Cover songs better than the originals?

[the virgin gary]

I'm a French-Canadian redneck so's I say:

Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" smokes the NIN original and his version of "Rusty Cage" murders Soundgarden and I like Soundgarden. I'd take him singing "One" over Bono to. But Willie Nelson's Sunday Morning Coming Down is actually better than Johnny Cash's version which is kick ass itself.

Johnny Cash's version of "I"m so lonesome I could cry" is better than Hank Williams' version, the first time I heard it I had tears in my eyes. I like Williams original "I heard that lonesome whistle blow" better than Cash's cover.

Joe Cocker's "With a Little Help From My Friends" is superior to the Beatles' version.

As much of a Meat Puppets fan as I am, I think Nirvana's "Plateau" and "Lake of Fire" are superior.

Going back to Zep, I'll take their cover of "The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair" over the Sleepy John Estes original.

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes' "Wild World" is superior to the Cat Stevens original IMHO.

Lastly The Flaming Lips fucked ruled Paul Newman's "Plastic Jesus" from Cool Hand Luke.

That pretty well covered it.









And The Simpsons cast recording of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" is much better than Iron Butterfly's

 

[stryker]

How about the Counting crows version of Big Yellow Taxi and Streethearts version of Under My Thumb

 

[VicGuy36]

Patricia Barber has some amazing jazz covers of 60's classics like Alfie, Black Magic Woman, Summertime, Light My Fire,etc. and etc. All good, some like the Beat Goes on and Ode to Billy Joe better than the originals.

 

[_Ruffian_]

Iron Maiden's version of "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"

 

[Swguy]

Jimi Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner" and "All Along The Watchtower" are way better, imo, than the originals..


SWG

 

[LonelyGhost]

hendrix cover of 'wild thing' better than the Troggs

Avril Lavigne's cover of 'knockin on heaven's door' better than Dylan's

Rod Stewart's cover of 'First Cut is the Deepest' better than Cat Stevens

 

[toesucker]

Paul Young's 'Everytime You Go Away' is miles better than the Hall & Oates original.

Simply Red's 'You Make Me Feel Brand New' is slightly better than the Stylistics version.

 

[LowerMainlander]

KoRn's Word Up is pretty good

 

[Timbuk3]

I don't think anyone on the planet would disagree that Aretha Franklin's "Respect" is a million times better than the original (Otis Redding).

 

[the virgin gary]

"Avril Lavigne's cover of 'knockin on heaven's door' better than Dylan's"

Whoa! I hate Avril, I love Dylan and I think Avrils cover is better than Dylans and G N R's. Save for that cheesy fucking video she made she made to the song.

I was the HMV in West Edmonton Mall today and I heard the Sheryl Crowe cover of "Sweet Child of Mine" and I wanted to kneel down and tear my fucking ears off. Same goes for Madonna ass raping Don Maclean.

 

[LowerMainlander]

speaking of bad covers, I can't stand Lenny Kravitz' version of American Woman. Even though Burton Cummings endorsed it, Kravitz took a song with a political message and turned it into a sexual one.

It shows how typical it is for the US to take a Canadian point of view and warp it into something so that the original meaning is lost.

 

[LonelyGhost]

"Avril Lavigne's cover of 'knockin on heaven's door' better than Dylan's"

Whoa! I hate Avril, I love Dylan and I think Avrils cover is better than Dylans and G N R's. Save for that cheesy fucking video she made she made to the song.

I was the HMV in West Edmonton Mall today and I heard the Sheryl Crowe cover of "Sweet Child of Mine" and I wanted to kneel down and tear my fucking ears off. Same goes for Madonna ass raping Don Maclean.

have to agree on all counts ...

 

[BushPilot]

SRV's version of 'Little Wing' is superior to Hendrix's version.
The Band's 'I shall be released' is better than Dylan's.
Wallflowers do Bowie's 'Heroes' better than the original.
The Black Crowes do 'Hard to Handle' better than Otis Redding.

On the other hand, Guns and Roses or Avril Lavigne have never, nor will ever, do anything better than Bob Dylan.

Street Heart better than the Stones? Someone's got some very good drugs to smoke.

By the way, if anyone's seen or listened to Pearl Jam live, you'll have to agree that their choices of covers and their performances of them are topnotch.

Just an opinion, perhaps, but dare I say a damn fine one to have.

 

[bobsled]

re: Cover songs....

Bruce Springsteens origional cover by Manfred Mann (did I get that right), of Blinded By the Light.

Sorry, Bruce....thanks for writing it, but your rendition makes me feel constipated.

Guns and Rose version of Bob Dylan's Knocking on Heaven's Door...too heavy. It's supposed to be a sad song... and introspective. Thumbs down.

I liked Cat Stevens, just wish he had stuck to what he does best.

My all time favorite song..."Cant Take My Eyes Off Of You"

Trivia question. Who sang it?

bobsled.

 

[wolverine]

Rage Against The Machine's final CD was a bunch of ass-kicking covers of various hip-hop, punk, folk and rock tunes from Dylan to Springsteen to Minor Threat to Cypress Hill. The best tracks are "Renegades of Funk" (obscure rap) and Cypress Hill's "How I Can Just Kill A Man".

My favorite cover song is Foo Fighters doing Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street".

 

[BushPilot]

Annie Lennox does a surprisingly good version of 'Waiting in Vain'. Understandably, it's not quite as good as Bob Marley's original, but pretty damn fine effort, all the same.

 

[wolverine]

Oh yeah...The Clash did a superior version of "I Fought The Law".

 

[dbrw42]

Headstone's cover of "Tweeter and the Monkey Man". Was just listening to it on the radio.

Eric Clapton's second version of "After Midnight" much better than his first try, but his first version of "Layla" beats the poop nuggets out of his "Unplugged" version.

 

[LonelyGhost]

On the other hand, Guns and Roses or Avril Lavigne have never, nor will ever, do anything better than Bob Dylan.

Just an opinion, perhaps, but dare I say a damn fine one to have.

i think avril did a good job on it ... gnr sucked!

the stones finally covered a dylan song and still couldn't make it their own ...

haven't heard any good covers of the stones, the beatles, the who, led zeplin or neil young ...

the Byrds cover of the 17th psalm was very good though ...

 

[wilde]

Billy Idol's Mony Mony.