The best cover of a song is..............

[houseworkneverends]

They wont go where I go - original Stevie Wonder, covered by George Michael. It's just perfect in every single way.

AIBU or do you think there is a better cover???

Two of mine are
The Ataris - The Boys of Summer
Jonny Cash - Witchita Line Man & If You Could Read My Mind

Miley Cyrus - Jolene and Like A Prayer

Saliva - They Don’t Care About Us

Seether - Careless Whisper

Stone Sour - Wicked Game

Ghost - Jesus He Knows Me

Limp Bizkit - Behind Blue Eyes

Bad Wolves - Zombie

I Prevail - Blank Space

Can you tell I’m a sucker for a rock cover?

Disturbed, Sound of Silence for me. Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

China Drum "Wuthering Heights" (probably because I hate the Kate Bush version).

Nirvana "Man who sold the world" (although the David Bowie version is great too).

The man who sold the world by Nirvana. I love the original, but Nirvana's version is just...something else.

I really like that too 😎

Darius Rucker's cover of Bob Dylan's 'Wagon Wheel/Rock Me Mama'.

HAS to be Sinead O' Connor Nothing Compares to You. Prince was a genius, but her version of this is miles better!

Also Eva Cassidy's cover of Fields of Gold is so much more beautiful than Sting's.

I'll second you on that. It may be because I heard Cilla singing it before hearing the original. Anyway this thread is entitled "the best cover", not necessarily "better than the original" (we've had threads on that too from time to time).

In that spirit I'd like to nominate In The Mood performed by a chorus of chickens on the Muppet Show! Actually the Muppets did a fair few excellent covers.

Oh & Jose Gonzales "Heartbeats" But I love the original too so it's a tie

I would say my favourites would be:
Jealous Guy - Roxy Music (although done as a tribute to John Lennon, it's still excellent)
Bad Romance - Halestorm (everything the original should have been)
Cum On Feel The Noise - Quiet Riot
Mama We're All Crazee Now - Mama's Boys
You Really Got Me - Van Halen
Someone Like You - Linkin Park

Alone - Heart

Weird Al. Just sayin'

Sinéad's version was absolutely heartbreaking. Pure genius. I wasn't half as keen on the original.

Dear Prudence by Souxsie and the Banshees

I also love The Killers version of Shadowplay by Joy Division (although I can't say it's better than the original as they're so different)

Hurt by Johnny Cash is one of my funeral tunes

Miles Cyrus and Jolene

Guns N Roses Live and let die
Metallica Whisky in the jar
Ghost If you have ghosts/It's a sin/We don't need another hero
Volbeat Don't tread on me

I think Bauhaus version of Ziggy Stardust was more raw than David Bowie’s original. Sacrilege I know

Ooh we need a Spotify playlist of these! So many great songs. Anyone up for it...?

I would like to add Since You've Been Gone, the Rainbow version was excellent. As was their version of I Surrender

I immediately thought of Hallelujah - but the John Cale cover, not the Jeff Buckley one. Although that’s great as well. But the John cale version is perfection

The Passenger - Siouxsie and the Banshees (Iggy Pop cover)
Bad Guy - The Interrupters (Billie Eilish cover)
Beggin' - Måneskin (The Four Seasons cover)

All so much more vibrant than the originals, which were excellent regardless.

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but George Michael's cover of I can't make you love me is really lovely too.

Will you still love me Tomorrow- Amy winehouse so much better than the dirty dancing version

Cover versions should be a distinctively different take to the original, rather than just a clone which is why I love Word Up by Gun. Hip hop has borrowed so much from rock, so it was great to hear a rock band borrow something back & absolutely smash it.