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defrogRecently I heard the Cowboy Junkies cover of “Sweet Jane”, which many consider to be the definitive cover version of the Velvet Underground classic.
I respectfully disagree, although to be clear, I like the Cowboy Junkies version a lot. But for my money the best “Sweet Jane” cover is by … Lou Reed.
Hear me out.
See, I knew who Lou Reed was before I knew anything about Velvet Underground, thanks mainly to MTV and the video for “I Love You Suzanne”, from Reed’s 1984 LP New Sensations. I loved the song and the album, and thanks to my subsequent discovery of college radio, it was shortly afterwards that I heard “Walk On The Wild Side” and “Sweet Jane” – not the VU version but Reed’s version from his live album Rock n Roll Animal. It was only later that I started getting into VU, which is when I found out that most of the songs on Rock n Roll Animal were originally VU songs.
Anyway, I have to confess I was so accustomed to Reed as a solo artist that it took me awhile to really dig VU. And for better or worse, for me it’s the Rock n Roll Animal versions of VU songs that are the definitive versions for me because I heard them when during my impressionable teenage years – particularly “Sweet Jane”, with the longish Dick Wagner/Steve Hunter intro and all. It just has a lot more power and energy than the original, in my opinion, and I prefer it to this day.
It’s also a rare example of an artist covering their own older material and managing to improve upon it. In fact, I’m hard pressed to think of another example. If you can think of any others, feel free to list them in the comments.
All the ladies rolled their eyes,
This is dF
I respectfully disagree, although to be clear, I like the Cowboy Junkies version a lot. But for my money the best “Sweet Jane” cover is by … Lou Reed.
Hear me out.
See, I knew who Lou Reed was before I knew anything about Velvet Underground, thanks mainly to MTV and the video for “I Love You Suzanne”, from Reed’s 1984 LP New Sensations. I loved the song and the album, and thanks to my subsequent discovery of college radio, it was shortly afterwards that I heard “Walk On The Wild Side” and “Sweet Jane” – not the VU version but Reed’s version from his live album Rock n Roll Animal. It was only later that I started getting into VU, which is when I found out that most of the songs on Rock n Roll Animal were originally VU songs.
Anyway, I have to confess I was so accustomed to Reed as a solo artist that it took me awhile to really dig VU. And for better or worse, for me it’s the Rock n Roll Animal versions of VU songs that are the definitive versions for me because I heard them when during my impressionable teenage years – particularly “Sweet Jane”, with the longish Dick Wagner/Steve Hunter intro and all. It just has a lot more power and energy than the original, in my opinion, and I prefer it to this day.
It’s also a rare example of an artist covering their own older material and managing to improve upon it. In fact, I’m hard pressed to think of another example. If you can think of any others, feel free to list them in the comments.
All the ladies rolled their eyes,
This is dF
