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Va Lefty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 11:36 AM
Original message
Cover songs that were better than the original
Most "covers" suck. They just make you think how good the original was, but occasionally a band or artist makes a version of a song that is superior to the original. What are some "covers" you think were better than the original?

My short list:

CCR- "Heard It Through The Grapevine"
Metallica- "Turn The Page"
The Clash- "I Fought The Law"
Jimi Hendrix- "All Along The Watchtower"
Sinead O'Connor- "Nothing Compares to U"
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guitar man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 11:41 AM
Response to Original message
1. Earth Wind and Fire
"Got to Get You Into My Life"

fantastic arrangement and performance :thumbsup:
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Westegg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 02:01 PM
Response to Reply #1
34. Great version. But not better, IMO.
Paul's vocal on the original is one of his best ever. That's prime-cut Beatles, baby. EW&F came close, though.
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guitar man Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 02:07 PM
Response to Reply #34
35. yeah I agree
the vocals on the Beatles version are hard to beat, but instrumentally, EWF blew them away. I guess being primarily an instrumentalist biases my thinking a bit :D
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SteppingRazor Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 11:44 AM
Response to Original message
2. I got a good one -- Cat Power doing "How Can I tell You" on those diamond commericals...
Edited on Wed Oct-17-07 11:53 AM by SteppingRazor
is better than Cat Stevens' original.

On edit: Also, just about everything Janis Joplin ever sang.
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 11:47 AM
Response to Original message
3. Tori Amos -- "'97 Bonny and Clyde"
Also, Tom Waits -- "Sea of Love"
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La Lioness Priyanka Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 11:51 AM
Response to Reply #3
5. Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Orrex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 12:01 PM
Response to Reply #5
11. Great minds
And a damn fine cover.
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LynneSin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 11:51 AM
Response to Original message
4. "Personal Jesus" by Marilyn Manson, "Get Down Make Love" by Nine Inch Nails and...
"Can't Get it Out of My Head" off the newest Velvet Revolver album.
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Mad_Dem_X Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 01:40 PM
Response to Reply #4
29. NIN did "Get Down Make Love"???
OMG, I would love to hear that!

I'm nto a big fan of VR's ELO cover. It's too rockin'. "Can't Get It Out of My Head" is a lovely, dreamy kind of song.
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LynneSin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 11:54 PM
Response to Reply #29
43. Yes, it was the flip side of "Sin" CD single
Almost impossible to find in the stores or available through downloads but I found a copy.
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Texasgal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 11:51 AM
Response to Original message
6. My fav?
Killing me softly- The fugees. Lauren Hill is awesome!
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MrCoffee Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 11:53 AM
Response to Original message
7. i had no idea that Nothing Compares 2 U was a cover...i thought Prince wrote it for her
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Va Lefty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 12:12 PM
Response to Reply #7
16. Prince wrote it for The Family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothing_Compares_2_U
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Bennyboy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 11:55 AM
Response to Original message
8. Just a few (hundred)
Grateful Dead: Good Lovin, Not Fade Away,Used to Love Her, Mama Tried,and any Bob Dylan song they covered. Dylan said he would like the GD's arrangement better than his own and use their arrangement instead.

Bruce Sringsteen: Quarter to Three, Detroit Medley, WAR, Who'll stop the rain,

Santana: Black Magic Woman.(Fleetwood Mac)

Hendrix (and many others) All Aong The Watchtower


But the all time live cover band is The String Cheese Incident.They covered so many songs and made them all better than the orignal. From jazz to bluegrass.
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MrCoffee Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 11:58 AM
Response to Reply #8
10. wrong. Buddy Holly is still king of Not Fade Away
i don't care who covers it, they all suck compared to Buddy.
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kwassa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 12:08 PM
Response to Reply #10
15. Buddy did his songs better than anyone else.
Covers don't compare.

Actually, I don't like any of Springsteen's covers better than the original.
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Westegg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 02:36 PM
Response to Reply #15
40. Hillage does Holley...
Steve Hillage, an unfairly obscure '70s British prog-rocker (in the best sense of that term) does an amazing version of "Not Fade Away" on his album "Motivation Radio." It doesn't attempt to compete with Buddy. It molds and melds the song into something quite different indeed.
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Westegg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 02:38 PM
Response to Reply #40
41. Sorry! "Holly," not "Holley." Typo! D'oh!
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AngryAmish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 11:56 AM
Response to Original message
9. California Man by Cheap Trick
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kwassa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 12:03 PM
Response to Reply #9
12. who did it first?
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AngryAmish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 12:21 PM
Response to Reply #12
17. The Move
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Westegg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 02:26 PM
Response to Reply #9
38. Good call, AngryAmish...
Anyone who doubts the primal rock energy of Cheap Trick (and there are many reasons to feel that way, God knows) needs to hear their version of this song.
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kwassa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 12:04 PM
Response to Original message
13. "Respect" by Aretha Franklin
the original was written and performed by the great Otis Redding, but her version is very different and far better.
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CGowen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 12:06 PM
Response to Original message
14. I prefer "Diana Ross - Ain't No Mountain High Enough" over the "Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell" version
Edited on Wed Oct-17-07 12:07 PM by CGowen
.... n/t
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CGowen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 12:30 PM
Response to Original message
18. "Love Hurts" by Nazareth is better than the Everly Brothers version
Everly Brothers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffynuKji3RY

Nazareth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=soDZBW-1P04
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Va Lefty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 12:46 PM
Response to Reply #18
21. Didn't realize that was a cover
Agreed. Nazareth's version is much better.
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Dr. Strange Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-18-07 08:51 AM
Response to Reply #21
52. Ironically, "Hair of the Dog" was also an Everly brothers original.
Wasn't it?
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gmoney Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 02:22 PM
Response to Reply #18
36. Nope, the best is Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playlistId=718368&s=143441&i=718233
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Westegg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 02:30 PM
Response to Reply #18
39. Yep! And what about Nazareth does Joni Mitchell?
Their version of "This Flight Tonight" from Joni's "Blue" album is one of my all-time lost '70s classics. "Lost" in the sense that I haven't heard it SINCE the '70s, but I can still hear it in my head.
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DarkTirade Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 12:34 PM
Response to Original message
19. Johnny Cash - "Hurt"
Much better than the NIN version IMO.
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Roon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 12:36 PM
Response to Original message
20. Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah
covered by the Violent Femmes.

Werewolves in London covered by the Grateful Dead.
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IntravenousDemilo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 01:00 PM
Response to Original message
22. José Feliciano, "Light My Fire"
It's got 33 per cent more "fire".
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CGowen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 01:06 PM
Response to Reply #22
23. I was looking at a "Light my Fire" version I like and the expert opinion is devastating
Edited on Wed Oct-17-07 01:12 PM by CGowen
http://www.vinylvulture.co.uk/pages/song_remains_lmf.htm

Helmut Zacharias 'Light My Fire' (Sounds Superb, 1971)

Electric violin! Run for your lives! Not only that horror, but also loads of screeching backing singers, who seem to be gargling at the fade out. This is a pretty ill advised stab at the Feliciano arrangement, and not one that really works out. The drumming sounds like 'Beat 1' on a Doctor Rhythm and the pizzicato strings really put the lid on it. Bad.







I didn't realize there were so many versions
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JVS Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-18-07 01:48 AM
Response to Reply #22
48. hell yeah
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Richard Steele Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 01:09 PM
Response to Original message
24. "Personal Jesus" done by Johnny Cash, and "Misty Mountain Hop" done by Dread Zeppelin.
Also, "Shortnin' Bread" done by the Cramps.
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Fox Mulder Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 01:11 PM
Response to Original message
25. "Astronomy" by Metallica is better than Blue Oyster Cult's version.
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meegbear Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 01:11 PM
Response to Original message
26. "Satisfaction" and "Secret Agent Man" by Devo
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Burma Jones Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 01:26 PM
Response to Original message
27. Many songs from Musicals, such as Tom Waits singing "Somewhere"
and Louis Armstrong singing "Hello Dolly"

I like the Ramones "Surfin' Bird" and "California Sun" more than the originals

Also, for some odd reason, a lot of Green Day songs sound like the Monkees to me, just louder and with naughty words......
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Tyler Durden Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 01:29 PM
Response to Original message
28. Marianne Faithful-"As Tears Go By"
CCR instead of GLADYS KNIGHT for "Heard it through the grapevine"????

OBVIOUSLY you are NOT from MOTOWN.
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sleepyhead Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 01:41 PM
Response to Original message
30. "Mandy" by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.
In fact, almost anything by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Sappy 70s songs redone as punk - yay!
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abq e streeter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 01:54 PM
Response to Original message
31. Hendrix---absolutely, but as much as I LOVE The Clash,
the original , by the greatest band to ever come out of El Paso, the Bobby Fuller Four, is and will always be the definitive version of I Fought the Law.
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abq e streeter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 01:56 PM
Response to Original message
32. Aretha--I Say a Little Prayer
although Aretha besting Dionne Warwick is hardly a fair fight...
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Broken_Hero Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 01:57 PM
Response to Original message
33. you nailed it, Metallica's, Turn the Page....:) nt
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Westegg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 02:22 PM
Response to Original message
37. Rod Stewart : "First Cut Is the Deepest."
I grew up with Rod's version and when I finally heard the original I found it trite and formulaic. Rod brought it to life with his emotional and passionate take.
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Mr. Blonde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-17-07 02:55 PM
Response to Original message
42. A few
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
Robert Randolph - Shake Your Hips, helps that girls get on stage and dance when he plays it live.


And I don't know why but I can't stand Metallica's version of Turn the Page.
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Fire Walk With Me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-18-07 12:01 AM
Response to Original message
44. "Third Uncle" and "Ziggy Stardust" as covered by Bauhaus.
Searing.
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Fire Walk With Me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-18-07 12:03 AM
Response to Original message
45. "Jump" by Aztec Camera; "Black Hole Sun" and others by Moog Cookbook
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sasquatch Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-18-07 12:51 AM
Response to Original message
46. "Hurt" by Johnny Cash
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GoddessOfGuinness Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-18-07 01:40 AM
Response to Original message
47. "In My Life" Judy Collins
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oo0gTqF_8vk
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Va Lefty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-18-07 01:51 AM
Response to Original message
49. One I forgot earlier
Linda Ronstadt- "Willin"
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CrownPrinceBandar Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-18-07 06:52 AM
Response to Original message
50. "Alone Again Or..." by the Damned........
much better than Love's original.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CvIzH_dSKow
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HughBeaumont Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Oct-18-07 07:10 AM
Response to Original message
51. Isaac Hayes - "Something"
Blows the Beatles version away. It's like prog-R&B.
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