# Best cover versions
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 26, 2008, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070 "2008-01-26T10:00:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Hugh\_Jass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hugh_Jass)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/21 "2008-01-26T18:00:57Z")
Usually I end up preferring the original over the cover. The one time that is not the case is with (Peter Green’s) Fleetwood Mac’s Black Magic Woman. I much prefer the Santana version.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/22 "2008-01-26T18:11:15Z")
[QUOTE=George Kaplin]
I would argue that Joe Cocker’s absolutely [immense](http://youtube.com/watch?v=6FMq0iDX1yE) interpretation of ‘A Little Help From My Friends’ is miles better than the Beatles original. So successful is it that most people don’t know that the Beatles did that song first.
[/QUOTE]
Cocker also did the same with Traffic’s [Feelin’ Alright](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmqQKZPlj6M), The Box Tops’s [The Letter](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoW81x4j7ow), and [Cry Me a River](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMwXPueu-RM). In fact, just about anything by Cocker is the best cover version of the song.
The Beatles did an interesting cover of **Till There Was You**
There’s also the Who’s version of [Summertime Blues](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5euZ3YWLXQ)]
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/23 "2008-01-26T20:00:10Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck]
The Beatles did an interesting cover of **Till There Was You**
[/QUOTE]
And **Anna**. But the definite Beatles cover has to be undenibly, 100% absolutely **Twist & Shout**
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### Author:  [@MrFantsyPants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrFantsyPants)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/24 "2008-01-26T20:02:28Z")
My personal favorite cover-album is [The Smiths is Dead](http://www.discogs.com/release/394682). Billy Bragg’s **Never had no-one ever** is great.
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### Author:  [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/25 "2008-01-26T20:12:39Z")
You have to include Aretha Franklin’s cover of Otis Redding’s “Respect” as another one that completely eclipsed the original.
I must second **Annie-Xmas’s** mention of Wilson Pickett’s “Hey Jude.” Probably my favorite cover of all time! That Duane Allman plays a smokin’ guitar on that song doesn’t hurt a bit!
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/26 "2008-01-26T20:14:58Z")
[QUOTE=It’s Not Rocket Surgery!]
I don’t know if I’d call it the best cover, but the Gary Jules version of [“Mad World”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DR91Rj1ZN1M), [originally](http://youtube.com/watch?v=nXuXikfIYHY) by Tears For Fears, might be the most improved version from the original.
And there are a LOT of songs where the cover version completely supersedes the original. One example: Quiet Riot’s cover of “Cum On Feel The Noize”, originally by Slade.
[/QUOTE]
I prefer The Red Paintings’ cover of Mad World [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU5K_ZDnYyM), which also features The Dresden Dolls.
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### Author:  [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/27 "2008-01-26T21:05:02Z")
Richie Haven’s cover of Jefferson Airplane’s _Comin’ Back to Me_ is almost better than the original and Alison Krauss does a nice countrified banjo-ie [_I Will_ (YouTube with syrupy pictures)](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=WeVF9tyYqb8).
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/28 "2008-01-26T21:35:40Z")
I Can See Clearly covered by The Holy Cole Trio. I like it at least as much as I did the original, and perhaps better.
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### Author:  [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/29 "2008-01-26T21:39:20Z")
Ditto Blue Bayou. Also Elivs Costello’s version of Girls Talk, assuming Dave Edmunds released his first- I can’t recall.
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### Author:  [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/30 "2008-01-26T21:57:37Z")
There’s 10,000 Maniac’s cover of [More Than This](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBBiwusmHLs). It’s apparently post-Natalie, and the video is embarrassingly self-indulgent, but I like their recording better than Roxy Music’s.
Also, Weird Al Yankovic does a polka version of Queen’s _Bohemian Rhapsody_ which is good, though not as good as the original.
[QUOTE=jjimm]
Similarly, apparently Pink Floyd love the [Scissor Sisters’ disco version of _Comfortably Numb_](http://youtube.com/watch?v=ONr5fl-0liQ). I think this version is an affront to human decency, and thus hilarious.
[/QUOTE]
I about laughed my ass off when I first heard that. It _is_ an abomination unto the ear, no doubt, but it has an appeal that I cannot deny. I take it out occasionally to indulge in my secret thrill.
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### Author:  [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/31 "2008-01-26T22:08:50Z")
Speaking of covers of Beatles songs, Earth Wind and Fire’s cover of Got to Get You Into My Life is awesome.
And Bobby McFerrin’s cover of Blackbird is a joy to listen to.
And the Carpenters’ Ticket to Ride has some absolutely beautiful moments.
ETA: Speaking of the Carpenters, there’s a compilation disc of, well, I don’t know what kind of label to attach to them, but they’re not the Carpenters, singing covers of Carpenters songs. The album is called _If I Were a Carpenter_. Does anyone know if there’s anything awesome on that (outside the title)?
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### Author:  [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/32 "2008-01-26T22:12:31Z")
I thought Tori Amos’s cover of [I Don’t Like Mondays](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XirdPLIo7QU) (youtube link) was better than the original by The Boomtown Rats, which was confusingly upbeat.
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### Author:  [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/33 "2008-01-26T22:13:42Z")
[QUOTE=Equipoise]
I’ll play! (she says, of course)
I would never say these are better than the originals, because the originals are classics, but even as biased as I am, I think these are all pretty freaking good. Seriously good.
These are all YouTube video links, audience recordings of live performances…
[/quote]
Wow. I’d only heard Happi Rhodes in “Kate Bush” mode. I had no idea she had that kind of range.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/34 "2008-01-26T23:18:29Z")
The Bangles [Hazy Shade of Winter](http://youtube.com/watch?v=zMEjoNcOMVA) (vs Simon & Garfunkel’s [original](http://youtube.com/watch?v=wSd4QJBEMvk))
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/35 "2008-01-26T23:32:29Z")
[Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfrGV4DhSng) are great, but Springsteen takes it to a [new level](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHa2LmcJUz4).
[Wooden Ships](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0rG2ME4sAc&feature=related) - CS&N
[Wooden Ships](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC0zpuCqo_w&feature=related) - Jefferson Airplane
Who covered who, when the song was written by members of both and released the same year? [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wooden_Ships) says they are both considered the original version, if that is possible.
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### Author:  [@Ritter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ritter)
#### Post date: [January 26, 2008, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/36 "2008-01-26T23:39:34Z")
I prefer Kim Wilde’s ‘You Just Keep Me Hanging On’ and second the Bangles’ cover of ‘Hazy Shade of Winter’.
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### Author:  [@Atropa3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atropa3)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/37 "2008-01-27T01:33:36Z")
Led Zeppelin covers…
Who would have thought Stairway to Heaven still had so much room to grow? This is a class act:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNc5o9TU0t0)
And Fool in the Rain, by OAR. I’m linking their live YouTube version, but the it’s the studio one that I think is better than the original:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-Daf2lzxj0)
(sorry I don’t know how to make my links pretty yet)
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### Author:  [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2008, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/38 "2008-01-27T01:51:07Z")
Favorite cover ever…
Sir Mix-a-Lot’s [Baby Got Back](http://youtube.com/watch?v=9gW6yQZyx5w) by [Jonathan Coulton](http://www.jonathancoulton.com/) (starts at 0:31).
He makes a fun song gorgeous, and yet also hilarious.
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### Author:  [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2008, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/39 "2008-01-27T01:56:36Z")
Aimee Mann did a cover of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” that I prefer over the original.
Ditto for Paul Anka’s version of Oasis’ “Wonderwall”.
And for the movie _A Knight’s Tale_, Queen did an electrifying rendition of that traditional medieval pre-jousting song, “We Will Rock You”.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [January 27, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-cover-versions/435070/40 "2008-01-27T01:59:19Z")
[QUOTE=kaylasdad99]
ETA: Speaking of the Carpenters, there’s a compilation disc of, well, I don’t know what kind of label to attach to them, but they’re not the Carpenters, singing covers of Carpenters songs. The album is called _If I Were a Carpenter_. Does anyone know if there’s anything awesome on that (outside the title)?
[/QUOTE]
I’m very fond of Shonen Knife’s version of Top of the World, from it.
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