# Cover songs that are better than the original **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2010, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505 "2010-04-09T08:50:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 8:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/1 "2010-04-09T08:50:39Z")
This has a Cafe Society bent to it but figured this called for opinion so here it is. Personally I _almost_ never like a cover song better than the original. Only rarely do I hear a reinterpreting of a song that I like and even more rarely like better than the original artist’s version. Yet occasionally someone really manages to pull it off in spectacular fashion. I am hard pressed to think of many but would like to find more. To start it off I offer the following: I am a fan of Leonard Cohen. I think he is an amazing lyricist. One of the best set of lyrics I have ever heard is the song _Hallelujah_ by Cohen. Pure poetry, just stunning. I really like his version but he has been upstaged (and willing to bet he loves it). The song _Hallelujah_ has been done as a cover by an unusually large variety of singers. Not surprising since the brilliance of the song is hard to miss and many others wanted a go at it. A Jeff Buckley cover seems to be a favorite but personally I do not care for it. However, K.D. Lang did a cover several years ago at the Canadian Juno Awards that was a show stopper. K.D. Lang herself is amazing with a staggering talent one has to think only god could give. She outdid even herself here. If you know the song and have not seen this you really must check it out (you can thank me later). If you don’t you should anyway. Check it out and, as the thread’s OP suggests, if anyone has other amazing covers to share that’d be great. [Hallelujah](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJTiXoMCppw) (original Leonard Cohen version) [Hallelujah](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_NpxTWbovE) (K.D. Lang version) ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/2 "2010-04-09T09:03:36Z")
Jimi Hendrix’s version of ‘All Along The The Watchtower’ beats Dylan’s original. No competition. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/3 "2010-04-09T09:07:53Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > This has a Cafe Society bent to it but figured this called for opinion so here it is. > > Personally I _almost_ never like a cover song better than the original. Only rarely do I hear a reinterpreting of a song that I like and even more rarely like better than the original artist’s version. > > Yet occasionally someone really manages to pull it off in spectacular fashion. I am hard pressed to think of many but would like to find more. To start it off I offer the following: > > I am a fan of Leonard Cohen. I think he is an amazing lyricist. One of the best set of lyrics I have ever heard is the song _Hallelujah_ by Cohen. Pure poetry, just stunning. > > I really like his version but he has been upstaged (and willing to bet he loves it). The song _Hallelujah_ has been done as a cover by an unusually large variety of singers. Not surprising since the brilliance of the song is hard to miss and many others wanted a go at it. A Jeff Buckley cover seems to be a favorite but personally I do not care for it. > > However, K.D. Lang did a cover several years ago at the Canadian Juno Awards that was a show stopper. K.D. Lang herself is amazing with a staggering talent one has to think only god could give. She outdid even herself here. If you know the song and have not seen this you really must check it out (you can thank me later). If you don’t you should anyway. > > Check it out and, as the thread’s OP suggests, if anyone has other amazing covers to share that’d be great. > > [Hallelujah](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJTiXoMCppw) (original Leonard Cohen version) > [Hallelujah](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_NpxTWbovE) (K.D. Lang version) There may be a similar thread in Cafe Society. I’m too lazy to check at the moment. But I did want to say my favorite cover of that song is [this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2NEU6Xf7lM) (youtube) by four Norwegian Artists. I really like the last one a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/4 "2010-04-09T09:09:03Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > Jimi Hendrix’s version of ‘All Along The The Watchtower’ beats Dylan’s original. No competition. Ooh! Man, can’t believe I forgot that. Actually I think I grew-up thinking Hendrix was the original version and only learned much later it wasn’t. 100% agree on this one. Good call! ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/5 "2010-04-09T09:15:25Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > But I did want to say my favorite cover of that song is [this one](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2NEU6Xf7lM) (youtube) by four Norwegian Artists. I really like the last one a lot. Thanks! I like it too although personally I am sticking with K.D. Lang on this one (will give it a tie with the original which, as noted in the OP, is high praise in my mind). The last, Down’s Syndrome looking guy does have an amazing voice. Would like to hear just him do the whole song solo. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/6 "2010-04-09T09:51:59Z")
I’m not sure how fair this is, but talking about Dylan, there a few artists who have bettered the originals. I say not fair because some of them come from Dylan’s Great White Wonder/Basement Tapes, and so were sort of not officially recorded by him. For example, _This Wheel’s On Fire_, covered by Julie Driscoll and The Brian Auger Trinity, and the Byrds. _The Mighty Quinn_ covered by Manfred Mann. _I Shall Be Released_ and _Tears Of Rage_ by The Band. The Byrds have done Dylan better than Dylan quite often IMO: _Mr Tambourine Man, My Back Pages, You Ain’t Going Nowhere_ for example. ---
**Author:** ![moldmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@moldmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moldmonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/7 "2010-04-09T10:05:24Z")
Cowboy Junkies version of Sweet Jane. I’ve heard that Lou Reed agrees. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/8 "2010-04-09T10:10:22Z")
Another genre that you could almost start a complete thread on is reworking of old blues songs. Of course, as with my Dylan comments above, this could be seen as sacrilege, if you believe the originals are sacrosanct. But I don’t. So my starter for ten is The Doors version of _Back Door Man_, closely followed by Led Zeppelin’s _I Can’t Quit You_ and _You Shook Me_. On a different tack, I have always thought that Mountain’s version of Jack Bruce’s _Theme From An Imaginary Western_ is vastly superior. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/9 "2010-04-09T10:17:16Z")
Johnny Cash’s version of “Hurt” by Nine Inch Nails… takes a song by whiney goths about the self-indulgence of drug use and turns it into a shattering song by an old man contemplating the end of his life. ---
**Author:** ![Seamack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@Seamack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seamack)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/10 "2010-04-09T10:36:37Z")
Sonic Youth covered The Carpenters \*‘Superstar’ \*in an incredibly beautiful fashion. The Clash’s version of Junior Murvin’s _Police and Thieves_ was an update that bettered the original. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/11 "2010-04-09T10:53:38Z")
[Gary Jules cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4) [UB40’s cover of Neil Diamond’s Red Red Wine.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg1iEBWxVeQ) I am usually faithful to the original, but those two stand out. (Often people don’t even know a song is a cover, such as Alien Ant Farm’s version of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal.) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Librarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_librarian/32/402_2.png) [@The\_Librarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Librarian)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/12 "2010-04-09T10:54:43Z")
Cash’s version of ‘desperado’. ---
**Author:** ![tbook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tbook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbook)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/13 "2010-04-09T11:05:25Z")
> [@](#): > > I Heard It Through The Grapevine Smokey Robinson and the Miracles ![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LOFzn_5alVE/maxresdefault.jpg)https://www.youtube.com/embed/LOFzn_5alVE?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque Marvin Gaye [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/jPnZZTVp_2A/hqdefault.jpg "Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through The Grapevine") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPnZZTVp_2A) Credence Clear Water Revival [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zZe9OtFNt_8/hqdefault.jpg "Heard It Through The Grapevine- Creedence Clearwater Revival") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZe9OtFNt_8) As they were realeased it just seemed to me that each was better than the last. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/14 "2010-04-09T11:15:24Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to Cafe Society. ---
**Author:** ![tbook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tbook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tbook)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/15 "2010-04-09T11:18:16Z")
Whack-a-mole: > [@](#): > > I am a fan of Leonard Cohen. I think he is an amazing lyricist. One of the best set of lyrics I have ever heard is the song Hallelujah by Cohen. Pure poetry, just stunning. Absolutely amazing. I first heard Hallelujah on an episode of West Wing. This one by Jeff Buckley: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WIF4_Sm-rgQ/hqdefault.jpg "Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah (Original Studio Version)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIF4_Sm-rgQ) But thank you for putting up the k.d. lang version. It is stunning. ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/16 "2010-04-09T12:13:33Z")
M Ward’s cover of Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” is IMO vastly superior to the original. Red House Painter’s cover of The Cars’ “All Mixed Up” Ditto. I’m on my iPhone right now, I’ll dig up links for both when I get home. Also, while not better, Marah’s cover of Springsteen’s “Streets of Philadelphia” is spectacular…imagine a bluegrass version of what is a pretty haunting song. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/17 "2010-04-09T12:27:59Z")
Joe Cocker doing “Feelin’ Alright,” “The Letter,” and “With a Little Help From my Friends.” ---
**Author:** ![LiveOnAPlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/18 "2010-04-09T12:31:27Z")
I loved Glenn Campbell’s version of “Gentle on My Mind” and still do, but when I heard Lucinda William’s version at the end of Talladega Nights, it just blew me away. Absolutely hauntingly beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/19 "2010-04-09T12:35:06Z")
Bonnie Raitt beautifully covered “Thing Called Love” from the John Hyatt song ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cover-songs-that-are-better-than-the-original/535505/20 "2010-04-09T12:35:11Z")
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