Favourite covers of "Jolene"

[Ricky Rioli 433]

14 hours ago, Maude said:

Whoaaah aaaaah ah, let's go all the way. 

I loved that song so much I bought the album. BIG mistake. 

Edit: so now, thanks to this thread, I'm imagining The Sisters of Mercy's cover of Sly Fox's "Let's Go All The Way". It's sounding great.

Edited January 9 by Ricky Rioli

[ricksterphil 344]

8 hours ago, Nibody said:

I can't stand Miley Cyrus. But I love this.

 

I really like this version too. She has a great voice. 

[Shaggy 607]

Any song can of course be covered, but IMHO there’s a handful that never should be, as the original is so definitive - Jolene, Stairway to heaven, and any Queen song come to mind.

I stand to be corrected, mind; many years ago my old blues band decided to cover Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”, which I was dubious about but it turned out to be one the biggest crowd-pleasers of the set.......

[Dad3353 9,194]

19 hours ago, Ricky Rioli said:

So here's the original...

So... Thanks for the 'ear-worm'. 

...

 

[geoham 195]

19 hours ago, Roger2611 said:

 

Beat me to it!

[Ricky Rioli 433]

19 hours ago, lowdown said:

 

 

 

 

While this thread has a clear winner, this Candi Staton version is an ever more clear second place. Please do listen, if you aren't heartily sick of the song by now.

[Dad3353 9,194]

37 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

... Please do listen, if you aren't heartily sick of the song by now.

Yes, one can have too much of a Good Thing. Special mention, however, for the original use of the Mattress Bedsprings in the background. Little used these day; I wonder why..? 

[Ricky Rioli 433]

50 minutes ago, Dad3353 said:

Yes, one can have too much of a Good Thing

Does that mean you can live without a link of a five year girl singing it on Ellen?

[Dad3353 9,194]

1 minute ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Does that mean you can live without a link of a five year girl singing it on Ellen?

If I knew what that was, I suspect I'd be giving it a miss. And 'No, I don't want a link', thanks all the same. Back to Mahler for me, I'm afraid. 

[Nail Soup 1,438]

I haven't got a good cover to contribute I'm afraid.

But Jolene is one of those songs which I eventually appreciate after many years.

I started out as a youth thinking it was just a cheesy country song. Then over the years I saw the appeal...... first I liked the lyrics. Next I got to appreciate the tune. Later I thought the vocal performance was good. Finally I realised that the instrumental arrangement/performance is great too!

[Ricky Rioli 433]

All these very nice covers in that stick to the original style have made me appreciate just how good a singer Dolly Parton is: the singers have beautiful voices used musically, but they're not matching the inflections of their voice to the words as quite closely as she does. Without that, the careful balance between the cheerful music and the sad words goes.

[Lfalex v1.1 830]

22 hours ago, NickD said:

I've always been fond of this one...

https://youtu.be/uF0DP82dcIA

If you hadn't posted it, I would have!

[Maude 6,146]

1 hour ago, Dad3353 said:

Yes, one can have too much of a Good Thing. Special mention, however, for the original use of the Mattress Bedsprings in the background. Little used these day; I wonder why..? 

S'all memory foam innit. 

[StickyDBRmf 226]

Wow. I didn't realize how much I dislike that song. I respect Dolly Parton, but Country Music I Don't Get. Except for Hank Williams. (anomaly)

[Ricky Rioli 433]

On 08/01/2021 at 18:39, TwoTimesBass said:

The original but played at 33rpm...

 

If you open this on YouTube and change the playback speed to 1.25x, you'll have it back to something like the original speed, but with the pitch and timbre still down at Tracy Chapman levels

Edited January 10 by Ricky Rioli

[Maude 6,146]

19 minutes ago, Ricky Rioli said:

Open this on YouTube and change the playback speed to 1.25x. Back to roughly the correct speed, bit still down at Tracy Chapman pitch

Does YouTube speed change emulate pitch correction? This could be the reason. 

 

[Thunderbird 394]

I like the white stripes version and I'm not even a stripes fan 

[ubit 2,534]

On 08/01/2021 at 18:39, TwoTimesBass said:

The original but played at 33rpm...

 

I had never heard this version. I love it. Its much more tortured and hopeless.

[bass_dinger 63]

I waited for a while, to see what was posted.  Two of my three favourites made it...

• Miley Cyrus' version?  Tick
• The Petersons?  Tick
• Hildergard von Blingin'?  No tick, until now.

So, here is what sounds like the medieval original version of Jolene, in the genre of Bardcore.

I do like me some Bardcore - Pumped Up Kicks, translated and sung in Anglo Saxon, is great!  

 

 

[EBS_freak 4,927]

Just came in to check that the Miley version was included. My work here is done.

[TrevorR 1,501]

I reckon that Norah Jones’ offshoot fun band, The Little Willies nailed it with their slow version. I love this! Norah’s voice just drips with emotion.

 

And the album version...

 

 

[Bolo 916]

On 8-1-2021 at 20:05, Maude said:

This is the 45 played at 33.

I'm still not convinced it's only that as it just sounds to good. 

Edit, just realised @TwoTimesBass has already posted this. 

 

I'm not convinced that this isn't Roy Orbison.

[MrCrane 529]

On 08/01/2021 at 18:18, Maude said:

I can think of a fantastic track called 'Jolene' but unfortunately it's not a Dolly cover. 

Not the Janis Ian song by any chance?

[Jimothey 1,451]

I like this version....... 🤘

 

[Maude 6,146]

8 hours ago, MrCrane said:

Not the Janis Ian song by any chance?

No, Cake. 

I won't put a link up and disrupt the Dolly covers though.