Any "covers" ever better than the originals?

Thomas

Active Member
I'm fairly new around here so this question may have been asked before (though a cursory search didn't turn up anything).

Anyhow, I was listening to the radio the other day when I recognized the opening chords of a song that I liked so I stopped what I was doing to listen. It turned out to be a cover of the song and the artist was really butchering it (IMO), so I quickly changed stations. This got me to thinking, "Are there any covers of songs that I like better than the original versions?"

Let's see. I kind of get a kick out of some of Weird Al Yankovich's stuff; but that's for its comedic value. Oh yeah, Dread Zeppelin's version of "Stairway to Heaven," but that was probably because of this faux reggae group's Elvis impersonator lead singer. Um. Oh yeah, Clapton's version of "I Shot the Sheriff" is better, IMO, than the original Marley. But wait, I heard Clapton's version before I heard Marleys.

I don't know. Maybe it's my borderline obsessive/compulsive personality but it just seems that I always prefer the first version of a song I hear to later versions. Later versions never, to me, sound better, just different.

Does anyone else share this opinion with me or am I just "unusual," as my wife says?

If I'm unique in this regard, what are some covers that, in your opinion, are more to your liking than the originals?
 
Let me state for the record I am a Beatles FAN-ATIC.

I really go for Joe Cocker's A Little Help From My Friends and She Came in through the Bathroom Window. He really takes them and makes them his own.

Beck does an awesome cover of Day in the Life on George Martin's In My Life Album.

And maybe this is a sad reflection on me, but I actually prefer Eric Cartman's version of Come Sail Away. He's just so sincere...
 
One immediately comes to mind for me: I much prefer Vonda Shepard's cover of "I Only Want To Be With You" over Dusty Springfield's original.
Of course, IIRC, Three Dog Night made their living as a cover band. Top-notch stuff, I feel.
Tom
 
Going back aways, I like Bryan Hyland's 1970 cover of the '62 Impression's hit "Gypsy Woman"...Actually, I like both. Manfred Mann's cover of The Boss's "Blinded By The Light" is pretty good, maybe better than Springsteen's original.
 
Mary, Mary as done by the Monkees. I think the Paul Buuterfield Blues Band did it first.

(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction by Devo. They made it an entirely different song.

John
 
Dave Koz's version of "Careless Whisper" is way better than George Michaels/Wham, as there is more emphasis on some of the instruments and the musicality. No one can touch George Michael's vocal, but the artist on Koz's version is pretty good. I also prefer Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow's version of "Since You Been Gone" over Head East's original version. I like them both, but Rainbow kicks arse.
 
I like Manfred Mann's cover of Dylan's "Mighty Quinn" better than Dylan's.

They also, IIRC, did a great cover of Randy Newman's "Living Without You", as did Harry Nilsson... but I've never heard Randy Newman do it.

Nilsson's version of "Without You" is at least as good as the original version by Badfinger.

I must confess that I like Linda Ronstadt's version of Elvis' "Allison" quite a bit. Costello absolutely hated it.

Judy Collins has turned in some amazing covers: "In My Life", "Both Sides Now", and "Suzanne" spring to mind. Not sure they're better, but they are great.

Speaking of which: How about the "different is not better, it's just different" category?

I'd nominate the song "If Not for You". I like all three versions that I know of: Dylan's, George Harrison's and (gasp!) Olivia Neutron-Bomb's.
 
Cover Tunes

Jimi Hendrix "All Along The Watchtower" he took Dylan's good song and made it a masterpiece.

Johnny Winter "Jumping Jack Flash" smoked the Stones version.
 
Okay, I can go with a lot of these suggestions. Some of those I'm familiar with are at least as good as the originals; some better (because of an interesting voice (e.g., Cocker), a tighter comp (Manfred Mann), etc.), IMO.

Re-thinking things a bit. I think as long as the song stays pretty true to the original (e.g., the "If not for you" versions), I'm okay with it (but still usually prefer the original). It's when an artist feels that he/she has to add their own personal style to a song and end up deviating too far from the original that they lose me, as a rule. Again, this may be due to a personality quirk of mine.

Thanks for the opinions and the jogs to my memory...
 
boy george (go ahead, slap me, whatever, when he's on, he's great) covered 'starman', and i actually like it better than bowie's version, but i love bowie's version, until they get to the chorus, at which point i think BG's is better.
 
Speaking of cover artists putting their mark on a song:

I always thought it was interesting that Manfred Mann took Springsteen's brilliant "Blinded by the Light" and essentially invented a melody for it that it didn't quite have. I really like both versions, even though Manfred Mann's Earth Band's version of it is far, far slicker than the original. They also left out my favorite verse (the one that ends with "I unsnapped his skullcap and between his ears I saw a gap/and figured he'd be all right!")
 
Joan Jett's Crimson and Clover kicks butt over the original Tommy James and the Shondells. And I hate to admit it, but I really like Tiffany's version of I saw (him) standing there better than the Beatles version.
 
Yessssss!!!

I like the Cover of the Iggy Pop > The Passenger

by Siouxie And The Banshees a lot, not really more, but its a real good variation. Siouxie seems not too "dark" - even happy - in this song :)
Helge
 
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Well, not sure if you call it a "cover" or not, but Metallica doing "Whisky in the jar" is much better than the other versions I've heard. I have several versions of it, including one by Elvis, but I'm affraid I "stole" them all on the internet.

Ed
 
Let me see. The Allman Brothers took Donovan's banal "Mountain" (or whatever Donovan called it) and turned it into "Mountain Jam." Of course, Hendrix with Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" and "Wild Thing." With bluesmen it's hard to figure out who the original composer is, but Muddy Waters took a lot of others lyrics/songs and turned them into his own. Aretha Franklin's cover of Otis Redding's "Respect" is, as good, if not better. And Clapton's cover of "I Shot the Sheriff" pales compared to Marley's original.
 
I also second Clapton's version of "I shot the Sheriff" as paling in comparison to Bob Marley's. Yet I give props to Clapton for trying to bring Bob Marley to the attention of more listeners.
 
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