h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The scourge of cover versions knows no abatement. How I howl as my favourite tunes are slashed to pieces by some soulless hack. (Latest outrage: Will Young's 'Light My Fiiiiyer' )

A local commercial radio DJ (read: nonce who knows less about music than the computer that churns out the playlist) said that The Corrs' 'Dreams' was better than Fleetwood Mac's original. No mate. Try harder.

So, please give examples of cover versions that have genuinely improved on the original. Gnomon has already (A186105) mentioned 'Sailing' by Rod Stewart, which I'll second.

BTW, please assume that Dylan (Hendrix, The Byrds etc) has already been accounted for. He's a fantastic songwriter, but, well, you can't have everything.

Santana's Jingo covered by Jellybean
both version are ok, but Jellybean's version has more power

This thread wouldn't be complete without a mention for Mike Flowers and his fantastic cover of "Wonderwall"....

Otto

Rolf Harris's cover version of "Stairway to Heaven" (I don't think).

Bruce Springsteen's Fire by covered Pointer Sisters

both good versions

Mick Jagger and David Bowie's cover of "Dancin' in the Street" was at least as good as the original.

Joe Cocker's version of "With a little help from my friends" was so different from the original Beatles number that it could not be compared. The original was great and so was the cover.

Rolling Stones "we love you" covered by Ryuichi Sakamoto

As mentioned elsewhere, NIN and Manson 'Down in the Park' by Tubeway Army, and also Fear factory doing Numan's Cars.
Satan and Adam (blues duo) doing Ode to Billy Joe.
The ramones doing Needles and Pins
John Hiatt doing I Wanna be Sedated (by the Ramones)
The Nevilles doing Pink Bedroom (by John Hiatt)

Oh, and my mate Denny doing Little Wing.

Mike Flowers - also gets credit since he made out theirs was the original.

(aside - I was on a bus on Saturday on the way to a friends wedding with the boyf. With us on the top deck were a group of teenage girls singing Will's version of Light my fire. As they went down the stairs I turned to Ian and said 'Can you hear a whirring sound?' and he said 'I take it you mean Jim Morrison spinning in his grave.' All the people near us started laughing. The sad thing is the teenage girls did not get it!)

everclear do a great version of 'Brown Eyed Girl' but David Gray's version of 'Say Hello, wave Goodbye' was horrible.

Siouxsie & The Banshees' 'Dear Prudence' equals the Fabs'. R.E.M.'s (*definitely* not that abomination that was at no. 1 for 6 years) version of the Troggs' classic also deserves a mention.

Bryan Ferry's version of 'Smoke gets in your eyes' shows the power of song to transcend the decades.

Sex Pistols 'God Save The Queen'

Had to be done.

The Band Aid-style version of Pulp's "Bad Cover Version" with lots of Stars In Their Eyes type look- and sound-alikes is the funniest thing I've seen for a remarkably long time.

So long as Weird Al still gets to cover anything that takes his fancy, I'm happy.

The 'Famous Blue Raincoat' album of Leonard Cohen songs sung by Jennifer Warnes (otherwise known as 'Jenny sings Lenny').

Azara

Oh, and before I forget, Kevin Rowland's version of "The Greatest Love Of All" never fails to cheer me up... A375491 for anyone not in the know...

Lou Reed - Beuatifull day covered by Various Artists for Charity

I wanted them to carry on and do 'Heroin'. I imagined Domingo/Pavarotti doing the 'it's my life, eeeeet's my wiiife!' with full operatic gusto.