Covers that are better than the original

[warthog]

/end thread

[Benny Profane]

RIP Prince.

[Game Over]

From wiki

"Speaking about her relationship with Prince in an interview with Norwegian station NRK in November 2014 O'Connor said, "I did meet him a couple of times. We didn't get on at all. In fact, we had a punch-up." She continued: "He summoned me to his house after 'Nothing Compares 2 U.' I made it without him. I'd never met him. He summoned me to his house—and it's foolish to do this to an Irish woman—he said he didn't like me saying bad words in interviews. So I told him to fuck off." O'Connor said: "He got quite violent. I had to escape out of his house at five in the morning. He packed a bigger punch than mine."[3]"

[Danno]

that's awesome and hysterical. and it's still a fucking incredible cover. She OWNED that song.

[Jong Lafitte]

Dunno if its better because the original is so sweet but Rammstein doing Kraftwerk's Das Model fucking rocks:



Here's the original Kraftwerk version:



If you like country, lemme give you an ol' Tom Russel tune, the greatest song ever written...about the sport of cock fighting: Gallo del Cielo as done by Jason Boland and the Stragglers:



Fiddler friggin burns up the bow on that one.

Johnny Cash Does U2's One:



Also, OK, I know its Elvis, who's the King, so it cannot possibly be BETTER, but, I always liked Dwight's take on Suspicious minds (music starts at 1:25 if you're trying to skip the wheel of fortune intro):

[patxi]

[Ripzalot]

[Buster Highmen]

Dunno if its better because the original is so sweet but Snakefinger doing Kraftwerk's Das Model fucking rocks:


Here's the original Kraftwerk version:

fify

[Meadow Skipper]

A cover of a Manfred Mann song written by Bachrach and David:

[wicked_sick]

[Groomer Gambler]

The Dickies - Sound of Silence

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/30ad2cyxZCE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Ripzalot]

The Dickies - Sound of Silence

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/30ad2cyxZCE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

here ya go....thank god it's not that godawful Disturbed cover....

[Meadow Skipper]

[iceman]

[Jong Lafitte]

fify

good stuff.

[Buster Highmen]

I can't claim it's really better than the original, but this made an impression on me way back when.

[Marshall Tucker]

[sergios]

My favourite is 'Die, die, die my darling' by Metallica. In my opinion, this cover is much better that the original by Misfits.

[patxi]

Not better but good nonetheless...

[old goat]

Hard to argue with Sid's version of My Way (posted a couple of pages back)

Most covers of classic soul are pathetic (CCR's of I Heard it Through the Grapevine comes to mind, Michael Bolton's When a Man Loves a Woman is beyone pathetic) but Janis' version of Erma Franklin's "Piece of My Heart" is pretty damn good.

Pretty hard to top Judy Garland but

Actually pretty much anything Eva Cassidy did, since all she did was covers

But the undisputed best has to be Aretha's "Respect". Even Otis agreed with that and stopped doing the song after she recorded it.

[iceman]

Most covers of classic soul are pathetic

hmm.

[My Pet Powder Goat]

Probably been mentioned already but I've always been partial to goldfingers cover of '99 red balloons' has a urgency the original doesn't, tho that one gives me goosebumps https://youtu.be/p-qfzH0vnOs

[Meadow Skipper]

I was going through some Sonic Youth on youtube and found these. Earlier we were talking about Kinks covers, here's an unexpected one:


And here's an unusual combo - Lee Renaldo and Jeff Tweedy covering Neil Young:


Which led to another unusual Neil Young cover by Dinosaur Jr., Renaldo, and Fred Armisen:

[bobz]

On the jazzy side, Madeleine Peyroux has an album, Careless Love, that's almost all covers. I came to it for the Dylan cover, You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go, which is good, but not my favorite. That would be Elliot Smith's Between The Bars. Similarly sublime is Weary Blues, which turns out to be originally by Hank Williams.

[bobz]

Speaking of Dylan covers (and speaking of all-covers albums), I've always liked the Ramones treatment of Dylan's (famously covered by the Byrds) My Back Pages, even without Joey on vocals. Several other interesting covers on that album, Acid Eaters; check out Surf City, Out Of Time, When I Was Young.