Cover versions better than the originals

[ReformedCharacter]

As a fan of Weird Al, I'll suggest his version of George Harrison's 'What is Life'. I wouldn't claim that it is better than the original but rather well done IMO. Note the gnomes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXMq3QJwJiA

RC

[MrFoolish]

1. Born to run - Frankie goes to Hollywood

Really

I think Bruce sounds half asleep in the original. Born to Shuffle Along, I would say.

[pje16]

I think Bruce sounds half asleep in the original. Born to Shuffle Along, I would say.

Heresy, that's the Boss you're talking about

[marronier]

From a jack to a king ;- Sleepy Labeef

[moorfield]

Thunderstruck (AC/DC) covered by Steve'n'Seagulls (if you like Finnish Hillbillies )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Ao-iNPPUc

Utterly brilliant, why have I not come across this before ?? Have had to watch it three times.

[doug2500]

Thunderstruck (AC/DC) covered by Steve'n'Seagulls (if you like Finnish Hillbillies )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Ao-iNPPUc

Utterly brilliant, why have I not come across this before ?? Have had to watch it three times.

Obviously fantastic musicians but I wonder if the image is genuine, I suspect not but not knowing any Finn's I can't be sure.

[doug2500]

Not a cover, but I got sucked into watching more stuff on youtube. This is worth a few minutes of your time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZlFOZMPbdY

[RockRabbit]

Beatles' "While my guitar gently weeps" covered by Petty, Winwood, Lynne, Prince et al (boy could Prince play the guitar, watch from 3:28 onwards)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWRCooFKk3c

[Hallucigenia]

I do like a different take on a song, I think it's invidious to say they're "better", but these are some I enjoy, even if some are guilty pleasures :

Little Roy takes Nirvana's Lithium to Jamaica :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy9y1uxpgrM

The Wombats cover Bleeding Love whilst not entirely sober :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0myiDYa2PQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjIOlZVRzd8 (tidied up for an awards show and not as good)

You're The One That I Want from the Golddiggas, Headnodders and Pholk Songs album, which saw The Beautiful South covering everything from the Ramones to S Club :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXKwBvhd-ww (studio version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TYhezTvDGY (with Jools, I'm less keen)

Talking of the Ramones, there's a 1995 album of covers of cartoon themes which includes Liz Phair doing the Tra La La song and one of the Ramones' last recordings, of the Spiderman theme :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JvB5AL59fM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RUxRgM ... nK&index=9

Frisky & Mannish prove "that when you slow a piece of music down, it means... (profoundly, with quiver in voice) everything" with Whigfield's Saturday Night (and a bit of 2 Unlimited)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrNpt-_Yybg
Plus Eternal Flame (and others) as sung by a stalker :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WESu1bbMR9k

I like the arrangement of Gnarls Barklay's Crazy for Charlotte Church & Nelly Furtado even if I'm not so bothered by their singing :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDkOAcADSaM

I definitely prefer Emma Stevens bouncing her way through Riptide over the Vance Joy version :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBk5VoH2BQs

Whereas Elise Trouw's sparse arrangement of Enter Sandman for the Sound of Metal is not necessarily "better" than the original, but does what a good cover should do, taking the song in a very different direction and yet it still "works" :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6CTpN6UMKQ

Talking of versions for films, Marilyn Manson definitely didn't do the best version of Tainted Love but it was on the soundtrack of Not Another Teen Movie about the time a relative was dying of cancer, and it always seemed to be on the radio as I was driving back from the hospital so I have this weird association for it. Quite like his Personal Jesus though :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlf8Aq5edgo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl6fyhZ0G5E

Scott Bradlee has made a career out of arranging pop songs into old styles, here's a 1920s Gangsta's Paradise with Robyn Adele Anderson :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rve03u7oEvI
He's done a ton of others under the Postmodern Jukebox moniker, including Barbie Girl :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ReSV3CCRzg

Although, video aside, that's not my favourite version of Barbie Girl, which is by Ben l'oncle Soul at Radio Twizz (sic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keUxhIPf5Zs

Where to begin with Ice-T/Jay-Z's 99 Problems when you can choose between Hugo's bluegrass version, Barry Chuckle's and the Prodigy remix :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swnudbCnccs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bz4CGa52UHw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SkLKSj9lrc

30 Seconds to Mars do Gaga's Bad Romance and Rihanna's Stay :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lpuHL11rxs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqPATbDhrb4

I've got a soft spot for Sophie Ellis-Bextor's version of Pulp's Do You Remember The First Time? from a "20 years of Britpop" thing the BBC did
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3jbx0L5-88

I wouldn't say it's the best version ever but file under "a curiosity that's much better than you'd expect even allowing for whatever they did to it in the studio afterwards", Gwyneth Paltrow's Do You Wanna Touch Me :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3aMRxHS0sY

And technically not a cover, but Kylie's slow versions of Lucky are so different that effectively they are :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTSRa6QFk8Q

[Newroad]

Hmm.

It's all a bit personal, hence subjective and therefore likely controversial.

A few eclectic examples from me, except perhaps the first, though in each case I like the original quite a lot too

• Blinded by the Light: Manfred Mann - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2raIJ5snMbo
  
  Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: Sara Bareilles (Live) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ozd2ja7mAgM
  
  Back in the High Life Again: Warren Zevon - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo3lxKrjABE
  
  Hallelujah: Andre Rieu (Live) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZb-SVm7eLE

Regards, Newroad

[WickedLester]

Here's one of my favourite cover versions

Cake - I Will Survive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9rCUQjmkxU

[tsr2]

1. Born to run - Frankie goes to Hollywood

No, it's a decent cover, but lacks the punch of the original.

New England, Kirsty MacColl.

[pje16]

New England, Kirsty MacColl.

Cheers
had forgotten about this gem

[terminal7]

Ne me quitte pas - Nina Simone

Next - Scott Walker

You keep me hanging on - Vanilla Fudge

T7

hmmm let's not forget:

God Save the Queen - Sex Pistols

My Way - anybody including Sid V

[pje16]

Beyonce - Halo
LP knocks the spots off it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6X0PqIWfzQ

[kempiejon]

Thunderstruck (AC/DC) covered by Steve'n'Seagulls (if you like Finnish Hillbillies )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Ao-iNPPUc

Utterly brilliant, why have I not come across this before ?? Have had to watch it three times.

If you like Steve'n'Seagulls there's Hayseed Dixie the originators of Rockgrass https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLDOU6 ... iRZ4e-b3Bw

[ReformedCharacter]

Beatles' "While my guitar gently weeps" covered by Petty, Winwood, Lynne, Prince et al (boy could Prince play the guitar, watch from 3:28 onwards)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWRCooFKk3c

Thanks very much for that. Although I know a few songs by Prince I never knew what a prodigious talent he was. 'Stole the show' sums it up.

RC

[RockRabbit]

Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, covered by Jeff Buckley.

I know this has already been referenced above (without a link) but IMHO this is one of the finest covers of all time there and therefore is worth a second reference! I prefer his original studio version, lined below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIF4_Sm-rgQ

[RockRabbit]

Thunderstruck (AC/DC) covered by Steve'n'Seagulls (if you like Finnish Hillbillies )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Ao-iNPPUc

Utterly brilliant, why have I not come across this before ?? Have had to watch it three times.

Or if you prefer a 'classical version' there is the 2cellos' version of Thunderstruck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNVNsuh5B8g

[DiamondEcho]

Vanilla Fudge "Keep Me Hangin' On" on The Ed Sullivan Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dJO47d26kc

The videography from 1968 is rarer and wonderful. It's a shame they're not a more remembered band. That's genuine rock, in it's infancy developing....

Kim Wilde, via her dad pop-impressario Marty Wilde charted but (to me) was flat with a 'Stock, Aitken, Waterman' beat and production:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJZF-skCY-M
Kim Wilde - You Keep Me Hangin' On (Official Video)

Posh and cute (I knew Kim Wilde at the time through my sister). I just wish I'd heard of Vanilla Fudge at the time as it's - Head and Shoulders above.