Originals vs Cover versions

[OooohLaLa]

I was woken up by my alarm playing Dolly's dulcet tones gently warbling
'I Will Always Love You'.
Love her singing her song though I do also like Whitney's 90s cover.

What songs do you think are better as covers, and vice versa?

Dan Vasc's version of Bring Me to Life is so much better than the Evanescence one. Also his versions of Poker Face and Rolling in the Deep are better than the originals by miles.

It wasn’t The Beatles it was Wings.

The cover I’m listening to almost daily atm is Nobody Does it Better by Radiohead. Bloody marvellous!

Nothing Compares 2 U is the gold standard, I think. The Bangles version of Hazy Shade Of Winter is very good.
Kate Bush singing Rocket Man is bloody awful.
The Pet Shop Boys do a good cover version. Always On My Mind and Where The Streets Have No Name are excellent.

Obscure one, but have a listen to Neil Diamond's version of Red Rubber Ball, which was written and originally recorded by Paul Simon. It's very alive.

By the way, today is ND's 83rd birthday. His 'Stones' album from 1971 contains mainly cover versions of songs by writers such as Leonard Cohen, Tom Paxton and Joni Mitchell. He manages to make them his own.

Any English language version of 'Ne Me Quitte Pas/If You Go Away' by Jacques Brel is well worth a listen.

Agree absolutely with Nothing Compares 2 U.
Sinead owned that song.

Really enjoying all of these, thanks all!

One of the worst cover versions ever has to be Beautiful South - Everybodys talkin'. Dull, flat, lifeless and without any emotion at all and I usually like Beautiful South. The song really needs that high pitched, extended 'leave' at the end, which Nilsson delivers perfectly and which Beautiful South ignore altogether.

I prefer the Beats version of Tears of A Clown to the Smokey Robinson original.

Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah is my preference compared to the Leonard Cohen version.

Type O Negative's version of Cinnamon Girl. Sooooo much better than Neil Young's original.

Disturbed's cover of The Sound of Silence
Godhead's cover of Eleanor Rigby
Soft Cell's cover of Tainted Love

Loads, actually, but I'd be here all day.

One that I don't think many people will have heard is A Perfect Circle's cover of Imagine. Really changes the whole song and turns it from a preachy dirge into something interesting.

The Breeders cover of Happiness is a Warm Gun is far superior to the original by The Beatles; had a heated discussion about this with Beatles superfan, DS, the other day!

Joan Baez did Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts better than Bob Dylan

I prefer Alexandra Burke's version of Hallelujah and Guns 'n' Roses version of Knocking on Heaven's Door

The Specials do the best version of Enjoy Yourself and Siouxsie & The Banshees do the best version of Helter Skelter.

I prefer Tori Amos' version of Tom Waits' 'Time'. And Camille O'Sullivan's cover of Nick Cave's 'Ship Song'.

The Clash version of Police & Thieves is the best.

Obscure, but Judie Tzuke's version of Fall At Your Feet is better that Crowded Houses version.

I adore Bob Dylan but when I first heard “Make you feel my love” on his Time out of Mind album, I thought it was a really beautiful, simple song, but it really needed to be covered by someone else - his voice is fantastic in so many ways but it’s really gravelly and the song was crying out for someone to sing it beautifully.
Loads of covers since but I do like Adele’s - I was so pleased when I first heard it!

I like Cher's version of Walking in Memphis better than the Marc Cohn original.

The Byrds’ version of Mr Tambourine Man.

Bauhaus - Ziggy Stardust
Kula Shaker - Hush
Girlschool - race with the devil
Ultraviloence - paranoid ( which is a cover , and not , as it's often wrongly thought ,a sample)
Jim the king Brown ( the Elvis impersonator) - voodoo chile

Love Everything But the Girl's version of 'I Don't Want To Talk About It.

Ooh, good shout!

@slavetothekittens, I 100% agree with all your preferences!!..
especially The Damneds 'Eloise' (still got my treasured 12")

Mmmmmm, I nearly always prefer the originals.

Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons version of Beggin' much better than Madcon's
Kate Bush's This Woman's Work better than Maxwell's

But I do like Antony and the Johnsons (as was) Knocking on Heaven's door, it's beautiful.