Liked it!
Surprised this one hasn’t come up already:
Proud Mary, Ike and Tina Revue.
Holy shit. That’s sweet.
A Buddhist Monk reminds us we all live in a yellow submarine. Followed by Teenage Lobotomy. Ommm. Ommm. Raaaange…
If you like that Postmodern Jukebox cover, try this one; I really like it:
This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) - Vintage 1940s Swing Talking Heads Cover ft. Sara Niemietz
Paul Simon approved, IIRC. Disturbed - The Sound Of Silence [Official Music Video] - YouTube
Ah, the Easy Star All-Stars! They also did an excellent reggae cover of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s album; this cover of A Little Help From My Friends is actually one of my favorite versions of it!
A lot of my favorite covers have been mentioned, especially the ones that have seen chart success on their own possibly surpassing the original; here are some more not yet mentioned:
Love Rollercoaster, a #1 hit in 1976 for The Ohio Players, covered in 1996 by the Red Hot Chili Peppers for the 1996 movie Beavis and Butthead Do America that is now my preferred version.
Turn The Page was never a chart-topping hit for Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band, though it gets regular airplay on Classic Rock stations; the cover version by Metallica was one of their biggest hits.
Killing Me Softly With His Song was a #1 hit in 1973 for Roberta Flack; but I will always remember being transfixed and blown away the first time I heard the cover version by The Fugees in a dollar store in New York City in 1996 (also a big hit).
(Another time I was so amazed by a great cover that I remember exactly where and when I was when I heard it, is the already mentioned CAKE version of “I Will Survive.”)
Elton John first recorded Country Comfort in 1970; later that same year, it was covered by Rod Stewart in a tribute album to Sir Elton. It’s a tossup to me which I’d prefer on any given listening.
Another Rod Stewart cover I like as much or more than the original: his version of I’m Losing You, particularly for the drum solo not found in the original by the Temptations.
Jackknife Stiletto’s cover of Wannabe (yes, the Spice Girls song) is fantastic.
Dollyrots cover Brand New Key is unique but still very respectful of Melanie Safka’s original.
And who doesn’t like what Big Bad Voodoo Daddy did with the Jungle Book song, I Wanna Be Like You?
More of my favorite covers:
k.d. lang’s rendition of The Beatles’ Golden Slumbers/The End, and of course, her cover of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah
Sinead O’Connor’s version of Nothing Compares 2 U almost doesn’t count, since Prince didn’t record it before she did…
Neil Young’s Only Love Can Break Your Heart has been covered a lot, mostly in the same style as the original piece; the other day, I heard a very interesting version of it by St. Etienne, from the 1990s. It was playing in the background somewhere and I didn’t realize it was a cover for maybe a whole minute (where the original is one of my favorite songs).
Paul Weller had a UK hit that didn’t surface in the US called Wild Wood; I first heard, and prefer, a later remix with Portishead (but still featuring his vocals).
Back in the 1990s, Harvey Danger had a Top 40 hit with their song Flagpole Sitta; but ever since I heard it about ten years ago, I prefer the harder cover by Chiodos.
And just because nobody else is doing it…Simon and Garfunkel’s Sound of Silence after Disturbed made some corrections.
Another transfixing cover version of a song I was already well familiar with: Sting’s Fields of Gold, as done by Eva Cassidy; this cover brought her to some fame, sadly 2 years after her passing away at age 33 of cancer.
The incredible ukelele-driven cover of Somewhere Over The Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole
Not sure if mashups count as a DJ-style version of a “cover”, but these two are awesome, mad genius crossbreeds:
Stayin’ Alive In The Wall (Bee Gees/Pink Floyd)
Justify My Whole Lotta Love (Madonna/Led Zeppelin)
Also in the “dubious cover” category - my kids showed me this on YouTube a while ago, of a pianist who plays non-ragtime music in ragtime style upon request; I long for the day I can hear The Canadian National Anthem (ragtime) that starts at 0:57 played before a hockey game… And when’ the last or next time I’ll hear Deutschland Ueber Alles and go “a-ha-cha-cha!” at the end?
Jeff Beck’s version of Since We’ve Ended As Lovers
Some of my favorites:
Where is my Mind? (Pixies covered by Trampled by Turtles)
Your Woman (White Town covered by Princess Chelsea)
Down with the Sickness (Disturbed covered by Richard Cheese)
Apparently Gloria Gaynor is not a fan of that version, but I like it.
In that vein, I give you Krishna Das’s “Sri Angala Stotram”. It’s a long and unusual cover of Foreigner’s “I Want To Know What Love Is?” I like it way better than the original.
One of my other favorites is REM’s cover of John Lennon’s #9 Dream. It’s from the compilation album Instant Karma -The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur.
The album is composed entirely of John Lennon covers and there are some really good ones. I highly recommend it if you like such things.
Puddles covers the Who and Johnny Cash. Simultaneously. Sort of.
Chantel Kreviazuk - Leaving on a Jet Plane Chantal Kreviazuk - Leaving On A Jet Plane (Video) - YouTube
Anything by Tragedy but here’s Stayin Alive TRAGEDY - Stayin' Alive (official video) - YouTube
Street Spirit by The Darkness The Darkness - Street Spirit (Fade Out) - YouTube
Lisa Hannigan - Oh You Pretty Things Lisa Hannigan | Oh! You Pretty Things - YouTube
Irreplaceable - Robbie Fulks Irreplaceable - YouTube
btw the aforementioned Radiodread album - Toots and The Maytals are the band playing Let Down on there.
MiM