Amber Rubarth's version of REM's "Losing My Religion".
what’s a song cover that you think is better than the original?
The first ones to come to mind are Whitney’s version of I Will Always Love You and Allen Stone’s Georgia On My Mind but I would love to hear other contributions as well! I feel like there are a lot of songs where a covered version gets more popular than the original and people end up not realizing that it is a cover (ex. i had a friend that genuinely believed the Jonas Brothers wrote Year 3000). so, what‘a a song that was written by one artist but (figuratively) owned by another?
218 responses Add your response
@bubba_buoy Yep, and Jeff Healey's version of Dylan's WHEN THE NIGHT COMES FALLING is pretty amazing as well. So was Jeff, RIP.
Cheers! |
Led Zeppelin's "In my Time of Dying" was at least a match for Blind Willie Johnson's version. And much better than the Dylan version.
|
My dad, a true Baby Boomer, always said "If there are multiple great covers of a song, it proves it's a great song." My take.... Hendrix version of "All Along The Watchtower." Jeff Beck Group "Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You" (also a Dylan song) Chris Cornell’s cover of "Nothing Compares To You"
|
@pesky_wabbit - Before I even looked to see what the link went to, I was thinking, 'my favorite version of 'Walk On By' is by the Stranglers!!' Big Stranglers fan, here... |
Lucinda William’s cover of “Ode To Billie Jo” on Mercury Rev’s, “Bobbie Gentry's The Delta Sweete Revisited” record. It’s raw and edgy. Richard Thompson’s “Season Of The Witch”. I love Donovan’s version: he sings it in a spooky way, a la The Doors’, “People Are Strange”. Richard Thompson just doesn’t have Donovan’s voice, but he shreds it in that very typical Thompsian way. |
@xcool No huge argument from me, but both are wonderful. Here is another I just thought of--one of my all-time fav songs: ORIGINAL: Charles Brown--Please Come Home for Christmas (1960) REMAKE: EAGLES (1978), and NOT the "re-masterd" version (you have to pay someone to listen to the original version these days)...here is a live version: ALSO, used in one of the sexiest videos EVER: Bon Jovi version. No nudity, just pure sexy by 2 genetic-lottery winners on this planet...
Oh, and it has a striking resemblance, but not all the tough guitar chords, of the Beatles' "Oh, Darlin' ", which is another of my all time favs... Cheers! |
| Post removed |
Geez,... so many great covers but I do agree with the original always being, well, the original! Chris Cornell doing Zep's "Thank You" is so good, I think Holly Cole does a great job with Elvis Costello's "Allison", there's also a great cover of Zepplin's "The Rover" by Blackberry Smoke, Aretha does a better job than Dionne Warwick with Bacharach' & Hal David's "Walk On By" could be a long list.... none necessarily better, just different and often equally satisfying. |
Lots of good responses. Pretty much anything Eva Cassidy sang. Mary Chain Carpenter's version of Lucinda Wiliam's Passionate Kisses. My version of Leonard Cohen's 'Dance Me To The End Of Love'. Arguably his best song besides 'Hallelujah', the original is done almost like a klezmer song, and Madeline Peyroux's version is a lightweight take on a very serious song, so I arranged it with a passionate, almost flameco sound. Works for me. |
I don't know if it's better than the original, 'cause 'Billie Jean' was a pretty great song to begin with, but the late, great Chris Cornell slowed it down to almost a blues type of song, and he puts so much feeling into the lyrics; I really understood stuff about that song I hadn't realized, 'cause Chris forces you into the words; nobody's dancing to his version. He did some pretty inspired cover versions; he's got a recording of 'A Day In The Life' that was recorded live at Royal Albert Hall, and I think John Lennon would have been mighty pleased. He even does those 'AHHHH's before the final verse in a way that sent chills down the ol' spine... |
@richopp, I also like Linda Ronstadt's version of "Tracks of my Tears" better than Smokey Robinson's. @dekay, love that version of "Smoke on the Water" that you sent. Really cool! Here's are few covers that come to my mind:
|
This is TOTAL HERESY, and I apologize to one of my favorite vocalists, but Linda Ronstadt's ARRANGEMENT of Smokey Robinson's "Ooo, Baby, Baby" is really good. Her voice is spectacular, of course, and again, NOTHING against Mr. Robinson, who is one of the all-time greats, but her version is very smooth from beginning to end, and her voice is just the best... Peter Asher produced hers, I think. Anyway, you asked, so...
Cheers! |
I can't fault the musicianship of House of Lord's cover but as I perceive them, the two versions are very different in terms of the emotional aspect. There's an "epic", "triumphant" quality to H. O. L's version that is very different from the original, as I hear them. Different generations are often drawn to different flavors of expression.
|
@larsman 100%, "insipid" is spot on to how I feel about Nash's stuff in CSN. |
@painter24 - I'm so with you on the merits of Graham Nash. Nothing against the guy - I loved him in the Hollies and he's a fine photographer, but his CSN(Y) songs, to me, are about the most insipid things I've ever heard (and back then, I listened to a lot more insipid music than I do now! 🤣). Might as well listen to Air Supply or something! Crosby and Stills had some great ones, though.... |
@larsman wow, I was not aware of that at all. Missed that bus! 😊 I'm with you with JA. For me, Graham Nash just doesn't/didn't gel with Crosby and Stills. Harmony-wise, yes of course, but if hypothetically, all songs that were predominantly Nash were removed from the albums, I could quite happily live with it. Probably a blasphemous notion for some, but I just never liked the guy, or a lot of his writing |
@painter24 - I much prefer the JA version of 'Wooden Ships', and Paul Kantner did co-write it with Crosby and Stills. But then, I like JA a whole lot more than I do CSNY anyway. |
