When a Cover Beats the Original...

[Tersicore]

Of course the "award of merit" goes to the "author" for the composition in any case, but occasionally you may have some covers which are better than the original song (at least subjectively).
I have two, for my taste, to mention as my favorites:

This is a fantastic song of PJ!! And great Lyrics, by the way! But i really like more the Juliette version for the adding of the dash and vigor i was missing in the original, in a way...

And then this one, almost for the same reason:

This cover is excellent!! And so perfectly executed!!
Well done Glitter Dick! Devilish good job! <3

Looking forward to discover some more! Yours!

[Audio Gasoline]

Dead Moon's cover of "Parchman Farm" knocks it out of the park, especially in contrast to Mose Allison's well-known jazzified piano blues original.

[dave]

I think the New York Dolls cover of "Pills" the Bo Diddley song is even greater than the original.

Also, anything the Mummies cover is saaaa-MO-kin'. Here's "Come On Up"

[Korsy]

[John Battles]

Of course , there's Blue Cheer's better - known version , and partly the inspiration for Dead Moon's "Rock like fuck " version.....Johnny Winter and John Mayall did all right versions , too.
 
Audio Gasoline said:

Dead Moon's cover of "Parchman Farm" knocks it out of the park, especially in contrast to Mose Allison's well-known jazzified piano blues original.

[John Battles]

Well , most people have never heard Bo's original. It seldom turns up on retrospective albums (It IS on his box set.). THE DOLLS ' VERSION IS MORE OVER THE TOP. I DON'T KNOW THAT IT'S BETTER , IN MY OPINION, but , it is the definitive version , the one everyone covers.
 
dave said:

I think the New York Dolls cover of "Pills" the Bo Diddley song is even greater than the original.

Also, anything the Mummies cover is saaaa-MO-kin'. Here's "Come On Up"

[John Battles]

There's so many....Jerry Lee Lewis made , pretty much , any song his own.

 

There's so many Dylan covers that , I believe, were better than the originals....

Pretty much any by The Byrds - My Back Pages , Mr. Tambourine , Turn , Turn ,Turn , etc.

Elvis did a total of two Dylan songs. "Don't Think Twice , It's All Right " was just a studio jam that went on for 10 minutes , but really drove the point home......a putdown to the one who put him down. Saying "iT AIN'T NO BIG THING" WHEN IT IS.

it Ain't Me , Babe - Johnny Cash and even The Turtles.

It's aLL over Now , Baby Blue. - Them , Chocolate Watchband , 13TH Floor Elevators.

Isley Bros. - Lay , Lady Lay "Now some people say this cat knows a lot about a lot of things . Me , I like anything that's goy LAY in it !" (Ronnie Isley) 

Yardbirds - Most Likely You'll Go Your Way .

Solomon Burke - Maggie's Farm.

OK , to be fair , I heard Dylan doing "It Takes a Lot To Laugh , It Takes a Train To Cry" , recently. It beats Hell out of Blue Cheer's version.

[Audio Gasoline]

I suppose Blue Cheer's version deserves mentioning, but personally it never did anything for me: it always seemed kind of fractured and unfinished. Acid rock can be better when it's actually played while on acid, but it really should be mixed and mastered while sober :) Besides, I'm from Portland, so I got to stand up for one of our local legends.

John Battles said:

Of course , there's Blue Cheer's better - known version , and partly the inspiration for Dead Moon's "Rock like fuck " version.....Johnny Winter and John Mayall did all right versions , too.

[Audio Gasoline]

More of a re-make than a cover, but I think it's awesome:

[John Battles]

I WOULD NEVER TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM FRED AND TOODY COLE , THEY'VE BEEN FRIENDS OF MINE FOR MANY YEARS. DICKIE PETERSON AND I WERE FRIENDS , TOO , THO' NOT AS CLOSE. I'VE ALWAYS LOVED BOTH VERSIONS , BUT , YOU KNOW , SOME PEOPLE LIKE BLUE CHEER'S VERSION AND NOT DEAD MOON'S . GO FIGURE.
 
Audio Gasoline said:

I suppose Blue Cheer's version deserves mentioning, but personally it never did anything for me: it always seemed kind of fractured and unfinished. Acid rock can be better when it's actually played while on acid, but it really should be mixed and mastered while sober :) Besides, I'm from Portland, so I got to stand up for one of our local legends.

John Battles said:

Of course , there's Blue Cheer's better - known version , and partly the inspiration for Dead Moon's "Rock like fuck " version.....Johnny Winter and John Mayall did all right versions , too.

[John Battles]

Both Manic Hispanic and El Vez do an outstanding job of making song parody work AND rock , with Latino themes that won't alienate us chingadoros blancos. Of course , Robert Lopez was/is in The Zeros ...
 
Audio Gasoline said:

More of a re-make than a cover, but I think it's awesome:

[Tersicore]

ok, i know both versions of the "pills" song,
but who did the original "come on up"?
both links, by way for comparison would be great!

dave said:

I think the New York Dolls cover of "Pills" the Bo Diddley song is even greater than the original.

Also, anything the Mummies cover is saaaa-MO-kin'. Here's "Come On Up"

[Tersicore]

Well, since most of us grown up with R´n´R, Rock, Punk and so on, i guess is not too difficult to find more appealing versions of some old Jazz, Folk or old R´n´B songs. 
We may have heard in most cases the cover earlier than the original one,  
or maybe never heard the original at all. 

Personally i´d be more curious about comparing songs which were both, original and cover, quasi contemporary, or from not so extremely different musical genre.
What do you think?

BUT: I´ll spend a beer to anyone who comes with a better version of the original "Smokestack Lightning" by Howling´Wolf! ;)