Song #10 on the Popdose Top 100 Covers list is “Hazy Shade Of Winter”, originally by Simon & Garfunkel and covered by The Bangles. Here’s S&G:
This one I’d heard before – I’m pretty sure I knew The Bangles’ version was a cover of S&G back when I was hearing it on the radio in the 80s. I love me some S&G, and I like this version, but their enunciation on the phrase “hazy shade of winter” is…odd. Anyway, here are The Bangles:
It’s not easy to improve on S&G, but that’s what the ladies have done here. Their straight ahead rock and roll version, with a hint of 80s pop thrown in, just nails it. I wasn’t much of a Bangles fan back in the day, but their catalog has held up pretty well, and I really like the stuff Susannah Hoffs has done solo and with Matthew Sweet. I need to put some of this stuff on Olivia’s iPod, I think she’d like it as well.
There’s an interesting category of older rock that had dark tones but just couldn’t do it justice. This is, I think, a good example of it. The best one, for my money, is the Marilyn Manson cover of Sweet Dreams. Really does a lot to evoke the rather disturbing lyrics in a way the Eurythmics, as much as I like their version, just didn’t.