You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
The Maytals version of Country Roads is one of my favourites
Another great Joe Cocker version:
Mike Flowers pops version of Wonderwall. So much better that than the whiney manc version.
Squeezebox Man is Alastair Anderson.
I think this cover of the whole of Dark Side of the Moon almost eclipses the original
The Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain does more and better cover versions than anyone
Have a cigar done by the foo fighters with the drummer singing
Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding (org. Costello)
[url=
also
not better than the original but well worth a look.
Quite fitting that one of the finest songs has the best cover version.not better than the original but well worth a look.
Yep so true.Mike Flowers pops version of Wonderwall. So much better that than the whiney manc version.
I think this cover of the whole of Dark Side of the Moon almost eclipses the original
Great in places but not all of it.
Great thread thanks to all for posting.(Quote button playing up a bit there.)
Here it is in all it's glory.
PJ Harvey - Is that all there is?
The Gypsy Kings - Hotel California (Can't stand that dull MOR Eagles carp)
Very tough to pull off a Joy Division cover, but this is a great one:
I've no idea how to get the youtube embed thing to work!?
[url=
doing a better job than Kid Cudi[/url]
I've no idea how to get the youtube embed thing to work!?
Try (copy URL)on you tube then click and paste into video button below, if it does't work don't blame me i am no friend to the computer.
A true talent who died too young.
@portlyone ,fantastic but i am supposed to be mowing the lawn at the moment 8)
Pink Floyd, never has one band been so firmly stuck up it's own arse.
Burn him 😈
What's the best cover of Stairway?
Zappa's:
Valerie, Amy W / Mark Ronson.
It is a pity that she was so drunk/drugged that she didn't turn up for the video.
This would be one although I like the original by Zutons too.
She and My Funny Valentine - Elvis Costello, I have to say I am biased as every song he covered is better then the original 8)
@dannyh - I didn't realise I Fought the Law was a cover !
Ok, without commenting on other folk's choices (Gun? GUN? Better than CAMEO?? ffs) ahem.
Completely eclipsed the orginal:
Can't think of any more, some covers are ok, but hardly any are much better than the original. (Especially not if they are by GUN.)
@ DezB another great cover way better than the origonal Ponce effort, looks like the lawn will have to wait. 😉
Better than The Monkees
Great pub.
Holt's beer, the steak pie's nice too.
Pensioner's special on request Dez.
pete, good call on Les Thugs- i forgot just how good that cover is!
Anyway, here's an interesting one:
Hi Andy.
Find a watch mate?
not yet!
I'm sticking with my current one for now, given it's gonna be more expensive than i hoped and i want/need a new bike first. and a house!
Anova one for us wrinklies
What's the best cover of Stairway?Zappa's:
His rendition of "Ring of Fire" takes some beating too.
I was tempted to post the Jukebox version of [url=
heart[/url] but can you do a cover of your own song?
Also see her version of Satisfaction.
Bonnie Prince Billy & Tortoise
See also his version of Am I Demon (not sure but it might even feature the wonderful Meg Baird....)
And for all those posting mortal coil, better than the man? I think not.
Here's his version of Dolphins. Brilliant, a major loss.
Nina Gordon's version of 18 and Life is good too. I might regret this but Leona Lewis's version of Run by Snow Patrol is brilliant.
I always thought Johnny Cash's Hurt was really overrated, it's all a bit Shatner. But his version of One is ace.
But you know, everything by Richard Cheese
Or how about a bit of Shakira Shakira
Hickory Wind - Idha did a pretty good version too
this is better than anything else posted in this thread so far, or anything else that may follow...
Mark, man, you play a mean guitar! It's really a shame that you must die!
Don't Think Twice - June Tabor.
Generally, I love an interesting cover, but this is just disturbing ...
DiVinyls' I Touch Myself, by Rolf.
To eclipse the original a cover song needs to be a lot more than just "better than the original" in someone's very personal and subjective opinion. It needs to adopt the song as its own; it needs the original artist to say "fair cop, your version is brilliant"; it needs the general public to forget or never even know or care there was an original version before it.
Mark Ronson's Valerie ticks these boxes as does Cash's Hurt. A more contentious suggestion - since the original artist was the biggest band in the world - is this:
Apologies if already posted; this thread was killing my iPad.
[i]And for all those posting mortal coil, better than the man? I think not.[/i]
Thread is about eclipsing the original (or, that's what I thought it was supposed to be about). If This Mortal Coil hadn't covered that beautiful song it would have remained in complete obscurity. To think otherwise is to be deluded. 😉
Plus:
[i]Also see her version of Satisfaction.[/i] - Eclipses what exactly?
Thread is about eclipsing the original (or, that's what I thought it was supposed to be about). If This Mortal Coil hadn't covered that beautiful song it would have remained in complete obscurity. To think otherwise is to be deluded.
Tim was on an upward curve that TMC cynically surfed on. To say the original was eclipsed shows your deluded my friend. It's a damn fine cover, I don't dispute, but better? Plus liz's warbling does my napper in.... 😆
Besides, it was so much[i] better[/i] in obscurity, ordinary ****in people, I hate 'em...
the original, obviously, duh. I guess I just don't 'get' the stones.eclipses what exactly?
Completely stripped down and distilled.
'Ten hits you may not know were cover versions'
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29568083 ]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29568083[/url]
No Doubt - Its My Life. Way better than the Talk Talk version.
[i]Besides, it was so much better in obscurity, ordinary **** people, I hate 'em...
[/i]
Jeez, and Rusty calls me a snob! 😆
Just listened to that Satisfaction cover. Devo's is better, far more imaginative .
Happy Mondays Step on.. Although I prefer the original
Just listened to that Satisfaction cover. Devo's is better, far more whiney .
FTFY
Just for you [url=
I think Johnny Cash is a load of turgid nonsense with a completely fake attitude about 'oooh he's so dangerous so cool' BS
Good shout nick1962 - here's another beatles cover better than the original
Posted this on the 'where's Kim'thread, but it's a pretty good cover of a Beatles song:
for those on smartphones, it's The Damned doing Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit
completely stripped down and distilled
@metalheart - I think we've agreed about this before on STW... Cat Power's [i]The Covers Record[/i] still fugging demolishes me. Wonderful album. 😀
@noteeth, possibly. I know we have agreed on a couple of things in the past... 
Did I ever tell you how good Bill Callahan was earlier on in the year?.....
how good Bill Callahan was
I can imagine - gutted to have missed him at [Bristol's] St George's Church. 🙁
metalheart, I can play that song over and over again.Excellent choice. I remember Evan Dando joining a covers band (Shout Brothers)in Sydney and doing a cracking version of that.
** Right now - BBc Radio 6Music - Now playing with Tom Robinson - covers.
Cracking cover of Billie Jean by Ian Brown!
Jason and the Scorchers - Absolutely Sweet Marie.
Steve Hillage - It's All Too Much.
Black Sabbath - The Warning.
It surprises me that so few 'heads' have heard this.....
......surely one of the greatest covers ever?
And indeed anything off the Show and Tell album: http://www.allmusic.com/album/show-tell-a-stormy-remembrance-of-tv-themes-mw0000236617
Abset Elk covering Girls Aloud - The Loving Kind
Less Than Jake covering The Proclaimers - I would walk 500 miles
Tori Amos covering Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Lindsey Stirling covering RMFAO - Party Rock Anthem
Placebo covering Robert Palmer - Johnny and Mary
And as Righog said, "anything Johnny Cash covered".
Like:
Jonny Cash covering Marty Robbins - Big Iron
Sadly not the entire song, but you get the idea.
Street Spirit/ Fade Out as covered by The Darkness. Bonkers, unexpected and frankly brilliant:
kcal - Member
Robert Wyatt - Shipbuilding (org. Costello)
Strictly speaking, Costello's version is a cover, as were a number of other songs that he wrote, like 'The Other End Of The Telescope'; Costello wrote them for other artists, who recorded them some considerable time before Costello finally did his own version.
Carol King's 'Tapestry' album is nearly all covers of songs that were hits for other people first, although she co-wrote them with Gerry Goffin.
So to answer someone else's query, yes, you can cover your own song, it has to have been recorded previously by one or more other artists, and to have been fairly successful.
a cover of the Jake Holmes' original. Ripped off, eclipsed, shredded, stormed and offered to the Gods Of Rock and Roll in a ceremony off unholy ritualistic riffage!
eX-Girl's bonkers genius cover of the already bonkers 'Pop Musik' by M - it's as if it was pencilled in for them twenty years earlier waiting to be perfected.
'Jolene' - White Stripes
This may be controversial but I much prefer Social Distortions version of Under My Thumb to the original. Mike Ness has one of the best voices in the game.
Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix
Fear Factory (with Gary Numan) - Cars
2 songs by The Damned.
Eloise and Alone Again Or.
And The Impossible Dream by Carter USM.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29791820
[i]The Pet Shop Boys' Always On My Mind has been voted the top cover version of all time in a BBC Music vote.
The song, written by John Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson, was first made famous by Brenda Lee and Elvis Presley in 1972.
Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails' Hurt came in second place, followed by The Stranglers' version of Dionne Warwick's Walk On By.
Jimi Hendrix's take on Bob Dylan's All Along The Watchtower came fourth.
Jeff Buckley's cover of Leonard Cohen's classic Hallelujah completed the top five.[/i]
Actually a pretty decent top 10. Good mix of songs
Top two are wrong way round IMO
Hmm, yeah, that top 10 is pretty good. 2,3,4 & 6 are probably on my iPod.