HIGH FIVE: 5 COVER SONGS I'LL FIGHT SOMEONE OVER

#5 — BLANK SPACE — RYAN ADAMS

Original: Taylor Swift (2014) | Cover: Ryan Adams (2015)

I stumbled across Ryan Adams' 1989 album while killing time in a music store waiting for my daughter to finish her guitar lesson. I spent years doing that on Saturday afternoons, and to this day she still can't play a damn thing. Anyway, I spotted a new Ryan Adams album and grabbed it. A few songs sounded strangely familiar, but I couldn't figure out why. I'd never really listened to Taylor Swift, so the connection wasn't exactly jumping out at me.

It took me a minute to realize Adams had recorded an entire album of her songs. It just seemed like a strange choice for him, at least I thought so, but what do I know? “Blank Space” was surprisingly the song that clicked for me the most. It had that same dark, lonely, late-night feeling I get from Bruce Springsteen's “I'm on Fire.” Adams made the whole thing feel like something you'd hear coming out of a nearly empty bar after they've turned the lights on and started clearing out the place. That's a sound younger me knew all too well.

Taylor Swift's original “Blank Space” was one of the biggest songs of 2014, which doesn't exactly make a compelling argument for 2014 being a banner year for music. I'll give her credit for knowing how to write something that gets stuck in people's heads. It's catchy, polished, and seems like it was exactly what millions of people wanted to hear. Still not quite my tempo.

Adams took those same lyrics in 2015 and made them sound like there was something real behind them. He slowed things down, traded the glossy pop production for guitars, and gave the song that cigarette-smoke-filled atmosphere. His voice sounds weary and wounded, like the guy's already survived the hell that is love and relationships and somehow lived to tell the tale.

He found something considerably darker hiding inside a song I'd otherwise have been perfectly happy never hearing again. I still don't have any particular desire to go listen to Swift's recording, but Adams' version? It's staying on the playlist.

#4 — EVERYTHING I OWN — JUDE

Original: Bread (1972) | Cover: Jude (2001)

My connection to “Everything I Own” goes all the way back to childhood, when my mother still had Bread's original 45. I used to play those records on my record player without having any idea how much meaning was packed into those round little pieces of vinyl. I just knew I liked the music, and this song was a favorite for my preschool ears.

David Gates wrote “Everything I Own” about his father, who had died years earlier. Plenty of people understandably hear it as a song about losing somebody romantically, but now knowing who Gates was actually singing about may change the way those lyrics hit your soul. Bread's 1972 recording has those gentle acoustic guitars, strings, and Gates' unmistakable voice. It's a beautiful song, and I've loved it for most of my life.

Then Jude Christodal came along and recorded his version for King of Yesterday in 2001. Jude has one of music's all-time great voices, and his version has a slightly beefier arrangement while keeping everything I loved about Bread's original. He really gives the song his own personality without ever losing what made it special in the first place.

But wait! There's another reason his recording means so much to me. Back when I was DJing dances, I used to close every single one of them with Jude's “Everything I Own.” It was the last song people heard before the lights came up and everybody headed home. I Unfortunately played it to close out the dance on the night my ex-wife and I reconnected. Had I only known...

There's quite a bit of personal history attached to this particular recording. Some of those memories are good, and the rest involve the ex. So there's that. I've played Jude's version more times than I could possibly count, and I'm going to continue racking those plays up. The Force is strong with this cover, and it shouldn't be trifled with.

#3 — SO ALIVE — BETTER THAN EZRA

Original: Love and Rockets (1989) | Cover: Better Than Ezra (2009)

Anyone who knows me probably knows what a massive fan of the band Better Than Ezra I am. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen them live, and one of my favorite parts of seeing them live is when they break into somebody else's song smack dab in the middle of one of their own. They've done everything from The Rolling Stones' “Miss You” to “Conjunction Junction,” so they're certainly no strangers to the art of the cover.

The band Love and Rockets had their biggest American hit with “So Alive” in 1989. Daniel Ash's detached vocals, atmospheric guitars, and hypnotic rhythm gave it that unmistakable late-eighties alternative-rock sound. It's a great song, but it was never top of the list for me.

Better Than Ezra recorded their version for the 2009 tribute album New Tales to Tell. BTE covering a song I already knew sounded like something worth checking out, and I ended up enjoying their version a hell of a lot more than I ever did with the original.

Remember That Thing You Do!? There's that moment in the movie when the band takes a slower version of the title song, speeds it up, and throws a little rock edge behind it. Suddenly, what was a perfectly decent tune turns into something you can't sit still through. That's what Better Than Ezra's version of “So Alive” reminds me of.

Kevin Griffin was born to play with a hook like this, but the rest of the band deserves just as much credit. While the guitars have more bite, the bass gives everything a thicker foundation, and the drums push the song along with a harder beat. There's an energy to the whole recording that makes it feel like something Better Than Ezra could've written themselves.

I'd known “So Alive” for years without paying it much attention. Better Than Ezra changed that completely, and hearing them find so much more in a song I'd mostly overlooked is pretty much everything I want out of a cover. And considering how many times I've been to a BTE show, I wouldn't complain if they decided to pull this gem out at the next one or five.

#2 — (DON'T FEAR) THE REAPER — GUS

Original: Blue Öyster Cult (1976) | Cover: Gus (1996)

I've been a Wes Craven fan since I was a wee tot, watching a copy of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street as soon as I got off the school bus each day. So when Scream came out not long after I graduated high school, it hit all the right buttons for me. As I'm known to, I bought the soundtrack, and Gus Black's version of “(Don't Fear) The Reaper” was easily the stand out song on it for me.

Blue Öyster Cult's original, released in 1976, is one of the great rock recordings of its era. That opening guitar riff is instantly recognizable, Buck Dharma's vocals have a hypnotic quality, and there's a sick instrumental section that takes the song to a completely different plane before bringing everything back around. And, naturally, it has the perfect amount of cowbell.

Gus takes that full-fledged rock classic and strips it down to its underwear. The electric guitars and driving rhythm are gone, replaced by an acoustic guitar, Gus's voice, some haunting cello, and some subtle female background vocals. The song slows the world down and gets super comfy in its simplicity, like it just put on some sweatpants and grabbed a box of wine. That mournful cello sound makes everything more unnerving, while the background vocals add a layer the recording would feel incomplete without.

He pulls everything apart until you're left with the melody, lyrics, and just enough instrument magic to make it really matter.

There's also a great bit of foreshadowing when Craven uses the song in Scream the first time we see Billy climb into Sidney's bedroom. Gus's gentle arrangement makes the moment feel romantic, even though the lyrics are practically warning us about Billy. Knowing what we eventually learn about him makes the song choice perfect foreshadowing. 30-year-old spoiler for you there. It's a terrific use of a cover that I'd have loved regardless of where it appeared in the movie.