Tose Proeski - Carrie (Europe)

It's very rare that I ever hear a cover of any song that after repeat listens I find better than the original.

Covers tend to be novelties, and the shininess of hearing the track with a different spin on it almost always wears off pretty quick.

I have to say that claiming Led Zeppelin ever did anything better than Robert Johnson or that the White Stripes ever did anything better than Son House just completely boggles my mind.

At any rate, here are three songs I can think of that I enjoy more than the originals:

'Head On' by the Pixies, originally performed by the Jesus and Mary Chain

'Sympathy' by Jane's Addiction, originally performed as 'Sympathy for the Devil' by the Rolling Stones (I know that's saying a lot, as the Stones version is fantastic and iconic, but Ferrel's haunting rendition of this song just beats it to the ground)

'Without You' by Harry Nilsson originally performed by Badfinger

I actually kinda prefer the other thread that got closed, as I don't necessarily think any of the covers I'm going to post are better than the originals, just good in their own right and different than the original (in fact, one cover I plan to post absolutely *sucks* on one level, that being the vocalist).



Two Beatles songs, each from a soundtrack of (two different) movies, that I think are wonderful (the cover songs, not the movie, in fact I saw neither "I am Sam" or "Pleasantville")


One Paul song:




....and the other a John song

right?

not too many covers are better than the originals, under this premise the choices are more limited

oh well, i guess we have to try harder then :)

The Pixies covering "Evil hearted you" by the yardbirds



they redid the lyrics in spanish and the sound quality is better than the original, for the most part all they did was highlight the hooks of the original song, like the guitar hook or the backup vocals

but i'll let you decide which is better



i say The Pixies.

This is NOT better than the original...
 

...I just like it. And before anyone complains, yes, Blaine is an utter joke of a vocalist. But I love the Accüsed. I love Ox too.

This wasn't on YouTube so I uploaded my vinyl trasfer



The Accüsed - Boris The Spider (from vinyl) - YouTube

i dare proclaim they did it better than Elvis, or at the very least it rocks harder

I can think of two songs that have been covered a zillion times... but no one is better than the original:



(I know thats not the original Leonard version, its from 2008)

That song is so good i almost wanna become a born again christian

Greenday covering 'Hybrid moment' by the misfits



Not better than the original, i would say equally good, Billy joe sang it really good

J Mascis shreds so much harder than Teenage Fanclub

Disturbed - Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Van Halen - You Really Got Me

Let the flames commence~