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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
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,792 posts
 

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 ;-) .

djones51
4,947 posts
 
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. 
n80 OP
2,116 posts
 
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.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,792 posts
 
@n80, have you seen The Band's performance of the song on Saturday Night Live? Astoundingly great, their best. It was late in The Band's original run, maybe in 1976. While SNL always gave the musical guest time for only one song, Lorne Michaels gave them time for three, the only time I've seen that. THAT'S how much respect The Band commanded from other artists. They had the horn section they later had at The Last Waltz, playing the parts heard in the studio version, absolutely essential to the song. Those horn parts not being in Baez's version renders it unacceptable imo.
n80 OP
2,116 posts
 
I have never seen that footage and in my youth and ignorance probably would have flipped to another channel when they were on SNL. That's right about the time my homeroom teacher was trying to improve the tastes of a room full of Philistines, preppies and Saturday Night Fever wannabes who thought he was nuts. For me it was all Zep, Who, Kinks, etc.

I will see if I can find that footage on YouTube. Would love to see it.
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