Prepare your browser as I am about to grind it to a halt.
What is the most covered song ever? Probably Happy Birthday.
Second place though is likely Ghost Riders in the Sky.
Original version gets somewhat hazy, and I imagine given how many high profile artists and covers most would give the original version as either one done by
Johnny Cash (a solid version but done many years later, do also suggest the
one he did with Willie Nelson, or both of them as part of
The Highwaymen),
The Outlaws maybe (despite being the 80s for this, and one of my favourite versions) or maybe
Burl Ives (he was the first to really make it big, though
Vaughn Monroe the same year did things and was bigger still and most people probably know the
60s revisit Burl Ives did if they do know his version).
It was however Stan Jones that both wrote it and performed it, even if his eventual release might have been after some others had done it and make it massive.
I however use it as something of a test for bands -- do a version I like of this and I will listen to more. Not a perfect test (for instance the cover by
Ghoultown is not much for me but I really like many other things from them[/url]) but something I consider, in addition to generally liking covers of it.
Neil LeVang - Ghost Riders In The Sky
Early piss take cover (as a general rule I do enjoy such things) from Spike Jones
If we are doing piss take songs/heavy word changes then
Ooh Ah Up The Ra (SAM Song) ~ Ra & The Provos
Probably just got myself on a watchlist as well, and maybe you all as well. You are welcome.
and for one
@Manuelasparkles
Sesame Street Dirty Gulch
The Corries did a version called The Portree Kid, not my favourite thing from their efforts (very little is going to come close to their take on
Scotland the Brave) but why not
The Ventures
Ramrods
Duane Eddy
Not the fastest, loudest or most imaginative remix or anything but... yeah.
Christopher Lee (yes, that one)
I don't actually like the
Spiderbait version (it was a tie in for that Marvel Ghost Rider film a while back, and decent possibility for main version some people know) so can't include it as a cover I like (let's not even start on their cover of Black Betty), not much keener on the
DevilDriver version either. If we are to do a metal version though then I will probably go with Chrome Division
and as we seem to have become German language covers thread better include one of those
Karel Gott - Geisterreiter
There are several versions of this in German so how about 40s big band by Gerhard Wendland which is about everything you imagine if you thought you wanted that
Anyway this is probably not even 10% of artists/covers with any kind of prominence, never mind random live covers by noted bands or things in other languages (the various Finnish versions, usually going under the title Aaveratsastajat, for instance amuse me), so I will tie it off there.