I’ll put in another thumbsup for “All Along the Watchtower” from Hendrix.
Stevie Ray Vaughan- “Little Wing.”
Big Head Todd and the Monsters’ version of Zep’s “Tangerine”
My hubby loves “The Star Spangled Banner” by Kiss!?!
I don’t think Waits ever recorded that himself, so it’s not really a cover. Great recording by Cash, though.
Another that I think wasn’t mentioned: The Rolling Stones’ “Love In Vain” (Robert Johnson).
I’m always late, and as such, most of my suggestions have been covered.
As for Me First & the Gimme Gimmes - their best cover is the “Phantom of the Opera”.
My personal favourite oddball cover is Jim Carrey doing “I am the Walrus”.
But the best overall cover album ever, is Pat Boone’s “In a Metal Mood”
Bruce Cockburn has also covered this.
The Clash have already received credit in this thread for several excellent covers. To that list, I’ll add:
“Brand New Cadillac” orig. by Vince Taylor
“Police on my Back” orig. by The Equals
“Junco Partner” orig. by Nobody Knows For Sure
In fact, with the exception of “Every Little Bit Hurts” (by Ed Cobb, first recorded by the Small Faces), every song re-made by The Clash was miles above the original version.
I’ll second:
“All Apologies” by Sinead O’Connor
“Pictures of Matchstick Men” by Camper Van Beethoven
And add:
“Animal Farm” by the Judybats (the Kinks)
“Don’t Let me Be Misunderstood” by Elvis Costello (though I always forget who the original is – The Animals, maybe?)
“Hot Burrito #1” by Belly (Flying Burrito Brothers)
“I Hope That I Don’t Fall in Love With You” by 10,000 Maniacs (Tom Waits)
“I Walked With a Zombie” by R.E.M. (13th Floor Elevators)
“Wall of Death” by R.E.M. (Richard and Linda Thompson) – it’s not better, but it is just as good
“Ring of Fire” by Wall of Voodoo (Johnny Cash)
“Ruby’s Arms” by Frente! (Tom Waits)
“Time Won’t Let Me” by The Smithereens
“You DOn’t Love Me Yet” by Bongwater (13th Floor Elevators)
'You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away" by Eddie Vedder (Beatles)
“Withered and Died” by Elvis Costello (Richard & Linda Thompson)
“Stairway to Heaven” by Dread Zeppelin
“Cruella DeVille” by The Replacements
“Underdog” by Butthole Surfers
“Spider-Man” by Ramones
“Because the Night” by 10,000 Maniacs (Bruce Springsteen/Patti Smith)
“New York City” by They Might Be Giants (Cub)
“Victoria” by Cracker (The Kinks)
“Better Things” by Fountains of Wayne (The Kinks)
“Interstellar Overdrive” by Camper Van Beethoven (Pink Floyd)
My ska obsession started with Save Ferris’ cover of Come on Eileen (Dexy’s Midnight Runners).
Single-handedly made me a devotee of their music, and of the entire 3rd wave ska genre!
They also did awesome, awesome covers of Operation Ivy’s Artificial Life and The Waitresses’ Christmas Wrapping. And they do a rockin’ version of the Carnival Cruiseline Jam!
Other favorite covers that are unique/awesome interpretations of the original song are The Smashing Pumpkins’ Landslide (Fleetwood Mac) and My Blue Heaven (Walter Donaldson), and anything by Skankin’ Pickle or Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.
I liked The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire,”
David Bowie’s “China Girl,” and Patti Smith’s “Gloria,” although in each case the original was better.
Elvis Costello - What’s So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding? (Nick Lowe)
Been mentioned before… but the White Stripes cover of Jolene is really, really good.
Before Vanessa Carlton came and wrecked it the Counting Crows version of Big Yellow Taxi was pretty damn good.
My favourite cover ever though isn’t by a “big” band… but might be known around the Country music scene… is a cover of “Paint it Black” by the Cheap Seats… Been covered a lot… but this is a truely brilliant cover of a great song.
Smooth Criminal by Alien Ant Farm, far superior to the original Micheal Jackson version.
The Jam did a great cover of The Kinks’ David Watts, as well as a cracking cover of Get Yourself Together by The Small Faces.
Yet another vote for Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower.” Best cover ever.
I’m gonna second Metallica’s “Turn the Page” and throw in Johnny Cash’s version of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” and AFI’s cover of Misfits “Last Caress”
Tool did a cover of Led Zepplin’s No Quarter that is pretty excellent.
I’ll also add my vote for Nirvana’s version of Where Did You Sleep Last Night (never heard the original though), and Cash’s version of Hurt.
Oh, and Nightwatch Trailer, if you want to hear another most excellent Apocalypica cover, on their Inquisition Symphony album they do a cover of One.
A couple more i thought of…
Yo La Tengo, “Little Honda” (Beach Boys)
Echo & The Bunnymen, “Paint It Black” (Rolling Stones)
The Dickies doing:
Knights in white satin (Moody Blues)
Paranoid (Black Sabbath)
Communication Breakdown (Led Zep)
She (The Monkees)
And I love Jeff Beck’s She’s a woman (The Beatles).
Yeah, anything by Me First is great. I don’t have my list in front of me right now, but I’d say their version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow is one of my favorites.
Luther Wright & the Wrongs - The Wall (in its entirety)
Clapton’s version of I Shot the Sheriff was infinitely better than Bob Marley’s.
A fairly new country artist did a pretty good cover of Flowers on the Wall. (Simon & Garfunkel)
Jim Carey’s delivery of I am the Walrus (Beatles)was absofreakinlutely SUPERB.
I love it.
Metallica - Tuesday’s Gone (skynard)
Kelly Osbourne’s version of Papa Don’t Preach is much better than Madonna.
Moxy Fruvous did pretty damn good covers of both Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Deep Blue Something
and Psycho Killer by the Talking Heads.
Lemonheads - Mrs. Robinson
Some chick band did a damn good version of “I want you to want me”
And somebody recently (Fountains of Wayne, maybe?) did a really good cover of Hit me baby one more time.
I love a good cover, and am especially interested in cross-genre covers. The biggest exception to this is when any country band covers either the Eagles or Janis Joplin, I want to scream.
I applaud him for trying an excellent song by a great artist, but I always thought Clapton’s version was very flat.
Letters to Cleo. HTH, HAND.
Frente! also do a brilliant cover of “Bizzare Love Triangle”(New Order)
My favourites are “Love Will Tear Us Apart” Swans - both Michael G. and Jarboe versions(Joy Division)