Best Cover Songs Ever?

[Mendocino]

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[Warpy]

1. One of my favorites

[chelsea0011]

2. Hendrix.....

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

23. + 100 I love that...

...especially the Hendrix cover!!!

[lastlib]

24. 1,000,000,000,000....000!!!!

[Vinnie From Indy]

30. Dylan said that this cover was the best of anyone who ever covered his music.

Ha has also said that Hendrix's rendition of his song caused him to play it differently.

[cemaphonic]

40. 'Hey Joe' as well

So much so that most people think it's an original.

[aikoaiko]

66. I truly believe this is the best cover of all times.

The strength of the singing and playing is so good.

[chelsea0011]

3. Nice!

[True Dough]

5. This qualifies, right?

It's a "Cover" song...

[Buzz cook]

53. Jersey Girl

[charlyvi]

6. Joe Cocker - A Little Help from my Friends

[progressoid]

39. Joe did so many great covers.

The Letter, Cry me a River, Delta Lady, When the Night Comes, etc. Does that make him the King of Covers?

I think this is my fave...

[Metsie Casey]

7. El Paso

Originally by Marty Robbins.

A GD favorite.
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[cemaphonic]

8. Tony Rice - Church Street Blues

Flatpicking masterclass

[DFW]

58. Tony Rice was always in a class by himself as a flatpicker n/t

[BeyondGeography]

9. It's this one

[Va Lefty]

10. I usually think it should be a misdemeanor to cover a Beatles song but this is good

[TexasBushwhacker]

38. Imagine by A Perfect Circle

[Buzz cook]

55. That reminds me.

I like Run-DMC's version better.

[spooky3]

92. I really like that video.

[Tikki]

11. "Sunglasses After Dark"...The Cramps (cover) and "Sunglasses After Dark"..Dwight Pullen (original)

Tikki

[unblock]

12. the monkee's "i'm a believer"

originally by neil diamond

[Mendocino]

13. Hendrix being covered...

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[GreenEyedLefty]

64. Sorry I didn't read each and every post... but I mentioned this down thread.

One of my all time favorites.

[unblock]

14. aretha's "respect"

originally by otis redding:

[Tikki]

15. "I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down"..Elvis Costello & the Attractions (cover) and

"I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down"...Sam & Dave (original)

Tikki

[TexasBushwhacker]

41. Elvis did many good covers

(What's So Funny About) Peace Love and Understanding, written by Nick Lowe

Elvis is a chip off the old block. Here's his dad, bandleader Ross McManus.

[Chipper Chat]

16. My Prayer by The Platters (1956)

Here's the 1924 original (France)

[Doreen]

17. I do not know how to put up a song.

I also do not know if anyone will have a clue on who and what song I am talking about but I will tell anyway.

I really like "The High Kings" version of "Green Fields of France." The original is sung by "Eric Bogle" and it is not called "Green Fields of France" but "No Man's Land."

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. If you find something on Youtube, you copy the address and paste it in your reply

and the video will show up.

[Doreen]

20. thanks.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

103. The High Kings are absolutely amazing.

Their version of "Green Fields of France" (which is how that song is generally titled) is quite good

but I think this version of "The Parting Glass" is by far the best ever. It's often a song that Irish singers end their performance with, and this one is exquisite, especially the bagpipes.

[Doreen]

110. You are the second person I know of now that has heard of them.

I am jealous of my boyfriend because he saw them in a pub in Ireland. When I started typing this "Red is the Rose" was playing by them. Oh yeah, I love their version of "The Parting Glass" because of the awesome bagpipes.

[dixiegrrrrl]

19. This song that has been covered a lot, I really really like this version

[Skittles]

21. I really liked the Lemonheads Mrs. Robinson

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

22. i really like Sounds of Silence by Disturbed, originally by Simon and Garfunkel

I also appreciate Changing of the Guards by Patti Smith, originally by Bob Dylan.

Now I'm not sure if this really qualifies as a cover since the ballad itself traces at least to 16th century Scotland but is likely a few centuries older.

[Mendocino]

25. Annie Lennox

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[JenniferJuniper]

26. I've never been a fan of Miley Cyrus but

she just totally owns this cover of Odetta's cover of a very old Bob Dylan song.

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[spooky3]

93. That's good. She sounds like an alto Dolly Parton.

Not a country fan but i like this clip and I like Dolly Parton.

[onenote]

27. Eddie Cochrane's Summertime Blues/The Who's Summertime Blues

[ailsagirl]

33. The Who really magnify the original 1000x

[exboyfil]

78. Live at Leeds

A heck of an album.

[ailsagirl]

87. YES-- one of my all-time favorite live albums

Stunning

[Tikki]

28. "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" Otis Redding (cover), "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" DEVO (cover)..

&quot I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"...the Rolling Stones (original)

Tikki

[progressoid]

31. A few years ago, I made a compilation CD of all the covers of Satisfaction I have.

I think my fave is still DEVO though.

[LonePirate]

29. Pet Shop Boys - "Always on My Mind"

[ailsagirl]

32. Heard it through the grapevine

Creedence

[Wounded Bear]

34. This subject always makes me go here...

I guess it touches my own struggles with addiction.

[NewJeffCT]

43. excellent choice

Cash's performance was phenomenal.

[RainCaster]

35. Counting Crows, Big Yellow Taxi

Join Mitchell did the original
https://g.co/kgs/32ZJFQ

[RainCaster]

36. Five Finger Death Punch - Bad Company

Yep, the original classic was done by Bad Company. A great remake.
click me

[TexasBushwhacker]

37. Karen Carpenter - Superstar

Written by Leon Russell

Another Leon tune, sung by George Benson. This Masquerade

[malthaussen]

42. It's no contest...

Although I also have a soft spot for "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles...

-- Mal

[NewJeffCT]

44. One of my favorites - Van Halen doing "You Really Got Me"

Love both the original and the VH cover.

[Beausoleil]

45. My newest favorite cover

Wild Horses
Shawn Colvin w/Buddy Miller

This blew me away. Almost like the song was written for Shawn! Gorgeous voice, beautiful production.
Wonderful.

[SwissTony]

46. I must confess that I'd never heard of Shawn Colvin.

But she's listed twice in this thread (Viva Los Vegas, upstream). But she sounds absolutely wonderful.

Must do some more research...

Second confession: when I saw the name "Shawn", I thought it was some guy. So, that's a couple of things I've learned today.

[Beausoleil]

47. I've been familiar with her since the early 90's

My wife was friends with Shawn's sister back then although we never met her.

She has quite a portfolio of original music but she does great covers.

She does excellent versions of Tom Waits' "Hold On" and Springsteen's "Tougher Than the Rest" among many others.

[DFW]

60. I saw her in Mnchen around 1990

She did a European tour. It was in the dead of winter, and the promoters did a lousy job. There were MAYBE 25 people there. She lit up a BIG smile when I asked her to do "Diamond in the Rough." I knew who she was, but aside from the promoters and her 2 accompanying musicians, I think I was the only one. The rest seemed to be club regulars who would have come if it had been me doing a solo gig. I don't know if she has been back to Germany since. She had done concerts on Cape Cod since the 1980s, and now she seems to have gotten the recognition she deserves as a singer. She has done duets with Bruce Hornsby and toured as part of a folky super group with Hornsby, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne.

[Number9Dream]

48. "Wild Horses" - The Sundays

[WinkyDink]

49. The Righteous Bros' cover of "Unchained Melody," and the Beatles' cover of "Twist and Shout."

[redwitch]

50. The Band "When I Paint My Masterpiece"

[WePurrsevere]

51. So many to choose from but this is one of my newer favorites...

Although no one will ever outdo John Lennon's version, Pentatonix's cover of Imagine just blew me away.

[LisaM]

52. I like Three Dog Night doing

"Easy to be Hard".

[Buzz cook]

54. Cyndi Lauper "Cary"

This version just blows Joni Mitchell's song out of the water. I can't get over how good it is.

[SwissTony]

59. My favourite JM cover

River (by Tina Dico and Helgi Jonsson plus orchestra)

The introduction by the presenter is in Danish but lasts just a few seconds (Tina is Danish. Hubby Helgi comes from Iceland. Orchestra? I suspect largely Danish).

Sarah McLachlan's version of the same song isn't bad either.

[jpak]

101. Money Changes Everything was also a cover

Original done by the The Producers out of ATL

[DFW]

56. Linda Ronstadt doing Orbison's "Blue Bayou"

[DFW]

57. Leo Kottke doing Buddy Holly's "Learning the Game"

[DFW]

61. Sentimental favorite: "Respect (for Hillary)" by The Freedom Toast

[DFW]

62. The Byrds doing Pete Seeger's "Bells of Rhymney"

They made their name doing Dylan covers, but I always loved this one.
Seeger got his lyrics in part from the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, whose
first name became the inspiration for the last name later chose by
Minnesota singer Bob Zimmerman.

[Hoyt]

80. Love that version.

[GreenEyedLefty]

63. Derek & The Dominos: Little Wing, and Devo: Are You Experienced

I am too lazy to link to a video, but they are on Youtube.

[aikoaiko]

65. Thank you.

The cover by ZZ Top

The original by Sam and Dave

[Warren DeMontague]

67. Perry Farrell's version of "Ripple"

Great weird whirling interpretation.. plus he clearly knows and respects the material, witness the bits of "the other one" and "bird song" he weaves into the jam at the end.


Honorable mention to the Butthole Surfers' version of "Hurdy Gurdy Man"

[cemaphonic]

89. Yeah, that's how a cover should be done

Different enough to not just be an imitation of the original, but done with seriousness and respect. Plus, Jane's Addiction was just a really tight band at their peak.

Good one.

[Coventina]

68. Sinead O'Connor: Someday My Prince Will Come

from Snow White:

She does it better than the original, IMHO.

[Coventina]

69. Go-Go's: Let's Have a Party

[Coventina]

70. Elvis Costello: My Funny Valentine

Gotta quit for now and go to work.....

[Coventina]

71. They Might Be Giants: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too

Sorry, couldn't resist. Now I REALLY have to go to work!!!

[Paladin]

72. Ry Cooder's inspired reggae take on the Stones' "It's All Over Now."

I challenge anybody to remain motionless while listening to it.

[kwassa]

75. It's All Over Now is a Stones cover of a Bobby Womack song ....

here is the original.

[Paladin]

83. I probably knew that, 50 years ago.

Thanks for sending me the original. Great song---I like all 3 versions.

[kwassa]

85. Rod Stewart has a good version, too ...

[ghostsinthemachine]

73. Keep on Growin, Tedeschi, Trucks band

Best guitar player in the whole wide universe.

[ghostsinthemachine]

74. Dylan on the Dead, Jerry Garcia

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-genius-and-modern-times-of-bob-dylan-20060907

Strangely enough, sometimes we'll hear a cover of a song and figure we can do it just as well. If somebody else thought so highly of it, why don't I? Some of these arrangements I just take. The Dead did a lot of my songs, and we'd just take the whole arrangement, because they did it better than me. Jerry Garcia could hear the song in all my bad recordings, the song that was buried there. So if I want to sing something different, I just bring out one of them Dead records and see which one I wanna do. I never do that with my records."

And cover Bob they did, when he was touring with or by themselves. Once a night pretty much. Some forever.

[ADX]

76. Alien Ant Farm - "Smooth Criminal"

[redstateblues]

77. Elvis- Something

[exboyfil]

79. The Weight

The Band with the Staple singers from The Last Waltz

Not the best cover (that honor belongs to Hendrix with All Along the Watchtower), but it is a powerful cover.

[cemaphonic]

88. Does it really count as a cover if it's the original band though?

It is the definitive version of 'The Weight' for sure. I really like Pops' verse.

The Gillian Welch/Old Crow Medicine Show version is pretty great too, (and clearly takes a bunch of arrangement cues from the Last Waltz version.

[malchickiwick]

81. K.D. Lang sings Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah

Such a VOICE!!

[Mike Nelson]

82. My pick was...

...posted. All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix Experience. But this was good, too:

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[subterranean]

84. The Stranglers - Walk On By

A cover of the Dionne Warwick song with an organ solo reminiscent of The Doors' "Light My Fire."

[iamateacher]

86. Glee Teenage Dream

https://m.

[Rhythm]

91. The "Glee" covers could go on for days...

This one's my favorite:

[spooky3]

90. Paul Carrack, covering Pink Floyd's "Hey You"

[JenniferJuniper]

94. Steve Marriott doing the oft covered "If I Were a Carpenter"

as a 19 year old Small Face playing live.

Vocals over the top but he kills it in a "heavy metal, here we come" sort of 1966 kinda way.
]

Robert Plant was no doubt listening carefully.

[Dulcinea]

95. Woodstock-CSNY

Originally by Joni Mitchell

[Dulcinea]

96. Bonnie Raitt-Angel from Montgomery

Originally by John Prine

[Dulcinea]

97. Susan Tedeschi-You Got the Silver

Stones, of course!

[Tikki]

98. "Echo Beach" Martha and the Muffins(1979 original Canadian), "'Echo Beach" Ausmuteants (2014 cover..

Australian)

Tikki

[sakabatou]

99. Hero - William Young

Cover of Jam Project's "Hero"

[jpak]

100. Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy

[Nac Mac Feegle]

102. A few Springsteen covers that really made it:

Manfred Mann doing "I Came For You"

Patti Smith doing "Because The Night"

Manfred Mann again, with "Blinded By The Light"

Plus a bonus cover that I discovered a while ago and really loved

Roberta Flack covering Simon & Garfunkel "Bridge Over Troubled Water"

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

104. Don McLean and Linda Ronstadt both did some great covers.

Some of my favorites:

&list=PL16D61516031138C3

And if you don't know who Eva Cassidy is, you should learn about her. Here's her version of "Fields of Gold"

[bathroommonkey76]

105. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - "Trampled Rose"

But I prefer the original by Tom Waits.

[cemaphonic]

107. Really, that whole album fits

I like their cover of Townes Van Zandt's "Nothing" on that album too.

[bathroommonkey76]

108. That song should be used in a David Lynch film.

Plant's voice is haunting and takes me to a different level! Good call!

[Tikki]

106. "The Breaking Hands" GUN CLUB (1987 original) "The Breaking Hands"..Nick Cave and Debbie Harry....

(2012 cover)...

rip...Jeffrey Lee Pierce 1958~1996

[GReedDiamond]

109. Spooky Tooth - I Am The Walrus...