Favorite Re-Inventions

[The Chairman]

Has an artist ever taken a song that was well known and well loved in its original format, then took it and completely rearranged and reformatted it to give it a completely different feel that you loved just as much if not more than the original? Here are a few examples of what I mean.

As some have gathered as of late, I've become a huge Bruce Springsteen fan, and one of my favorite songs (and one of his best known) is "The River." This is the original version.

[YT]nAB4vOkL6cE[/YT]

While this version is no doubt a classic recording, I prefer the dramatically different take on the song from the dvd Live In New York City:

[YT]7HxZKa4NwGo&feature=related[/YT]

It strays drastically from the original version so on the surface it sounds like a completely different song, but it still captures the emotions of the original very well, perhaps even better. I also prefer the fuller instrumentation, as opposed to somewhat grating guitar and harmonica combo on the original.

Another artist who regularly reinvents several of his classics is Elton John. In his solo concerts, when it's him and his piano, he is known to completely reinterpret several of his hits, most notably his uptempo numbers.

Here's the original "Philadelphia Freedom":

[YT]iBpO_ajg2M8[/YT]

And here's Elton's solo rendition:

[YT]0uVZq0Xr6dc[/YT]

Anyone got any?

 

[ross2287]

Deep Purple's cover of The Beatles' "Help!"

 

[Sawyer]

All Along the Watchtower.

 

[The Chairman]

Um, you guys are missing the point. You're listing covers.

 

[Mr.Webs]

Yeah, it has to be the same artist, rearranging their own song. Like this.

Ray Davies of The Kinks. Many of his songs from the sixties were hard rock/beautiful pop masterpieces. I, like almost everyone else, loved that resounding guitar in his early work, like 'All Day And All of The Night'. But, some songs, I thought, didn't work so well with that driving pound of the guitar.

Like 'I Need You'.

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSTYLMMFEBw[/YT]

Not a bad song in the least. But, the undeniably romantic lyrics don't serve the song that well. Make it acoustic, with just two guys playing? That's a different story. Now, this isn't great quality, but, I was THERE when I heard it, so...I'm posting it anyway.

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XamNMjj6Ck0[/YT]