Covers That Are Better Than The Original Songs

[Hollowway]

Man, I worry this is turning into a "see what cover songs you can think of" thread instead of a which ones are better thread.

Anyway, one of my all time favorites (largely because I LOVE Joan Jett):


and this one was a risky cover, but they (he) knocked it out of the park (I couldn't find the studio version online, so this is a live version):


And another:


And another:

 

[flexkill]

Hayseed Dixie "Gin & Juice" One of the best hip hop covers ever!!!!

 

[StevenC]

In Held Twas in I by Transatlantic, originally by Procol Harum:

 

[Amonihil]

 

[ghost_of_karelia]

In Flames - Land Of Confusion - YouTube

Yup. Genesis are amazing, but this tops the original.

 

[Draceius]

Can't post the video due to internet issues, but machine head's cover of Hallowed be thy name.

 

[wankerness]

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/general-music-discussion/221102-whats-best-cover-your-opinion.html

I will never think that Johnny Cash song is better than the original, hearing an old dude mumble about his (nonexistent) heroin addiction seems ridiculous every time. Plus all the chords have been changed to the standard basic guitar chords that every bad guitarist uses, making it less interesting musically. The original is highly overwrought, yes, but I really feel like if some random old fart that wasn't Johnny Cash had done that cover in exactly the same way basically no one would have liked it. It seems like something the producer handed him and told him to do cause it would make his album sell more. And then his wife died which made the silly video seem much deeper than it would have otherwise.

Do people really think that Opeth cover of "Would?" is better than the original? I feel like most of why the original is so amazing is just how great Staley sings on the chorus, which is totally lost in every cover of it I've heard (Metallica, Opeth are the only two I can think of offhand). What do you think is better about it? I think it's a completely faithful cover and is about as good as one can be, but his voice on the chorus is so smooth, Staley sounded like he was shredding his throat and it was just so much more haunting.

On topic, Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah" is my go-to answer, I see it was posted already, as it should be! I agree that much of Garage Inc is better than the originals. Dillinger Escape Plan's "Come to Daddy" almost qualifies, but the original is probably better. It's still one of the most entertaining covers ever.

I'm also somewhat of a Tori Amos fanboy and think some of hers from the pre-scarlett's Walk era, when her voice was at full power, are better than the originals. Most of "Strange Little Girls" is, for example. Besides "Raining Blood" and "Enjoy the Silence," anyway. Not that hers are bad at all, just that the originals are untouchable Standouts are Rattlesnakes (lloyd cole), Time (tom waits), famous blue raincoat (leonard cohen), Desperado (the eagles).







I'm huge on this guy's cover of the Pixies' "Where is My Mind," but I know most people love the original (I'm not one of them). I think this one is really hauntingly beautiful and really managed to focus in on parts of the original that I never really noticed. Note: this is NOT the terrible re-done version for "Sucker Punch" that had the lead actress tunelessly wailing on parts of it.



Oh, and this, the one live track on A Change of Seasons I listened to a lot:

 

[zakattak192]

Killswitch's cover of Holy Diver by Dio is fucking way better than the original.

 

[ghostred7]

LOL Wut image here

LOL....I couldn't make it through 2 bars of the chorus of the Killswitch remake. Talented guys, but just didn't like what they did with it.
-------------

Floyd's "Time" remade by Wrathchild America


Aerosmith's "Nobody's Fault" by Testament


Burl Ives' (yanno...that snowman narrator on the Rudolph they show every Xmas) "Ghostriders in the Sky" (2 that are better than orig IMO)
Children of Bodom

Johnny Cash & Willie Nelson


Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" by VH


The Who's "The Real Me" by WASP


Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl" by Type O- (since I got ninja'd on Summer Breeze LOL)


The Kinks' "You Really Got Me" by VH (do I really need to link this one? LOL)
Louis Prema's "I'm Just A Gigalo/I ain't Got Nobody" by David Lee Roth

 

[vick1000]

 

[groverj3]

I'm not big on Periphery, but their cover of One by Metallica is better. Simply because the production on that whole album sucks balls... and not in the pleasurable way either.

 

[yingmin]

I'm also somewhat of a Tori Amos fanboy and think some of hers from the pre-scarlett's Walk era, when her voice was at full power, are better than the originals. Most of "Strange Little Girls" is, for example. Besides "Raining Blood" and "Enjoy the Silence," anyway. Not that hers are bad at all, just that the originals are untouchable Standouts are Rattlesnakes (lloyd cole), Time (tom waits), famous blue raincoat (leonard cohen), Desperado (the eagles).

As much as I adore Tori Amos, Strange Little Girls didn't really do it for me. Incidentally, I'm currently arranging Caught a Lite Sneeze for my bluegrass/rock band.

 

[wankerness]

As much as I adore Tori Amos, Strange Little Girls didn't really do it for me. Incidentally, I'm currently arranging Caught a Lite Sneeze for my bluegrass/rock band.

She picked too many boring and obscure songs on it, I think. It doesn't feel like a real LP, especially considering that it came out between From the Choirgirl Hotel and Scarlet's Walk, both of which I love. I'd rank it near the bottom of her discography but it's still certainly listenable and about half of it is very good. I'd rank her albums something like Little Earthquakes>To Venus and Back>From the Choirgirl Hotel>Scarlet's Walk>Boys for Pele>Under the Pink>American Doll Posse>Strange Little Girls>Midwinter Graces>The Beekeeper>Abnormally Attracted to Sin. Didn't really like that classical one at all and the recent greatest hits thing was pretty darn pointless, all the old songs were a lot weaker vocally and the orchestra arrangements didn't add much (half the songs already had them in the first place!). But yeah, I was a raging fanboy for years, I even bought that very expensive box set retrospective from like 2007!

How are you arranging that, by the way? I've heard a guitar version of it with capo'd fingerpicking emulating the harpsichord part, are you going that route?

 

[Dan]

and (conroversially)

 

[donray1527]

What about In this Moment's cover of "Call me", or Metallica's Bob Segar cover?

 

[oracles]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfxScuK3Qy4

 

[Basti]

I rage bit inside every time Johnny Cash's Hurt comes up. He made plenty of amazing songs and that wasn't one of them. It only strikes a chord with people because he sounds old and shaky and because he subsequently died. Uuugh. Cash to Cash and Hurt to NIN, there's enough brilliance to go around. Now I'll go and cry black tears under my fringe.

On topic, John Cocker's With a Little Help from my Friends at Woodstock. But then I love Woodstock a lot more than I love the Beatles.

 

[Kwirk]

 

[yingmin]

She picked too many boring and obscure songs on it, I think. It doesn't feel like a real LP, especially considering that it came out between From the Choirgirl Hotel and Scarlet's Walk, both of which I love. I'd rank it near the bottom of her discography but it's still certainly listenable and about half of it is very good. I'd rank her albums something like Little Earthquakes>To Venus and Back>From the Choirgirl Hotel>Scarlet's Walk>Boys for Pele>Under the Pink>American Doll Posse>Strange Little Girls>Midwinter Graces>The Beekeeper>Abnormally Attracted to Sin. Didn't really like that classical one at all and the recent greatest hits thing was pretty darn pointless, all the old songs were a lot weaker vocally and the orchestra arrangements didn't add much (half the songs already had them in the first place!). But yeah, I was a raging fanboy for years, I even bought that very expensive box set retrospective from like 2007!

How are you arranging that, by the way? I've heard a guitar version of it with capo'd fingerpicking emulating the harpsichord part, are you going that route?

Haha, wow, my order would be very different. Boys for Pele is not only, in my opinion, her best album, but also one of my top ten favorite albums of all time. After that is Choirgirl, then Under the Pink, then Scarlet's Walk. Those are the only albums I own. I've heard Little Earthquakes and To Venus and Back once; Earthquakes wasn't bad, but didn't grab me, and I remember really not liking Venus for some reason. I should probably give them both a shot again. I haven't heard anything after Scarlet's Walk that would convince me to buy an album.

As far as my arrangement, it's mostly going to be banjo and mandolin. I'm working on the banjo part first, because that's what I play in this band, and it will carry most of the melody. Mandolin will probably be doing more chordal, rhythmic work.

 

[wankerness]

Boys for Pele is the first one I heard and it was so inaccessible I pretty much listened to it twice and then never listened to anything by her again until about 4 years later when someone made me listen to Little Earthquakes. Subsequent listens made me realize it's about half perfection (Marianne, Caught a Lite Sneeze, Hey Jupiter, Putting the Damage On, Father Lucifer), but it just veers into weirdness and her making crazy poltergeist girl noises too often and it's way too long. Songs like "Doughnut Song" and "Agent Orange" and "Twinkle" I would not miss at all if they were removed. It's sort of a companion piece to Under the Pink, which is similarly hit and miss, but that one's too SAFE while Pele is too...not safe. "Baker Baker" and "Cloud on my Tongue" are two of my all-time favorite songs by her though.

Little Earthquakes has the most emotional impact for me and has her most urgent vocal performances. "Tear in Your Hand" and "Mother" are my two favorite songs by her and the album closing pair of "Me and a Gun" and "Little Earthquakes" is perfection, it really sounds like some kind of death and rebirth. All the popular songs (Winter, Silent All These Years, Crucify, Precious Things, Girl) are gold too.

"To Venus and Back" is sort of a more focused, slightly more poppy version of "Choirgirl Hotel," I pretty much disregard the second disc when talking about it since that's just a live set. Though the version of "Space Dog" (a very overlooked song from Under the Pink) on there is amazing and blows the studio version away.

I hated "American Doll Posse" for a while but after a lot of listens and seeing her live on that tour I really started to like several of the songs (Code Red, Bouncing on Clouds, Beauty of Speed, Almost Rosie, Dragon, Girl Disappearing, Secret Spell). The guitar tone is atrocious and the lyrics are frequently cringe-worthy but a lot of the songs are pretty darn good. "The Beekeeper" sounds like a Lifetime Original Movie in audio form or something, there are a couple decent songs but overall it's WAY too bland and safe. The "Christmas" album was surprisingly good, there are a few songs at the end that are classics (Our New Year, Winter's Carol) and "Jeanette Isabella" is nice but there's some real crap in the first half, especially "Star of Wonder."

So yeah, you should relisten to those albums! And post that cover when it's recorded imo.