I respect Warren Zevon completely, but Dwight Yoakam and Flaco Jimenez’s take on his “Carmelita” is amazing.
Upthread, someone mentioned Aerosmith’s “Come Together.” I think Earth, Wind & Fire did a better job with “Got to Get You Into My Life.”
And finally, Emmylou Harris’ take on Neil Young’s “Wrecking Ball.” Just gorgeous.
“Hurt” by Johnny Cash originally done by Nine Inch Nails is really good. Johnny has a lot of great covers.
If anybody says Madonna’s cover of American Pie, they should be taken out in the backyard and…
No, it doesn’t.
I’ll second Aerosmith’s cover of “Come Together.” I haven’t heard the originals for most of the rest of these, so I really can’t say anything else.
I like Guns 'N Roses cover of “Live and Let Die” better than the original (Paul McCartney?) version.
Yes, Live and Let Die is by Paul McCartney. Although for my part, I hate every Guns ‘N’ Roses cover I’ve ever heard, Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door most of all.
As for a nomination: I’m not going to say Cream’s Crossroads is better than the original, but I think it’s great stuff.
Don’t forget their cover of Why Does the Sun Shine? (a.k.a. The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas)- live version, of course.
Marley, SSSHHHHHHH!!! You could say the same thing about Howlin’ Wolf’s “I Just Wanna Make Love To You,” or Leadbelly’s “Midnight Special,” or “Travelling Riverside Blues,” or “Love In Vain,” or “Train Kep’ A Rollin’,” or …
It’s always just a matter of time before someone says that Jeff Buckley’s “Hallelujah” is orders of magnitude better than Leonard Cohen’s original, so it might as well be me this time.
Buckley? Ooh! Ooh!
This Mortal Coil - Song to the siren (Tim Buckley)
Hey Bad News Baboon:
Whoa! I’m gonna have to go ahead and disagree with you on that one. Stevie Ray Vaughn’s version I’ll give you, but Sting? No.
-Apoptosis
I’ll get me coat…
Beach Boys did it as well. And Blink 182.
Not found the Fortunes version yet…
The Damned - Eloise… better IMO than Barry Ryan.
A second for Johnny Cash’s cover of NIN’s “Hurt”.
The Bauhaus cover of “Ziggy Stardust” is IMHO vastly superior to the (admittedly cool) original.
Thinking of Bowie covers, I thought Beck’s treatment of “Diamond Dogs” on the Moulin Rouge! soundtrack album also improved on the original.
But anyone who thinks the Van Halen cover of “You Really Got Me” beats the Kinks version is just a sicko. 
Alien Ant Farm - Smooth Criminal
Chris Farlowe - Out Of Time
Wayne Gibson - Under My Thumb
[Taxi on it’s way just in case…]
Eva Cassidy-Somewhere over the Rainbow (although I got give it up to Me First and the Gimme Gimmes version and Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s hybrid with “What a Wonderful World”
Emmylou Harris-Love Still Remains (amazing cover of a Kate Wolf song sung with such tenderness)
Never The Bride-Going to California (I just love smokey vocals and this band has 'em, very nice cover of a Zep tune).
Annie Lennox-White Shade of Pale (Smooth Procol Harem cover)
Nanci Griffith-Morning Song for Sally (the saddest song about a short love slipping away originally done by Jerry Jeff Walker)
Okay, just to tidy this up … Jacques Brel first wrote the song in 1961. The Kingston Trio sang it in 1964, and as far as I know were the first to sing the Rod McKuen English translation.
The Fortunes released it in 1969 as far as I can tell, though they probably were singing it before then. The Beach Boys sang it in 1972 (but didn’t release it, prompting producer Terry Jacks to release his own version a year later.)
Not having heard each one I can’t say which is the best, but I can definitely say any of them would be way better than the Terry Jacks version (even if that was the only one to hit #1).
REM’s “Wall of Death”, though only subtly different, somehow has way more emotion than the original (by Richard Thompson).
And another vote for Tori Amos’s “Time”.
Thanks PJ, so Dragon Phoenix was wrong… even though I was MORE wrong:eek:
Scott Walker - Jackie… better than JB IMO (non parle francais)
Bryan Ferry/Roxy Music’s Jealous Guy is better than John Lennon’s any day of the week
If they had those ‘nodding in agreement’ smilies I’d have posted eight of them to that…
Goldfinger’s cover of 99 Red Balloons/Luftballons is way better than Nena’s version.
Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards’ version of To Have and to Have Not owns the original (Billy Bragg, IIRC) version.
Also, Stiff Little Fingers did a song called Johnny Was. So did Bob Marley, who covered who? (I assume SLF covered Marley)
Marley23, come to my rescue on that one.
I like the Dead Kennedy’s cover of “Take This Job and Shove It” better than the Johnny Paycheck version.
I’ll also nominate the Pogues’ cover of “Honky Tonk Woman”, though this will no doubt be blasphemy to Stones fans.
Cowboy Junkie’s cover of “Sweet Jane” deserves some kind of mention, though I can’t say it’s superior to Lou Reed’s version–equal to it, more like.
I’ll second Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt.” I liked the NIN version, but with his voice, Johnny’s able to tap into an entirely different (and maybe deeper) dimension of emotional suffering and loss.
Johnny Was came out on Rastaman Vibration in 1976, and it’s Bob’s song. Apparently SLF recorded it in 1979.