Most of the time the original artist does the definitive version of a song, later bands covering it are either a pale imitation or a “homage”, often times that are just plain awful (Dolly Parton singing "Stairway to Heaven? William Shatner singing ANYTHING? Ugh). Sometime, however, the second version of the song surpasses the first. “All Along the Watchtower” is Hendrix’s song, not Dylans. Nobody remembers Big Mama Thornton singing “Hound Dog” three years before the King immortalized it, that’s just silly. To my mind, however, the absolute greatest cover is…
Johnny Cash singing “Hurt”. Watch the video here, it’s amazing. Trent Renzor has talent, and he wrote a powerful song, but Cash came along and simply blew NIN away. Cash picks up his guitar, takes absolute and complete ownership of the song, then hands the guitar back to Trent saying “Nice song Junior, call me in 50 years when you’ve walked the walk”. Simply awesome.
What are some of your favorite covers that rock the socks off the originals?
Patti Smith’s version of “Gloria,” from “Horses.”
No offence to Van Morrison, but Patti nailed that sucker.
A bit more out of the main stream, but Say Hello, Wave Goodbye - Originally done by Soft Cell , but did not reach it’s full potential until David Gray covered it.
Natalie Imbruglia’s cover of Torn is way better than the original version by Ednaswap.
I think Islands’ cover of Waterloo Sunset is far superior to the original.
A lot of people say they like Rufus Wainwright’s version of Hallelujah better than Leonard Cohen’s, but I hate both versions. I hate that song in general.
Blinded by the Light is more often thought of as a Manfred Mann song than a Bruce Springsteen one.
I have found that the song you hear first is the one that sounds ‘right’. Of course a less popular song that someone takes platinum with a cover version will often be heard first as a cover.
I like I Can See Clearly Now by The Holly Cole Trio better (only a little) than the original.
I just discovered Joan Osborne’s cover of Gladys Knight and The Pips’s “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination,” and it’s far superior to the original. You can find it on iTunes.
Gary Jules doing Mad World adds a very different dimension to the song. I wouldn’t say that it’s only his song, but it makes it more relevant than just an 80s sound.
And I’m going to have to disagree about Johnny’s version of Hurt. I’m not saying I don’t like it, and I’m not saying the music isn’t great, but Cash’s voice does something to the lyrics that changes the mood of the song. His voice sounds a bit too matter-of-fact at times during the lyrics, and makes the hurt older, less visceral. I don’t know, maybe the hurt is deeper in the end, but Trent’s seems more in your face about it.
I’ll probably keep listening to the Cash version, but it certainly didn’t supplant the song anywhere close to the way Hendrix did with Watchtower.
IMHO, the Goo Goo Dolls version of “Give a Little Bit” is better than Supertramp’s.
Also, any cover of Bob Dylan by someone who can actually sing is better than the original.
Soft Cell’s cover of “Tainted Love”. No one even knows it’s a cover.
The best example of a cover being better than the original is “Nothing Compares 2 U”. Prince is my man, but my girl Sinead blew his version out of the water.
Also, Sting’s version of “Little Wing” is a trillion times better than Jimmi Hendrix’s.
To be fair, though, Big Mama Thornton didn’t have a chance. Her version could have been a gazillion times better than Elvis’s, and it wouldn’t have mattered.
You kinda have to tread carefully when comparing “white” covers of R&B songs during that era. A lot of those covers became “hits” not because they were better versions but because the originals were sung by the “wrong” people.
There are a lot of great songs are covers of obscure songs.
Nothing compares to you by Sinead O’Connor
I feel for you by Chaka Khan.
Can you tell I am a Prince fan?
I would rate The Fall’s version of “Victoria” over The Kinks’ original.
[QUOTE=monstro]
The best example of a cover being better than the original is “Nothing Compares 2 U”. Prince is my man, but my girl Sinead blew his version out of the water. QUOTE]
As far as I know Prince only sang this in concert after Sinead O’Connor’s version became popular. The original was by the Family.
“War” by Frankie Goes To Hollywood (original by Edwin Starr).
“Smooth Criminal” by Alien Ant Farm (original by Michael Jackson, the King of Pop).
“I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston (original by Dolly Parton).
Too late to edit - Prince is a God in our household, too, but I don’t know if it’s fair to mention him in discussions like this - I think he’s written for everyone in modern music.
Everyone thinks that Aretha Franklin was the original singer of Respect, but the original is by Otis Redding.
Nilsson’s “Without You” beats Badfinger’s
Joe Cocker’s “You Are So Beautiful” beats Billy Preston’s
Anne Murray’s “You Won’t See Me” beats the Beatles’
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s “Mr. Bojangles” beats Jerry Jeff Walker’s
ELO’s “Roll Over Beethoven” beats Chuck Berry’s
Olivia Newton John’s “If Not for You” beats Bob Dylan’s
Janis Joplin’s Me and Bobby McGee against Kris Kristoferson’s original.
Springsteen’s Jersey Girl against Tom Waits’ original
A classic one hit wonder, but The Flying Lizards version of Money (that’s what I want) beats the stuffing out of the Beatles original.