Cover songs are mainly about one artist paying homage to another and showing admiration for their work. Now and again however the revamp turns out to be an even bigger hit. Here are our top ten cover songs that either became more successful or are, in our opinion, a better, shinier version of the original.
Tap any title to open the video in Creation 5.
Sinead O’Connor – Nothing Compares 2 U
You’d never have guessed that this huge 90’s hit was not an original. The song was originally written by Prince for his side/project band The Family. He only released one album under this name, Nothing Compares 2 U was on it but never released as a single. Sinead’s close-up and personal, multi-award winning video is as powerful as the ballad she so emotionally delivers. There are even pretty convincing tears. Sinead’s version reached international fame in 1990 topping charts all over the world, going platinum and gold in four countries. Even the US was cracked by the haunting song of a lost love, and stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks.
Johnny Cash – Hurt
As far as power-ballads go Johnny Cash absolutely nails this one, appropriately released first by Nine Inch Nails in 1994 on the album A Downward Spiral. The original version was a hit rock song but reached critical acclaim and worldwide recognition when released in 2003 by Cash. The song was written by Trent Reznor who had reservations about Johnny Cash covering his song but later summed up Cash’s version with this quote…
“I pop the video in, and wow… Tears welling, silence, goose-bumps… Wow. [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn’t mine anymore… It really made me think about how powerful music is as a medium and art form. I wrote some words and music in my bedroom as a way of staying sane, about a bleak and desperate place I was in, totally isolated and alone. [Somehow] that winds up reinterpreted by a music legend from a radically different era/genre and still retains sincerity and meaning — different, but every bit as pure.”
This was one of the last singles released by Johnny Cash before he died in 2003; quite a sign off.
Lenny Kravitz – American Woman
First released way back in 1970 by The Guess Who, this rock tune reached number 1 on the Billboard Top 100. Lenny’s slower and far sexier version released in 1999 won him a Grammy for Best Male Rock Performance in 2000 and featured in the smash hit movies; American Beauty (Kevin Spacey does a great sing-a-long in the car to this), The Muppets, Austin Powers, Game Change and The Cable Guy. The video features actress Heather Graham raunchily writhing around on top of a bus, a lot of Americana, a shed load of leather outfits and even more sexy bikini clad girls either rocking out to Lenny or bouncing along on big motorcycles. Not a wonder this became so popular!
Mark Ronson Feat. Amy Winehouse – Valerie
The English Indie band The Zutons released this song in 2006 on their album Tired of Hanging Around and reached number 9 in the UK charts. However when Amy Winehouse came along and decided to pluck this song out of semi-obscurity and perform it in the BBC Radio One’s Live Lounge, the days of this being The Zutons’ song were blown out the water. When Winehouse collaborated with Mark Ronson, as well as him pumping his expertise into her Back to Black album, they recorded Valerie together and…BOOM; Valerie was born again as Mark and Amy’s adopted, and internationally famous, love child! Their version spent 39 weeks in the UK charts in 2007-8.
Whitney Houston – I Will Always Love You
This classic warbler from Whitney featured in The Bodyguard, which she stars in alongside Kevin Costner, was first released by Dolly Parton in 1974. It featured on Dolly’s thirteenth solo studio album Jolene and twice reached number one on the Billboard Top 100 Country Songs. Whitney Houston released the song in 1992 and since then it has become one of the biggest selling singles of all time. Whitney’s R&B Soul and Smooth Jazz style rendition, a far cry from the original Parton Country & Western version, is number nine on NME’s Greatest Number One Singles in History List.
Jeff Buckley – Hallelujah
The original recording of Hallelujah was by Leonard Cohen who wrote and released the song in 1984, this version received little attention. In 2004, Buckley’s version (inspired by a previous cover by John Cale) was ranked number 259 on Rolling Stone’s The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and became so popular there was even a book written about it. It did not, however, hit the charts immediately. The album on which his version of Hallelujah appeared was released in 1993 but the single first charted in 2006 and from here it hit the top of the polls in many countries. Buckley unfortunately didn’t live to witness the ultimate success of his cover due to his untimely death in 1997. This posthumous release sparked far more interest and resulted in worldwide recognition. Rolling Stone Magazine described the rendition – “Buckley treated the song like a tiny capsule of humanity, using his voice to careen between glory and sadness, beauty and pain. It’s one of the greatest songs ever”. The Buckley version of the song was used in many TV shows such as The O.C., Ugly Betty, ER, Scrubs and The West Wing to name but a few.
Roberta Flack/The Fugees – Killing Me Softly With This Song
This was first recorded and released by Lori Lieberman and written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel in 1972. Roberta Flack heard the song on a plane journey and wanted to put her own spin on it, she did so and made the song a huge hit. Whether her version or the Fugees’ is better is debatable and despite the addition of a sample from Bonita Applebum by A Tribe Called Quest that was added by the Fugees, Flack and Lauren Hill have a very similar delivery of the haunting melody. Simplicity and originality may be your preference but both tunes were super success stories as cover songs. Props should go to Roberta for picking out the tune and making it her own to provide Lauren Hill and The Fugees with the version they eventually developed, which, apparently, became so popular they had to remove it from the shelves in order to give room to release their next track from the album; Ready or Not.
Roberta Flack:
The Fugees:
One Direction – One Way or Another (Teenage Kicks); tracks by Blondie & The Undertones Respectively
It is very difficult to say whether this is a better version of Blondie’s song One Way Or Another as it mixes in with another very big hit of the 70’s Teenage Kicks, both of which were huge successes in their own right. One Direction recorded the track for Comic Relief / Red Nose Day 2013, a yearly charity event which raises millions for the underprivileged via comedy events and a huge TV show in the UK. The band has gone from strength to strength since the X Factor and has become a huge worldwide success story. Mashing together two seventies hits and releasing it as their own single could have been catastrophic but as it was for such a good cause the single hit the big time resulting in being nominated for British Single of the Year at the BRIT awards, reached the top ten in the charts of 17 countries, it went gold and platinum in 8 countries……Blondie’s version was also a huge hit for her but in comparison she didn’t stand a chance competing against the teenage fan following of 1D.
Nirvana – The Man Who Sold the World
This track, originally by David Bowie, has inspired many cover versions but the one that out shined and out sold the original was Nirvana’s. Featuring on their MTV in Unplugged in New York album in 1994, it is quite a simple and honest version of the cover but Cobain’s vocals and the band’s unmistakable sound made this a truly unique version of the song. Bowie was said to be impressed that his music had reached the depths of the US in order for Nirvana front-man to consider remaking a song of his. He also was said to have liked the Nirvana version but did not like it when kids would approach him and say it was great he was covering Nirvana songs after performing the song again on tours!
Justin Bieber Feat. Nikki Minaj – Beauty and a Beat
This is not exactly a cover song being better than the original as much as the original recording never being released at all! Consequently it was rewritten to suit its new owners. It seems that Anton Zaslavski (Zedd) had it right when he realized the track he had written for his album Believe did not quite fit and so passed it on to Bieber’s team who adapted it for the young star and his choice of rapper, Nikki Minaj. The song went global and topped the charts all over the world just adding to the crazy success the young Canadian has achieved.
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