Cover songs done better

[aashee]

I do like seeing people remaking their own songs. The Police redoing Don't stand so close to me was great. Clapton's remake of Layla was as good as the original.

[PirateMunkee]

Originally Posted by laughingplace

Land of Confusion Genesis/Disturbed

Disturbed is better

As much as I love Disturbed (my fave Band) the Original Version of Land of Confusion is far superior than Disturbed's but Disturbed's Shout (Originally done by Tears for Fears) is far better than the original. I'm also partial to Oingo Boingo's version of Don't Fear the Reaper over Blue Oyster Cult's. There is just something about Danny Elfman's voice that brings a more sinister feeling to that song.

[Disneyland Daddy]

Originally Posted by aashee

I Will Always Love You: Dolly Parton/Whitney Houston
Dolly has a beautiful song but Whitney made it her own. BRilliant vocal work that few can match, didn't hurt having it in the soundtrack of a number one movie either.

Whitney Houston's version is definitely powerful. However, I have always been partial to Dolly Parton's.

'It's Too Late' - Carol King/Amy Grant
I have always liked the 1971 King classic - but I thought Amy Grant did a much better job in 1995 on a King tribute release.

[aimster]

I can't believe I forgot this one:

Oingo Boingo: I Am the Walrus (original by The Beatles)

[PirateMunkee]

Originally Posted by aimster

I can't believe I forgot this one:

Oingo Boingo: I Am the Walrus (original by The Beatles)

Beatles version was sooooooo much better. As much as I love Boingo....John Lennon's voice is much cooler.

[Joshrzmeup]

Emmy Rossum - Rainy Days and Mondays (Carpenters)
- This is so much prettier and softer when done by Emmy.

Josh Groban - My December (Linkin Park)
- Just sounds better when done with a slightly classical voice

Josh Groban - Broken Vow (Lara Fabian, who also co-wrote it)
- Hard to choose which version I like, but Josh puts more emotion into it

Ashley Tisdale - He Said, She Said (p***ycat dolls)
- The only version that's decent, imo.

The Corrs & Bono - When The Stars Go Blue (Ryan Adams)
- Two big Irish bands sound amazing!!

B*Witched - Does Your Mother Know (ABBA)
- I just don't like any of ABBA songs done by ABBA, they sound better done by others

The Corrs & Meryl Streep (in Mamma Mia) - Winner Takes it All (ABBA)
- Ditto

Josh Groban - Imagine (John Lennon - can't stand!!!)
- Song is pretty, but I can't stand listening to john lennon's version of this song.

[MonstersGoBoo!]

Evan Rachel Wood's version of "Blackbird" by The Beatles. To me, the original is just a little too upbeat for my liking, and Wood's voice is absolutely beautiful.

Pat Benatar's version of "Wuthering Heights" is a lot better than Kate Bush's, IMO. Easier to listen to, and not as child sounding.

[caesarboxfan]

I like these three because the covers are more "rock-y" than the originals.

Heroes by The Wallflowers (Originally David Bowie)

Boys of Summer by The Ataris (Orig. Don Henley)

American Woman by Lenny Kravitz (Orig. The Guess Who)

[Jon Autopsy]

This is kind of stretching it somewhat since they weren't actually recorded but I've seen some killer songs covered live...

Disturbed covered Pantera's "Walk" @ The Palladium; Hollywood, CA.

Dog Fashion Disco covered Slayer's "Raining Blood" @ Anaheim House of Blues; Anaheim, CA.

(hed)P.E. covered Korn's "Blind" @ Anaheim House of Blues; Anaheim, CA.

***

If we're talking about straight out recorded for albums...

Bile covered Marilyn Manson's "Tourniquet"

Needulhed covered Marilyn Manson's "Dried Up, Tied Up, & Dead To The World"

Cartoon Autopsy covered Alanis Morrisette's "You Oughta Know" (Although we changed the words around slightly so it was from a male's POV)

And, of course, Marilyn Manson's cover of The Eurythmics's "Sweet Dreams"

[DisneyIPresume]

Originally Posted by Disneyland Daddy

Whitney Houston's version is definitely powerful. However, I have always been partial to Dolly Parton's.

'It's Too Late' - Carol King/Amy Grant
I have always liked the 1971 King classic - but I thought Amy Grant did a much better job in 1995 on a King tribute release.

I absolutely hated Whitney Houston's version of I Will Always Love You. She was just screaming her head off. Couldn't stand that.

Speaking of Carol King I like James Taylor's version of You've Got A Freind better even though she wrote it.

[sailerm]

IZ cover of Over the Rainbow
David Benouit's of Linus and Lucy

[OogieBoogie]

Over the years, music has covered a wide range of human emotions. But one aspect of the human condition that has never been evoked by a single musician is the complex relationship between father and son. I'm speaking specifically here about the strained bond that forms between the two when the father's neglect for his boy ultimately leads to the son's neglect for his father.
As a father with a particularly stressed relationship with his own son, I would have killed for a classic rock/easy listening tune on this subject to have existed around 1974—the year my son was born. A song that would have warned me that every moment with my son was precious, that time with him was fleeting, and that even though I always had planes to catch and bills to pay, my primary concern should have been providing my son with love and affection, not just food and shelter.
But that song didn't exist, so here we are.
If only someone had taken the time to write a song that, maybe, starts with a catchy guitar riff that both sets off the melancholy tone and foreshadows that the singer is about to take you on a journey through time, pinpointing specific moments in which he has neglected his son. I feel like I can almost hear it now, like a distant dream: the song's narrator bemoaning the many times he turned his son away, even though all the kid did was look up to him, until, in a powerful twist ending, the neglecter has become the neglected.
Christ, that would have been a very powerful song. I can't believe no one ever wrote it.
I know I'm not the only one who could have used a song like that. There are probably plenty of dads—and kids—who turn to the bar jukebox looking for a folksy, easy-to-sing tune that speaks to the fragile relationship of father and son. I can't tell you how many times I've beat my fists against a Best Music Of The '70s boxed set saying, "Why couldn't you contain a song with a straightforward narrative structure that describes my mournful parental situation and then, as a change-up for the chorus, maybe contains a mishmash of broken nursery rhymes to convey the detrimental effect I've had on my son's innocence? Why?"
That actually sounds like it would be pretty stupid, but I'm sure a competent musician could have come up with something better.
If a ballad like that had existed, maybe it would have hit the theme that a father's time with his son should never be taken for granted over and over and over again to the point where it would have stuck in my stupid, selfish head. I'm sure there are more than a few workaholic dads like me who wish they had had a song that hit that theme so hard it made listeners want to shout, "Just stop doing what you're doing for a minute and teach the kid how to throw a ball for Christ sakes."
Where were you, classic folk-rock hit about the tragic cycle of parenthood, when I needed you most?
Think of all the things a song like that could have warned me against: missing my son's first words, always putting off that "good time" we were supposed to have, the taste of my own medicine I got when he came home from college that first time and didn't have a moment for me. But I'm not asking for a song about my specific relationship. It could be the kind of thing where the father and son in the song serve more as archetypes—symbols, if you will—for all father-son relationships. The song could have used them as vehicles that would allow listeners to hook into the universality of the song's overarching message, which I imagine would have been something like, "Spend quality time with your son or he's going to grow up to not give a **** about you."
Look, I'm no musician. I know that.† But I am a father, a father who called his son just the other day and told his boy that he should come and visit because his father hasn't seen him in a while. Unfortunately, my son said he didn't have time because he just got this new job and has a family of his own to tend to. When I hung up the phone it immediately occurred to me that this was exactly what I would say when he was younger and wanted to spend time with me.
The boy turned out just like me. I'll repeat that because I want readers, and potential listeners, to feel like they were just punched in the stomach with a fistful of perfect narrative arch: The boy was just like me.
Something like that would have made one hell of a good song. What a waste.
Perhaps I'm still not articulating these feelings very well. But that's precisely why we all could have used a song to truly crystallize what I'm talking about—a song comprised of heart-wrenching, somewhat melodramatic lyrics that makes you hate yourself for tearing up when you hear them. You know, something singer-songwriter Harry Chapin would have put out in his prime.
Yeah, someone with a soft voice like Chapin's, who could have made listeners think, "There's a barrier between this father and son. On both sides of the barrier, there are affection and love, but in between are decades of unspoken apologies and misunderstandings that have only become stronger over time. But will love be able to conquer the barrier?"
The answer is no.
Because, in the end, this would have been a very depressing song. The sort of thing where the listener surmises that the two men will die never truly knowing each other. Boy, I sure could have used a song like that.
Damn it, Patrick, I'm sorry I was never around.

[caesarboxfan]

Originally Posted by sailerm

IZ cover of Over the Rainbow

Wow, how can I forget this one? Great song.

[aashee]

Stone Temple Pilots did a great cover of Led Zeppelin's "Dancin' Days".

[dizzneeland]

Just about every song Metallica has covered has surpassed the original. With a few exceptions. Someone mentioned Disturbed's cover of Shout Big fan of that too.


:
On the opposite, I hate GnR's cover of Live and Let Die.