10 Covers Better Than the Original

Attila · 2011-11-19T09:52:15+00:00

10 Covers Better Than the Original Written by The Guitar Squid November 17, 2011 3:46 PM Sometimes a song just needs a breath of fresh air, but more often it takes a complete overhaul. Musicians have been covering popular songs, or even obscure songs for that matter, since the beginning of popular music. Sometimes those covers are complete reinventions of the song, taking a good song in a new, exciting direction. Sometimes guitarists can take an electronic song and make it a beautiful troubador ballad. Or, sometimes pop drivel can become a grunge rock masterpiece. Sometimes the covers are just awful. For whatever reason, these 10 covers, some well-known, some not so known, are better than the original tune. Obvious choices like "All Along the Watchtower" were not included because, well, everyone knows about those. Do you know of any not so well-known covers that are better than the original? Let The Squid know! The White Stripes - "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" Originally written by Burt Bacharach and made popular in the '60s by Dusty Springfield, The White Stripes version really summons the heartbreak and anger this song needed to put it over the top. The crunchy guitars and Whammy lines don't hurt, either. = Jose Gonzalez - "Heartbeats" Originally written and recorded by Swedish electro-pop duo The Knife in 2002, Jose Gonzalez put the song to his guitar and made this lovely cover, helping to propel both versions of the song into the spotlight. = Jeff Buckley - "Hallelujah" If you haven't heard this cover of the Leonard Cohen's now well known tune, you might have been living under a rock the past few decades. Originally made popular by The Velvet Underground's John Cale, guitarist Jeff Buckley performed a chilling rendition of the song on his debut album Grace. = The Gourds - "Gin and Juice" What could be better than taking a well-known '90s Snoop Dogg song and completely reinventing it as a killer bluegrass tune? Not much if you're a fan of some good ol' twang. = Pantera - "Cat Scratch Fever" While the Pantera boys didn't do a whole lot different with this classic Ted Nugent track, they brought a certain heaviness to the song that was much needed. = Ryan Adams - "Wonderwall" When Noel Gallagher says this about Ryan Adams' cover of the Oasis hit, you know that the cover is better than the original: "I never got my head round this song until I went to see heard Ryan Adams play and he did an amazing cover of it. So now I'm going to cover one of my own songs in the style of Ryan Adams." = Local H - "Toxic" Taking on a pop diva like Britney Spears is no small task. "Toxic," the shiny, over-produced 2004 Spears' single was already an earworm that the masses had eaten up before Chicago duo Local H released their stripped-down, dirty, distorted version in 2005, providing a much needed breath of fresh air to the catchy tune. Oh, and more Whammy usage never hurts. = Rage Against the Machine - "Maggie's Farm" Say what you will about this polarizing band, but this downright heavy cover of the classic Bob Dylan tune just seems like the natural evolution of what Dylan was trying to accomplish when he went electric. Plus, Zach de la Rocha brings a necessary anger to the song that was missing in the original. = Andy McKee - "Africa" When a great soaring melody like the one found in this Toto hit sounds dated thanks to heavy use of synthesizers and '80s production techniques, it's high time for a great guitarist to make a timeless cover of a good song. = Johnny Cash - "Hurt" Again, if you haven't heard The Man in Black's cover of this Nine Inch Nails tune yet, you've been living under a rock. One of Cash's last recordings, the song and the video won countless awards in 2003 and 2004. =

Malkav

Giggsy wrote It all comes down to opinion though, doesn't it. While 99% of the people on here will agree that any cover of a Britney Spears/Katy Perry/Celine Dion/whatever song is better than the original, millions of tweenagers and radio listeners will disagree

Yes, and these are all people who's opinions are invalid as they are not active music enthusiasts ?

Especially tweenagers, I mean come on which generation do you think is keeping Justin Bieber going...

Yes I do mean this in jest

giggsy

Chad Adam Browne wrote
Giggsy wrote It all comes down to opinion though, doesn't it. While 99% of the people on here will agree that any cover of a Britney Spears/Katy Perry/Celine Dion/whatever song is better than the original, millions of tweenagers and radio listeners will disagree
Yes, and these are all people who's opinions are invalid as they are not active music enthusiasts ?

Especially tweenagers, I mean come on which generation do you think is keeping Justin Bieber going...

Yes I do mean this in jest

The sad thing is that they do have the power to transform someone like Bieber into a global superstar whie many more talented musicians struggle to make ends meet! :-\

stu

Anything originally by Bob Dylan

Jack-Flash-Jr

stu wrote Anything originally by Bob Dylan

Nooooooo... not anything... I can't imagine anyone else singing Highlands for example...

Squonk

Infidels in the 80's was a good Album by Bob, can't see anyone doing better covers. Bob did a great Knocking on Heavens door with The Band on Before The Flood, makes the GnR version seem tame

Bob-Dubery

Has there been a version of "Just Like A Rolling Stone" that can stand comparison to the original? Brothers and Sisters, I say that it is not so.

I'm not a fan of the entirety of Dylan's oeuvre, but the delivery on his classic early albums is unerring. A lot of folks, including His Zimness himself, have turned "Blowing In The Wind" into a stadium anthem. Mistake! Dylan's sparse original is a louder whisper.

Squonk

I must admit that Manfred Mann's Mighty Quinn was an improvement on Bob's version.

But I am with you on this one Bob

Jack-Flash-Jr

X-rated Bob wrote Has there been a version of "Just Like A Rolling Stone" that can stand comparison to the original? Brothers and Sisters, I say that it is not so.

It is so.

=

Blues-Brother

Whiskey in the Jar by:

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or

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Trippp

Imagine - A Perfect Circle
Billy Jean - Chris Cornell
The Guitar Man - Cake

Better here would mean I enjoy them more ?

Dingwall

I love these subjective threads.

No matter how great the cover is performed, recorded, changed, sung etc - none would be possible without the original song so in most cases the song writer is probably the real genius. (In most cases....)

Gearhead

Giggsy wrote
Gearhead wrote Mike Flowers Pops redid "Wonderwall" in an awfully slick lounge version and had a bigger hit than Oasis or Ryan Adam ever did.
Seriously doubt that it was a bigger hit than the original

Maybe not (I have been known to exaggerate every now and then), but: "The most famous cover version was an easy listening arrangement by The Mike Flowers Pops, which reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart, just as the Oasis original had done two months earlier." - Wikipedia.

giggsy

Gearhead wrote
Giggsy wrote
Gearhead wrote Mike Flowers Pops redid "Wonderwall" in an awfully slick lounge version and had a bigger hit than Oasis or Ryan Adam ever did.
Seriously doubt that it was a bigger hit than the original
Maybe not (I have been known to exaggerate every now and then), but: "The most famous cover version was an easy listening arrangement by The Mike Flowers Pops, which reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart, just as the Oasis original had done two months earlier." - Wikipedia.

?

The song was released as the third single from the (Oasis) album in October 1995. "Wonderwall" reached the top ten on 13 charts, including topping charts in New Zealand, Australia, and the United States. The single was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry and certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. Wonderwall reached number two in the UK Singles Chart. In the U.S., it peaked at number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart for an unprecedented ten weeks, and reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. It proved to be a major hit in Australia, New Zealand and Spain by claiming the #1 spot in all three countries. It finished at #10 in the end of year charts for 1995 and #26 in the end of decade charts for the 1990s in the UK. - Wikipedia. As opposed to Mr Flowers who just did well in the UK.

8)

joealien22

Joh! You just got Lawyered!

aubs1

Anyone mention this one ?

=

Hammeron

Aubs1 wrote Anyone mention this one ?

=

Yea, he did that at Woodstock....brilliant. Better too.....

Stubbs

el-guapo

Sorry if resurrecting this thread is considered bad form, but I was itching through three pages for someone to pick up Joe Cocker's Get By With a Little Help. Original is fun, but quite average. Cocker turned it into one of the most brilliant, soulful recordings of our time.

Guns 'n Roses had two corkers: Knocking on Heaven's Door and Live and Let Die. The former has a power the original never had, and not just because of the fact that they're a rock band and it includes several fantastic solos: changing the Am in the chorus to a C differentiates the chorus from the verse and completely elevates the song. Live and Let Die has the drive that was always latent in Macca's original but remained unleashed. I would say both covers are better than the originals.

And then we have Wet Wet Wet's Love Is All Around: horribly overplayed at the time, yes, but it is a spectacularly emotive rendition of a song whose original is just bouncy and annoying.

Prince's Nothing Compares to you is good, but Sinead O'Connor's is amazing.

And who else forgot that Urge Overkill was covering Neil Diamond with Girl, You'll be a woman soon?

Crafty

Lissie did a cover of Fleetwood mac's go your own way. I prefer the lissie version by far! I'm also a huge fleetwood fan!

studmissile

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