Examples of cover songs better than the original

The thrill is gone

The thrill is gone away

The thrill is gone baby

The thrill is gone away

You know you done me wrong baby

And you'll be sorry someday

The thrill is gone

It's gone away from me

The thrill is gone baby

The thrill is gone away from me

Although I'll still live on

But so lonely I'll be

The thrill is gone

It's gone away for good

Oh, the thrill is gone baby

Baby its gone away for good

Someday I know I'll be over it all baby

Just like I know a man should

You know I'm free, free now baby

I'm free from your spell

I'm free, free now

I'm free from your spell

And now that it's over

All I can do is wish you well

No cover beats this original. I just wanted to post it so if any of you are as bored at work as me here's something to make your afternoon a little better.

If you are a true bluesman, you must have heard Richie Kotzen do a cover of this great tune.

Although he screwed around with the hairband Poison, he is a great blues guitarist....the CD is Bi-polar Blues.

Viva Las Vegas" - ZZ Top / Elvis Presley

Street Fighting Man" - Rod Stewart / Rolling Stones

Spanish Harlem" - Aretha Franklin / Ben E. King

These three alone make this list totally worthless

Because the Night" - Patty Smith / Bruce Springsteen

10,000 Maniacs also did this one. Springsteen's is the best.

Hedgehog wrote:

Speaking of which (and drawing in The Boss) Patti Smith's version of "Because the Night" is a hundred fold better than the reedy whinings of Natalie Merchant. In this case, the original is far superior (unless Springsteen recorded it and I haven't heard it).

It's on the Live 75/85 cd by Springsteen and is better than Patti's although Patti's is good.

BTN wrote:

Bruce's version of Because the Night is on disc 2 of the 3-disc 1975-1985 Live album. "What I've got I have earned, what I'm not I have learned . . ."

I just read a review of the current concert tour in which the reviewer mentioned that it was the first time he had ever heard Bruce do the Patti Smith version of the song.

Then he probably hasn't attended many shows.

Vans wrote:

Van Halen's cover of "You Really Got Me" was better than the original.

No.

Hedgehog wrote:

Warren Zevon's "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me" beats Linda Ronstadt's.

I'm not sure which one of these versions came out first but Zevon wrote the tune.

"Use Me" by Hootie and the Blowfish is way better than the Bill Withers version.

Smith gets a co-writer credit. That song was released while Bruce was enjoined from recording while in a dispute with his original manager, in the 70s. I remember the song being released as a sign that Bruce was writing some good stuff while in limbo. I think Bruce's live version is the better of the two.

No, Withers' original "Use Me" is much better.

Sacrilegious though it may sounds, Bonnie Raitt's "Runaway," her first song on her first album, is better than Del Shannon's original. Bonnie's "Angel From Montgomery" is better than John Hiatt's.

Though she unfairly became an object of derision (everything she said about the Catholic Church in Ireland was RIGHT, you know), Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares To You" is a lot better than Prince's original, something even Prince realizes.

As to the aforementioned Linda Ronstadt, about 90 percent of what she did were covers, and few were better than the originals, the exceptions being "Different Drum," which Michael Nesmith did first, and all of the Karla Bonoff songs she covered, especially "Someone To Lay Down Beside Me."

To me, the most underrated band of the '90s (and they're still going) was The Church, and their CD of all covers, "A Box of Birds," is just brilliant. I can't imagine anyone being disappointed by it. Go get it.

jpgarland wrote:

Smith gets a co-writer credit. That song was released while Bruce was enjoined from recording while in a dispute with his original manager, in the 70s. I remember the song being released as a sign that Bruce was writing some good stuff while in limbo. I think Bruce's live version is the better of the two.

Patti wrote a good deal of the words. I think Springsteen only wrote the chorus plus the music.

These co-writer credits can be strange. Springsteen gets a co-writer credit with Warren Zevon on Zevon's "Jeannie Needs A Shooter" even though all Springsteen provided was the title.

Noticed wrote:

These co-writer credits can be strange. Springsteen gets a co-writer credit with Warren Zevon on Zevon's "Jeannie Needs A Shooter" even though all Springsteen provided was the title.

and also for the short piano intro to "Love on the Wrong Side of Town".

Now that you mention it, I think the non-chorus sounds more like Smith -- I think of "Horses" -- than Bruce.

Not sure if its better, just really good in a different way...

Find the Jeffery Gaines' live (not studio) accoustic cover of Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes". Awesome.

the only cover of any U2 song that does justice to the original is Johnny Cash's version of "One"

Toys in the Attic,by Aerosmith.Covered by R.E.M..Awesome.

cake's rendition of "i will survive" is much much better than the original, in my opinion

From MSNBC's Alter-cation column (for whatever it's worth):

Friday night was the “Vote for Change” concert, which our man Boehlert reviewed here. I am down with Eric’s description of the show, but here are a few things I would add:

Michael Stipe and Bruce sang the Patti Smith lyrics to “Because the Night,” not the Springsteen lyrics. This is the first time I’ve ever heard him do this.

I would have said the version he played of Johnny 99 was brand new, but I asked the guy next to me if he had ever heard it, and he said, “Shea, nights one and three.” Guy turned out to be Chris, the editor of the nearly professional quality fanzine “Backstreets” to which Bruce recently gave his only interview in thirty years of dissing them. . .

“People Have the Power” while an almost comically simple song, was a brilliant choice for a final encore, and I love the idea of updating the protest song canon. “Come On, People Now Smile on Your Brother…” would have felt a little silly.

It was 25 years since Bruce did something like this. That was “No Nukes,” produced by my friend Danny Goldberg, and at that show, he was too nervous to say a word. Now he’s practically an elder statesman, with a polished political rap and a clear sense of how and where his voice fits in. Right or wrong—and fortunately, he’s right-- it’s powerful stuff.

The next night, Saturday in New York, I got to hear a second show that ended with a final encore of “People Have the Power.” This was the Patti Smith Group with Television, at Roseland. . . While Television relies primarily on their incredible technical virtuosity, Patti remains a visionary -and an attractive and inspirational one at that. After the show, I tried to tell her about her star turn the night before in Jersey but was informed that Michael Stipe had beaten me to it.