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Okay, so I think we've played out the previous OT topic. Time for a new one. 

I want to know what you consider to be the best, or just your favorite, cover songs. Offering reasoning is optional, but appreciated. 

Goal for this is not just to name cover songs. It's a musical journey. So I suggest posting links (hopefully which support embedding) to the cover, followed by the original, from YouTube. 

So I'll start with an easy one. One of the most remarkable covers I think I've ever heard. It's Nine Inch Nails' song Hurt, performed by Johnny Cash. 

Why do I choose it? I grew up with Nine Inch Nails. It was part of my high school listening. I had pretty much all their available albums at the time. I saw them live in HS at the Rosemont Horizon. It was perfect "angry teenage boy" music. And I was shocked when I heard Johnny Cash, of all people, was going to cover NIN. Because I couldn't even imagine what a country/rock singer like Cash would do to an industrial song. Nine Inch Nails' version is heavily synthesized and sampled. 

And yet... He blew it out of the water. It's a tremendously powerful song either way, but Cash did it in a way that was completely different but yet equally, or probably more, moving. 

So here you go:

Johnny Cash - Hurt


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AHCfZTRGiI

Nine Inch Nails - Hurt


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42V6ho11NSw

I'll go.

Helter Skelter (2021- Remaster) - Bing video

Hurt is such a great example of this.

Allegedly, Bono said of Johnny's cover, that "Trent Reznor was born to write that song, but Jonny Cash was born to sing it."

I pulled up a list to see if I was missing any.  I had no idea Me and Bobby McGee was a cover.  I think the more interesting debate is a song that was known, and then became a great cover as well.  If I didn't know it was a cover, I have a hard time counting it, as much as I love that song.

But one that does count, that I forgot about until I read this list was Take Me To The River, originally by Al Green, and covered by the Talking Heads.  And then speaking of Motown/Motown adjacent, that reminded me of the CCR cover of Heard it Through the Grapevine.

Me and Bobby McGee is kind of a cover. Technically it is, since it's true that Janis Joplin didn't write it, but she is the one who made it famous.  Kris Kristofferson wrote it but really, any fame his version has, stems from the popularity it gained from Janis singing it.  And don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Kristofferson at all, he's absolutely one of my all-time favorite singer/songwriters.

But this sort of thing is pretty common in the world of country, where singers are quite often not the songwriter.  Another high profile example is Patsy Cline's "Crazy" which was of course written by Willie Nelson, but her version is what made it famous.  I still do love Willie's original version of it too, though.

Why do I choose it? I grew up with Nine Inch Nails. It was part of my high school listening. I had pretty much all their available albums at the time. I saw them live in HS at the Rosemont Horizon. It was perfect "angry teenage boy" music. And I was shocked when I heard Johnny Cash, of all people, was going to cover NIN. Because I couldn't even imagine what a country/rock singer like Cash would do to an industrial song. Nine Inch Nails' version is heavily synthesized and sampled.

And yet... He blew it out of the water. It's a tremendously powerful song either way, but Cash did it in a way that was completely different but yet equally, or probably more, moving.

Think it was Reznor said "the song belongs to him now" or sum such.They formed in Cleveland though I never saw them.Some older friends went to see them at the Phantasy Theatre and were prolly closer to Cash fans than alternative/electronic sound but a swarm of hotties were going so enter they did.The next Browns Game i saw them they're telling me about this great show Nine Inch Heels puts on. Thought they went to the Roxy or Crazy Horse

Me and Bobby McGee is kind of a cover. Technically it is, since it's true that Janis Joplin didn't write it, but she is the one who made it famous.  Kris Kristofferson wrote it but really, any fame his version has, stems from the popularity it gained from Janis singing it.  And don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking Kristofferson at all, he's absolutely one of my all-time favorite singer/songwriters.

But this sort of thing is pretty common in the world of country, where singers are quite often not the songwriter.  Another high profile example is Patsy Cline's "Crazy" which was of course written by Willie Nelson, but her version is what made it famous.  I still do love Willie's original version of it too, though.

I think if someone else recorded and released it, their version is the original and the more famous version is the cover. 

I've got one I'll post (if nobody beats me to it) that's a cover of a VERY famous version, but it wasn't until looking it up that I realized the famous version is ALSO a cover. 

I think there's room in here for "covers that you didn't even realize they were covers because they completely overshadowed the original"...

I've got one I'll post (if nobody beats me to it) that's a cover of a VERY famous version, but it wasn't until looking it up that I realized the famous version is ALSO a cover.

My Ding-a-ling by Chuck Berry?