Best/worst cover versions of a song

[Icy Gull]

You've heard the original but which cover versions were better than the original and which ones worse?

Better

With a little help from my friends - Beatles but much better by Joe Cocker

Love is all around - Troggs but better by Wet Wet Wet (just joshing )

All along the watchtower - great by Dylan but outclassed by the Hendrix version

Worse

Boys of Summer - Don Henley great song completely murdered by some band I can't remember last year

Valerie - Steve Winwood. Call on me Eric Prydz

There must be 100's more

 

[tinx]

Baby one more time - Travis, far better than the britney original.

Easy by Faith no more beats the shit out of lionel richies original.

 

[Digweeds Trousers]

I thought that band that did the cover of Erasures Little Respect was great.

 

[Barnet Seagull]

Good covers:

It must be Love - Madness
A message to you Rudy - Specials.
Sun is Shining - Finlay Quaye
All Along the Watchtower - Hendrix
Twist & Shout - Beatles
Mr Tambourine Man - Byrds
I fought the Law - Clash
Step On - Mondays.
Always on my mind - Pet Shop Boys

 

[The Large One]

Mariah Carey's version of Without You was clearly Without Talent. f***ing awful racket she made. Singing the right tune without sounding like fingernails scraping down a blackboard would have helped.

 

[The Large One]

Good covers:
I fought the Law - Clash

Actually, I prefer the original.

 

[Man of Harveys]

I'll stick to Beatles songs:

Best: Got To Get You Into My Life - Earth Wind and Fire
Worst: I Saw Him Standing There - Tiffany (thread CLOSED)

 

[Brovion]

Really liked Bruce Dickinson's "All the Young Dudes" where he kept the instrumentation the same and just made one tweak to the lyrics, instead of "My brother sits at home with his Beatles and his Stones" it was "My father sits at home".

Worst? That dire version of "Fairy Tale of New York" by that bloke who used to be in an Irish boy band.

 

[Barnet Seagull]

Actually, I prefer the original.

It's a good cover though.

 

[Cian]

Boys of Summer - Don Henley great song completely murdered by some band I can't remember last year

DJ Sammy Featuring Yanou, according to the record label....

Best cover: Err...

Worst cover: Orgy's murdering of Blue Monday.

 

[JJ McClure]

Worst: Sheryl Crowe trying to do Sweet Child O Mine. Leave it alone bitch

 

[Tesco in Disguise]

Best cover: Renegades of Funk, Rage Against the Machine

Worst cover: The Long and Winding Road, Gareth Gates

 

[Schrödinger's Toad]

Guns n Roses' Knocking on Heaven's Door was pretty snazzy.

Westlife/Steve Brookstein's Against All Odds was not.

 

[keaton]

Best :Hurt by Johnny Cash

Worst:Suspicious Minds by Gareth Gates

 

[keaton]

Best :Hurt by Johnny Cash

Worst:Suspicious Minds by Gareth Gates

 

[Seagullible]

thought no doubts cover of it's my life was great and Wheatus 'a little respect' is also pretty good.

naff - anything covered by westlife

 

[Cian]

Best :Hurt by Johnny Cash

Forgot about that. Excellent version.

 

[Chopper West]

The video of Hurt is the most moving I have ever seen. Recorded slightly before Johnny's death, it is incredibly powerful.

 

[bhafc99]

Will Young managed to bypass all the menace and lust in The Doors' Light My Fire, and turn into a gentle croon suitable for hotel lifts.

Good ones:
Jeff Buckley_– Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
Galaxie 500 – Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste (Jonathan Richman)
This Mortal Coil – Song to the Siren (Tim Buckley)
The Cowboy Junkies – Sweet Jane (Lou Reed)
St Etienne – Only Love Can Break Your Heart (Neil Young)
And Seagull Ska's cover of Tom Hark, natch.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Favourite - One by Johnny cash,

Worst - Knockin on Heavens Door Guns n Roses, utter shite.