There are countless covers throughout music history; some were more successful than the originals, some were not, but there aren’t so many that have repeated the success of the original. Well, today I’d like to present you the song that managed to top the charts three times. That song is “The Man Who Sold the World,”, the title track from David Bowie’s 1970 album with the same name. It was his third album, which was released in the US in November 1970 and in the UK in April 1971. Under the production lead from Bowie, the song was covered by the Scottish singer Lulu in 1974. She recalls Bowie suggesting the song to her with the words: ”I want to make a MF of a record with you [because] you're a great singer." Lulu was a big fan of David Bowie, but she also thought that “'The Man Who Sold the World' wasn’t the greatest song for my voice, but it was such a strong song in itself. I had no idea what it was about. In the studio Bowie kept telling me to smoke more cigarettes, to give my voice a certain quality." Lulu’s version climbed to number three on the UK Singles Chart and found its way on several other official rankings.
“The Man Who Sold the World” was brought back to life with Nirvana’s live version from their 1993 MTV Unplugged appearance, which was released on their “MTV Unplugged in New York album the following year.” It received heavy airplay on MTV and other alternative TV and radio stations. Bowie said of Nirvana's cover: "I was simply blown away when I found that Kurt Cobain liked my work, and have always wanted to talk to him about his reasons for covering 'The Man Who Sold the World' and that "it was a good straight forward rendition and sounded somehow very honest. It would have been nice to have worked with him, but just talking with him would have been real cool". Bowie called Nirvana's cover "heartfelt," noting that "until this [cover], it hadn't occurred to me that I was part of America's musical landscape. I always felt my weight in Europe, but not [in the US]." In the wake of its release, Bowie bemoaned the fact that when he performed the number himself he would encounter "kids that come up afterwards and say, 'It's cool you're doing a Nirvana song.' And I think, 'Fuck you, you little tosser!'"
COVERLAND VOL.1: EASY COVERLAND VOL.2: HUSH COVERLAND VOL.3: NOTHING COMPARES 2 U COVERLAND VOL.4: HARD TO HANDLE COVERLAND VOL.5: GUINNEVERE COVERLAND VOL.6: I SCARE MYSELF COVERLAND VOL. 7: CHINA GIRL COVERLAND VOL.8: LIVE AND LET DIE COVERLAND VOL. 9: PERSONAL JESUS COVERLAND VOL.10: THEJUNGLE LINE
