Cover songs that are better than the originals

@shootER my call blasphemy, but I like this version better.

I couldn't see the video - it was a link to the site with the video on my end. Regardless I like both versions equally - different styles of course but both are good.

Santana two-for-one sale! Tito Puente did the original Oye Como Va but Santana takes it to the next level. The original lineup of Fleetwood Mac did Black Magic Woman but again are upstaged.

an old favorite

Brontocrushrock v.2
aka SonOfBronto

Just a reminder folks, this thread is about cover songs that are better than the originals.

Well, this thread inspired me to look again for the best version of "Up On The Roof". I think I have partial success -- Kenny Lynch sounds like the guy, although Spotify has a less-polished version than what I used to hear on the radio. Although Wikipedia says Lynch and the Drifters both released their versions in the same year, so maybe neither counts as a cover?

You aren't some kind of weirdo Michael Bolton sympathizer, are you?

James Taylor also covered "Up On The Roof" in the 70's.

Yeah, I know that version too. Fine if that's your speed, but not the best.

I never said it was the best. I don't think anyone has improved upon the original Drifter's version - assuming the Drifters version is the original. I don't really care for the song myself no matter who performs it. I like the Coasters better than the Drifters. "Poison Ivy" is my favorite Coasters song.

some 90s:

and some early psychobilly

wow! I had no idea "Chinese Rock" was a cover!

We did. I saw the title and thought "is this thread still going?" That must have been a good ... 6 or 8 years ago.

wordforge, repetitive?

say it ain't so!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, this thread totally did not go in the direction I had intended.

It was meant to be a thread about covers that were generally recognized as being actually better than the original songs, followed by an explanation of why the poster thought so.

There's already a thread where people can just randomly post Youtube links to shitty cover songs.

I'm outta here.

I prefer punk /shrug
SoB/Brontocrushrock's cover of BOC's Godzilla was a staple of the Toronto punk scene in the late 80s. They hit every note, just at about five times the speed.
Dirty Bird doing Trooper? Same thing... proficient musicianship sped up and distorted.

I like Phil Collins's Groovy Kind Of Love better

The original sounds like it's going crosswise across the grooves

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes version of "Sweet Caroline", if only for the complete lulz.

Uriah Heep's verion of Bryan Adams' "Lonely Nights".

I like it because it's got a harder rock edge.

(Am I doing this right, @We Are Borg ?)

I was just assisting. Your original post was a link that I figured was to this classic. You beat me to it so I had to credit you. It was pretty far in the thread for no one to have mentioned what has to be the best remake ever IMO. I will give springstein credit for some lyrics I did not think he was capable of, but Manfred Mann owns the song.

Do weird al songs count here? Because there is a ton of them I think are so much better than the original.

For instance



The miley song Party in the USA is lyrically blah and musically meh. Weird Al's lyrics turn a mediocre song up a notch and make it more fun and better over all.

In this next one I really like the music of the original, but it can be said to be creepy and rapey. The Al version maintains the decent dance song while giving some great lyrics.



Finally, This is just a great anthem for white nerdy people, where the other just does not fit me so well.

Thx. Spot on.

The original Ronnie Milsap version is good, but I like this one better.

This might be blasphemy but this is better than the original and here's why: Burt Bacharach is an epically talented song writer - nobody can dispute that. But Burt's singing voice? Not so much. When he sings one of his own songs it sounds like a demo version. Mike Patton really nails this. I mean he drives a railroad spike through this song. He crushes the high notes (first encountered about 2:20 or so)
with a testosterone overdose. Okay enough, here it is!

I totally forgot about this one, but the mention of Madonna's mutilation of American Pie reminded me.

and as we're doing pre goth-goth... (NOT claiming these are superior to the originals, but are worthy successors)







oh.... and of course,