darling Nikki
32. Aretha Franklin – Nothing Compares 2 U
31. Martin Sexton – Purple Rain
30. Damien Rice – When Doves Cry
29. Janelle Monae – Let’s Go Crazy
28. Age of Chance – Kiss
27. Lucy Dacus and Hayden Arp – I Would Die 4 U
26. School of Fish – Let’s Pretend We’re Married
25. Meli’sa Morgan – Do Me Baby
24. Ray Prim – Starfish & Coffee
23. Chris Cornell – Nothing Compares 2 U
22. Sarah Jarosz – When Doves Cry
21. London Grammar – Purple Rain
20. Anneli Drecker & Bugge Wesseltoft – I Wish U Heaven
19. Lavender Diamond – Purple Rain
18. i’m loved. i’m alive. – I Would Die 4 U
17. Ani DiFranco – When U Were Mine
16. Chaka Khan – I Feel For You
15. Nina Simone – Sign O’ The Times
14. Patti Smith – When Doves Cry
13. Jimmy Scott – Nothing Compares 2 U
12. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings – Take Me With U
11. Joan as Police Woman – Kiss
10. Christer Knutsen – I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
9. Hindu Love Gods – Raspberry Beret
8. Dwight Yoakam – Purple Rain
7. Cyndi Lauper – When You Were Mine
6. Richard Thompson – Kiss
5. Alicia Keys – How Come U Don’t Call Me
4. Dump – 1999
3. Be Good Tanyas – When Doves Cry
2. Meshell Ndegeocello – Sometimes It Snows In April
1. Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U
posted by 1970s Antihero at 4:38 AM on May 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
39. Montys Loco – Paisley Park
38. Ginuwine – When Doves Cry
37. Derailers – Raspberry Beret
36. Holly Humberstone – I Would Die 4 U
35. Sam Bettens – Little Red Corvette
34. The Replacements – I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
33. Foo Fighters – Darling Nikki
32. Aretha Franklin – Nothing Compares 2 U
31. Martin Sexton – Purple Rain
30. Damien Rice – When Doves Cry
29. Janelle Monae – Let’s Go Crazy
28. Age of Chance – Kiss
27. Lucy Dacus and Hayden Arp – I Would Die 4 U
26. School of Fish – Let’s Pretend We’re Married
25. Meli’sa Morgan – Do Me Baby
24. Ray Prim – Starfish & Coffee
23. Chris Cornell – Nothing Compares 2 U
22. Sarah Jarosz – When Doves Cry
21. London Grammar – Purple Rain
20. Anneli Drecker & Bugge Wesseltoft – I Wish U Heaven
19. Lavender Diamond – Purple Rain
18. i’m loved. i’m alive. – I Would Die 4 U
17. Ani DiFranco – When U Were Mine
16. Chaka Khan – I Feel For You
15. Nina Simone – Sign O’ The Times
14. Patti Smith – When Doves Cry
13. Jimmy Scott – Nothing Compares 2 U
12. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings – Take Me With U
11. Joan as Police Woman – Kiss
10. Christer Knutsen – I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man
9. Hindu Love Gods – Raspberry Beret
8. Dwight Yoakam – Purple Rain
7. Cyndi Lauper – When You Were Mine
6. Richard Thompson – Kiss
5. Alicia Keys – How Come U Don’t Call Me
4. Dump – 1999
3. Be Good Tanyas – When Doves Cry
2. Meshell Ndegeocello – Sometimes It Snows In April
1. Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U
posted by 1970s Antihero at 4:38 AM on May 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
The Replacements - I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man
Cyndi Lauper - When You Were Mine
Janelle Monae - Let's Go Crazy
Lucy Dacus and Hayden Arp - I Would Die 4 U
Nina Simone - Sign o the Times
The Bangles - Manic Monday
Patti Smith - When Doves Cry
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Alphabet Street
Alicia Keys - How Come You Don't Call Me
Meshell Ndegeocello - Sometimes It Snows in April
posted by box at 5:26 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Cyndi Lauper - When You Were Mine
Janelle Monae - Let's Go Crazy
Lucy Dacus and Hayden Arp - I Would Die 4 U
Nina Simone - Sign o the Times
The Bangles - Manic Monday
Patti Smith - When Doves Cry
The Jesus and Mary Chain - Alphabet Street
Alicia Keys - How Come You Don't Call Me
Meshell Ndegeocello - Sometimes It Snows in April
posted by box at 5:26 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I saw Damien Rice in concert about 15 years ago in Minneapolis. It was a gorgeous show, and then he brought an audience member up to sing Purple Rain with him.. But she got shy and couldn't quite do it. Another audience member yelled out that he'd sing, and Damien invited him to stage. This random guy NAILED IT, and the house was in the palm of his and Damien's hands. It felt absolutely chaotic for a few seconds before the music started, like a weird heckle or that this sweet show might get ruined, but it turned out as one of my favorite live music moments of all time. Wherever that guy is, I hope he's doing well.
posted by knile at 5:50 AM on May 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by knile at 5:50 AM on May 30, 2023 [7 favorites]
Also, if you somehow want to hear a vacuum cleaner solo during Purple Rain, Phish has you, um, covered.
posted by knile at 5:52 AM on May 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by knile at 5:52 AM on May 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
A pretty good list, but I'd put Ani DiFranco's When Doves Cry above her When You Were Mine.
posted by Candleman at 6:38 AM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Candleman at 6:38 AM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
CHVRCHES have a very fun cover of I Would Die 4 U
posted by schmod at 6:46 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by schmod at 6:46 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
(Too late for the edit window but I see that Warren is covered in the original list under Hindu Love Gods. Carry on.)
posted by bondcliff at 6:55 AM on May 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by bondcliff at 6:55 AM on May 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Not to brag or anything, but I saw Tom Jones this past weekend, and he sang Kiss and killed it. Even better live now than his original recording.
Tom Jones is still out there, and still has it. This is at least one great thing about this timeline.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:58 AM on May 30, 2023 [9 favorites]
Tom Jones is still out there, and still has it. This is at least one great thing about this timeline.
posted by Capt. Renault at 6:58 AM on May 30, 2023 [9 favorites]
Missing the cover of Darling Nikki from the Pay for Me EP.
posted by snwod at 7:14 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by snwod at 7:14 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I love good cover songs and made this list recently by request.
Better Than the Original - Quarantunes. Songs where the cover artist did it better than the original
posted by ShakeyJake at 8:02 AM on May 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Better Than the Original - Quarantunes. Songs where the cover artist did it better than the original
posted by ShakeyJake at 8:02 AM on May 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
I was surprised and pleased to see Dump on the list at all, and at number four even! For those who aren’t familiar, Dump is Yo La Tengo bassist James McNew’s long-running side project. His cover of 1999 is from an entire album of Prince covers, The Skinny Motherfucker With The High Voice.
posted by outfielder at 8:06 AM on May 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by outfielder at 8:06 AM on May 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
The Windham Hill folk music compilation Legacy had Blue Rubies performing When You Were Mine, and I've found it delightful for decades.
posted by hippybear at 8:19 AM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 8:19 AM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
I was not surprised to see nothing from the 1999 Cleopatra compilation Party o' the Times, because it's not very good.
posted by box at 8:19 AM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by box at 8:19 AM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Okay, but they missed D'Angelo's cover of She's Always In My Hair??????
posted by uninformative at 8:52 AM on May 30, 2023
posted by uninformative at 8:52 AM on May 30, 2023
Not to mention his transcendent "Sometimes It Snows In April", recorded just after Prince's death. (Sorry for the FB link, it's the only remaining version I've found on the open internet).
posted by uninformative at 8:55 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by uninformative at 8:55 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Better Than the Original - Quarantunes. Songs where the cover artist did it better than the original
Nice playlist!
posted by kirkaracha at 9:24 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Nice playlist!
posted by kirkaracha at 9:24 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Songs where the cover artist did it better than the original
good point. Lots of nice takes in this Top 40 on some great songs. But precious few of them come close to the power and/or voluptuous dexterity of the Prince originals. Not to my ears anyway. Most seem to find a way to calm things down some, hone in on the pretty stuff (ie: the melodies), but Prince was so much more than that.
The one time I was lucky enough to catch him live was 1988, the Lovesexy tour, which was one of those shows that genuinely stops time. Astonishing from beginning to end. If I could critique anything, it would've been the tendency for songs to get somewhat abbreviated, mainly so that more of them could get jammed into the set list.
It was a pretty amazing set list.
One song that lost nothing though was The Cross, presented in full, and blazing for the heavens -- the power ballad to end all power ballads. And the crowd went mad, everybody believing before it was done ... for a few minutes anyway.
But how the hell do you cover a song like that without wasting everyone's time? I think Glen Hansard comes close here, closing with a clever shift in the lyric.
soon all of our problems will be ... caused by, expounded on by, exaggerated by, confounded by, compounded by the cross.
But if you're looking for a take that actually goes somewhere fresh and, yes, hilarious (and doesn't mess with any of the words) -- well, that's why the Lord* created Laibach.
* which lord, I'm still not sure.
posted by philip-random at 9:30 AM on May 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
good point. Lots of nice takes in this Top 40 on some great songs. But precious few of them come close to the power and/or voluptuous dexterity of the Prince originals. Not to my ears anyway. Most seem to find a way to calm things down some, hone in on the pretty stuff (ie: the melodies), but Prince was so much more than that.
The one time I was lucky enough to catch him live was 1988, the Lovesexy tour, which was one of those shows that genuinely stops time. Astonishing from beginning to end. If I could critique anything, it would've been the tendency for songs to get somewhat abbreviated, mainly so that more of them could get jammed into the set list.
It was a pretty amazing set list.
One song that lost nothing though was The Cross, presented in full, and blazing for the heavens -- the power ballad to end all power ballads. And the crowd went mad, everybody believing before it was done ... for a few minutes anyway.
But how the hell do you cover a song like that without wasting everyone's time? I think Glen Hansard comes close here, closing with a clever shift in the lyric.
soon all of our problems will be ... caused by, expounded on by, exaggerated by, confounded by, compounded by the cross.
But if you're looking for a take that actually goes somewhere fresh and, yes, hilarious (and doesn't mess with any of the words) -- well, that's why the Lord* created Laibach.
* which lord, I'm still not sure.
posted by philip-random at 9:30 AM on May 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
Prince is my favourite artist, however I liked exactly two of these covers (Art of Noise and Tom Jones' "Kiss" and Chaka Khan's "I Feel For You"). There has to be a better list out there with way less just... sad versions of His Purple Badness' music.
posted by neon909 at 9:40 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by neon909 at 9:40 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
I saw Beck live a few years ago and he did a pretty decent version of "Raspberry Beret".
posted by St. Oops at 10:07 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by St. Oops at 10:07 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Janelle Monáe is at her freakiest in that BET awards performance, and Prince clearly loved it, and her getting dragged offstage at the end of the performance is *chef's kiss*.
posted by vverse23 at 10:14 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by vverse23 at 10:14 AM on May 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Honorable mention: Stevie Nicks' "Stand Back". Nope, it's not a cover per se, but there's a good reason that it is sounds a bit like Little Red Corvette.
Nicks heard Little Red Corvette on the radio while driving to Santa Barbara, which inspired her to write Stand Back that night. She called Prince from the studio to let him know that the song was heavily influenced by LRC's melody and invited him the the studio for a preview. He showed up 25 minutes later, listened to the track, then--completely unprompted--laid down the synth tracks that you hear in the song in one take. According to Nicks,"...he walked over to the synthesizers that were set up, was absolutely brilliant for about 25 minutes, and then left. He was so uncanny, so wild, he spoiled me for every band I've ever had because nobody can exactly re-create — not even with two piano players —what Prince did all by his little self."
posted by prinado at 11:43 AM on May 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Nicks heard Little Red Corvette on the radio while driving to Santa Barbara, which inspired her to write Stand Back that night. She called Prince from the studio to let him know that the song was heavily influenced by LRC's melody and invited him the the studio for a preview. He showed up 25 minutes later, listened to the track, then--completely unprompted--laid down the synth tracks that you hear in the song in one take. According to Nicks,"...he walked over to the synthesizers that were set up, was absolutely brilliant for about 25 minutes, and then left. He was so uncanny, so wild, he spoiled me for every band I've ever had because nobody can exactly re-create — not even with two piano players —what Prince did all by his little self."
posted by prinado at 11:43 AM on May 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
I wish we could somehow interview everyone on the planet until we've gathered all the weird Prince interactions that people had, like peculiar ping pong challenges and such, and then put together some kind of approximate timeline about what exactly his Purpleness was up to all the time. It seems there are SO many weird little stories, and I'd love to know them all.
posted by hippybear at 11:49 AM on May 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 11:49 AM on May 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
This list is nothing without Arto Lindsay's sultry Erotic City.
posted by hydrophonic at 11:55 AM on May 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by hydrophonic at 11:55 AM on May 30, 2023 [4 favorites]
Going the other way, Prince didn't sing a lot of covers, but he sang some good ones:
A Case of U
Mary Don't You Weep
One of Us
Purple House
posted by box at 2:46 PM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
A Case of U
Mary Don't You Weep
One of Us
Purple House
posted by box at 2:46 PM on May 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
@uninformative I see your D’Angelo (which owns many a ‘did they surpass the original’ mention, Superman Lover, Dreamin’ Eyes Of Mine, etc.) and raise you a 14kt She’s Always In My Hair update
Following that thread down, this DJ Rahdu mix of D’Angelo influences from Who Sampled is also enjoyable
posted by allisterb at 12:09 AM on May 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Following that thread down, this DJ Rahdu mix of D’Angelo influences from Who Sampled is also enjoyable
posted by allisterb at 12:09 AM on May 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
“‘Purple Rain,’ Famous Monday Blues, Oxford”—Aynsley Lister, 10 December 2012
posted by ob1quixote at 7:04 AM on May 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by ob1quixote at 7:04 AM on May 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Ok now that I read TFA I am irrationally angry they they referred to Sarah Jarosz' mandolin as a ukulele.
posted by bondcliff at 1:26 PM on May 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by bondcliff at 1:26 PM on May 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
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