It feels like a completely different, but more awesome, song. To the point when it played on Scrubs I did not recognize it.
Here’s an odd one - I just tried listening to a couple of the songs from The Beatles: Rock Band over my headphones, and it actually uses a unique mix - a sort of hybrid sound between the better-known mono and stereo releases. The songs are definitely in stereo (for example, you can hear the airplane noise go from right to left in “Back in the USSR,” and the rhythm guitar that opens “Helter Skelter” is panned hard left).
But what’s interesting is that the instrument mixes have clearly been redone, so that the drums and lead guitars share the center space with the vocals. There’s none of the “instruments hard to one side, vocals to the other” stuff that mars the stereo versions of even the 2009 remasters. It gives the older songs that nice thump you get in the mono versions, but with some of the spaciousness of the stereo versions. In a lot of ways, it’s the best of both worlds - kind of like what George Martin did on the “Love” soundtrack, although not nearly as extensive.
There’s some other alterations as well that don’t work quite as well for headphone listening. Harmonix, for gameplay reasons, boosted the instruments so that players can follow what they’re doing. This is especially obvious for guitar, as whatever part is the “lead” at any given moment gets noticeably moved up in the mix.
Overall, though, this is actually how the Beatles have always sounded in my mental “ideal mix version.” The drums sound strong and crisp in the center channel, the bass is richly resonant, and you can clearly distinguish between the separate guitar lines. The songs lose none of their '60s sound (there’s only so much you can do to “modernize” that lovely '60s tone - and why would you want to?!), but benefit enormously from the space and power that only modern mixing technology can produce.
Ahh, if only George Martin would see fit to do a modern mix of the full Beatles catalogue… I’d buy it again in a heartbeat. Hell, I’d buy it right now if it was available, and I just bought the 2009 remaster box set last friggin’ week.
Speaking of Rock Band–Eric Cartman’s version of Poker Face.
The version of Norwegian Wood on the Beatles Anthology CD is better than the regular one, I think.
I like the a capella version of Leave it by Yes better than the original.
I also like School of Fish’s rendition of Father Figure better than the George Michael original.
I own tons of bootlegs, which makes for some agonizing decisions when I’m putting together a playlist for the iPod. Generally, I’ll avoid versions of songs that are on the radio nonstop. So I use the BBC version of “Satisfaction”, a live version of “You Shook Me All Night Long” etc.
My Beatles contribution: This version of “You Can’t Do That” blows away all. I never really cared for that song until I heard that one.
They kind of were. Talking Heads was a four piece band, and I think they had nine people on Stop Making Sense. And yeah, sometimes the studio versions are a little stiff. The live versions are faster and looser and it’s electrifying. I think the biggest improvement is in “Girlfriend is Better,” but “Slippery People,” “Swamp,” “Burning Down the House” - they all get a jolt. And “Crosseyed and Painless” was meant to be performed live.
The lead singer from Matchbox 20, Rob Thomas, did a cover of Time After Time that I like more than the original. I also like Alien Ant Farm’s Michael Jackson covers more than the originals.
Oh yeah, I also really like the version of “No can do” or “I can’t go for that” that Daryl Hall did with Chromeo. Skip forward to 3:46 for the actual song.
I like Dwight Yokem’s version of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” better than Queen.
If you haven’t heard Jake Shimabukuro’s cover of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” do yourself a favor.
I love the acoustic version of Dead Man Walking which David Bowie played on Conan’s old show. It fits the sad, soulful tone of the song much better than the upbeat electronic track included on the Earthling album.
I prefer many of Ahmond’s songs on the original demo to the subsequent wide release LP versions.
John Entwistle’s version of “My Wife” on “Rigor Mortis Sets In” is better than The Who’s earlier version on “Who’s Next”.
I was never much of a fan of Indigo Girls but my friend put a couple of live versions of their songs on a tape for me years back and I loved them. I think it was Closer To Fine and Galileo.
The Automatic Baby (ie half REM, half U2) version of One has always been my preferred version.
Weezer’s live acoustic version of “Jamie” from the “Say it Ain’t So” single is vastly superior to the plugged version from Geffen Rarities.
Jimmy Eat World’s original version of “Sweetness” is also vastly superior to the re-done version from Bleed American
Let’s see, what else?
Hanson’s acoustic version of “Penny and Me” is better than the album version (yes, I do like that song).
Ditto the version of “Polly” from Nevermind versus the other version from Incesticide. OTOH, I enjoy the Unplugged version of “Come as You Are” better than the album version.
Concrete Blonde has a live version of Tomorrow, Wendy on a few of their albums (like Recollection) that is a different arrangement than the Bloodletting album version that I prefer. Ramones have some live versions of songs on the Rock N Roll High School soundtrack that are the definitive versions. Roy Orbison was one of the few artists that never lost his voice the older he got and each new recording he did of a classic was better than the last. Years of experience added to the sorrow in those songs compared to the early 60s studio versions. Also, another vote for Talking Heads Stop Making Sense. My favorite improved version is Psycho Killer.
On the two albums of theirs that I have, Five Finger Death Punch has a couple acoustic versions of their songs that are better than the plugged in versions. Likewise, I think I like Breaking Benjamin’s acoustic version of “The Diary of Jane” better than the plugged-in version.
I like the Cramps version of Lonely Town better than Ricky Nelson’s.
Bruce Springsteen is a master at this, especially when it comes to live versions that are different than the original album versions.
He reworked many of his own songs for the Seeger Sessions tour, and I personally like that version (found on Live in Dublin) of Growin’ Up even better than the original, which is one of my favorites to begin with. 
Likewise, I really like the solo piano version of For You better than the original- much more moving IMO.
I also prefer the acoustic version of Born in the USA, because I think it conveys the feeling of the lyrics better; I think the rocking music contributed to the song being misinterpreted by many.
On the other hand, the recent live “blues” version he did of Reason to Believe was simply stunning compared to the acoustic album cut, as was the hard rock version of The Ghost of Tom Joad, which I like because, well, it rocks! 
He did have a little help from Tom Morello on that one, but they did play the song with Nils Lofgren doing the killer guitar solo.
Tom Joad acoustic:
Rockin’ Tom Joad (with Morello):
Reason to Believe “Blues”
Ohhhh.
Thank you.