best beatles covers. ever.

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

Are there any non-punk/metal/indie covers of "Helter Skelter"? The more exotic or easy listening the better, but any unusual genre would do I guess.

today i'd like to remember michael jackson's absolutely wicked cover of "come together". being a punk rock highschooler i wasn't really much into michael back then, but hearing this in shop class made me stop and ask someone who in the hell doing this cool-ass beatles cover. learning it was mj totally made me stop and reconsider my previously held views on the dude...

i might suggest we leave the heated debate on the whole michael/paul/beatles catalog thing until a respectful interval had passed, and maybe today just ponder why, out of all the beatles tracks he coulda used FOR FREE - yesterday, hey jude, a day in the life etc (and probably made a gazillion dollars offa, almost guaranteed) he decided to just record this one fairly obscure, strange, and edgy beatles tune, and do it in this cool, but not very radio-friendly, glamrockfunk style?

Do get ahold of yourself. "Come Together" is hardly "fairly obscure." And he took a giant dump on it. Let's not pretend otherwise.

it's pretty straight, but the five stairsteps doing dear prudence is great

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

This song is kind of a template for non-ballad post-Bad MJ.

Come Together = obscure??

I like Elliott Smith's very faithful rendering of "Because," myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6L05WHTgUQ

Joe Cocker's "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" is still the best for me, and I don't even really like Joe Cocker all that much.

Do get ahold of yourself. "Come Together" is hardly "fairly obscure." And he took a giant dump on it. Let's not pretend otherwise.

― Alex in NYC, Friday, June 26, 2009 9:52 AM (50 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I agree with this. That version is paint-peelingly awful. I realize the guy croaked yesterday, but that doesnt mean you can sugar-coat how bad this thing is.

"i might suggest we leave the heated debate on the whole michael/paul/beatles catalog thing until a respectful interval had passed"

Why?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3J_chod0eM

""i might suggest we leave the heated debate on the whole michael/paul/beatles catalog thing until a respectful interval had passed"

Why?"

probably cause then i'll have to shit talk michael a bit and i don't really want to today, i guess. you guys really don't like his version of come together? i think it's great, horses for courses i guess. and i sort of meant "obscure" as in compared to covers he might have done, like something anthemic like "with a little help from my friends" or "she loves you" or something. and "obscure" as a michael jackson song possibly could be in 198whatever - i mean, i didn't own the album myself, and i managed to avoid hearing it for maybe a year, they just didn't play it on the radio like they did billie jean or thriller or say say say...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0emW4m63GeM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVHuIQn-eJM

best one yet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIOdvXE7kbI&feature=youtube_gdata_player

La Lupe - Yesterday

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnIjoBGB1q0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOBuz3ezWjA

Wouldn't know where to begin here. I've been collecting Beatles cover versions for five-plus years; I had to move them all to the external hard drive, so I can't use the media library to get an exact count, but I estimate I've got somewhere between 3,500-4,000.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAUf8m4fMiw

Thanks! Just tracked it down, also his cover of "Day Tripper."

What, no votes for Elton John - Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?

― Trevor Wood, Thursday, May 4, 2006 8:19 AM Bookmark

Have been getting into this lately and might just give it the nod over the Beatles version - - the verses are kind of weedy in the Elton but I loooooove the extended, multitracked repetition of the chorus - it seems much more psychedelic and frankly more joyous than the Beatles version, like you really do go on this sonic journey with Lucy and it's really great, which actually never happens in the original.

Cilla Black - love of the loved
Lili Ivanova - kakto onzi den (the night before)

Always had a soft spot for this, the best Beatles cover that sounded like Husker Du:

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

Funny how The Beatles' "What goes on" and the Velvets' are two different songs, but they share a couple of lines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE33l8JrFlQ

Nilsson's cover of "You Can't Do That" is awesome

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/richhunt35/exoticbeatles.jpg?t=1306330475

Also have to give it up for Desmond Dekker & Come Together. Get heavy!

Hi, I noticed no one mentioned "Eleanor Rigby" by the First Moog Quartet (led by Gershon Kingsley). Kind of a high-speed moog-rock cover with baroque elements.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2zDpPMi1ik

Really like George Harrison's '74 version of 'In My Life' from his US tour:

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

this is awesome:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLo5nzK0ayU

There's an amazing David Axelrod-helmed cover of 'Good Day Sunshine' on this album but I can't find it streaming anywhere. I'll upload it when I get home. It's pretty trippy, and plenty rad.

Chilling with this today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTLBeWa70ww