Chris Cornell covers the song One.

December 1, 2015 10:16 AM

Chris Cornell covers the song One. (SLYT)
posted by bondcliff (40 comments total)

That was unexpected and delightful.
posted by curious nu at 10:24 AM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

Singular!
posted by notsnot at 10:26 AM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

That's....BRILLIANT.
posted by nevercalm at 10:29 AM on December 1, 2015 [4 favorites]

What happens when you learn the tune of one band and the lyrics from the other.

Well, that's a fairly cryptic explanation of this simple little video. To understand it better, imagine that songs are like words which, as you probably know, are composed of letters. These letters can be rearranged to form different words, and indeed the letters of the very word 'words' can actually be rearranged to make the word 'sword' - the fighting implement used in fencing, although strictly speaking, that's a 'rapier', which in itself may be rearranged to form the words 'ear rip' - the action of ripping an ear off. Now, with all that sorted, I can guess exactly what you're thinking - when would you ever want to rip an ear off? Well, on vocals we have Chris Cornell...
posted by Wolfdog at 10:30 AM on December 1, 2015 [9 favorites]

I was hoping for Three Dog Night.
posted by jonmc at 10:30 AM on December 1, 2015 [11 favorites]

The amount of effort it must have taken to unlearn breaking into the other song accidentally is outstanding. As a rare gem, some of the Youtube comments are pretty spectacular. In specific:

lkeven11236 7 months ago
how he ever thought of, or put these 2 songs together just shows the true extent of this mans EXTRORDANRY TALENT!! He takes the love and compassion of "ONE" and blends it perfactly with the hate and pain of another "ONE!!?? What a fucking Genius!! Thank you Chris..
posted by Nanukthedog at 10:31 AM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Ha! I was going to ask, Metallica or U2?
posted by dirigibleman at 10:34 AM on December 1, 2015 [5 favorites]

Are the words from "One", the closing number of A Chorus Line?
posted by pxe2000 at 10:34 AM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

That's just fantastic. I do this with songs in my head all the time, but had never come up with this combo. Plus he can actually sing well.
posted by cashman at 10:35 AM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Not bad, motorfinger.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:36 AM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

OK, now sing Bono lyrics like James Hetfield.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 10:41 AM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

He's still dead to me until he returns that bread to the Mouse of Decadence.
posted by nom de poop at 10:41 AM on December 1, 2015 [24 favorites]

Only if you show him the Power Child.
posted by Strange Interlude at 10:48 AM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Good lord, that fellow has quite a voice.
posted by gottabefunky at 10:55 AM on December 1, 2015

Next request: "Just the Way You Are", Music by Billy Joel, Lyrics by Bruno Mars.
posted by The Gooch at 11:03 AM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

They're One. But they're not the same.
posted by wabbittwax at 11:07 AM on December 1, 2015 [23 favorites]

Man, Cornell used to have about the sweetest voice in hard rock. The years haven't been especially kind. I mean, he's still pretty good, but it's not 1993 anymore.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:16 AM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Matching melody medley madness (well, a series of segments from 47 songs with the same chords in six+ minutes) - I remember something like this being a minor "whoa" moment in college (I wasn't a music major, as you might imagine).
posted by filthy light thief at 11:24 AM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

I was hoping for Three Dog Night.

Harry Nilsson wrote it, but yeah I thought it was going to be that one too.
posted by chococat at 11:36 AM on December 1, 2015

Holy shit this is amazeballs.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 11:43 AM on December 1, 2015

Scott Miller, late genius of Game Theory and the Loud Family, used to share a song in concert that started as a Bob Dylan track. Miller rewrote new music to go with Dylan's lyrics. Then he wrote new lyrics to go with the new music. I seem to recall that he didn't recommend it as a songwriting practice.

Then there's "Captain and Tennille Meet Joy Division"
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:47 AM on December 1, 2015

Not sure if the setup is pure gimmick or not. I, too, have tried googling for song lyrics, and his experience is familiar. I don't have any of the required talents to pull off that act of his, though.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:04 PM on December 1, 2015

Man, Cornell used to have about the sweetest voice in hard rock. The years haven't been especially kind. I mean, he's still pretty good, but it's not 1993 anymore.


Ironically when watching this I thought his voice was aging gracefully and adding some gravel.

Still dig his arrangement of Billie Jean
posted by bitdamaged at 12:36 PM on December 1, 2015 [6 favorites]

I've always wanted to start a band that does B-52s covers in the style of Joy Division. Or vice-versa.


You'd barely have to change "Planet Claire" at all.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:37 PM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

I don't have the voice to pull this off (either way around), but I have long been aware of the tempting fact that the words to Iron Maiden's Back in the Village fit incredibly well to the tune of the Wurzels' I am a Cider Drinker (of course that is in itself to the tune of another song but whatever).
posted by Wolfdog at 12:51 PM on December 1, 2015

I've always wanted to start a band that does B-52s covers in the style of Joy Division. Or vice-versa.

I've wanted to form a band that does covers of Smash Mouth songs in the style of the B-52's. If you think about Fred trading off sections with Kate and Cindy on any of their songs, they become infinitely better.
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:06 PM on December 1, 2015

Ironically when watching this I thought his voice was aging gracefully and adding some gravel.


He still sounds good--I really do like his voice--but you can tell he's not willing to really reach for the high notes anymore, possibly because it's uncomfortable and possibly because he knows he just can't get there.
posted by uncleozzy at 1:06 PM on December 1, 2015

Oh! Green Acres theme meets Purple Haze.

Green Haze

Thank you, Elvis Hitler!
posted by Joey Michaels at 1:08 PM on December 1, 2015 [2 favorites]

That was awesome.

I was hoping for Three Dog Night.

Let's not take that of the table yet.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:21 PM on December 1, 2015

Cornell's made some... interesting career decisions over the years, but, yeah, that voice. After decades of singing some of those Soundgarden songs that make my throat hurt after trying to sing along to just once, he sounds pretty damned good. I actually prefer his slightly deeper, gravellier register.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 2:35 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Steve Miller's Jungle Love with Morris Day's Jungle Love I don't even care which lyrics vs. which tune they use. Because it will be something, that's for sure.
posted by Cookiebastard at 3:11 PM on December 1, 2015 [1 favorite]

Oh. My hearteyes. I love this, it shouldn't work but it does and his voice is still as compelling as it ever was, with a little bit of extra weight at the bottom. Love this.
posted by angeline at 4:02 PM on December 1, 2015

I was trying to (mentally) sing along, but with the different melody, it was totally impossible for me to remember the lyrics. If I kind of shut my ears off for a second and remembered the Metallica music, the lyrics would come to me, but once I started listening to the U2 melody I would completely forget all the Metallica lyrics again.
posted by Bugbread at 10:53 PM on December 1, 2015

it was totally impossible for me to remember the lyrics.

Thats okay, I kept thinking of Creed's One. I'm not really a fan of either Metallica or Creed, but you have to admit Creed really nailed the One concept a lot better than Metallica did.
posted by pwnguin at 11:28 PM on December 1, 2015

He sounds awesome. Then and now
posted by gt2 at 1:48 AM on December 2, 2015 [1 favorite]

I really am enjoying Cornell's new solo album, probably the only one of his solo works I've liked. Well, and the song from Casino Royale. In regards to his voice it occurred to me that he's taking the same path as Robert Plant. He's lost the upper range he had in his youth (which is pretty natural, especially for rock singers) but he's learned to do more with the voice he is left with.
posted by Ber at 8:28 AM on December 2, 2015

Oh this is good! That was somehow far more harrowing than the original.
posted by STFUDonnie at 8:37 AM on December 2, 2015

Two words: Dread Zeppelin.
posted by bassomatic at 9:55 AM on December 2, 2015

If we're trading Cornell videos, I'm quite fond of this 2 person rendition of Blow up the Outside World.

And in regards to his voice, I've just sort of had to come to accept the fact that we're probably never going to be able to hear the kind of vocals on display on e.g. the chorus of the studio version of Slaves and Bulldozers in a live setting. You can look for live performances of that track and even as far back as 1992 he's kind of walking back the blood curdling screams. And if you fast forward to e.g. 2011 the interpretation has morphed into something quite different.
posted by Rhomboid at 10:14 AM on December 2, 2015

His version of Billie Jean is really good as well. And Seasons still remains one of my faves.
posted by daHIFI at 2:09 PM on December 11, 2015