Ask Lemmy

Baby I’m yours
Original by Barbara Lewis
Cover by Arctic Monkeys

I'm not sure Last Kiss by Pearl Jam is actually better than the original but it definitely deserves honorable mention.

U2's With or Without You cover by April Meservy and Aaron Edson. It infuses the original with raw emotion - you can feel the pain and exhaustion.

Edited to add: And Marilyn Manson's version of Tainted Love. It sounds sickening and toxic, making the song about much more than a breakup.

Dave Stewart covering Zombie by The Cranberries https://youtu.be/1iDTYnxCNXM

• Louie Louie - Toots & The Maytals (originally recorded by Richard Berry, popularized by The Kingsmen) https://youtu.be/BlFGvTtGMBI

• Walk on By - The Stranglers (originally recorded by Dionne Warwick) https://youtu.be/WYkqLm9cM3Y

• Maybe I'm Amazed - Faces (originally recorded by Paul McCartney) https://youtu.be/SLhoLkTyNkM

• Black Steel - Tricky and Martina Topley-Bird (originally recorded by Public Enemy) https://youtu.be/9ZJTM03UByU

• Everything is Everything - Booker T. Jones (originally recorded by Lauren Hill) https://youtu.be/A61c4FgxZz8

• Ohio/Machine Gun - The Isley Brothers (originally recorded by Crosby, Still, Nash & Young) https://youtu.be/XC6qOvfgDJI

Within Temptation's cover of Radioactive by They Might Be Dragons. Much better. That said, nothing can beat the hilarious acid trip that is the original's music video.

Bruce Springsteen - Staying Alive

Pilotredsun "Warsaw" Jazz fusion Cover by poruu.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aW9Mk7DXPcI

The original is great, it takes simple Chiptunes and manages to convey a stunning range of emotion and movement.

This cover is fantastic because it takes what's at the core of the original and explores it even more, with varying loudness, instruments, ect.

It feels like the last warm august evening before going back to school.

It sounds like moving to a far away place in the search of opportunities.

It conveys the nostalgia of remembering your childhood friends with happiness, but also realizing that there's a great and unknown road ahead of you.

It gives you the comfort of knowing that every moment will pass, so you should enjoy it while it lasts and be hopeful for the future.

It's change, it's movement, it's nostalgia, it's hope, it's happiness, it's a bitter sweet end and a fresh beginning.

This cover gave me a lot of comfort and peace during difficult moments in my life and I can say with confidence that it far surpassed the original.

The Protomen's cover of Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground) is a slower burn than the original, but I feel like the emotions intented by the song are so much clearer.

It's off their album The Cover Up, which is an entire album of well done covers. It also tells a strong story through the tracks and the transistions between them. I love this band, and the last third of this album from Hunted (a transistion piece) onward is fucking amazing.

Now if only they could count to three better than Valve. Been at least a decade waiting for the ending of the story/universe they created. Act III when?

Joshua Ray Walker "Cuz I love you", his whole cover album really. The way he makes that Cher song into a country 2 step dance song is amazing.

Bob Schneider's cover of Running on Empty is haunting.

It's not so different but God I love the 9 minute November Rain by Connor Christian and the Southern Gothic.

I genuinely prefer Ronan Keating's version of Words

I have the Bee Gees original on vinyl, yet I always go back to Keating.

Another New World by Punch Brothers

Spanish Love Songs - Smile Like You Mean It

Karmastition by Alicia Keys.

Stevie Wonder's original was awesome, but the mash up is just chefs kiss.

Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley

Covering Leonard Cohen. This song is one of two (the other being Grace) that got me obsessed with Jeff Buckley back in my early to mid 20's.

It's just beautiful.

Bare Naked Ladies - Lovers in a Dangerous Time (original by Bruce Cockburn)

Metallica - Turn the Page (original Bob Seger)

"Am I Evil" by Diamond head, covered by Metallica, and done so much cleaner and better that I got into a full-on argument with somebody (pre-google) about it it not being an original Metallica song.

Also, I have nothing but respect for Roberta Flack and think "Killing Me Softly" was a fantastic song when she performed it, the Fugees absolutely crushed that song. Listening to the original shortly after makes it fall a little flat.

In the reverse of this, when I mention "Wagon Wheel" and somebody mentions Darius Rucker I get upset. Oh, you took a solid song with great harmonies and instrumentation, and you swapped it out to be a generic country song? Way to make it "your own" bud.

Do mashups count? Chris Cornell's One (Metallica and U2) https://youtu.be/uTJxAdrnkP4

Kind of the opposite but "As the World Caves In". Most people know the cover by Sarah Cothran , but I think the original by Matt Maltese is way, way better.

It's a song about two people together at the end of the world, and while Sarah sings it mourning the loss of everything, Matt sings it as a love song. To me that's the much more powerful message, that when everything is burning down, the only thing that's left and all that really matters is being together with the person you love, and the only thing to mourn is that you won't have more time with them.

Small town boy by Paradise Lost. https://open.spotify.com/track/0jfNgP8sP2tnOloYDw0HoM?context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A1lvVqodR4aT3R8WemeIgDN

The original is iconic, and there are almost too many covers of it to take it in. But Paradise Lost takes it in a different direction.

Same as Wicked Game by HIM. https://open.spotify.com/track/5XenUjG7cRnTkUe8AVuuMX

For as long as I've known it I've preferred the version of Ghost's Cerice done by Saint Raven, a much less known band out of Utah.

Love roller coaster covered by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, originally by the Ohio players I think, unsure because there’s been a few covers, but RHCPs is the best. The problem is they did it for the movie Bevis and Butthead do America, and I’m now there are weird license rights so you can’t stream it, but can be found on you tube.