SONGS WHERE/SONGS THAT/SONGS WITH/SONGS IN WHICH

songs that are remade a million times, but pretty much every remake is based on one iconic cover of the song and not the original.

some obvious ones:

Tears for Fears - "Mad World"
Leonard Cohen - "Hallelujah"
The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd Original Cast Recording - "Feeling Good"

“Hound Dog”

ahh yes very good one!

"Feeling Good" I guess is a special case because the song originated on Broadway and music lovers who didn't give a shit about musical theatre reacted to the Nina Simone/Hal Mooney version as if it were the original.

“All Along the Watchtower,” maybe (a case where the iconic cover influenced even the original artist’s live performances of the song)

Tainted Love.

"Blue Bayou"

"You Don't Know Me"

That is, I think most people cover the Linda Rondstadt and Ray Charles versions more than the originals

^excellent!

Not enough covers for this topic probably, but the B-side of “Blue Bayou,” “Mean Woman Blues,” was originally sung by Elvis Presley in the movie Loving You.

"Louie Louie"

"Fever" (Peggy Lee version is normally the one copied)

Frank Sinatra is probably responsible for many of these, e.g. "I've Got You Under My Skin." He was always taking tunes from the 1920s/30s and swinging them up and making them more fun, and of course that's the way most people like to play them today.

a case where the iconic cover influenced even the original artist’s live performances of the song

“Respect” Is another of these:

"R-E-S-P-E-C-T" and "TCB" are not present in Redding's 1965 version, but he incorporated Franklin's ideas in his later performances with the Bar-Kays.

House of the Rising Sun

a case where the iconic cover influenced even the original artist’s live performances of the song

Billy Bragg has apparently sung the Kirsty MacColl verse during A New England since she died.

Songs which announce individual sections

Wire - Map Ref 41N 93W ("CHORUS!")
Prince - Loose! ("GUITAR SOLO!")

Can I take it to the bridge

“Play it for me guitarist”

“C’mon Steve, get ir”

Second verse, same as the first

and that's a good line to take it to the bridge

and they're coming to the chorus now

Middle eight!! (public image limited, don't ask me)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XKDTOiNqdE

Rock me, Joseph Alberto Santiago

Denim – The Great Pub Rock Revival ("Synthesizer solo!")

This is surely its own thread already, but Weird Al does "drum solo!" on the "Polka Your Eyes Out" medley.

Hit singles that begin really dissonant and/or atonal

OMD - Maid of Orleans
Adam & the Ants - Prince Charming
The Cure - The Caterpillar
Family - In My Own Time

I suppose Purple Haze

The Human Beinz - Nobody But Me

(which I guess is just following the example of The Beatles - I Feel Fine)

Pop songs where a drumkit is only fully deployed well into the second half.

The Sundays - Can't Be Sure
Julia Jacklin - Lydia Wears A Cross

This doesn't feel like it should be terribly rare, tbh, so I'd appreciate suggestions/reminders...

In the Air Tonight, obviously.

Peter Gabriel - The Rhythm of the Heat

Oh god, yeah!

(FWIW, this was the intended Jacklin link. Whoops.)

Game Theory - Like a Girl Jesus
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Timorous Me

I'm not sure of the exact timing, but "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin (unless that isn't what is meant by "pop song").

Yep! These are all great. I guess I meant "popular music" broadly. Though, heck, if there's a symphony where a percussionist is conspicuously underemployed until later movements don't keep it to yourselves!

Jane's Addiction - Classic Girl

Ricardo Villalobos will happily wait for days before the drums really kick in

Re: songs that announce sections of the song

Money Mark - Cry

I don't really feel like a man, feelin′ low.
A man on the keyboard, gonna play my organ solo (so low?)

Yep! These are all great. I guess I meant "popular music" broadly.

Very broadly, "Krautrock" by Faust.

Nick Berry - Every Loser Wins
There's about 25 hilarious seconds of clunky drums in the second half before they go again.

the drums come in sooner than the second half, but for hip-hop, a whole verse without drums is an eternity

ugk - international player’s anthem ft outkast

that choice really makes the song too.

songs that announce sections of the song

Can I take it to the bridge? Take it to the bridge!

Seriously this is one of my all-time fave gimmicks and I am unlikely to tire of it, despite some cornball abuses of the trope.

I was a child the first time I heard "Dance to the Music," and I confess that my tiny mind was blown by the way each instrument enters, proclaims its role, and announces itself. I was (and remain) deeply fascinated by the way rock music is put together in layers and the whole becomes more than the sum of its parts.

All we need is a drummer
For people who only need a beat

I'm gonna add a little guitar
And make it easy to move your feet

I'm gonna add some bottom
So that the dancer there just won't hide

You might like to hear my organ
I said, 'ride, sally ride', now

If I could hear the horns blow

Listen to the voices

Yes, of course there are excesses. I don't think anyone still needs to unironically shout GUITAR! before a guitar solo, but sly lampshading of the trope ("Rock me, Joseph Alberto Santiago") is acceptable.

It is commonplace to say that a novelist is not supposed to intrude on the narrative ("Look out, here comes a metaphor!") because it interferes with suspension of disbelief.

But the ontological space of a rock and roll song is not so self-serious. We don't need to be lost in a vivid dream or seriously imagine ourselves on the deck of the Edmund Fitzgerald or whatever. There's no harm in breaking the fourth wall and acknowledging that you're making noises in front of people.

tbf i think it would be a problem for that song if Gordon Lightfoot had suddenly screamed out "ROCK ME, PEE WEE CHARLES" halfway through.

Your point is well taken, Doctor.

(That said, I would secretly be pleased if more twee indie folk artists suddenly shouted FLUGELHORN! or whatever. Even better if they don't actually have a flugelhorn.)

are there any songs where band members bicker mid-song

besides battle rap songs of course, or non-song releases like "Wibbling Rivalry"

lol Neanderthal

"Bobby. Can I take it to the bridge?"

"No, James, it's not time for the bridge yet."

"Okay, how about now?"

"Nope."

"Okay NOW can I take it to the bridge?"

"Yes, but only for eight bars. Not like last time, when you extended it for no good reason."

Memphis soul stew

Not mid song - rather at the end - but Robbie Williams and Jane Horrocks on the former's Things