Covers that are better than the original?

  
  So I was watching Lil Wayne's performance for his shitty song "How to Love" on the MTV VMA's and in my head I knew I already knew that the covers of that song on YouTube were better than Weezy's autotuned voice.  There was also a topic about song covers that I saw yesterday and it made me think about song covers that have trumped the original song.  In the case of most songs, its usually because the artist(s) performing the original sounds like shit anyways.  
  

This was the first thing that popped into my head.
 
    

I can understand why someone would think the other way, but I personally like Alien Ant Farm's version of Smooth Criminal over Michael Jackson's. And I love Johnny Cash's Hurt over Nine Inch Nails'.

Got to be The White Stripes version of Dolly Parton's Jolene for me. The original is a fun, toe tappin' country song with some deceptively brilliant lyrics. The Stripes take it to a whole other fucking level, nothing else in the music world has this much emotion.

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/off-topic/31/any-amazing-song-covers/512015/#61

First page bro.

Always thought this was a pretty cool cover, better though, I don't know.

all along the watch tower. jimi hendrix 
 
better the bob dylans... 
 
immmaaa hipsterr

I don't really like Metallica but Periphery makes this song awesome

I'm going to preface this by saying I fucking love Jimi Hendrix but I really liked Bear McReary's All Along the Watchtower from Battlestar Galactica even more than Hendrix or Dylan. 
  
  

This is a song that i think is the opposite of the thread. 
 
The original is better than its more famous cover...which most people don't even know it is a cover.
 
  

This was the first thing that popped into my head.
 
    

 
 
      I like both, but i love piano and the Gary Jules version just impacts me much better.

I'm going to preface this by saying I fucking love Jimi Hendrix but I really liked Bear McReary's All Along the Watchtower from Battlestar Galactica even more than Hendrix or Dylan. 
  
  

  Another good one is Jonathan Coulton's version of Baby Got Back. I always hated that song, but JC made it listen able and in fact enjoyable.  
 
 

Johnny Cash's Cover of Hurt by NIN might as well be the original, even Trent admitted it sounds better.

@anthama: Where does Trent admit it was better? I know it was a very personal song for him, so I would be surprised if that were the case. Anyway, I've always liked the NIN version better...

For content.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1A_uSEjTIQ

The Drive-By Truckers have a fun cover of Bob Dylan's Like A Rolling Stone.
My ringtone has been this cover for going on close to 4 years -
    

Love the original version , but this is just too soulfully awesome.

I've always thought that Joe Cocker's version of With A Little Help From My Friends was vastly superior to the Beatles. (And apparently hard to find on youtube without some 'misheard lyrics' overlay...)

I've always thought that Joe Cocker's version of With A Little Help From My Friends was vastly superior to the Beatles. (And apparently hard to find on youtube without some 'misheard lyrics' overlay...)

Gary Jules' version of Mad World is not better than the Fears original.  
 

If someone says behind blue eyes - limp bizkit, i will personally kill them.

I think we could all agree that Suara's cover of "Towa Ni" (originally sung by Emi Motoda) is the superior version.

Hmm...Jimi Hendrix did a lot of great covers however I think these two songs are pretty great

Cover of a Bob Seger song

Cover of a ZZ Top song

red house painters, "i am a rock." better than the simon & garfunkel original. look it up, chumps.

@TerraMantis: You said it. The original is crap while the Gary Jules cover is one of my absolute favorite songs.

Hmm, this is a tough one since I'm old and I tend to prefer the originals in most cases, but I'll list a few that I like:
 

1. "I'm a Man" ~ Chicago (Chicago Transit Authority) originally by The Spencer Davis Group
2. "Because the Night" ~ 10,000 Maniacs (Unplugged) originally by Patti Smith Group
3. "House Of The Rising Sun" ~ Frijid Pink (self-titled) "originally" by The Animals
4. "The Mighty Quinn" ~ Manfred Mann (Mighty Garvey!) originally by Bob Dylan
5. "Beautiful" ~ All-American Rejects (live) originally by Christina Aguilera 
6. "Mmm Bop" ~ The Fabulous Pink Flamingos (Live from the Lu'au Lounge)  originally by Hanson
   
7. "Hot in Herre" ~ Jenny Owen Youngs (The Take Off All Your Clothes EP) originally by Nelly
8. "Rich Girl" ~ The Bird and the Bee (Interpreting the Masters vol. 1) originally by Hall & Oates
9. "Tighten Up" ~ Jamiroquai (Live At The Club Citta '93) originally by Archie Bell and the Drells
   

This is a song that i think is the opposite of the thread. 
 
The original is better than its more famous cover...which most people don't even know it is a cover.
 
  

I really liked the remix of Night of the Hunter from 30 Seconds to Mars latest album, far more so then the original song (which is also great).

@EuanDewar said:

Got to be The White Stripes version of Dolly Parton's Jolene for me. The original is a fun, toe tappin' country song with some deceptively brilliant lyrics. The Stripes take it to a whole other fucking level, nothing else in the music world has this much emotion.

I was gonna post that! I guess I'll have to settle for another cover. You could say the original is better than this cover, but Jack White knows how to make it his own. I almost collapse in spasms every time he hits that distortion.

"Death Letter" - Sun House

"Grinnin in your foace" _ Sun House

Oh yeah, I have to say this is my favorite cover of all time.

Never liked the original, but Five Finger Death Punch did pretty good.

Several covers come to mind. I don't necessarily think they are better then the original but they were different enough to give the song a different spin.  
 
  

The first thing that comes to mind is Only You, originally by Yazoo, covered by the Flying Pickets.

Original:

Cover:

I like the Yazoo version. It's a good song. But the Flying Pickets version is amazing. It's a fantastic song.

Suprised the hell out of me the first time I saw it. John Belushi - "a little help from my friends"

@TerraMantis said:

This is a song that i think is the opposite of the thread. 
 
The original is better than its more famous cover...which most people don't even know it is a cover.
 
  

You sir, just read my mind...

Dream Theater covering Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding by Elton John blew my mind the first time I heard it. 
 
  

It has to be this... 

Mad World and Cum On Feel the Noize.

Matisyahu's cover of Message in a Bottle is what the original should have been in my book. The guitars sound much more full, and Matis' vocals are close enough to Sting's style without sounding like an imitation.