Which cover versions improve on the original?

Elvis Presley -- "Sweet Caroline"
^^this. Elvis and the TCB Band take a good song and give it that little extra push over the cliff.

Jeff Buckley's version of "Lilac Wine".

Well, The Flamingos' 1959 cover of 'I Only Have Eyes for You' still knocks pretty much every other version of the song out of the water, but it sure beats the first recording by Ben Selvin from 1934.

Niece knew there was an original of that, thought that was it. Although I thought the same thing of the Marcels's "Blue Moon" for longer than I should admit.

Wilson Pickett - "Hey Jude"
Fotheringay - "The Way I Feel"
Fairport Convention - "Time Will Show the Wiser"
Grateful Dead - "Morning Dew"

I'm a huge fan of Dillinger Escape Plan's cover of Come to Daddy, featuring the radiant vocals of Mike Patton

I am sure we had a thread on this but the search is closed so there we go again.

I wanted to mention The Feelies dynamic version of "Everybody has got something to hide except me and my monkey" again.

Which cover versions improve on the original?

I mean, you can still search within a thread.

You know I tried to open a new thread and then ILM suggested this thread and by accident I posted on it automatically, I thought I'd get the choice but I didn't. That's all.

I think "I Call Your Name" by The Mamas and the Papas (Beatles cover) might be one of these.

Donald Byrd - where are we going?
Jorja Smith - rose rouge
Melanie De Biasio // every cover she has made is an improvement on the original

The Cramps also tend to improve every song they touch with their filthy hands.

Dorothy Ashby Fool on the Hill

obviously Sinéad's "Nothing Compares 2 U"
Nico "These Days"
Cat Power "I Found a Reason"

Hijokaidan "Silver Machine"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBCWxjV_M64

My top 10, in order:

Stevie Wonder - We Can Work It Out -- I searched this thread and there are *two* different version of We Can Work It Out listed, and somehow neither one is the miraculous Stevie interpretation.

The Clash - Police On My Back — The Equals original is just fine. The Clash version dials the energy up to 11 and lights the guitar riff on fire.

Al Green - How Can You Mend A Broken Heart -- Maybe this is the definitive version? If not, it should be. The Bee Gees version is great, but the slow build of the Al Green version turns it into an absolute epic.

The Main Ingredient - Summer Breeze — This Main Ingredient album had two different Seals and Croft covers, both of which improve on the originals. Their Summer Breeze adds tons of flute and vibraphone (xylophone?) and blows the tune wide open.

All Mixed Up - Red House Painters -- I know, i know, Mark Kozalek. But I loved this song for years before I realized that I already knew it as a Cars song, and his cover of it has so much more depth.

Nouvelle Vague - In A Manner of Speaking -- The Tuxedomoon original is so gawky, I'm a bit surprised that anyone heard the potential in this.

Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane — Another song that gets improved by sanding down the rough edges. The disparity is most striking on the bridge. Technically, Margo Timmons is singing the same notes as Lou Reed, but there’s just no comparison.

REM - Crazy — Maybe I just like Stipe’s vocals better than the jerky-jerky Pylon singer. My favorite track on Dead Letter Office.

Jackson 5 - Doctor My Eyes — The Jermaine verse almost tanks the whole endeavor, but MJ (who is only 13 here) just hits it out of the park. Exuberant.

Toots and the Maytals - Take Me Home Country Roads — A little corny (“West Virginia” becomes “West Jamaica”), but undoubtedly an upgrade.

I’m also ashamed to admit at one point of my life that “all mixed up” cover was one of my favorite songs ever.

Bongwater - The Drum
Galaxies 500 - Listen the snow is falling
Butthole Surfers - Hurdy Gurdy Man

Nico "These Days"

Is it technically a cover if it comes first?

Basically EVERY cover of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is an improvement on the original, which I just heard a couple years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXYPb0rrwbA

But apparently Peggy and Ewan MacColl were especially down on Roberta Flack's definitive take, so fuck 'em.

It also applies to “it’s all over now baby blue”, every cover I’ve heard tends to improve on the original.

13th floor elevators and Them versions being the peak so far.

Dylan version is so… soulless. You’d never guess it’s one of his best written songs if you went by the original version.

Even the Anonhi version which sounds as if recorded on a potato is better.

In a similar vein, does anyone stan for Leonard Cohen's original version of Hallelujah?

Rod Stewart – Tom Traubert's Blues
Rod Stewart – Downtown Train
Bruce Springsteen – Jersey Girl

(hmmm, I see a pattern developing here)

Fairport Convention – Percy's Song
Nick Cave – Death Is Not the End
Marianne Faithfull – The Ballad of Lucy Jordan
10,000 Maniacs – Everyday Is Like Sunday
10,000 Maniacs – Hello In There
Tindersticks – If You're Looking for a Way Out
This Mortal Coil – Song to the Siren

Nina Simone - Feeling Good (the original Broadway musical version ("The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd") of the song is...uhh...fairly unremarkable)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPdoWp-PHFU

Nina Simone also makes the most definitive version of Sinnerman. I wasn’t even aware it was a cover until recently via another thread on ilm.

Nina Simone's "Who Knows Where The Time Goes?" is also the definitive version IMHO.

I still love the original but boy is this one smooth take on this song

kali uchis - venus as a boy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47oiB_quDf8

Nina Simone does a lot of reinventions of very white singer songwriter stuff on the material I have collected as Sugar In My bowl.
Have found that an odd companion to black militancy which I thought she was about at the time.
BUt the versions are really good from what I've heard of them and I'm really glad to have them

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgZ3B-2q-g