Cover songs better than the original

Cafe Society
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“Hallelujah” is a really interesting case, and I think I have to vote for Cohen. Maybe I’ve heard Buckley and Buckley-lite versions too many times for now. He could sing like crazy but he didn’t have any restraint. Maybe he would have gained that in time if he lived. Cohen’s version is just more complex emotionally and it’s not over-the-top, which makes it more interesting for me. The only time I’ve heard it was during Watchmen, and I was very surprised. Of course it totally undercut the scene it was in, but that wasn’t a problem to me.

By contrast, I heard the Buckley version last week during a serious conversation with my girlfriend, and I couldn’t help thinking, “Shit, this is trite.” :stuck_out_tongue:

I think in my ideal rock music world, Bob Dylan has released a couple of albums - because he did nail a few of his songs - but is mostly retired from performing and gave most of his songs to Jimi Hendrix, sort of like a talented, non-ridiculous Jim Steinman.

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Smash Mouth’s I’m a Believer is more fun than the Monkees original version.

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I really like the Bauhaus cover of Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust”. (I’ve also heard a cover of the same song by Nina Hagen that was hilariously bad.)

At their concerts Pearl Jam regularly performs a pretty rockin’ cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World”.

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Sarah Polley does a great job with The Tragically Hip’s Courage. The video is from Atom Egoyan’s brilliant The Sweet Hereafter.

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I prefer kd lang’s Hallelujah cover to Cohen’s or Buckley’s.

I generally hate techno in anything and I don’t like Boy George, but his Crying Game was waaay better than the original (Dave Berry).

66

I have to agree with that one, too, I guess it’s only the second time I’ve thought a cover was better than the original when I heard the original first.

That post reminded me of a truly execrable cover (from Freaky Friday) of Happy Together. Now, I’m not a big fan of the original but the only good part of the original song, the drum bit before the chorus, was entirely taken out. I’ve never seen a modern rock song be so lame in comparison to a 60s original. Again, it’s not like the original was all that edgy but in comparison it totally rocks.

Which also reminds me of the cover of Blue Monday. At least they had the courtesy to sample the best part of the song (again, the drum bit at the end of a verse,) but other than that it was an anemic attempt at a classic.