Best Cover Songs

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Little Wing by SRV
Voodoo Child by SRV

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Good, but not better than the originals.

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I've played SRV's and Hendrix's back to back before just to answer that question, and to me, SRV's is better.

But, as with all music, tastes vary.

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Voodoo Child by Hendrix is better than SRV. I think Little Wing by SRV is better though.

Technical difficulty should have no bearing on anything.

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How about Janis Joplin's cover of "Me and Bobby McGee," originally by Kris Kristopherson.

I like "Sweet Jane" by the Cowboy Junkies, originally a Velvet Underground song. I enjoy both versions but like how the Cowboy Junkies changed the mood of the song, similar to Ryan Adams' cover of Wonderwall.

I think best cover of a Bob Dylan song probably deserves its own thread.

I like the "In My Time of Dying" call earlier in the thread. I love that song and never knew it was a cover.

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Which version do you love? Dylan or Zep?

I think the Dylan cover is pretty similar to the original.

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Bob Dylan covered an old blues song "In My Time Of Dying", also titled as "Jesus Make up my dyin' bed" or some other variation when performed by delta bluesmen. I'm not sure the real author of the song is known, although it can be traced to a few guys. I also have the Blind Willie Johnson version as well, but can't really say which is better because they aren't in front of me now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_My_Time_of_Dying

Led Zeppelin later covered this on Physical Grafitti, turning it into a hard electric blues jam. Phenomenal performance by the whole group, but Bonzo really stands out here. This is easily better than any other version.

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Hm, I'm pretty sure Charlie Patton came before Blind Willie Johnson, but I am not sure. EDIT: Just checked, they were around near the same times, although I think Patton recorded before Johnson.

Anyways, he recorded a song called Jesus Is A Dying Bed Maker that has the same lyrics as the above song. I'm guessing this was a traditional song that got passed down and reused by everybody. This stuff is pretty interesting, if I had a time machine one of the things I would do is record the roots of American music.

[Myrtle]

“God Bless the Child” by Blood, Sweat & Tears.

I've been playing a lot of Guitar Hero and love the song Heart Full of Black. All songs in the game are covers though and I'd never heard of the group Burning Brides, so I went and looked up the original....dissapointment. I didn't like it nearly as much. Mainly, the cover singer had a better quality to his voice.

[matrix]

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Frank Zappa - Stairway ....



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Meh, I just listened to it and I wasn't too impressed. I think I had my hopes up too high though. The only thing that song did for me was remind me that I haven't listened to Zappa in ages, and that I'll have to whip out the old Hot Rats from the record collection.

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I like it so much because of the brass reworking of the guitar solo - and because it's different to the original.

I think this version is definitely a grower.

Almost all of Zappas work is technically brilliant - there is a lot more going on than appears at first listen on most of his work. I'm a sucker for great sounding, technically very difficult to play music - played almost flawlessly live.

Too many live bands these days just turn up and churn out more or less the same as what their latest CD sounds like without actually being able to "play" I think.

When I go to see live music I want to see a band that can play - rather than a band that can regurgitate.

[StregaChess]

Tori Amos has done a lot of awesome covers. One of the main attractions of seeing her live.

A Case of You (Joni Mitchell)
Famous Blue Raincoat (Cohen)
Love Song (Cure)
Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)
'97 Bonnie & Clyde (Eminem)

Also you all my find this site sort of "neat"

http://www.cover-vs-original.com/

[Aloysius]

Strega - Tori Amos has also done covers of Elton John's "Daniel" and Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide". Both are pretty good.

Led Zeppelin - Babe I'm Gonna Leave You > Joan Baez's original
UB40 - Red Red Wine > Neil Diamond's
Manfred Mann - Blinded by the Light > Bruce Springsteen's
Sterephonics - Don't Let Me Down > Beatles'
Jeff Buckley - Halleluajah > Leonard Cohen's
Los Lobos - Hotel California >>>>> Eagles'

Sting does a nice cover of Little Wing, though Hendrix's is still better.

-Al

[samjjones]

I like Metallica's version of "Whiskey In The Jar".

[kitaristi0]

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Almost all of Zappas work is technically brilliant - there is a lot more going on than appears at first listen on most of his work. I'm a sucker for great sounding, technically very difficult to play music - played almost flawlessly live.

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I'm the same way. I initially got into Zappa through my guitar teacher who thought I would like Zappa since I was listening to the Mahavishnu Orchestra at the time (another good example of great sounding, technically very difficult to play music).

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Too many live bands these days just turn up and churn out more or less the same as what their latest CD sounds like without actually being able to "play" I think.

When I go to see live music I want to see a band that can play - rather than a band that can regurgitate.

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Amen to that.