Better covers than the original

[SigurdReginson]

Trent Reznor once said of Johny Cash's cover of his song that "That song isn't mine anymore." Johny Cash elevated it to a whole new level, and it eclipsed the original and made it into something that speaks to the soul. He died not long after pouring his heart into this song.

What other songs can you think of that are better than the originals?

 

[rosends]

Joan Jett and the Barbusters, Light of Day
Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Blinded by the Light
Manfred Mann, Quinn the Eskimo
The Byrds, Hey, Mr. Tambourine Man, My Back Pages (pretty much any Dylan song, except Dylan's Version of Everything Is Broken wins)
Both Sinead O'Connor and Mitch Ryder did better Prince songs (Nothing Compares 2U and When you Were Mine)

for a start...

 

[Rival]

Marc Almond / Soft Cell did a better Tainted Love, imo.


Hah, you didn't even know that is a cover, did you?

 

[ChristineM]

Joe Cockers version little help from my friends beats the Beatles

And i loathe to say this but Nirvanas version of the man who sold the world improves on Bowies

But i prefer Bowies lets spend the night together over the Stones original.

Hendix with all along the watchtower

Janice Joplin and me and bobby mcgee

 

[John53]

Trent Reznor once said of Johny Cash's cover of his song that "That song isn't mine anymore." Johny Cash elevated it to a whole new level, and it eclipsed the original and made it into something that speaks to the soul. He died not long after pouring his heart into this song.

What other songs can you think of that are better than the originals?

I like the Cash version but still prefer the original Nine Inch Nails one.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

Compare these:

 

[BSM1]

As a performer I have often said that you cannot do a song "better" than the person who wrote it. However, you can definitely like another person's version of the song. Case in point, even Bob Dylan liked Jimi Hendrix's cover of "All Along The Watchtower" more than he liked his own version. Didn't mean that Hendrix did it "better".

 

[Guitar's Cry]

Joan Jett does some great covers. She does "Crimson and Clover" so gosh darn well.

 

[BSM1]

Joan Jett does some great covers. She does "Crimson and Clover" so gosh darn well.

No where near better than Tommy James, just shows that taste is subjective.

 

[Guitar's Cry]

No where near better than Tommy James, just shows that taste is subjective.

We'll agree to disagree.

 

[Flame]

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Save Ferris's ska version of Come on Eileen:

Great Big Sea's version of REM's End of the World:

Viktoriya Yermolyeva's piano version of System of a Down's Toxicity:

 

[Katja]

Three Dog Night's version of Mama Told Me Not To Come is the best (yes, I've listened to several to compare).

I liked Susan Boyle's version of Wild Horses... perhaps it's because I'm not into the Stones to begin with, but I feel her version fits the words better. It's a painful song, not a jaunty one like they seem to do it.

I once found a guy on Youtube whose cover of Nothing Else Matters was, IMO, better than the original (mostly because his voice didn't go all nasal like James Hetfield's does).

Do covers that we think are *as good as the original* count, even if we don't think one is better than the other? Because I can think of many of those.

 

[Yerda]

Toots' cover of Radiohead's Let Down.

 

[Howard Is]

You be the judge.

 

[SigurdReginson]