There are a whole lot of awful covers that warrant a "Well, that's it for me" type of response (watch the horrors of butchered "Prayer to God" and "Waiting Room" on YouTube, though I'll try to limit things to covers recorded in studio). There are rare covers that are better than the original, such as Johnny Cash covering Nine Inch Nails's "Hurt" (Reznor even admitted that he felt that it was no longer his song). But even rarer are covers that are just as good as the original. Not a bit better, not almost as good, but just as good.

A long while back, I got the Four Tops's Reach Out, mainly for its album-titled song. While much of the album is great, some of the cover songs were a bit take-it-or-leave-it, except for their cover of "Walk Away Renée" by the Left Banke. What a wonderful rendition! Even though I hadn't listened to the original!

However, a few months ago, I got the Left Banke's anthology CD There's Gonna Be a Storm. Now I heard two great renditions of "Walk Away Renée"! The best part is that I don't have put these songs against each other or do some debate nerd shit about which is the better of the two, but rather enjoy both versions!

Salut, the Left Banke and the Four Tops!

losthighway wrote: Sat Jan 10, 2026 8:36 pm https://youtu.be/d-pyAjpCqVw?si=wjFhgGvU5O3BqCVf

Just about anything Bettye LaVette does is better than the original. Amazing voice.

While I could(and probably will...) rattle off of a bunch of these, there's usually two that cut the line.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnzDFa- ... rt_radio=1

One of my favorite Hag covers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf9acDxK_fw

Shadowy Men covering Moto's Magic Words

https://youtu.be/nE9iFd5LHBM?si=z48josc7KSw7KD6f&t=3450

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z73YIcC5 ... AHAQ%3D%3D

Cover of the obscure Echo and the Bunnymen track.

Cardholder wrote: Sat Jan 10, 2026 7:52 pm A long while back, I got the Four Tops's Reach Out, mainly for its album-titled song. While much of the album is great, some of the cover songs were a bit take-it-or-leave-it, except for their cover of "Walk Away Renée" by the Left Banke. What a wonderful rendition! Even though I hadn't listened to the original!

Just lovely.

Roberta Flack universe

https://youtu.be/QfwHuDCC7Xw?si=_-CueY3uaQZJGvRx

https://youtu.be/hf0M_wM6T4k?si=5dAkjw1N2NoZla2S

https://youtu.be/mrudT410TAI?si=3bg-Wy0lfa97S0ZS

obvious but Hendrix's All Along the Watchtower is so definitive that Dylan adopted as much of what Jimi did to it as his bands could manage

This is a tough one! I like the Fall’s cover of “Victoria,” but more than the original? Probably not.

Oh, wait, now that I think about it: “You Really Got Me.” Some other VH/DLR covers might fit the bill here too.

There are several jazz standards for which I love several covers equally (“Limehouse Blues,” “Rose Room”, “Moon Glow”) but the covers are usually better than the first recordings.