I was listening to Susan Tedeschi’s cover of You Got the Silver this morning, and trying to think of good Stones covers. None immediately came to mind – I think we can discount every half-assed bar band’s version of Brown Sugar, don’t you? Joe Cocker did a nice version of Honky Tonk Woman … Lindsey Buckingham does I Am Waiting on his new album … and, uh … ?
Name me some good Stones covers.
Devo – (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
The Flying Burrito Brothers – Wild Horses
Ah, good one.
Unless you were asking for Stones covers which were "hits’, I’d like to suggest anything off Paint It Blue a cd of Stones hits done in true blues fashioned by various artists.
“Heart of Stone” by Joe Louis Walker is a favorite.
Then of course there are the Stones’ covers of songs which might not have been hits before they did them, and in that case I would like to throw in Molly Hatchet’s version of “It’s All Over Now”.
Quasi
Holmes Bros. doing Beast of Burden? I ordered a copy.
You may laugh, by Linda Ronstadt did a surprisingly passionate rendition of “Tumbling Dice”. Hard-to-impress critic Robert Christgau says it beats the Stones version- I wouldn’t go that far, but it is decent.
“Gimme Shelter” by the Sisters of Mercy: just what you’d expect from that cover, except it works for some odd reason.
Tori Amos – “Angie”
The Black Crowes did a great cover of Wild Horses.
Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve sampled the Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of The Last Time. So much so they had to give songwriting credit.
:smack:
You said good Stones covers.
My bad.
Robert Johnson did a very nice cover of “Love in Vain.” 
I’m partial to the Folksmen’s cover of “Start Me Up” on the [url+http://www.columbiarecords.com/amightywind/]A Mighty Wind soundtrack.
I knew I was gonna screw that up.
Marianne Faithful’s “Sister Morphine” is quite good. May not count as an actual cover though. (Uncredited for lyrics.)
The New Riders of the Purple Sage have a great live version of “Dead Flowers”. (Jerry Garcia on the pedal steel.) There’s also a version by Townes Van Zandt on the “Big Lebowski” soundtrack that might be better known but isn’t as good.
The Sundays did a cover of “Wild Horses” that was popular and has been used in commercials. (Now that’s a stamp of quality right there!)
I have a copy of the original 45 release of “As Tears Go By” in the original sleeve, with a picture of the Stones on it, looking pensive. It’s a good cover and protects the record real fine.
That’s what you meant, right?
yes, yes, ftg is dead on, assuming hers didn’t come first, Marianne Faithful’s “Sister Morphine” is a drugged out masterpiece. It stomps all over the Stones version, which has weird vocals by Mick that don’t match the despair of the lyrics. You really can think the song is actually happening to her while she is singing- scary stuff. The flip side “Something Better” is great as well.
I’m not a huge Stones fan, but when I was visiting my sister in Savannah, GA, we went to a bar where this blues band Too Blue (Two Blue? I bought two CDs and they use a different ‘too/two’ on each) was playing. One one of their CDs they do a really great, raw, light version of Jumpin’ Jack Flash that actually makes the song worth listening to.
I can’t think of any really good Stones covers. (As noted above, Marianne Faithfull’s “Sister Morphine” doesn’t count, since she basically wrote the song in the first place.) But a few are OK…Blood Sweat & Tears did an ambitious take on “Sympathy for the Devil” that, while not completely successful, was at least interesting. The Residents did a suitably frustrated version of “Satisfaction.” Ike & Tina Turner’s “Honky Tonk Women” wasn’t bad.
Why do you think that is?
Although there are a couple of exceptions – noted in the OP – I tend to agree with you. What is it about the Stones that make them so uncoverable?