Covers that were better than the original

[Alistair]

I don't think I ever heard a cover of a Bob Dylan song where I preferred the original.

I can certainly agree with that.

 

[belamyi]

 

[belamyi]

 

[gsdx]

I don't think I ever heard a cover of a Bob Dylan song where I preferred the original.

I can certainly agree with that.

I feel the same way, and I'll add another name to that: Neil Young. He grew up in Omemee, about a half-hour away from Peterborough and I always wonder how he became so successful. The man could not and cannot sing.

 

[belamyi]

I loved those winds when I still was a farting little baby

 

[belamyi]

 

[QueerBlackbird]

Of course, Hurt, by Johnny Cash, was so much better than the original version by NIN:

 

[KaraBulut]

I don't think I ever heard a cover of a Bob Dylan song where I preferred the original.

Such a shame, because he's another one that writes some great stuff...

 

[KaraBulut]

The Beatles, on the other hand, were never surpassed. Some made great covers (Rare Earth, Stevie Wonder) but never better than the original.

Well, there's a couple of performers who took the songs to a different place:

 

[Alistair]

Of course, Hurt, by Johnny Cash, was so much better than the original version by NIN:

It has more soul

 

[KaraBulut]

 

[mcbrion]

I don't think Gloria Jones and Soft Cell can be compared. Black artists were under a mandate to sound "peppy" in order to cross over to the White mainstream. Motown had not fully crashed the color barrier by 1965, which is why Black artists' songs did not reach the top of the pop charts: White America still regarded Black music as "race music."
That said, I liked Soft Cell's version mainly because it was darker and conveyed manipulation and control, whereas Gloria Jones' version was a "get-down" version in the Black community, but had NO support of her label. (Capitol records was not known for investing in its Black artists, because there was no money in it for them. And her version wasn't even on Capitol: it was on some cheap subsidiary where Capitol placed most of their Black artists at that time.

Soft Cell's song had pr PUSH (not to mention the money invested by Sire Records), which firmly gave them an edge. Besides, it was British and in the 1980s, and they were always ahead of Americans in their (good) taste for music. Much of what Americans didn't like by Black artists, the Brits adored. Tainted Love by Gloria did well in England, while, as I said, it didn't even crack the top 100 in the US. Soft Cell did that song BECAUSE they loved Gloria's version
(look it up).
I'd call it a tie, but for reasons of race, and race only. Gloria Jones' version didn't even chart in the White community (Billboard) because White djs didn't even play it, but it did well in the Black community. I remember it clearly and we danced to it at parties. Soft Cell's version, in contrast, did nothing in the Black community, so there you have it.

 

[mcbrion]

I loved those winds when I still was a farting little baby

Uh-uh. Don't agree at all. The Boystown Gang version was junk. I refused to play it at the Badlands in San Francisco, but the (white) gay crowd loved it for one reason - it was FAST. By 1980, gay disco was all boringly fast uptempo shit. Play a mid- tempo song at the Trocadero Transfer before 4 a.m. (where they loved "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" and the equally pitiful Viola Wills song, "If You Could Read My Mind" (also super uptempo) and the crowd left the floor (well, they were all on speed, for one thing, so slow didn't cut it). But it was boring. I had actual fights in the print media with the Boystown Gang and their producer when I reviewed the song, calling it "standard Moby Dick (the label) drivel." The Franki Valli original was far superior: it had feeling. You could believe he was in love. It had heart, soul and tenderness. And he was a vastly better singer and that's inarguable.

Guess we'll agree to disagree here. I liked almost nothing on Moby Dick Records. Completely formula disco. BAD formula disco at that.

 

[mcbrion]

RESPECT - Otis Redding's original version

and Aretha Franklin's more famous cover

Otis Redding said, point blank, when he heard Aretha's version - and I quote: "That girl done stole my song!" He knew she did it better. How could she not. She was the Queen of Soul in those days.

 

[mcbrion]

Hard to choose. I'd say they were equally good in arrangement, but Donna Summer had a better voice, I think.

 

[mcbrion]

What?!?! The Lion Sleeps tonight by The Tokens was vastly better than the Tight Fit remake. In No remote way did they compare. The whole Calypso feel of the Tokens' original version was completely missing in Tight Fit. All they did was sing the lyrics. The whole syncopation and rhythm was missing.

Cute, but soulless.

De gustibus ( translation: ""A matter of taste,") and all that. And the Tight Fit version had no taste. But it was flattering they chose to cover it. Ironically, like Gloria Jones' Tainted Love original, in THIS case, it was the White group cover that failed to chart. Who'd a thunk it?

 

[mcbrion]

You Ain't Nothing But a Hound Dog - Big Mama Thornton. FAR better than Elvis' version. Its just that he was White and turned it into a rock and roll song, far changed from its blues original version.

 

[mcbrion]

Neither is remotely in the same class as the Luther Vandross/Martha Wash version. It wipes Bassey AND Jones out.

 

[mcbrion]

"The Way We Were." Barbra Streisand and Glady Knight. BOTH magnificent. I could not possibly choose one over the other.

 

[willhunt]