Cover songs that are better than the originals.


There is an active thread about terrible cover songs so I thought I'd start one about cover songs that are better than or have completely eclipsed the originals. I'll start:

Randy Newman wrote Momma Told Me Not to Come for Eric Burdon who recored it with the Animals and Newman recorded it too. I have the Newman version and like it but Three Dog Night really seem to capture the mood of the song best in my opinion.
n80
No doubt everyone is entitled to their opinion and maybe this "just comes down to me," but I don’t think so, since it was such a mega hit. Sorry, I disagree that Joan Baez "made it an awful song." My opinion is that her version IS better than the original.
I figured someone would say that. It was the most popular rendition after all. And yes, it does all come down to opinion so there are no right or wrong answers. 

My take on that particular song is that she polished a song that, by its nature and lyrics, was intended to be rough around the edges. That smooth polished performance is incongruous with the content.

Also, Baez singing in a voice that is so feminine does not fit either. I don't have a problem with the gender reversal per se. For instance, on Raising Sand I like Krauss singing "Through the Morning, Through the Night."

Maybe if Janice Joplin had done "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" I would have liked it better. It surely would not have been over polished or over produced.

But finally, what really blows it for me is that Baez makes the song over sentimental, almost saccharine. Levon Helms does not. His delivery has pathos and emotion without being sentimental.

Anyway, that's my take. It isn't any more valid than anyone else's.

In two places in the song Baez got the lyrics wrong. She sped up the song, destroying the Southern feel of The Band’s version, which was ideal for the song’s story. The song is about rural people; Baez's version is pure city slicker. And I really miss the horns (trombone, tuba) heard in the original, which were there for a reason. The huge vocal group heard in the chorus of the song in her recording, drenched in reverb, sounds completely out of place. And then there’s her warbling, extreme vibrato, which some people don’t care for. Other than that it’s fine ;-) .

To me there aren't that many covers I like better than originals, I posted a few a ways back. Perhaps those few are because I am more familiar with the cover than the original but for songs where  I am fairly familiar with the original I find I can enjoy covers but very rarely prefer them. I think it has to do with when I listen to the cover in my mind I still "hear" the original if that makes any sense. 
I often initially prefer which ever version I hear first and am most familiar with. The Baez version of "The Night....." was the first version I heard of that song. It got a lot of radio air time. The Band's version got zero air time. The first time I heard the Band version was in high school home room where our nutty teacher was trying to convince us all that the Band was the best band of all time. I hated the Band version of the song. But that only lasted until I got into the Band. After that I'd turn the radio off if the Baez version came on.