Best song cover of all time

[Akrasian]

Some great ones already posted. Here's one of my faves - yet another Stones cover

 

[LumberTubs]

Can't believe no one has mentioned Jeff Buckley's cover of Cohen's Hallelujah. Superior to the original in every way and by far the best cover version of that song.

 

[kurtfaulk]

.

the best cover jimi hendrix ever did was his version of the sam cooke song good times (or somebody else? there were a few songs with similar names). jimi called it come on (let the good times roll).

now this isn't the best version of the song. you have to hear it on his electric ladyland album - such a great song.



.

 

[Mister Sin]

I absolutely love this cover


View: https://youtu.be/u9Dg-g7t2l4

 

[cvramsfan]

I absolutely love this cover


View: https://youtu.be/u9Dg-g7t2l4

Probably my favorite song right now.

 

[dieterbrock]

Guns and Roses did a heck of a job on Live and Let Die

 

[Loyal]

It might be silly, but the "Johnny B. Goode" cover by Michael J. Fox in "Back to the Future." had me rocking-out when I saw it....I still watch it every once in a while on YouTube.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1i5coU-0_Q

 

[Force16X]

dieter the brock listed mine : devo- cant get no satisfaction, so i'll add this one :


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4JGmpnqyHc

 

[Force16X]

and this one. luckily it was easy enough for nikki sixx to learn.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZObgW_xEu0

 

[Selassie I]

Lots of Bob's kids in this... both sons and daughters. They put their mark on their Pop's song. I like this one better than their Pop's.

This is the only YouTube vid of this I can find. Ignore the foreign language lyrics...

 

[RamsJunkie]

 

[FaulkSF]

Not a huge fan of this song until I saw them play it live. Was much better than the studio. Dave's voice was too scratchy in the studio.

 

[fearsomefour]

For the classic metal flavor.....
Iron Maiden, Cross Eyed Mary
Judas Priest, Diamonds and Rust (acoustic version)
For the bands no one has heard of flavor....
Donald Wilson Quintet, Straight No Chaser

 

[Fatbot]

Here's a couple covers of "You Really Got Me" that I like...

Oingo Boingo


Van Halen

 

[1maGoh]

Ohh...and anyone that does a Bob Dylan song BESIDES Bob Dylan.

This won't be popular, but that's is exactly how I feel about the Beatles. Aerosmith's cover of Come Together really does it for me though. And I really love the Five Finger Death Punch cover of Bad Company.

 

[DaveFan'51]

* Eagles - Hotel California
* Fleetwood Mac - Rumors
( Add anything by Jimmy Hendrix!!)

Edit: Also;
* pointer Sisters - Neutron Dance. or
* Pointer Sisters - Yes we Can Can

 

[Dodgersrf]

Absolutely works for me as well. I forgot they did this.

 

[Mojo Ram]

Iron Maiden, Cross Eyed Mary

Good call.

 

[Mojo Ram]

I'm a fan of Van Morrison but i actually like this cover better. Great energy.

 

[HeiseNBerg]

I have a particular view on doing covers. IMO if you cover someone else's work and you decide to take it somewhere very left field to the original, and drastically put your own touch on it...it had better be GOOD. I mean REALLY good. Otherwise and more often than not, i'm not a big fan of artists/bands trying to reinvent the wheel when remaking or covering a song.

For my money, this works:

I prefer covers that are more inline with what the original was trying to do or project...sonically. Putting a different touch on it is cool. If the original tune was vanilla ice cream...creating strawberry ice cream with sprinkles is a good way to go IMO. Don't change ice cream into a cheeseburger.
Example: Metallica(great band) covering Bob Seger's "Turn the Page." Terrible IMO.

Here's one I like that doesn't stray too far from the original: