When A Cover Is Better Than The Original...

[JimGinPA]

[Warpy]

1. I love it when people do covers of crap bubblegum kiddie songs

I mean, who knew it was a decent song when Spears was all over top 40?

[JimGinPA]

2. Nice!

I had to Google him - I never watched 'America's Got Talent'.

[Warpy]

5. He's very good, that cigarette and whisky voice

making you listen completely differently to a lot of the covers he's done. He's worth looking up at YouTube.

I never watched AGT, honestly, just surfed YouTube for interesting videos when I got bored. His are some of the nicest.

[Tanuki]

7. Speaking of Brittany, the Travis cover of Hit me baby one more time

was a big improvement on the original:
https://m.

[Spider Jerusalem]

35. This one is quite good also:

[progressoid]

36. Kind of weird that the song was written and produced by a couple of Swedish guys.

Max Martin and Rami Yacoub also did Katy Perry's "I kissed a girl"

In fact they've done a bunch of hits for people.

Since 1999, Max Martin has written and co-written 22 Billboard Hot 100 number-one hits (most of which he has also produced or co-produced).[3] Martin is the songwriter with third most number one singles on the chart, behind only Paul McCartney (32) and John Lennon (26). As a producer he holds the record for second-most number one singles on the chart with 20 behind only George Martin (23).[3] Additionally, five of these songs made their debut on the chart at number-one.

1999 – "...Baby One More Time" (Britney Spears)
2000 – "It's Gonna Be Me" (NSYNC)
2008 – "I Kissed a Girl" (Katy Perry)
2008 – "So What" (P!nk)
2009 – "My Life Would Suck Without You" (Kelly Clarkson)
2009 – "3" (Britney Spears)
2010 – "California Gurls" (Katy Perry featuring Snoop Dogg)
2010 – "Teenage Dream" (Katy Perry)
2010 – "Raise Your Glass" (P!nk)
2011 – "Hold It Against Me" (Britney Spears)
2011 – "E.T." (Katy Perry featuring Kanye West)
2011 – "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" (Katy Perry)
2012 – "Part of Me" (Katy Perry)
2012 – "One More Night" (Maroon 5)
2012 – "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" (Taylor Swift)
2013 – "Roar" (Katy Perry)
2014 – "Dark Horse" (Katy Perry featuring Juicy J)
2014 – "Shake It Off" (Taylor Swift)
2014 – "Blank Space" (Taylor Swift)
2015 – "Bad Blood" (Taylor Swift featuring Kendrick Lamar)
2015 – "Can't Feel My Face" (The Weeknd)
2016 – "Can't Stop the Feeling!" (Justin Timberlake)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Martin

[Warpy]

37. The cover I posted was actually second best

I was looking for one done blues style with acoustic guitar, couldn't find it.

As long as it's done by people who aren't trying to sound like Spears, it's a pretty good song.

[Lochloosa]

3. Add this to the list...thanks for that

[ghostsinthemachine]

8. The three best guitarists

Playing today. Govt Mule is a great band

[Lochloosa]

4. Oh yeah...I could go on all night

[JimGinPA]

6. Another...

[Afromania]

9. Hurt by Johnny Cash

[JimGinPA]

10. Thanks...

I've never seen that one!

[Afromania]

11. Welcome

When I first heard it I thought it was his. Somehow I missed the original when it came out back in the 90's. It may as well have been Cash's song after he was done with it.

[Orrex]

19. Reznor made the same comment

He has more or less formally accepted that the song is no long his own.

[Salviati]

29. Johnny Cash has a number of covers like that.

Nick Cave (the original artist) once introed this song at a concert by saying "Here's a Johnny Cash Song"

[JimGinPA]

12. This...

[msongs]

13. raised your hand if you sang along doing artie's harmony part nt

[progressoid]

38. Yeah,

I really miss that voice.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

14. It's a subtle difference, but I really do think

that Don McLean's cover of "Crying" is superior to the original by Roy Orbison.

Here are both versions:

[nolabear]

22. kd lang does a damn fine version of that one too.

Of course she can blow the doors off of just about anything.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

24. Ahhh, I'll have to find her version.

It is such an amazing song to begin with.

[Coventina]

15. Byrds Mr. Tambourine Man

Better than Dylan, imho.

[JimGinPA]

16. Yeah, But...

Hendrix covered “All Along the Watchtower” and “Like a Rolling Stone.” Not even close there.

[Coventina]

18. Agree that Hendrix did better than Dylan.

I think ultimately he's a better writer than performer.

[JimGinPA]

17. Another Superior America....

[PassingFair]

20. Fields of Gold... sorry Sting.

Eva Cassidy blows his original away.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

25. Yes! I had always loved the Sting version,

and then my local NPR station started playing snippets of Eva Cassidy, and I only regret that I never had the chance to actually see her perform. One of the most incredible talents of our era, and she was gone far too soon.

[JudyM]

33. Eva also does an amazingly tender version of Over the Rainbow.

https://m.

[gratuitous]

21. So hard to say

Muskrat Love by America or The Captain and Tennille? I just can't decide!

[lame54]

23. I can't find anyone to agree with me but I like this one...

[doc03]

26. Janis Joplin doing Kris Kristofferson's Me and Bobby McGee

Roger Miller recorded it first and was also done by Kris Kristofferson later.

[doc03]

27. Johnny Cash's cover of Sunday Morning Coming Down

Originally recorded by Ray Stevens written by Kris Kristofferson.

[gtar100]

28. Thank you all for some great music you've shared. Here's one of my favorites

Trampled By Turtles covers Arcade Fire

[ghostsinthemachine]

30. The Thrill Is Gone

[denbot]

31. Great White's cover of "Once bitten twice shy"

[cagefreesoylentgreen]

32. Blue Monday

Original by New Order, cover by Orgy

[JudyM]

34. Sacrifice by Sinead.

Cuts right through...

[progressoid]

39. Couple fun Radiohead covers...

[Kaleva]

40. Disturbed - The Sound Of Silence

[Kaleva]

41. Holiday - VSQ Performs Green Day's American Idiot

[politicat]

42. Natalie Merchant's version of Because the Night

I love Patti Smith, but Natalie has a more powerful singing voice, and taking that song acoustic was very good for it. (I also love the Garbage/Screaming Females version, because Shirley Manson has the voice for old school sung punk, and Screaming Females get both punk AND musicality, so their version returns it to old-school punk without undoing the musical advances, but it exists in part because of the 10K Maniacs performance.)

[Thew]

43. A couple from They Might be Giants

From AV Club Undercover series.

Covering Chumbawumba Tubthumping (this would be better than the original by default). I like this version because they rope the AV Club staff and writers into helping with the chorus:

There's another of them covering Destiny's Child that's really good too, but I'm not sure how to embed:
http://www.avclub.com/video/they-might-be-giants-covers-destinys-child-221191

[Orrex]

45. Not to mention this cover:

[Dulcinea]

44. Here's one:

Woodstock, CSNY

[Doc_Technical]

46. Blue Moon my parents remembered an earlier version and this one pissed them off.

Ella Fitzgerald

[TexasBushwhacker]

47. Otis Redding was none too happy