OT: Songs that you like a cover version better than the original?
Just curious. Anybody have some songs where they think the cover version is better than the original artist’s version?
Here are some of mine off the top of my head...
Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You” covered by Whitney Houston. Yes, I know, fairly obvious. If you want a chuckle, read or listen to Dolly’s comments about when Colonel Tom Parker tried to talk her into letting Elvis do a cover of the song.
CCR’s “Proud Mary” covered by Ike and Tina Turner
“The House of the Rising Sun” (maybe written by Georgia Turner and Bert Martin) covered by The Animals. Honorable mention: Frijid_Pink.
John Newton’s “Amazing Grace” covered by the Dropkick Murphys
The Bobby Fuller Four’s “I Fought the Law” covered by The Clash.
It’s OT season as far as I’m concerned.
Metallica: Blitzkrieg(Blitzkrieg) and Crash Course in Brain Surgery(Budgie)
Sepultura: Symptom of the Universe(Black Sabbath)
Ghost: If You Have Ghosts (Roky Erickson)
Carole King's version of "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" from Tapestry. I always thought it worked better at her slow tempo than The Shirelles version.
Van Halen - You Really Got Me (The Kinks)
Bob Seger - Trying to Live My Life Without You (Otis Clay...had to google that one)
Poison - Rock and Roll All Night (Kiss)
Johnny Cash's entire album American IV: The Man Comes Around
No one does the Kinks better than the Kinks having said that there have been many great covers including Van Halen as mentioned, also David Bowie: Where Have All he Good Times gone?, Herman's Hermits, Dandy, The Jam, David Watts. The Pretenders, Stop your sobbing."
Willie Nelson cover of The Scientist
TOOL's cover of No Quarter (They change it up a bit, maybe not a true cover any more)
Great choice…. Demon cleaner is also top notch
Liars - The Chain
Not really, but it's a cool version
Dancing girl by STP
Not that I don't like the originals, but here are three I haven't seen listed yet:
Beck Bogert Appice - Superstition (Stevie Wonder). Many people don't know that Stevie Wonder wrote the song originally for Jeff Beck, but was pressured to release his version first. BBA's version is fantastic, as you might expect.
Coroner - I Want You (She's So Heavy) (The Beatles). For me, this is one of those songs that stays true to the original but definitely has the band bring in their own take on it and works perfectly. They even end it the same way as the original, as it should be. I don't know if this is my all time favorite cover, but it's definitely in my top three.
Voivod - Astronomy Domine (Pink Floyd). Again, a great take on a classic song. Enjoy!
Hide Your Love Away by the Beatles was covered by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam. He knocked it out of the park.
Boys of Summer - the Ataris
Earth, Wind, and Fire’s cover of The Beatles’ “Got to Get You into My Life” elevates a great song into a classic.
It isn't necessarily better but The Bangles did a great job with Simon and Garfunkel's, A Hazy Shade of Winter.
Orgy Blue Monday
I'm late to this party. Its a great topic for OT season... A few of my favorites:
- Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence covered by Disturbed and also by Pentatonix. Different directions - metal and acapella - both great renditions.
- Terry Allen's Amarillo Highway covered by Robert Earl Keen. I love both versions as my dad introduced me to Terry Allen.
These are some great songs where the covers do them justice.
A Day to Remember- Since you've been gone
The Sound of Silence (Simon and Garfunkel) performed by Celtic Thunder. Trust me, find it on Youtube. Stunnding version of the song.
March 17th, 2023 at 10:20 AM ^
Disturbed does a great job with this song as well.
One More Cup of Coffee - White Stripes cover of Dylan
March 17th, 2023 at 10:01 AM ^
Guns N Roses cover of Knocking on heaven's door
March 17th, 2023 at 10:22 AM ^
Imagine- A Perfect Circle
March 17th, 2023 at 11:05 AM ^
I nearly forgot Fanny's cover of Hey Bulldog! It's fantastic. Learn it. Know it. Live it.
March 17th, 2023 at 11:09 AM ^
Stavesacre's Fascination Street WAY OUT ROCKS the original Cure song:
March 17th, 2023 at 11:27 AM ^
Earth, Wind and Fire, Got to Get you into my Life (originally by the Beatles). Just spectacular
March 17th, 2023 at 11:44 AM ^
Black Sheep by "The Clash at Demonhead" (Brie Larson, Tennessee Thomas, and Brandon Routh).
You have actors here singing a Metric song while doing a caricature of Metric (one of the adjunct bands of Broken Social Scene that dominated the 2000s Toronto indie scene). The thing is Black Sheep is *too* Metric, as if someone set out to write a Metric song using all the Metric conventions. Having an actress play Emily Haines and doing Emily Haines things makes it all work, while Emily Haines playing at being Old World Underground-era Emily Haines (see original) doesn't.
March 17th, 2023 at 11:46 AM ^
Swim Good - Switchfoot
Romeo and Juliet - The Killers
March 17th, 2023 at 12:14 PM ^
It’s a great topic, and I love seeing how diverse the genres are, as well as how many of these I have no clue on. It all starts with the creativity of the original artist, which resonates with following artists in their own way. It’s been the story of music forever. Not a lot of people remember that Fleetwood Mac’s Peter Green wrote Black Magic Woman, but everybody remembers Carlos Santana’s version of it. Carlos hears Peter’s guitar work on Fleetwood Mac’s version, thinks “That cat can PLAY, but he needs some Latin Funk in the arrangement - boom, maybe Santana’s best known single.
I’m surprised by the dearth of covers of Delta Blues artists in these many, many lists. The connection that the itinerant Black musicians had to their own experiences of pain and suffering created a tremendous body of work (I include the first generation of Chicago greats in this list as their interface with musical expression was forged in the Deep South). It gets picked up by British and American rockers in the 60’s and the underlying message is amplified. Where would the Allman Brothers have been without having the blues as an inspiration? So, here’s some of my favorite covers from back in the day.
- I’m So Glad (Skip James) - Cream
- (mentioned earlier) Crossroads (Robert Johnson) - Cream
- Traveling Riverside Blues (Robert Johnson) - Led Zeppelin
- Can’t Spend What You Don’t Have (Muddy Waters) - Allman Brothers
- Hoochie Coochie Man (Muddy Waters) - Allman Brothers
- Smokestack Lightning (Howling Wolf) - Grateful Dead
- Outside Woman Blues (Blind Joe Reynolds’s) - Cream
- Killing Floor Blues (Howling Wolf) - Jimi Hendrix
- Love In Vain (Robert Johnson) - Rolling Stones. (Also, Brian Jones’ last great bit of guitar work)
- Rambling on my Mind (Robert Johnson) - John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers
- Spoonful (Howling Wolf) - Cream
- In my Time of Dying (Blind Willie Johnson) - Led Zeppelin, Black Crowes
- Nobody’s Fault But Mine (Blind Willie Johnson) - Grateful Dead
I could type these in for a while, but you get the idea. The subconscious resonance between the original artists and other gifted musicians down the road is the one common thread in all of these most excellent posts on this thread.
March 17th, 2023 at 12:58 PM ^
Pat Benatar doing The Beatles' Helter Skelter
Really just about anyone covering a Beatles song.
Most songs by Judy Collins are covers. She tended to do emotion-laden versions of everyone of them. I love her voice and most of her covers.
Jimi Hendrix "All along the watchtower" I think Bob Dylan even admitted this was the better version
Frente "Bizarre Love Triangle"
Reel Big Fish "Take on me"
Johnny Cash "just the other side of nowhere"
Disagree on Bobby Fuller but..
While I hated it at first after a couple of listenings, Disturbed brings an edginess to Sound of Silence that S&G couldn't provide
I love Jackie DeShannon, but I don't like her version of Bette Davis Eyes as much as I like Kim Carnes' version.
Blinded by the Light -- Manfred Mann
There are many versions of California Sun, originally recorded by Joe Jones. I like the version by Los Straitjackets.
Just like many of the OT season posts (not this one), the Fugees cover of Killing Me Softly.
Bitches ain’t shit - Ben Folds
Santana's cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Black Magic Woman".
Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66's cover of The Beatles' "Fool on the Hill".
Jersey Girl - Bruce Springsteen. (It’s a Tom Waits song)
Motown’s Rare Earth’s version of Get Ready is next level. The vocals and musicianship are top shelf.
Melanie's cover of the Stones' "Ruby Tuesday".
For me, it's gotta' be Chris Cornell's version of "Imagine", performed on the Howard Stern show. He took that song to another place. His cover of "Nothing Compares 2U" is also better than Sinead's, IMHO.