Cover songs can be many things. They can be lazy album filler. They can be ho-hum recordings that do nothing to advance a band’s catalog. But, once in a while, they can be truly epic. For my next five entries, I’m highlighting five of my favorite cover songs of all time. Each of these tracks, in my opinion, have reinvented and, in many ways, exceeded the original recordings.
Hyaena is one of those underrated 80’s albums that makes you wonder why it didn’t get the same kind of attention that its peers did, like New Order’s Power, Corruption & Lies and The Smiths’ The Queen is Dead. No other band was doing what Siouxsie & the Banshees were doing in the studio or on tour — and no one could even if they tried. It was all about the band personnel. And this is as clear as day when you play their Beatles cover “Dear Prudence”.
Siouxsie’s unique sound and persona placed an emphatic and eerie stamp on this Beatles White Album classic. Her ominous, echoey presence is inescapable. Her vocals seem to hover over us - in direct contrast to the band’s other big cover song (Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger”), where Siouxsie sings right into our faces as if she’s hanging over the edge of the concert stage. But the special treat on “Dear Prudence” wasn’t Siouxsie. It was Robert Smith’s ingenious musical arrangement and post-punk guitar riffs. Thankfully he got back to writing, recording and touring with The Cure shortly after Hyaena, but his gloomy contributions on “Dear Prudence” are forever immortalized.
“Dear Prudence, won't you come out to play? Dear Prudence, greet the brand new day.”