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.
― Sara Sara Sara, Tuesday, 27 May 2008 13:06 (fifteen years ago) link
So then what, if any, are the few cases in which the cover version actually surpasses the Beatles original?
― billstevejim, Tuesday, 27 May 2008 15:43 (fifteen years ago) link
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.)
― Joseph McCombs, Tuesday, 27 May 2008 15:48 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― billstevejim, Tuesday, 27 May 2008 15:52 (fifteen years ago) link
Oh my mistake, I thought you were suggesting all of those Motown covers were better.. Yeah the Gladys Knight version is lovely.
― billstevejim, Tuesday, 27 May 2008 15:54 (fifteen years ago) link
the Hendrix Sgt Pepper runner-up: the Grateful Dead's Rain
― gabbneb, Tuesday, 27 May 2008 15:58 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 08:44 (fifteen years ago) link
What would be the point of covering "Rain"? It's exactly Oasis.
(I know, answers on a postcard etc)
― Mark G, Wednesday, 28 May 2008 09:12 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Philosopher_King, Friday, 20 June 2008 06:30 (fifteen years ago) link
they created rock and roll.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41R2XR2Q6WL._SL500_AA240_.jpg
― If Timi Yuro would be still alive, most other singers could shut up, Friday, 20 June 2008 08:10 (fifteen years ago) link
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.
― Jeff W, Friday, 20 June 2008 12:54 (fifteen years ago) link
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?
― messiahwannabe, Friday, 26 June 2009 13:48 (fourteen years ago) link
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, 26 June 2009 13:52 (fourteen years ago) link
it's pretty straight, but the five stairsteps doing dear prudence is great
― the heart is a lonely hamster (schlump), Friday, 26 June 2009 13:58 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaZzZactGQU
This song is kind of a template for non-ballad post-Bad MJ.
― Eazy, Friday, 26 June 2009 14:07 (fourteen years ago) link
Come Together = obscure??
― master of karate and friendship for everyone (musically), Friday, 26 June 2009 14:19 (fourteen years ago) link
I like Elliott Smith's very faithful rendering of "Because," myself.
― Alex in NYC, Friday, 26 June 2009 14:31 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6L05WHTgUQ
― Eazy, Friday, 26 June 2009 14:33 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― Pleasant Plains, Friday, 26 June 2009 14:55 (fourteen years ago) link
― 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?
― Bill Magill, Friday, 26 June 2009 14:57 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3J_chod0eM
― chap, Friday, 26 June 2009 15:01 (fourteen years ago) link
""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...
― messiahwannabe, Friday, 26 June 2009 15:51 (fourteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0emW4m63GeM
― Darin, Thursday, 2 December 2010 22:23 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVHuIQn-eJM
― Darin, Thursday, 2 December 2010 22:25 (thirteen years ago) link
best one yet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIOdvXE7kbI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
― Darin, Friday, 3 December 2010 03:21 (thirteen years ago) link
La Lupe - Yesterday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnIjoBGB1q0
― _Rudipherous_, Friday, 3 December 2010 04:28 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOBuz3ezWjA
― jerkstore cowboy (Pillbox), Friday, 3 December 2010 04:57 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― clemenza, Sunday, 5 December 2010 23:13 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAUf8m4fMiw
― patrick NAGL (corey), Sunday, 5 December 2010 23:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Thanks! Just tracked it down, also his cover of "Day Tripper."
― clemenza, Sunday, 5 December 2010 23:25 (thirteen years ago) link
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.
― Doctor Casino, Thursday, 3 March 2011 06:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Cilla Black - love of the lovedLili Ivanova - kakto onzi den (the night before)
― meisenfek, Thursday, 3 March 2011 09:48 (thirteen years ago) link
Always had a soft spot for this, the best Beatles cover that sounded like Husker Du:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxE_JtDGIOI
― NYCNative, Thursday, 3 March 2011 10:22 (thirteen years ago) link
Funny how The Beatles' "What goes on" and the Velvets' are two different songs, but they share a couple of lines.
― Mark G, Thursday, 3 March 2011 10:28 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xE33l8JrFlQ
― Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 03:59 (twelve years ago) link
Nilsson's cover of "You Can't Do That" is awesome
― Lee626, Wednesday, 25 May 2011 04:32 (twelve years ago) link
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/richhunt35/exoticbeatles.jpg?t=1306330475
― Deremiah Was a Bullfrog (u s steel), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 13:39 (twelve years ago) link
Also have to give it up for Desmond Dekker & Come Together. Get heavy!
― Deremiah Was a Bullfrog (u s steel), Wednesday, 25 May 2011 14:19 (twelve years ago) link
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
― azamarro, Sunday, 23 October 2011 21:39 (twelve years ago) link
Really like George Harrison's '74 version of 'In My Life' from his US tour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVrIbUsCZhA
― obligatory kate winslet nipple shot (Bob Six), Monday, 29 April 2013 07:10 (ten years ago) link
this is awesome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLo5nzK0ayU
― Darin, Tuesday, 9 October 2018 21:36 (five years ago) link
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.
― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Tuesday, 9 October 2018 22:08 (five years ago) link
Chilling with this today:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTLBeWa70ww
― ... (Eazy), Thursday, 1 November 2018 16:02 (five years ago) link
nice!
― Darin, Thursday, 1 November 2018 16:10 (five years ago) link
I’ve never liked obladi oblada so the only way I can actually stand it is repurposed as an instrumental mariachi song:
https://youtu.be/S_zDyhzo1yY
― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, 1 November 2018 16:43 (five years ago) link
haha that's hilarious
― niels, Tuesday, 6 November 2018 08:39 (five years ago) link
it's not terribly surprising but ob-la-di ob-la-da sounds better when played by an actual reggae group
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdW7Enwdd_s
more surprising to me is that nobody knows ray charles' version of "the long and winding road", considering it's essentially a ray charles song
still haven't heard covers of "you won't see me", "what goes on", or "yellow submarine" i like.
― dub pilates (rushomancy), Tuesday, 6 November 2018 14:22 (five years ago) link
Cecilia - Dear Prudence
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--pTc_yvWgg
― nothing in the dialog (unregistered), Tuesday, 11 February 2020 18:21 (four years ago) link
Love Cecilia, never heard that one! Must be an album-only track. She died at 27, sadly.
― Josefa, Wednesday, 12 February 2020 03:39 (four years ago) link
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dGVMuYfa0EA
wee willie walker - ticket to ride
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 12 February 2020 04:00 (four years ago) link