50 Great Neil Young Covers

stretching the definition of great there but had to get that in

7. Pixies - Winterlong
8. Pixies - I've Been Waiting For You

Nicolette Larson - Lotta Love

10. Sonic Youth "computer age"

11. Dinosaur Jr. - Lotta Love

i mean, the whole Bridge tribute CD is pretty decent, as far as tribute albums go ...

12. Ian Matthews - Tell Me Why

13. Built To Spill - Cortez The Killer

14. The Walkabouts - On the Beach

15. OP8 - round and round

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baz8W1dkPFQ

16. Feelies - Barstool Blues

17. low and dirty three - down by the river

18. Linda Ronstadt - Birds

that GaGa version is terrible she can't even keep the melody together wtf

19. Yung Wu - Powderfinger
20. Wooden Shjips - Vampire Blues

not the one in Rachel Getting Married

21. Phish - Albuquerque

(apparently their 1998 Farm Aid version of "Down By the River" was something to behold too, but I've nev er heard it)

22. Gillian Welch - Pocahontas

xp: There is a youtube of it, but I can't watch right now

I found a used copy of Borrowed Tunes II last week, and a I've got a vinyl copy of Headed for the Ditch: a Michigan Tribute to Neil Young on order. It's something of an obsession: I think I'm up to 350-400 cover versions, approximately 25 hours' worth. Hard to know where to begin, but three of the best (and perhaps most surprising) would be 23. Psychic TV's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," 24. Francoise Hardy's "Till the Morning Comes," and 25. Bongwater's "Mr. Soul."

24. Francoise Hardy's "Till the Morning Comes" -- whoa, never heard this!

26. Byrds - See the Sky About To Rain

Emmylou Harris, "Wrecking Ball"

Francoise Hardy's "Till the Morning Comes"

i was gonna post that!

flaming lips - "after the goldrush"

"Everybody's Rockin" John Lee Hooker

"Mystery Train" Elvis Presley

"Oh Lonesome Me" Don Gibson

"Payola Blues" - ???

^^^ Albert Lee

The Isley Brothers - Ohio
Buddy Miles - Down By the River
Merry Clayton - Southern Man - righteous and mighty where the original is just pissy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4czTIjYwGlc

skullflower 'cortez the killer'

So weird - I was thinking of starting this exact thread yesterday when Walter Clevinger & The Dairy King's great cover of "Burned" came up on shuffle.

So that.

Radiohead did a nice "On the Beach:"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQARzXtc2ik

Radiohead has also done "Down by the River" and 'Cinnamon Girl."

I've heard Golden Smog do a great "Revolution Blues" before. Uncle Tupelo did "Cortez."

Wedding Present did an OK "Don't Cry No Tears."

Nick Cave's "Helpless" is really good. So is Roxy Music's OTT Latin-disco-rock "Like a Hurricane."

Sort of a hard act to cover! Are we still counting?

Cowboy Junkies- "Tired Eyes"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQAcJzIhSJ8

(From above) I was at this show and fell asleep listening to this.

In a good way.

47. Jack Logan - On The Beach

damn that merry clayton cover is fantastic, thanks dorian

That Merry Clayton cover is indeed fantastic. Anyway, a few more, though not all great by any means...

Neil Young cover versions

48. "Love is a Rose" by Linda Ronstadt

"Love is a nose, but you'd better not pick it..."

Buddy Miles - Down By the River

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LH9eFMvhOw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5KRVtjgMkM

49. The Pooh Sticks: "The Rhythm of Love"

50. Waylon Jennings - "Are You Ready For the Country?"

^^ surprised Ian didn't list that one tbqh imo!

51. Killdozer -" Cinnamon Girl"

52. Royal Trux - "Lookout Joe"

53. Slint - "Cortez the Killer"

^^ live only as far as i know

54. Valerie Carter "After The Gold Rush"
A very nice cover too. Someone else did a cover of this song, but I can't put my finger on it right now.

my point exactly

Yeah just never sure if you could cover yourself years later since you're going to be in a different context, chronologically at least and probably mentally. maybe in terms of style too. & playing style with different players in your band is likely to change a bit or at least the surroundings will.
So what word would you use to differentiate between different versions?

With CSN there's a lot more melodic guitar burn. I thought the version that's shown in the Big Sur film was really nice for that and the Balboa park version is much longer.

has the undisputed truth's "down by the river" hit this thread yet?

So what word would you use to differentiate between different versions?

performance

you're going to be in a different context, chronologically at least and probably mentally

this different context is happening continuously, from writing the song, to demoing it, to rehearsing it, to recording it, to touring it, etc. i would even argue there is no "original context" for a song outside the abstracting of an official record release, which is still a document of a single performance.

have we done simply red's 'mellow my mind' yet? i heard it in a hotel lobby while jetlagged out of my mind a few months ago and had something close to a psychotic break in response
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOfWPsFpuHY

really disappointing that mick chooses not to emulate neil's wobbly, off-key delivery of 'railroad traaaaaaaack' tbh

Boz Scaggs - On the Beach

oh nice, just released

very good, thanks

58. the meters - 'birds'

― jlgt, Saturday, January 16, 2010 7:21 AM (eight years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

just heard this for the first time, way prettier than anything i've heard from the meters. they did down by the river too if you're more into their usual funk:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH9-1RV5j7s

i'm going to see eleventh dream day play ZUMA on saturday
can't wait!!!

that meters track sounds real quality. im really into the built 2 spill cortez the killer cover lately. i mean its just basically like 20 minutes of loud guitars whats not to like.

that eleventh dream day thang looks awesome.

in other news
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77Ycxql63nY&feature=youtu.be

hmmm
https://youtu.be/77Ycxql63nY

anyone done a Youtube playlist or similar of these? A project for the weekend maybe...

do it

work is p quiet at the moment, I'll have a look tomorrow...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBVkKcQJu5A

nice. one cover the length of 4 tony molina songs

hehe Neil is probably the one note guitar solo king

Meters cover is great - why are there so many good soul covers of Neil? doesn't seem like he was too into that scene?

New ones appear all the time, but I thought I knew pretty much every big-name Neil cover done before The Bridge, at least. Somehow this one slipped by me until I bought the album at a record show today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7fxxJIm-A4

Not very good.

I think I actually prefer it to the original! An entire album of Neil songs in that style would get a bit much though.

Just Like Me, Nowadays Clancy Just Wants To Be (Close To You)

clemenza, have you heard this ?

https://f4.bcbits.com/img/a3366656313_10.jpg

https://anonymouschoir.com/album/anonymous-choir-sings-neil-youngs-after-the-gold-rush

The original's not a favourite, so that figures in. I actually really like their "Ticket to Ride" cover (same album--it was originally released as Offering, then re-released a few months later as Ticket to Ride when that became a minor hit).

No! Thanks--will order that for sure.

Clancy's such a weird-ass song to have inspired so many period covers (I think like three or four besides the Carpenters one).

Including--I could be wrong--the first Neil cover ever, Fever Tree's version of "Clancy" in 1968.

Clancy fucking sucks wtf

there's also joni mitchell's 1967 radio recording of "sugar mountain" which is cool

featured here, along with many other covers mentioned itt: https://www.mixcloud.com/aquariumdrunkard/hello-mr-soul-neil-young-covers-1967-1978/

67? Wow that’s early. Maybe Neil “gave” it to her?

Maybe Fever Tree's was the first one to make it onto a record. If anyone knows one earlier (March 28, 1968), please post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfeIk5XKnf8

The Sylvester links don't work upthread, so just adding. It's *so* good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS_dmViKZXI

A different take on After the Gold Rush

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2XcBL6kWn8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2suWODDn08&pbjreload=10&fbclid=IwAR1RfJ5JeLNDGfFq0YWXGoGveJEX8B8pc5XQG3Hyry-WclgHQws3juZsOsU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2suWODDn08

(I was trying to post a Facebook link.)

very nice. the singer's voice reminds of lou reed.

not a cover per se and not a neil song but just saw this for the first time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIDzA0YDso8

Cover Me compiles a Harvest comp.

(yeah yeah, I know "compiles a comp." I'll shred my English degree now.)

my kids singing Emmylou Harris’s rendition of “Wrecking Ball”

i don't think we've had this yet, unless it's a broken youtube link upthread

John Morell - Old Man. I think it's awesome but it might not be for everyone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv8PJimST6g

the vocals are making me want to revisit the Anonymous Choir record and absolutely kicking myself for letting go of my copy

Shelia Hylton - Lot of Love. Single and Dub Version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziSzfxqog2o

John Muir Junior High- After the Gold Rush

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJJNiYzu6AQ