Best cover ever?

JuncoPartner

So whats your favourite cover version?
I know this is a bit controversial as it isnt exactly the most serious song ever, but I assure you I am a serious music addict.

Ive debated with myself long and hard, Dave Matthews Band live cover of Neil Young's Cortez the Killer was a serious contender, also I love Cake's cover of I will survive... some of the Even better than the real thing covers are pretty good too. But tell me, is there a better cover version out there than Ben Fold's cover of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't ****"?
For anyone who hasnt heard this I urge you to youtube that bad boy or PM me and Ill mail the mp3

Disclaimer: Ill probably have a new favourite 2 minutes after I press Submit

dead air

Ah, without a doubt... All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix (Bob Dylan).

I also like these:

Smashing Pumpkins - Dancing In The Moonlight (Thin Lizzy)
Johnny Cash - Hurt (Nine Inch Nails)
Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares to U (Prince)
Ryan Adams - Wonderwall (Oasis)

fillmore jive

clash-police on my back. whoop whoop!

arbeitsscheuer

This, without doubt....:D

Others that spring to mind;
Postal Service - Against All Odds
The Clash - I Fought The Law
David Gray - Say Hello, Wave Goodbye
Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah
The Beatles - Twist and Shout

Also a big +1 for Johnny Cash - Hurt

Slidey

I think Glen Hansards version of britneys Everytime is awesome.
Must have listened to it hundreds of times. Got goose pimples the first time i heard it.
Think the guy that does teenage dirtbag real slow and you can hear everyone laughin in the background is good. Cant think of his name off the top of my head

St Bill

I think my favourite would have to be In My Life : Johnny Cash. I think the music accompanying the lyrics is better than in the original, and Johnny Cash's voice sounds like it's on it's last legs which just adds to the lyrics.

deaddonkey

i'm a big fan of the stripes covering dylan's "lovesick", it's really good.

the original is ace too.

Icaras

oasis done a few good ones around the time of their be here now album - street fighting man (which sounded fairly similar to the original) and heros

David Kitt - Teenage riot (probably my fav) and dancing in the moonlight

Travis done a good cover of Britteny's hit me baby one more time

Also white stripes stop breaking down

Zaph

fillmore jive wrote: »

clash-police on my back. whoop whoop!

Good call, I'd also add Brand New Cadillac and I Fought the Law to the list of great Clash covers.

Others that spring to mind:

Bankrobber - Hawksley Workman (amazingly different version from the Clash original)
Hot Burrito #1 - Belly
Speed of the Sound of Loneliness - Alabama 3
Winterlong - Pixies
Take Me to the River - Talking Heads

lordgoat

My duvet cover is lovely. It's blue.

Hardrain

Jolene by the White Stripes. Fantastic!

Have to say the Oasis B-Side cover of 'My Generation' by The Who is blinding. from the Little By Little single IIRC. Could only find a live version on youtube, but the studio version is ace

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkLgrGK-BJo

Jim Jones singing Dylan's 'Going To Acapulco' from Im Not There is stunning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnVVKANqP3s


Mark Lanegan doing Dylan's 'Man In The Long Black Coat' is as chilling as Bob's original.

Hendrix doing All Along The Watchtower.

kronsington

JuncoPartner wrote: »

So whats your favourite cover version?
I know this is a bit controversial as it isnt exactly the most serious song ever, but I assure you I am a serious music addict.

Ive debated with myself long and hard, Dave Matthews Band live cover of Neil Young's Cortez the Killer was a serious contender, also I love Cake's cover of I will survive... some of the Even better than the real thing covers are pretty good too. But tell me, is there a better cover version out there than Ben Fold's cover of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't ****"?
For anyone who hasnt heard this I urge you to youtube that bad boy or PM me and Ill mail the mp3

Disclaimer: Ill probably have a new favourite 2 minutes after I press Submit

haha i'd never heard "Bitches aint ****" until today, brilliant!
any other examples of rap/hip hop songs being covered by preppy, white boys?

as for a cover, i'd recommend "sexual healing" by ben harper or "solsbury hill" by dave matthews band

trout

Nice to see that Johnny Cash has got a few mentions already ... his rendition of 'One' (U2) is a work of genius.

Beanstalk

Dinosaur Jr.'s cover of the Cure's 'Just Like Heaven'.

JuncoPartner

Unfortunately I couldnt locate all the songs mentioned but so far Ive compiled a nice little playlist with most of what people have suggested...
Track listing..

• Bitches Aint **** Ben Folds Supersunnyspeedgraphic
• Say Hello Wave Goodbye David Gray White Ladder
• One Johnny Cash American III: Solitary Man
• Cortez The Killer Dave Matthews Band The Central Park Concert
• I Will Survive Cake Fashion Nugget
• Grandma's Hand / No Diggity feat. the Dublin Gospel Choir Paddy Casey Even Better Than The Real Thing, Vol. 2
• Hurt Johnny Cash American IV: The Man Comes Around
• Wonderwall Ryan Adams Love Is Hell, Pt. 1
• Police On My Back The Clash Sandinista! (Disc 2)
• Hallelujah Jeff Buckley Acoustic, Vol. 1 (Disc 2)
• In My Life Johnny Cash American IV: The Man Comes Around
• All Along The Watchtower Dave Matthews Band The Central Park Concert
• All Along The Watchtower Jimi Hendrix Experience Hendrix: The Best Of Jimi Hendrix (Disc 1)
• All Along The Watchtower U2 Rattle And Hum
• Sexual Healing Ben Harper Live From Mars (Disc 1)
• Winterlong Pixies Wave Of Mutilation - Best Of...
• Tiny Dancer Ben Folds Ben Folds Live
• Straight To Hell Moby & Heather Nova Burning London: The Clash Tribute
• Rock The Casbah Pato Banton Burning London: The Clash Tribute
• Redemption Song Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros Streetcore
• I Fought The Law The Clash The Clash
• I Heard It Through The Grapevine Kaiser Chiefs Help: A Day In The Life
• Smooth Criminal Alien Ant Farm Anthology
  

Have created an iMix in iTunes for it, but alas even more of the songs went missing from not being found in the iTunes store. Will post the link when its available...
For any of the songs if anyone knows a good place to locate then in mp3 id be most grateful.

fillmore jive

Beanstalk wrote: »

Dinosaur Jr.'s cover of the Cure's 'Just Like Heaven'.

i dunno i want a huge fan of that. the chorus just got a little too 'heavy' for me. broken social scene do a great cover of dino j's 'feel the pain' though.

eoghanisonfire

The White Stripes' version of Dolly Parton's "Jolene", the live version is better than the recorded one though.

smackyB

Rodrigo y Gabriela's version of Stairway to Heaven is simply stunning, gives me the shivers every time.

ImDave

smackyB wrote: »

Rodrigo y Gabriela's version of Stairway to Heaven is simply stunning, gives me the shivers every time.

+1, really excellent. Along similar lines, Andy McKee's cover of TOTO's Africa left me speechless when I saw him doing it live in Galway on Tuesday. Also, Paul Anka's cover of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is fairly cool imo.

garth-marenghi

A whole album of great covers!
Rage Against the Machine- Renegades
ranging from Cypress Hill to Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen

eoghanisonfire

metallica's album Garage Inc. has absolutely amazing covers. Turn The Page, Tuesday's Gone and Whiskey In The Jar to name but a few

Mr. Presentable

Springsteen's cover of Tom Waits Jersey Girl is so good most people think it's a Bruce song

lordgoat

Nina Gordon straight outta compton for those looking for acoustic covers of hip hop

ThousandLeaves

It's a bit of a side track but I've toyed with the idea of assembling a compilation of covers of Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones for a while. It's not even my favourite Stones song but it's been covered so many times and some weird and wonderful things have been done to it. For example:

The classic Devo version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvcuaJy9OwI

Bjork and PJ Harvey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiRChOr9p4I

Otis Redding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGbOYIo7SD4

My personal favourite, The Residents.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHWf74kg2cc

Bubs101

My favourite ones

Katie Melua - Just Like Heaven
Dinosaur Jr. - Going Blind
Take That - Back For Good
Will Smith - Wild Wild West (Superstition)
Jeff Tweedy - The Auld Triangle
Wilco - California Stars
Wilco - Remember the Mountain Bed
Rage Against the Machine - Maggie's Farm
Rage Against the Machine - Down on the Street
Rund DMC - Walk This Way
Lil' Wayne - Georgia (Bush)
Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant farm
Metallica - Whiskey in the jar
A1 - Take one Me
Gram Parsons - Love Hurts
Flying Burrito Brothers - To Love Somebody
Limp Bizket - Faith
Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams
Muse - Can't Take My Eyes off you
Oasis - Hey Hey, My My

Predhead

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzibuwHLNVU

Band of Horses covering Ron Wood's 'Act Together'. Brilliant.

corcaigh07

Muse-feeling good.
Heartbeats-jose gonazalez
Master of Puppets-trivium
Gods gonna cut you down-johnny cash
So What-Metallica

im hitting a blank right now.

setanta5

Pearl Jam - I got a Feeling (Beatles)
Arctic Monkeys - You know that im no good (Amy Winehouse)
Glen Hansard - Everytime (Britney Spears)
Stereophonics - Angie (Rolling Stones)
Pearl Jam - Dock of the Bay (Otis Reading)
OneRepublic - Mercy (Duffy)
30 Seconds to Mars - Stronger (Kanye West) (Very haunting version Quite cool)
Ocean Colour Scene - Daytripper (Beatles)
Paddy Casey - No Diggity (Blackstreet)

slipss

Most of mine have been mentioned, J.Cash - Hurt ect, the only ones that weren't are

G'n'R - Knockin On Heavens Door (Bob Dylan)

G'n'R - Ain't It Fun (Rocket From The Tombs/The Dead Boys)

The Western Branch Freshmen Orchestra - Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana){ http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=rEUpKzoEW-E }

JC 2K3

Both of my faves have been mentioned already, but:

Dinosaur Jr. - Just Like Heaven
The chorus made me jump the first time I heard it. Absolutely fantastic! Talk about totally redefining the emotion of a song by simply making the chorus a bit heavier. It also made me realise just how alike Dino Jr and the Cure are.

Devo - Satisfaction
I dunno what it is about this that I like, I just really like it.


On a side note, seeing Dinosaur Jr. on Monday, YAY!!!

corcaigh07

oh, manic street peachers have a deadly version of Umbrella going at the moment.

Kold

PeadarofAodh

Mark Ronson - Just (Radiohead) Absolutely love it!

+1 for Beatles' Twist and Shout

Faith - Boy Least Likely (George Michael)

Adyx

Machine Head - Message in a bottle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU3TIQQKyso

HalloweenJack

Wild Is The Wind; Here Today, Gone Tomorrow; Across The Universe; Friday On My Mind - David Bowie
Because - George Clinton
The Man Who Sold The World - Nirvana
Love Rollercoaster - RHCP

Aoibheann

setanta5 wrote: »

OneRepublic - Mercy (Duffy)

I thought you were talking about their own song Mercy for some reason, and I was thinking it was NOTHING like Duffy's song, either lyrically or musically..

Then I went to youtube and checked out their cover of her Mercy..

D'oh!

+1 for the Johnny Cash covers, Mark Ronson's version of Just, and anything Clash related! Actually, quite a lot of the covers on this thread are pretty good..

'Ol Jack Chance

johnny cash covering the band

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=S_Xk8Cp09aM

setanta59

"Goodbye" by Emmylou Harris
"hallelulah" Jeff Buckley (there's also a great version by KD Lang)
"Dirty Old Town" Pogues
"Stairway to Heaven" Rolf Harris
"Psycho" Elvis Costello
"Powderfinger" Cowboy Junkies
"Sleigh Ride" The Ronettes
"Trampled Rose" Alison Krauss/Robert Plant...
.......................to name but a few that spring to mind

grenache

Cannot believe nobody has mentioned Roxy Music's version of John Lennon's 'Jealous Guy'!!

Anyone who can sing it better than the master himself deserves alot of recognition. And what a splendid job Bryan Ferry does with it. Simply the best cover version ever!

Helper_Monkey

JC 2K3 wrote: »

Devo - Satisfaction
I dunno what it is about this that I like, I just really like it.

+ 1. Apparently MIck Jagger's Fave version (apart from their own i assume).

Joe Cocker - With a little help from my friends

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6FMq0iDX1yE

b_beep

Finally someone said it Joe Cocker With A Little Help From My Friends,

so incredibly better than the Beatles..

'Ol Jack Chance

moby covering new dawn fades by joy division is deadly (heat soundtrack i think)

Doctor DooM

This ones for Nightwish...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM3dTcap3Fs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UztEfwHt14

Not the best covers ever, but certainly ones you wouldn't hear being done often, and I like that in a cover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoArVK5rofU

I just love her-eh-voice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH7J3G7Qtt0

FNM are great, they can play anything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUTo6kSZlPI

Great video, don't know the film... Further Faith No more awesomeness.

TeaNotWar

rufus wainwright - hallelujah
the vandals - don't stop me now
rise against - anyway you want it
screeching weasel - blitzkrieg bop

JerryHandbag

I like the version of Joy Divisions "Shadowplay" by The Killers, its on the soundtrack to the Control movie, also on their bsides album Sawdust....they also do a good version of Kenny Rogers "Ruby Dont Take Your Love to Town"...

Billy Corgan doing the Bee Gees "To Love Somebody" on his solo album...it sounds naff but is actually very very good.....he does it in a Cure style and even has Robert Smith on the backing vocals

My faves:
1 - Jeff Buckey - Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen)
2 - Billy Corgan - To Love Somebody (Bee Gees)
3 - David Kitt - Dont Go Back To Rockville (REM)
4 - BellX1 - Heartland (U2)
5 - U2 - Helter Skelter (Beatles)
6 - Manic Street Preachers - Rock N Roll Music (Chuck Berry)
7 - Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World (Bowie)
8 - Travis - Lovely Rita (Beatles)
9 - Foo Fighters - Keep The Car Running (Arcade Fire)
10 - Divine Comedy - My Lovely Horse (Fr.Ted & Fr.Dougal):D

rebeldiamond

There really are some great covers out there, here are a few of my favourites!!

1. Smashing Pumpkins - Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)
2. The Killers- Shadowplay (Joy Division)
3. Billy Corgan- To Love Somebody (Bee Gees)
4. Nirvana- The Man Who Sold The World (David Bowie)
5. Roxy Music- Jealous Guy (John Lennon)
6. Smashing Pumpkins- Isolation (Joy Division)

JerryHandbag

rebeldiamond wrote: »

There really are some great covers out there, here are a few of my favourites!!

1. Smashing Pumpkins - Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)
2. The Killers- Shadowplay (Joy Division)
3. Billy Corgan- To Love Somebody (Bee Gees)
4. Nirvana- The Man Who Sold The World (David Bowie)
5. Roxy Music- Jealous Guy (John Lennon)
6. Smashing Pumpkins- Isolation (Joy Division)

The pumpkins do a cover of Isolation!? Jesus, two of my fave bands how did i never uncover that....live version i presume....i know they do a good acoustic version of dancing in the moonlight (not the toploader song!:p)

GioSosStavros

Oasis's version of Wonderwall is brilliant imo, much better than the Mike Flowers original

Dudess

LOL

Another brilliant cover of Isolation is by Therapy? They also did a fantastic version of The Police's Invisible Sun from the early 80s (about Northern Ireland, vid banned by the Beeb).

The Rolling Stones' cover of It's All Over Now Baby Blue (one of my fave Dylan tracks) is just beautiful and heartbreaking.

And then The Sundays' cover of the Stones' Wild Horses is similarly breathtaking.

The Pixies' version of The Jesus and Mary Chain's Head On is miles better than the original - in my opinion.

But really... the OP is asking what is the best cover ever? The answer is indisputably... Ronan Keating featuring Moya Brennan - Fairytale of New York.

Case closed.

Mint Sauce

dead air wrote: »

Ah, without a doubt... All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix (Bob Dylan).

I also like these:

Smashing Pumpkins - Dancing In The Moonlight (Thin Lizzy)
Johnny Cash - Hurt (Nine Inch Nails)
Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares to U (Prince)
Ryan Adams - Wonderwall (Oasis)

i know prince wrote it (nothing compares to you), but never heard him perform it, if an artist never performs the song they wrote, does it count as a cover

as for my favourite, one of them is kate bush' running up that hill performed by placabo

rebeldiamond

JerryHandbag wrote: »

The pumpkins do a cover of Isolation!? Jesus, two of my fave bands how did i never uncover that....live version i presume....i know they do a good acoustic version of dancing in the moonlight (not the toploader song!:p)

Hi there!

Yes, they are my 2 favourite bands too! Smashing Pumpkins do the cover of "Isolation" on the album "A Means To An End- The Music Of Joy Division", its an album of artists doing versions of Joy Division songs. However whats even more interesting is The Smashing Pumpkins are under the name "Starchildren" on this album so thats why many wouldnt know it. Its an awesome version though- and its studio, not live!!
I think you would LOVE it!!