I haven’t done a Music Monday post for a long time, so most of you don’t realise (or have deliberately forgotten, and who can blame you…) that I used to do them. In fact, I even blogged about cover versions before. You can find all the music posts here. But let’s get on with this one.

I’ve realised that I have a particular affection for cover versions of non-metal songs done by heavy metal bands. There’s something about the addition of that heavy element to a song that has a different structure to your standard heavy metal song that makes it particularly interesting.

For example, listen to heavy metal gods Judas Priest cover Joan Baez’s Diamonds and Rust:

Different to the original, but in my opinion equally brilliant.

But I think my favourite cover version comes from the singer of 80s legends Saxon, Biff Byford, with his cover of the traditional folk song Scarborough Fair (made famous by Simon and Garfunkle). There is something about the song that works really well with his voice, and it’s very different to the more straightforward heavy metal he normally sings.

If you’ve got a particular favourite cover version, share it with me below or on Twitter or Facebook. I’m always looking out for new music!

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Don’t you wish you could sometimes write cover versions of books, in the way that bands cover each other’s songs? I was listening to a bunch of cover versions on Youtube and all I could think was that it would be way easier to do that than to have to come up with anything original. And, yes, I am trying to write a new book. How did you guess?

Well, rather than get on and just do the new book, this seemed like an excellent excuse to write a blog post about cover versions of famous songs, and in my personal opinion, these cover versions are better than the originals. You can disagree of course. There’s nothing wrong with being wrong. 😉

Nights in White Satin, by The Moody Blues, covered by Rock Goddess

Rock Goddess were one of my favourite heavy metal bands from the 80s. They never hit it really big, but they are still going and they are still awesome. This is their live cover of Nights in White Satin, done originally by The Moody Blues:

How can you not love that rough, powerful vocal?

And, for comparison, here is the original:

I’m right, right?

Diamonds and Rust, by Joan Baez, covered by Judas Priest

Of course the original is absolutely brilliant, but I love how Judas Priest kept so close to that original while making their version entirely their own. (Priest were enormous fans of both Baez and Bob Dylan, of course.)

Here’s the cover version:

And the original:

Rasputin, by Boney M., covered by Turisas

Okay, this time I’m not going to claim the cover is actually better, because I have a big soft spot by Boney M., but Turisas are, well, they’re Turisas, and I love the idea of blood-soaked Vikings covering a Boney M. song.

Of course, Boney M. were a bit of a fraud in that the male ‘lead singer’ didn’t actually do the singing because he wasn’t a good enough singer, but.

Here are Turisas:

The original:

That’s it for now. I have proved myself entirely right, and I’m glad you admit it.

Now off to write that damned book.

Header photo from Dark Rider on Unsplash.