NWR Cover songs that are better than the original

[Rob Lockwood]

Radiohead - Nobody Does It Better (James Bond theme)
Inspiral Carpets - Tainted Love
Chicks - I Love You Love Me Love
The Fall - Lost In Music
Blur - Maggie May
Nirvana - the 3 Vaselines songs (Molly's Lips, Son Of A Gun, Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam)
REM - The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Manic Street Preachers - Bright Eyes

Right, that's me sorted for the morning Richard

 

[Rob Lockwood]

I can't believe no one's put this one:

Because the Night - Patti Smith

For me, the greatest cover ever.

I thought Blinded by the Light was better in the cover than Broooooce's original too.

 

[Dan Vyvyan]

 

[Rob Lockwood]

Christ this is addictive - just remembered that the Fatima Mansions' covers tended to be successful, if not in some cases recognisable.

"Shiny Happy People" is hilarious and NSFW, but their take on Ministry's Stigmata is more faithful to (and amplifies) the original I think.

 

[Mark Palmer]

Just realised that Tupelo was a John Lee Hooker song. Now if you want atmosphere Cave’s version is what you might need.

 

[Leon Marks]

I have to admit that any love I have for ac/dc really comes from hayseed Dixie - and I mostly prefer their versions.

Their cover of i believe in a thing called love is also better than the original.

 

[Rob Lockwood]

REM - The Lion Sleeps Tonight

The Lion Sleeps Tonight (sorry Millwall) was of course itself a cover of many incarnations including this insanity:

Really hits his stride around 0:49 and I'm not sure what that noise is at 1:10 but I can't really do anything but applaud.

 

[Rob Lockwood]

Their cover of i believe in a thing called love is also better than the original.

Now THAT I've got to hear.

 

[Rob Lockwood]

Talking of REM & Shiny Happy People which no one but me was, this "cover" might just shed a different light on a band who usually (let's face it) aim at an aethestic of po-faced at best.

I have to admit, I was surprised myself. Lot of time for the Kate Pierson lookalike. "Furry sobbing monsters" and a Michael Stipe motivational speech.

 

[George Marshall]

 

[Dan Vyvyan]

I've just realised Vince Clarke is the answer to all these music threads

 

[Russell Faulkner]

Nick Caves recent cover of Cosmic Dancer is rather good. Better? Not sure.

 

[Nigel Palesford]

Bobby Bland’s ‘Ain't No Love in the Heart of the City’ made famous by soft rockers Whitesnake in '78 with David Coverdale has gotta be the icing on the cake.

Second dibs to Ronnie James Dio with Aerosmith’s ‘Dream On’. 10 years on Ronnie - RIP. What an immortal voice.

Bland's version is the original though on the excellent 'Dreamer' album although maybe you just said that.....

 

[Nigel Palesford]

Just realised that Tupelo was a John Lee Hooker song. Now if you want atmosphere Cave’s version is what you might need.

Interesting. Always thought that was a Cave song. Great album!

 

[Nigel Palesford]

'What's So Funny 'bout Peace, Love and Understanding'. Elvis Costello's version trumps the Nick Lowe penned Brinsley Schwarz original. Elvis has closed his shows with it for as far back as I can remember.
I prefer Emmylou Harris's version of 'Here, There and Everywhere'.

 

[Jonathan Mitchell]

As already listed J.Cash's version of Hurt. Saw NIN a couple of years back and they introduced it as their Cash cover.
Emma - Sisters of Mercy. Unsurprisingly much darker than the Hot Chocolate version.
Hanging on The Telephone - Blondie. original sung by The Nerves.

 

[Dan Vyvyan]

Emma - Sisters of Mercy. Unsurprisingly much darker

See also their version of Jolene, which sounds like it should really be "I'm begging you please don't eat my man"

 

[Geordie Torr]

 

[Mark Carrington]

Blondie's Hanging on the Telephone. Trounces the original by The Nerves, though my copy of the latter is worth considerably more.
Edit. Just seen Jonathan's post above.
Of course Johnny Cash Hurt is the greatest cover version. The video adds lustre.

This Mortal Coil mentioned below ranks a distant second.

 

[Geordie Torr]

Not necessarily "better" versions, but I prefer them:
Lay, Lady, Lay - Ministry
Rent - Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine
Surfin' USA - Jesus and Mary Chain
Song to the Siren - This Mortal Coil (Quite possibly the best cover version in the history of cover versions)
Wild Horses - The Sundays
Needles and Pins - The Ramones
Slip Inside this House - Primal Scream
Bad Blood - Ryan Adams
Landslide - Smashing Pumpkins
The Glee version of Fireworks by Katy Perry

Okay, that'll do for now. I'm sure I'll come up with some more later.

 

[Geordie Torr]

Ed Kuepper’s version of Highway to Hell is definitely worth a listen. I’d posit that it is better than the original, a wonderfully dystopian version which would have made a great theme song for Mad Max 17.

Good call! I'd forgotten about that one. Ed Kuepper is criminally underrated.

 

[Mahmoud Ali]

Of course Johnny Cash Hurt is the greatest cover version. The video adds lustre.

The day I heard this on the radio I knew it was was his farewell song. The video is also brilliant. In the video the photograph on the wall is his mother and the house he visits is where he was born.

 

[mark kogos]

I’m just stunned no one has offered up Sid Vicious’s My Way

 

[kevin heatherington]

Nick Lowe The beast in me.

Of course, Lowe wrote it but it was released by Johnny Cash before Lowe’s own version which came out a few months later- so I guess that makes it a cover. Both versions great though.

 

[kevin heatherington]

MC5 Ramblin Rose (original is by Jerry Lee Lewis)