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malvolio · Mar 22, 2005, 01:06 AM

Okay, we did the "covers that are better than the originals" thing.
Now it's time for the originals that are superior to their better-known covers.

F'rinstance, Sandy Denny did her own composition Who Knows Where the Time Goes so much better than Judy Collins.

And furthermore, Lucinda Williams' Passionate Kisses beats the s h i t out of Mary Chapin Carpenter's wimpiness.

DeathMan · Mar 22, 2005, 01:16 AM

any song by Cat Stevens, The Beatles, Bowie, the Police, Led Zepplin (I'm thinking mainly of car commercials here), or Simon and Garfunkel.

Cipher13 · Mar 22, 2005, 01:19 AM

Hurt, by Nine Inch Nails.

demograph68 · Mar 22, 2005, 01:37 AM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
Hurt, by Nine Inch Nails.

Really? You don't like Johnny Cash's version?

lavar78 · Mar 22, 2005, 04:31 AM

Any song by Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder (including "Higher Ground")

badidea · Mar 22, 2005, 04:44 AM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
Hurt, by Nine Inch Nails.

Originally posted by demograph68:
Really? You don't like Johnny Cash's version?

Are you guys telling me that Johnny Cash covered a song from NIN (thread title: Original better than cover)??

lavar78 · Mar 22, 2005, 05:37 AM

Originally posted by badidea:
Are you guys telling me that Johnny Cash covered a song from NIN (thread title: Original better than cover)??

Where have you been?

Cipher13 · Mar 22, 2005, 08:49 AM

Originally posted by demograph68:
Really? You don't like Johnny Cash's version?

Sh!t, not thorns! ALKFJDKF

theJoKell · Mar 22, 2005, 09:21 AM

Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb. The Scissor Sisters should be stabbed in the throat for what they did to that song.

ShortcutToMoncton · Mar 22, 2005, 10:29 AM

The White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army." I like the Flaming Lips' version, but it's still not as good.

Stealers Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle with You." Again, I really do like Eagles of Death Metal's rockin'-rough take on it, but there's still something about the original.

The Guess Who's "American Woman." I would gladly take a tire iron to Lenny Kravitz solely for that attempt.

My brain must be turned off at the moment, because I can't think of any others. What was that one Madonna did? I think that one's even too obvious.

greg

Millennium · Mar 22, 2005, 10:54 AM

Fleetwood Mac's Snow-Covered Hills. The Dixie Chicks cover wasn't bad, but how the heck were they supposed to compete?

KeriVit · Mar 22, 2005, 10:56 AM

Janis Joplin's - Me and Bobby McGee" is way better than any cover. Leave songs like that alone.

KeriVit · Mar 22, 2005, 11:07 AM

double

sek929 · Mar 22, 2005, 11:35 AM

"Behind Blue Eyes"

Not sure if that is the actual name of the song but its The Who I believe. Re-made by Fred "I can't sing to save my life" Durst.

Finch did "Say it Ain't So" by Weezer, and it was bad.

David Bowie's version of "Heroes" is better than the Suckflowers remake.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, Fear Factory's version of "Cars" is awesome.

misc · Mar 22, 2005, 11:37 AM

Originally posted by DeathMan:
any song by Cat Stevens, The Beatles, Bowie, the Police, Led Zepplin (I'm thinking mainly of car commercials here), or Simon and Garfunkel.

I agree!

Although I like The Beatles, "With a Little Help From My Friends" the Joe Cocker version is really good too.

hayesk · Mar 22, 2005, 11:58 AM

Originally posted by sek929:
"Behind Blue Eyes"

Not sure if that is the actual name of the song but its The Who I believe. Re-made by Fred "I can't sing to save my life" Durst.

Yep, that's the one. Wow, what a crappy cover.

Agasthya · Mar 22, 2005, 01:09 PM

Originally posted by Millennium:
Fleetwood Mac's Snow-Covered Hills. The Dixie Chicks cover wasn't bad, but how the heck were they supposed to compete?

Landslide

discotronic · Mar 22, 2005, 01:16 PM

Metallica butchered "Turn the Page"

Bob Seger's original is by far the best. Metallica just needs to retire. They are nowhere near the band they used to be.

On another note I am fond of William Shatner's version of "Lucy in the Sky."

Y3a · Mar 22, 2005, 01:54 PM

You love keeps lifting me Higher and higher - original better than rita coolidge's

hotani · Mar 22, 2005, 02:57 PM

All Led Zeppelin. Covers of Zep songs make baby Jesus cry.

malvolio · Mar 22, 2005, 02:59 PM

Originally posted by discotronic:

On another note I am fond of William Shatner's version of "Lucy in the Sky."

You are one demented dude!

bradoesch · Mar 22, 2005, 03:12 PM

Originally posted by sek929:
"Behind Blue Eyes"

Not sure if that is the actual name of the song but its The Who I believe. Re-made by Fred "I can't sing to save my life" Durst.

I couldn't believe how terrible that version was. It's one of my favourite songs.

andi*pandi · Mar 22, 2005, 03:42 PM

Originally posted by Cipher13:
Hurt, by Nine Inch Nails.

I'm getting a sense of dejavu all over again.

theJoKell · Mar 22, 2005, 03:44 PM

Originally posted by hotani:
All Led Zeppelin. Covers of Zep songs make baby Jesus cry.

Not always. Some bands can do a very nice tribute to Zeppelin songs. Not better than the original, of course, but nice tributes.

lavar78 · Mar 22, 2005, 05:23 PM

Originally posted by ShortcutToMoncton:
My brain must be turned off at the moment, because I can't think of any others. What was that one Madonna did? I think that one's even too obvious.

You must be talking about "American Pie" by Don McLean. I'm apparently the only person in the world who hates the original. That being said, Madonna's cover made me appreciate the original -- it's that bad.

ShortcutToMoncton · Mar 22, 2005, 07:57 PM

Originally posted by hotani:
All Led Zeppelin. Covers of Zep songs make baby Jesus cry.

You're the second person here to say that. I always roll my eyes at this, because a lot of their songs were covers anyway � just, you know, credited to themselves.

Whole Lotta Love? Stairway to Heaven? The Lemon Song? When the Levee Breaks? Bring it on Home? Dazed and Confused? Black Mountainside? You Shook Me? Communication Breakdown? How Many More Times?

All those Zep songs are either covers or have significant portion of the music/lyrics lifted from other songs or artists, while still (for the most part I believe) credited to Page/Plant. I think at least a few of these resulted in lawsuits against them.

Don't believe me? Go Limewire Howlin' Wolf's "The Killing Floor", or "Taurus" by Spirit (who they opened for early in their careers). That's some funny shi�e right there.

Not that Led Zep aren't good � there's no denying that, and for the most part their "covers" were better than the originals. I just found that, for me, it kinda diminished their allure somewhat.

greg

hotani · Mar 22, 2005, 08:44 PM

Originally posted by ShortcutToMoncton:
You're the second person here to say that. I always roll my eyes at this, because a lot of their songs were covers anyway � just, you know, credited to themselves.

Whole Lotta Love? Stairway to Heaven? The Lemon Song? When the Levee Breaks? Bring it on Home? Dazed and Confused? Black Mountainside? You Shook Me? Communication Breakdown? How Many More Times?

All those Zep songs are either covers or have significant portion of the music/lyrics lifted from other songs or artists, while still (for the most part I believe) credited to Page/Plant. I think at least a few of these resulted in lawsuits against them.

Don't believe me? Go Limewire Howlin' Wolf's "The Killing Floor", or "Taurus" by Spirit (who they opened for early in their careers). That's some funny shi�e right there.

Not that Led Zep aren't good � there's no denying that, and for the most part their "covers" were better than the originals. I just found that, for me, it kinda diminished their allure somewhat.

greg

Point taken. I guess what sounds bad to me is a band playing a Led Zeppelin "cover" be it an original or old blues tune, and attempting to emulate the Zeppelin sound. If you're going to play one of the old blues tunes, do it your own way, with your own flavor - not with some sound that is a copy of a copy.

Paco500 · Mar 22, 2005, 09:03 PM

Any cover by the Counting Crows wants me to either take an ice pick to by ears or their hearts. Their cover of The Ghost in You is painful, but when Amy Grant's Big Yellow Taxi is preferable to yours, it's time to retire.

Of course, the Counting Crows breakout hit was just a thinly veiled Van Morrison rehash, so no surprise there.

Paco500 · Mar 22, 2005, 09:09 PM

Originally posted by malvolio:
And furthermore, Lucinda Williams' Passionate Kisses beats the s h i t out of Mary Chapin Carpenter's wimpiness.

I'm sure this is a quirk on my part, but you will not find a bigger Lucinda Williams fan than me, but while I prefer the original as a whole, I think Ms. Chapin Carpenter did an excellent re-interpretation of this song, especially as she actually "shouts it out to the world" as opposed to Lucinda kind of whispering that someone should "give me what I deserve, cause it's my right." I think Lucinda may agree with me here, as when I saw her live she did kind of shout that line out.

Two others I forgot about, Jerry Jeff Walker's Mr. Bojangles is not the sentimental crap Sammy Davis Jr. turned it in to, and who ever did the original "Torn" (can't remember the artist) shows the emotion that Natalie Imbrulia's bubble-gum version lacks.

EDIT

The original "Torn" artist is Ednaswap, and Apple just got my $0.99 so it can be in my library.

finboy · Mar 23, 2005, 04:23 PM

Originally posted by hotani:
All Led Zeppelin. Covers of Zep songs make baby Jesus cry.

I call BS on that one. I've never known anyone to RECORD a decent cover, but I've played with & known several groups who could do mean covers of LZ. Live, intense. It can't be that hard -- I've seen it done many times.

ghporter · Mar 23, 2005, 07:56 PM

Originally posted by discotronic:
Metallica butchered "Turn the Page"

Bob Seger's original is by far the best. Metallica just needs to retire. They are nowhere near the band they used to be.

On another note I am fond of William Shatner's version of "Lucy in the Sky."

To tell you how old I am, at my high school graduation party the band we hired did "Turn the Page." They butchered it so badly that we made them to stop. They changed lyrics like "...smoke the day's last doobie..." Just NO!

Anyway, Shatner always makes me smile when he "sings," unless he makes me wince. His version of "Lucy" has the latter effect. Now, how about Shatner's "Macarthur Park?" Holy Toledo! I'm surprised Richard Harris didn't fly to LA and punch him for that! (I actually do like William Shatner as an actor-I'm kind of thrilled that he finally won an Emmy-but the "performances" he recorded on vinyl should be put FAR behind him!

I'm sure I'll think of other, horrible covers eventually-stay tuned!

MountainMac · Mar 23, 2005, 10:03 PM

Originally posted by KeriVit:
Janis Joplin's - Me and Bobby McGee" is way better than any cover. Leave songs like that alone.

Bwahahahahaha!!!!!!

Um, Kris Kristofferson wrote that song. Then Roger Miller covered it. Then Janis Joplin covered it. And Janis's version is by far the worst of the three, although it is decent.

Timo · Mar 23, 2005, 10:49 PM

Originally posted by andi*pandi:
I'm getting a sense of dejavu all over again.

heh

TubaMuffins · 02:49 AM

Originally posted by ghporter:
To tell you how old I am, at my high school graduation party the band we hired did "Turn the Page." They butchered it so badly that we made them to stop. They changed lyrics like "...smoke the day's last doobie..." Just NO!

Anyway, Shatner always makes me smile when he "sings," unless he makes me wince. His version of "Lucy" has the latter effect. Now, how about Shatner's "Macarthur Park?" Holy Toledo! I'm surprised Richard Harris didn't fly to LA and punch him for that! (I actually do like William Shatner as an actor-I'm kind of thrilled that he finally won an Emmy-but the "performances" he recorded on vinyl should be put FAR behind him!

I'm sure I'll think of other, horrible covers eventually-stay tuned!

there's always Shatner's infamous "Rocket Man" cover too. I'm gonna have to say that Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" beats the pants off of any cover, even Hendrix. Hot dog i love that song (sorry, I just got "The Essential Bob Dylan" today, havent stopped listening to it). Also, "The Passenger" by Iggy Pop.

lavar78 · Mar 25, 2005, 05:00 AM

Originally posted by TubaMuffins:
I'm gonna have to say that Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" beats the pants off of any cover, even Hendrix.

Bob himself doesn't agree with you.

skalie · Mar 25, 2005, 05:20 AM

Loads of versions of "Stairway to Heaven" to be found here, still think Rolf Harris's version is the best.