Examples of cover songs better than the original

malmo,

amazing. I always thought the Avengers cover of Paint it Black was better than the original too- first time I've heard someone else agree. (And not just because I had it on pink vinyl)

The timing of this thread is interesting. A WXPN in Philly, is currently playing the top 885 songs of all time as voted on by the listeners and a lot of songs are getting played 2 and 3 times because people voted for different versions.

To name a few:

Gloria - Patty Smith/Van Morrison

Hellelujah - Leonard Cohen/Jeff Buckley

Jersey Girl - Tom Waits/Bruce Springsteeen

A bunch of Dylan songs have been played more than once.

Another great Dylan cover was "Percy's Song" by Fairport Convention, the band with Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny. It's over nine minutes long, it's the one that begins "Sad news, sad news, come to me where I sleep"

Buy the new RUSH album titled Feedback, all cover tunes probably put together in about two takes.

You're nuts. That was a commercial piece of crap with no interpretation or musical value added, just Gwen's voice dubbed in. It did not improve the original at all. The sound of the cash register ching-ching.

The original by Talk, Talk sounds very outdated today--synth pop and whiny vocals. No Doubt's version is better, but the song isn't that great to begin with.

I wanted to love Liz Phair's cover of "Turning Japanese", but it's craptacular. Anyone know of any good covers of that song?

gareth gates 'spirit in the sky' wins hands down.

second is westlifes 'uptown girl' with claudia 'the yifter' shifter in the video.

third is the popes 'whole world in his hands' from the 1978/79 tour. Classic stuff.

U2's version of "Everlasting Love"

i thought you were done posting?

You're So Vain by Faster Pussycat is a great hard rock cover of the Carly Simon original.

Killing Me Softly - Fugees

No one mentioned the Talking Heads version of Al Green's "Take Me To The River." I guess because it's...undeserving.

With a little help from my friends by joe cocker top the beatles original pretty darn easily

Holland Nass wrote:

The Boss wrote:

No brainer for me:

Mannfred Mann's "Blinded by the Light". There is no way to convince me that the original by the Boss is better. It's possibly his worst sounding song save the catchy lyrics.

Along those lines, Frankie Goes to Hollywood's cover of "Born to Run" is better than Springsteen. Much faster beat; really good "pump up" song. My opinion.

You are both on serious drugs!!! Manfred Mann's version is f***ing gay!!!! And if the original BTR can't get you pumped look no further...

I heard/saw a cover of the Hollies "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" by a band called Gotthard. It was quite good.

Lorenzo the Magnificent wrote:

I heard/saw a cover of the Hollies "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" by a band called Gotthard. It was quite good.

Yes, that was good!

Scratching that itch,

Mike

First recording and release spring 1959https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7t1-Rftx2U

Priorities Straight wrote:

Some songs date back so far that it's hard to say exactly whose version is being covered. But I always thought "Long Black Veil" by The Band was better than any of the earlier ones, including Johnny Cash's, or the later ones, including The Chieftains'.

Priorities Straight wrote:

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

..

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He first released it as Greenbriar Boys ~'66 Copywrite in '65 and said to have written and performed it in Texas as Mike and John a folk duo as early as 1963

released in spring '67 as The Stone Poneys

A lot of people don't know that Whitney Houston's rendition of "I Will Always Love You" is a cover; the original was by Dolly Parton.

Personally I prefer Frank Sinatra's "The Way You Look Tonight" over the original by Fred Astaire. If nothing else, it's the better-known version.