best beatles covers. ever.

I love all versions by Sgt. Pepper for classical guitar by Branimir Krstic, especially my best song ever "A day in the life".

Souxsie and the Banshee's "Helter Skelter" shits all over the weak-ass Motely Crue version.

Also love Brasil 66's samba-ized cover of "Day Tripper."

also, Edu Lobo, "Hey Jude"...Ted Nugent, "I Want To Tell You"...Harvey Averne, "THe Word"...The Jam, "Taxman"...(I mean, "Start!")

ihttp://comics.heritageauctions.com/highlights/beatles/todayandyesterday.jpg

everything is better with clarinet!

Other than that, I generally have a problem with Beatles cover versions. Simply because the originals are too good.

Daniel Ash - "Day Tripper"

Stevie Wonder's version of "We Can Work It Out" runs circles around the original, and I don't say that lightly.

Werd.

I liked David Cook's (American Idol 7) version of Day Tripper. He might have jacked that from someone else but I don't care.

It has to be Money by the Flying Lizards surely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_iQZiVD_zA

I've always liked Coroner's version of "She's So Heavy" quite a bit.

Just heard for the first time (my bad) Bill Withers' version of "Let It Be"; it's awesomely beautiful. Ramsey Lewis' LP of Beatles covers--Mother Nature's Son--is wonderful, too.

David Grisman's band has done a pretty moving instrumental version, all mandolined-up and shit, of "Because".

Lol Coxhill's take on "I'm The Walrus" is also great.

Arcwelder did a great version of "I Am The Walrus," superfast, stripped-down, with no attempts at mimicking the 'cellos or tape effects. Worked amazingly (and surprisingly) well.

So then what, if any, are the few cases in which the cover version actually surpasses the Beatles original?

This was mentioned upthread as part of the Motown Beatles covers album, and it warrants more attention (BSJ, I think it surpasses the original):

Let It Be - Gladys Knight & The Pips

Gladys gave one of her absolute best performances on that. (I also welled up during the gospelly version of "Let It Be" in Across the Universe.)

I haven't heard a lot of those, but the original versions of those are so great, I don't see how ALL of them could surpass.. Maybe a few do..

What bothers me about this thread is that it's supposed to be a list of the "best beatles covers. ever." and instead people are just listing random cover versions..

Stevie Wonder seems to have been mentioned here a lot.. it's hard to say which version I like better, because the Beatles version is great for so many reasons (one of the true Lennon/McCartney penned songs, John's bridge w/ changing time signature, and the harmonium!!!) ... however Stevie Wonder's version simply killed it.

I also still think The Cyrkle's "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" may surpass the original. It helped me to better appreciate the original version. There's changing key signatures constantly throughout the song, which somehow works in this case.

Oh my mistake, I thought you were suggesting all of those Motown covers were better.. Yeah the Gladys Knight version is lovely.

the Hendrix Sgt Pepper
runner-up: the Grateful Dead's Rain

Still amazed that Oasis haven't covered rain. It would have been perfect for them, as opposed to "I Am The Walrus" which doesn't fit with their style at all.

What would be the point of covering "Rain"? It's exactly Oasis.

(I know, answers on a postcard etc)

I am surprised Jeff Buckley's 'A Day in the Life' hasn't been mentioned. That, for my money, is the best Beatles cover by quite a distance and one of only a handful to have any musical merit.

they created rock and roll.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41R2XR2Q6WL._SL500_AA240_.jpg