Topic: Cover Versions that are better than the Originals

[Corkboy]

Here's two.

Alien Ant Farm: Smooth Criminal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxeNZOLNh4c

Wheatus: Respect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqgGfC8A5-c

[Riises left boot]

amy winehouse - valery

much better

[David Sanction]

all along the watchtower by Hendrix.

[james_f]

johnny cash - hurt is the obvious one, i think there's another thread on this somewhere tho

[Mimi]

Maybe the challenge should be to list the greatest Cash covers without Hurt.  The man covered a lot of songs, many of them much better than the originals. These are my favorites:

1) Ain't Me Babe- a Bob Dylan song; sung with June Carter Cash
2)Danny Boy- particularly the version on American IV: The Man Comes Around
3) Ring of Fire- arguably a cover since it was recorded by June Carter Cash's sister before Johnny did it
4) Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord) -traditional
5) Highway Patrolman - Bruce Springsteen
6) Bird on a Wire- Leonard Cohen; not sure if Cash's is necessarily better but it's pretty magnificient
7) So many from American IV including Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode), I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Hank Williams; sung with Nick Cave); I Hung My Head (Sting); Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel)

[barnseysbarmyarmy]

Jeff Buckely's hallelujah. Its like it was written for him..

[VintageRed74]

Gomez's cover of Wichita Lineman is deffo worth a shout.

[M(oaning) B(ecomes) E(mbarrassing)]

Might be sacreligious but I prefer Elton John's Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds to the Beatles' version.


So sue me!

[StevieG26]

None. All originals are better.

[hooded claw]

Maybe the challenge should be to list the greatest Cash covers without Hurt.  The man covered a lot of songs, many of them much better than the originals. These are my favorites:

1) Ain't Me Babe- a Bob Dylan song; sung with June Carter Cash
2)Danny Boy- particularly the version on American IV: The Man Comes Around
3) Ring of Fire- arguably a cover since it was recorded by June Carter Cash's sister before Johnny did it
4) Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord) -traditional
5) Highway Patrolman - Bruce Springsteen
6) Bird on a Wire- Leonard Cohen; not sure if Cash's is necessarily better but it's pretty magnificient
7) So many from American IV including Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode), I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Hank Williams; sung with Nick Cave); I Hung My Head (Sting); Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel)

You are a woman of taste and discernment. If I had to offer an addition to your suggestions, I'd go for his superb cover of Bonnie Prince Billy's I See A Darkness. The original is wonderful, JC makes it staggering. It's even better than Hurt, for me.

[Garstonite]

Maybe the challenge should be to list the greatest Cash covers without Hurt.  The man covered a lot of songs, many of them much better than the originals. These are my favorites:

1) Ain't Me Babe- a Bob Dylan song; sung with June Carter Cash
2)Danny Boy- particularly the version on American IV: The Man Comes Around
3) Ring of Fire- arguably a cover since it was recorded by June Carter Cash's sister before Johnny did it
4) Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord) -traditional
5) Highway Patrolman - Bruce Springsteen
6) Bird on a Wire- Leonard Cohen; not sure if Cash's is necessarily better but it's pretty magnificient
7) So many from American IV including Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode), I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Hank Williams; sung with Nick Cave); I Hung My Head (Sting); Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel)

You are a woman of taste and discernment.

Indeed.

Also need to mention his cover of Nick Lowe's The Beast In Me. Not the first time. But it's just so damned good.

[eLVIScOSTELLO]

Paul Young's "Lover will tear us apart" is a semenimal moment in the history of cover versions......

[hooded claw]

Indeed.

Also need to mention his cover of Nick Lowe's The Beast In Me. Not the first time. But it's just so damned good.

'Patently unclear
If it's New York
Or New Year...'


Brilliant stuff, and the one track which got me into his newer material.

[dante]

crown of thorns - pearl jam

[mattmiles]

None. All originals are better.

Same.

[Corkboy]

Personal Jesus (Depeche Mode)

Good call. "One", as well.

Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon and Garfunkel)

Damn you, that's just not right. Sacrilege, I tells ya.

[M(oaning) B(ecomes) E(mbarrassing)]

Of course, where perfection already exists, why do people bother trying to match it when they're only going to suffer in comparison?  Why, for instance, does anyone ever try and do an Aretha Franklin cover?  It's just madness. 

[Jin]

None. All originals are better.

Youre only saying that because noones done a Coldplay/James Blunt cover

[Cassiel]

Gomez's cover of Wichita Lineman is deffo worth a shout.

No it's not. The Glen Campbell version is definitive and peerless.

Jonny Cash did some good covers, but to suggest that his and St Nick's version of I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry comes anywhere the desperate, haunted original is wrong, wrong, wrong. Hank sang it with a primal howl because he was a man in such despair that he truly, truly did mean it. Johnny and Nick, well, they've had their trials but, let's face it, neither of them were anywhere near that dark place Hank was,

The most you can ask from a cover is that it either does something different to the original, doesnt try to ape it, but pulls it out of shape and takes it somewhere interesting. Lost in Music by The Fall for example. Or you get a singer, like Cash, who can inhabit a song so expertly that you can believe it was written and meant for them to sing. Elvis, a man who never wrote a tune in his life, could do that brilliantly - see his his version of Only the Strong Survive for proof.

[Jin]

Jeff Buckely's hallelujah. Its like it was written for him..

Agree with that completely. I also think his cover of Dylan's Mama, You've Been on My Mind is the best one. I love his version of Nina Simone's The Other Woman as well, get a hold of them if you can.

I think Frente!'s cover of Bizarre Love Triangle is the definitive one

[Garstonite]

I enjoyed Phil Cody's version of Elvis' Viva Las Vegas, recently shown in an advert for CSI:LV on LivingTV. You can get it off his MySpace for free, if you're interested, by the way.

[Veinticinco de Mayo]

The most you can ask from a cover is that it either does something different to the original, doesnt try to ape it, but pulls it out of shape and takes it somewhere interesting. Lost in Music by The Fall for example.

Is the correct answer.  I would nominate every single Fall cover version as being better than the original. With one exception; "Theres a ghost in my house" the Fall version ticks all the reinvention boxes but the R Dean Taylor version is utterly sublime. It just reeks of love and loss, it tears your heart out and leaves you dancing at the same time. No mean feat.

[Cassiel]

Is the correct answer.  I would nominate every single Fall cover version as being better than the original. With one exception; "Theres a ghost in my house" the Fall version ticks all the reinvention boxes but the R Dean Taylor version is utterly sublime. It just reeks of love and loss, it tears your heart out and leaves you dancing at the same time. No mean feat.

Good to see a fellow R. Dean appeciator VdM. Think the same goes for Indiana Wants Me and Gotta See Jane.

[Zeppelin]

None. All originals are better.

Probably the right answer most of the time - however, even Dylan admits that Hendrix's version of 'All along the watchtower' is better than his and indeed Hendrix's version has influenced most of Dylan's live performances of the song.

[Red in Korea]

No it's not. The Glen Campbell version is definitive and peerless.

Jonny Cash did some good covers, but to suggest that his and St Nick's version of I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry comes anywhere the desperate, haunted original is wrong, wrong, wrong. Hank sang it with a primal howl because he was a man in such despair that he truly, truly did mean it. Johnny and Nick, well, they've had their trials but, let's face it, neither of them were anywhere near that dark place Hank was,

The most you can ask from a cover is that it either does something different to the original, doesnt try to ape it, but pulls it out of shape and takes it somewhere interesting. Lost in Music by The Fall for example. Or you get a singer, like Cash, who can inhabit a song so expertly that you can believe it was written and meant for them to sing. Elvis, a man who never wrote a tune in his life, could do that brilliantly - see his his version of Only the Strong Survive for proof.

Spot on. The Fall's "Lost in Music" came to my mind as I started reading through this thread - as did JC's version of "I See A Darkness" and Buckley's "Hallelujah".

Other favourites of mine would include:

Camera Oscura "Super Trouper" (Abba)
The Fall - Legend of Xanadu (Dave, Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich)
Detriot Cobras - Bamalama (Otis Redding I think)

...I went away, had dinner, and thought of some more...

Cat Power - Crazy (Gnarls Barkley)
Pipettes - I Think We're Alone Now (Tiffany
Melt Banana - We Will Rock You (Queen)


One recent one is Gossip's cover of Wham's "Careless Whisper"  - that's got to better than the original!!!

[Roady]

slightly off topic, but does it not piss peple off that that shit boyband westlife make cover after cover and a getting close to the likes of the beatles for most number ones?what a shite band, and all their music is shockingly bad, no talent and yet soon they will be up there in history for number ones along with elvis and beatles...fucking joke that!

[Red in Korea]

slightly off topic, but does it not piss peple off that that shit boyband westlife make cover after cover and a getting close to the likes of the beatles for most number ones?what a shite band, and all their music is shockingly bad, no talent and yet soon they will be up there in history for number ones along with elvis and beatles...fucking joke that!

Ah, but they're better looking...

[redchiz]

David Watts - The Jam (The Kinks)

I Fought The Law - The Clash (Bobby Fuller)

The Day Before You Came - Blancmange (Abba)

[Rushian]

The Day Before You Came - Blancmange (Abba)

It's an almost identical note for note copy of the original though? And probably less well sung.

Anyway I'll venture Stevie Wonder - We Can Work it Out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA5nboJWgZY

[Jin]

The Beatles really made "Twist & Shout" their own, Lennon used to slay them with that one

[Zeppelin]

Despite what I said above about the original (nearly) always being better, I do like cover versions.

Stiff Little Fingers - Johnny Was
The White Stripes - Jolene

are a couple that spring to mind that I haven't seen mentioned here

Interesting live ones I've come across include Bob Dylan covering The Stones' 'Brown Sugar' at The Madison Square Gardens in 2002 (not entirely succesfully) and The Flaming Lips covering Sabbath's 'War Pigs' at a few gigs.

The American jam band Phish had a tradition of playing a 'costume concert' on Halloween when they would cover an entire album on stage, with very interesting results. I've got them doing 'Dark side of the moon' 'Quadrophenia' 'Remain in light' and 'The White album', all of which are worth a listen , even if they're not as good as the originals!

[redchiz]

It's an almost identical note for note copy of the original though? And probably less well sung.

"Almost identical" is right. What clinches it is the replacement of Abba's mid-Atlantic "Marilyn French, or something in that style" with Blancmange's quintessential "Barbara Cartland." 

[Scottish-Don]

Simple Minds - Sign O' The Times

[Emo Phillips]

Simple Minds - Sign O' The Times

 

[Emo Phillips]

It Must Be Love - Madness (Labi Sifre original a bit limp)

Hurt - Johnny Cash (fine original but amazing cover)

Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley (takes the song to a new level)

[zimmie'5555]

Jimi Hendrix- All Along the Watchtower/Hey Joe
Johnny Cash- Millions of 'em, but especially 'Solitary Man' and 'Desperado'

[SP]

"What's another year?" Shane McGowan and the Pogues - infinitely better than Johnny Logan.
"Ding a Dong" by Edwyn Collins.

[eLVIScOSTELLO]

Arctic Monkeys version of Love Machine (Girls Aloud).

Its on one of those Live Lounge CDs.

Like the way he starts laughing half way through....

[redchiz]

Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U (Prince)

[Art Vandelay]

Someone did an acoustic version of Blue Oyster Cults "Don't Fear The Reaper" that I really liked and thought suited the song better than the original version.  Haven't the faintest idea who did it though.