Posted on 09/16/2023 6:40:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Ask Bruce Springsteen. Bruce has actually never had a number 1 hit. Well, technically, he did. As Songwriter, when Manfred Mann's cover of "Blinded by the Light" went #1. MM also covered "Spirit in the Night" much better than Bruce. While she actually performed it first, Patti Smith's version of Springsteen's "Because the Night" was better. The Band with "Atlantic City", etc.
And to tie back to Johnny Cash, his covers of Bruce's "Highway Patrolman" and "Johnny 99" were better than Bruce's. In the end, I guess Bruce was a much better songwriter than performer.
relating Smokey, Marvin, Gladys and CCR to “I Heard it Thru the Grapevine.”
>> Cash’s version is definitely better than the original. <<
Cash’s PERFORMANCE is definitely better than the original. But what Cash did was shine cut a rock into a diamond, and reveal that under all that shock-value crap, Reznor had created something rather beautiful.
“Closer” is a desperate search for a cure; “Wish” is simply hatred. But wih “Hurt” Reznor hit something real. Tbe brilliance of Rubin introducing Cash to Hurt was recognizing that without the external crap, Hurt was something that could be in common to both an angry, young punk and a legendary, dying old man.
>> In the end, I guess Bruce was a much better songwriter than performer. <<
Welll... Blinded By the Light may be the most insipid song of the 1970s. Hell, it includes “Chopsticks” where you might expect a guitar solo!
Bruce’s problem is that most of the time, his singing sounds like my uncle’s old dog who’d snarl, bark and growl while he’d attack my shoe laces. He actually sounds great on those rare occasions when he belts; as pissy as it makes the Rolling Stones journalists, there’s no question to me in the slightest why his biggest hits were Born to Run, Hungry Heart, Dancing in the Dark, Born in the USA and Glory Days! (Streets of Philadelphia was also popular, but Gawd, he sounds like he’s a patient at an old-folks’ home muttering to himself.) (My Hometown is more like his mumbly crap, but sung clearer and therefore also popular.)
One of my favorites!….with Molly Skaggs rendering
That was a great scene. Here it is:
Bookmark
I was never a Cash fan but always a NIN fan. I’ll take Cash’s rendition over Reznor’s all day long. The whole CD is soulful.
Right. I remember an interview with some member of Deep Purple to this day he still gets 5 figure residuals for just one song.
Take a guess what that song is?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZvPSpLxCg&t=7s&ab_channel=TearsForFearsVEVO
and the original was very good too.
Thats “Mad World” by Tears for Fears - 1982. Right?
This has to be the best cover of it ever. Similar to your link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVevvbFNKiY
The one a lot of people love is by Gary Jules from a late 90s movie.
Let me guess… Is it pretty much the first song that everyone who learns to play a guitar, learns how to play?
Donnie Darko is the movie. Never seen it. It free on youtube. Thanks
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