Covers you liked better than the original?

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

I was talking to someone in a mIRC chat room tonight about my favorite cover songs, and as I listed them, I realized that, while I don't generally care for covers and remakes as a rule, among the ones I *do* like, many of them I prefer to the original song. So, I thought I'd list the covers that I like better than the original, and ask if any of you have some as well...

 

My top ten, in no particular order:

 

 

Boyz II Men, of The Beatles' "Yesterday"

Johnny Cash, of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt"

Caron Wheeler, of Stevie Wonder's "Another Star"

Santa Esmeralda, of The Animals' "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood"

Sergio Mendes & the Black Eyed Peas, of Jorge Ben's "Mas Que Nada"

Boyz II Men, of New Edition's "Can You Stand the Rain"

Boyz II Men, of Bobby Caldwell's "What You Won't Do For Love"

Mary J. Blige, of Rose Royce's "I'm Going Down"

Soul IV Real, of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine"

Ray Charles, of Hoagy Charmichael's "Georgia on my Mind"

[Guest Felonies!]

Any non-Beatles version of "With A Little Help From My Friends."

[Kardo 0]

Gary Jules - Mad World

[Perfxion 0]

Almost every Luther track is a cover so....

"A House is Not a Home", "Always and Forever", "Never Too Much", "Don't Want to ba a Fool", "Here and Now" ect.

 

Stevie Wonder's "Knocks me off my feet" by Donell Jones

??? "Its So hard to say goodbye, to yesterday" by Boyz II Men

Smokey Robinson's "My Girl" by the Temptations

Bob Dylan "All Long the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix

Journey's "Open Arms" by Mariah Carey

??? "I Still Believe" by Mariah Carey

Babyface's "Crazy Over You" by 112

[Mr. S£im Citrus 0]

Almost every Luther track is a cover so....

"A House is Not a Home", "Always and Forever", "Never Too Much", "Don't Want to ba a Fool", "Here and Now" ect.

Hold up...

 

Now, I know that Luther *did* a lot of covers, but where did you hear that the songs you mentioned are covers? I know that he covered "House" and "Always," but where did you hear about those other three? Especially "Never Too Much?" Because I'm almost certain that he was the first person to do that song.

 

As far as the ones that you have question marks by:

 

??? "Its So hard to say goodbye, to yesterday" by Boyz II Men

... was originally done by Charm, and

 

??? "I Still Believe" by Mariah Carey

... was done by Brenda K. Starr. Although I have to doubt that you've actually heard the original if you didn't know who actually sung them.

[Hank Kingsley 0]

Depending on the mood I'm in, I tend to enjoy Bowie's cover of the Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together" more. On other days I like them both equally.

[Annabelle 0]

Depending on the mood I'm in, I tend to enjoy Bowie's cover of the Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together" more. On other days I like them both equally.

 

holy shit. you're nuts.

[Copper Feel 0]

Yeah, the Bowie version is better by far.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Saying Bowie did that song better is just short of insane.

 

Anyway, I'll take Husker Du's "Eight Miles High" over the Byrds'.

[Angle-plex 0]

Nirvana's "Man Who Sold The World" over Bowie's, although I do like both versions.

[vivalaultra 0]

The Band's "I Shall Be Released" over Bobby Dylan

This Mortal Coil "Song to the Siren" over Tim Buckley

Big Star "Femme Fatale" over The Velvet Underground

M. Ward "Let's Dance" over Davey "David Bowie" Jones

Red House Painters "All Mixed Up" over The Cars

[Art Sandusky 0]

Thinking Fellers Union Local #282 does "Green-Eyed Lady" better than Sugarloaf ever did.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Big Star "Femme Fatale" over The Velvet Underground

M. Ward "Let's Dance" over Davey "David Bowie" Jones

I hate Big Star's version. How can people criticize Nico's voice yet tolerate the way Chilton mangles that song? As for "Let's Dance," M. Ward's take is a little too jokey, I think.

[vivalaultra 0]

I like Chilton's voice. It's..."emotionally fragile". I don't see how M. Ward's subdued acoustic take is more jokey than David Bowie's synth-pop version.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

"Let's Dance" was Bowie unapologetically trying to fit into what was becoming of pop radio—lightweight, diposable dance-pop. This song, as far as these kinds of things go, was nice (and the one of the few worthwhile moments on the otherwise excerable album of the same name). M. Ward took that song and recorded an acoustic goof of version that runs way too long—which, you know, the original certainly did, too—and should've been relegated to a b-side.

 

I generally love Big Star (the 70s incarnation, anyway), but yikes, "Femme Fatale" is a trainwreck.

[vivalaultra 0]

I guess just count me in as someone who hates Nico's voice. And about the Bowie dance-pop thing...uh...I like "Dancin' in the Streets" by Bowie and Jaggar better than the original. Yeah...good stuff.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

I'm a firm believer that Motörhead's cover "Enter Sandman" beats the fuck out of the original. Ditto for their cover of "Louie, Louie" (though, to be fair, they covered the more popular cover).

[Annabelle 0]

i shall be released was released first by the band. it was done during the basement tapes time which was the big pink time. it was also co-written by manual. there's too many factors to really say its a dylan original. its like saying bowie's china girl is better than pop's china girl. it was a co-written song.

 

i could be totally off base here...

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

I don't think it's unreasonable to argue that the Band didn't really "cover" it; saying otherwise is tantamount to claiming that Sinead O' Connor covered Prince with "Nothing Compares 2 U."

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Oh, and resolved: Uncle Tupelo's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" surpasses the original.

[vivalaultra 0]

Yeah...the Dylan "I Shall Be Released" only came out on the Basement Tapes and I think on a live record...maybe a bootleg. It was co-written by Charlie Manuel and it was pretty much known as, and is known as, a Band song. I just mentioned it cuz somebody gave me shit for saying that my favorite The Band song was "I Shall Be Released" and decried it as shameful that my favorite The Band song is a cover song.

[Annabelle 0]

Oh, and resolved: Uncle Tupelo's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" surpasses the original.

 

uhm, no.

 

not even close.

 

and vivaltura: its richard manual not charlie.

 

and i was the decryer about the cover song thing.

[Murmuring Beast 0]

I prefer GG Allin's 'I Wanna Be Your Dog'.

[Zack Malibu 0]

Sorry MX, but the original version of "I Still Believe" kills Mariah's, IMO.

 

Odd timing for this discussion, as I've just recently dl'd a good amount of cover songs, mostly alt rock covers of 80's and 90's songs. Halifax's cover of "Straight Up" (yes, the Paula Abdul song) is catchy as a motherfucker.

[vivalaultra 0]

Oh, and resolved: Uncle Tupelo's "I Wanna Be Your Dog" surpasses the original.

 

uhm, no.

 

not even close.

 

and vivaltura: its richard manual not charlie.

 

and i was the decryer about the cover song thing.

 

Yeesh, I mixed up the name of the guy from The Band with the manager of the Phillidelphia Phillies. Ridiculous. And I remember you as the decrier, which is why I referenced the decrying, which makes the decrying in this thread seem odd.

[Annabelle 0]

i dont think i accused the band of covering a dylan song. i just consider the basement tapes to be an equal enterprise between the two camps. thats why to call it a solely a band song or solely a dylan song to be a bit off base. its THEIR song. not a cover.

[Gary Floyd 0]

Current 93's cover of Blue Oyster Cult' "Summer of Love" comes to mind.

[Epic Reine 0]

The best version of "I Wanna Be Your Dog" is easily the Slayer version though I don't know if that should count considering they changed most of the lyrics (even changing the title to "I'm Gonna Be Your God").

[vivalaultra 0]

i dont think i accused the band of covering a dylan song. i just consider the basement tapes to be an equal enterprise between the two camps. thats why to call it a solely a band song or solely a dylan song to be a bit off base. its THEIR song. not a cover.

 

You said that it was shameful that my favorite The Band song was a Bob Dylan song, but you could've been speaking of the collaboration and not in the sense of a covering. Ah well, the whole Band/Dylan mutual admiration society produced some good work.

 

On a completely different note, the Iron and Wine version of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights" is much better than the cheesy original, methinks. But, as evident in my preference of M. Ward's version of "Let's Dance" over the Bowie version, I will always prefer a hushed acoustic version over the electro/synth-pop original.

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

I like Clapton's version of "I Shot the Sheriff" better than Marley's. It sounds more....I guess apprpriate to me, but to be fair it's also the version I heard first, which is definately a factor, in my opinion