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Covers that are BETTER than the original
21 March 2014
11.54pm
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AbbeyRoadRage
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21 March 2014
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meanmistermustard
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Ron Nasty said

a-hard-days-night-george-10

That’s just nasty posting that. Flippin’ heck that is horrendous.

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

3 June 2015
6.43pm
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Though strictly speaking not a Beatles song (it was written by the accomplished “granny music” show tunes composer, Meredith Willson), I think they (probably largely Paul) made it into a Beatles classic — Till There Was You .

In some ways, I like the Ray Charles rendition better.  Needless to say, he adds considerable gravitas of heart and soul.  Paul in that song was doing this thing he does sometimes — cultivating sort of a flat affect in his tonality (think Fool On the Hill, Yesterday , Blackbird , I Will , etc.) which I like in its own way; but the lyrics of Till There Was You are simply too poignant to be treated in such an anodyne way, I think.

Also, the careful listener will notice Ray Charles adds his own little twists to the lyrics here and there:

 

There were bells

on the hill

but I never heard them ringing

Oh no, I never heard them at all

Till There Was You … baby

Oh no, oh no…

 

There were birds

in the sky

but I never saw them winging

Ahhh… I never saw them at all

Till There Was You .

 

Yes! There was music

and there wonderful roses

Y’all know they tell me: in sweet, fragrant meadows

of dawn, and dew…

 

There was love

the thing was all around me

(He he!) And I never heard it singing, singing, you know…

I never heard the thing at all

Till There Was You .

 

Yeah, yeah, yeah!

There was music

and oh, there were wonderful roses

didn’t I say they tell me

in sweet, fragrant meadows

of dawn, and dew…

 

Oh, there was love

and it got all around me, baby

but I never heard it singing

no darling, I tell you I never heard it at all…

Till There Was You .

Sing your heart out baby, sing it!

[Choir:] There were bells!

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4 June 2015
12.15am
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I’m generally not a big fan of covers (unless done by the Beatles a-hard-days-night-john-1), and I’m definitely not impressed by the majority of attempts to cover Beatles tunes. They’ve got such a distinctive sound, and their songs match that perfectly. I’ve heard many very poor covers, not just of Beatles music, it makes me not want to hear any of the good ones either.

But, there are exceptions to any rule. Joe Cocker’s version of With A Little Help From My Friends is legendary, of course. Tat’s not even a cover anymore; he re-made the entire song!

 

And then a friend of mine surprised me a few years ago by covering Blackbird . He also played the song for my mum when she was going through chemo, so his way of playing it is special to me. I had to get used to Ellem’s singing style (not a fan of that thing she does where the back of the throat is sort of locked) but I’ve come to really like this version:

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4 June 2015
4.17am
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vectisfabber
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There is the odd cover which is quite nice but, as far as I’m concerned, not one equals the original.  And I cordially detest Cocker’s With A Little Help From My Friends – its bombastic spasming misses the point of the original completely.

4 June 2015
12.54pm
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Bongo
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derek said
I know there are not many Bee gees fans and lesser fans of that 1978 film, BUT i do love Robin Gibb’s version of “Oh! Darling ” one of his best vocal performances, shouldve been on a Bee Gees Greatest Hits album.

Uuuugh! I hate everything about that movie soundtrack, this song included! paul-mccartney
I take that back,  Aerosmith’s version of Come Together is done quite well! a-hard-days-night-john-6

  Screen-Shot-2022-10-04-at-7.52.07-PM.png   BEATLES Music gives me Eargasms!  apple01

5 June 2015
7.05pm
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Zig
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JPM-Fangirl said

Joe Cocker’s version of With A Little Help From My Friends is legendary, of course. Tat’s not even a cover anymore; he re-made the entire song!

I think he did an amazing job with this song. Often, when I hear his version, I have to remind myself it was a Beatles song.

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9 September 2016
9.37pm
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sgtpepper63
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I know that most of you are thinking about Beatles covers, but since it doesn’t say Beatles covers that are better than the original, i’m going in for the kill on this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?…..ADTPb2f_44

I think this rendition is a million times better than the original and shows that covers can add more to a song and therefore make it better. My oldest son loves this song too because it was in the intro to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Movie which is one of his favorite movies as a kid (he would’ve been 10 at the time) and he didn’t realize until he was an adult that the Red Hot Chili Peppers were covering Stevie Wonder.

9 September 2016
9.45pm
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Ron Nasty
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Yes, but this thread is in the part of the forum about The Beatles songs, and not in “All Together Now ” which is for non-Beatles conversation.

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26 January 2020
2.21pm
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Ron Nasty said
I’ve always liked Siouxsie & The Banshees’ (featuring Robert Smith of The Cure at the time) 1983 take on Dear Prudence .  

I’ve always liked their version better and was afraid to admit it, especially to my sister who is as big of a Beatlemaniac as I.  Then she told she likes Elton’s Lucy better.  And here I can admit it to the whole world.

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2 February 2020
11.33pm
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JW OBoogie
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The interesting thing about Cocker’s version of With A Little Help From My Friends is that he took a song in 4:4 and recorded it in 3:4, giving it more of a waltz quality.

Turn off your stream, relax and float down mind

3 February 2020
7.26pm
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Ron Nasty said
I’ve always liked Siouxsie & The Banshees’ (featuring Robert Smith of The Cure at the time) 1983 take on Dear Prudence .

I’ve never heard this version before, so thanks for posting it.  I do like their take on it quite a bit, but I still have to prefer the original.  I’ve always thought the travis picking was one of the best parts of the song.

I’m with IMDeWalrus, I can’t think of any cover that I’ve liked better than the Beatles version.

29 February 2020
6.26pm
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Vera Chuck and Dave
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21 March 2020
4.44pm
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Dingle Lad
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Bongo said

derek said

I know there are not many Bee gees fans and lesser fans of that 1978 film, BUT i do love Robin Gibb’s version of “Oh! Darling ” one of his best vocal performances, shouldve been on a Bee Gees Greatest Hits album.

Uuuugh! I hate everything about that movie soundtrack, this song included! paul-mccartney

I take that back,  Aerosmith’s version of Come Together is done quite well! a-hard-days-night-john-6

  

Earth Wind and Fire’s Got To Get You Into My Life is by fare the best thing in the movie.

What is happening? And tell me how you've been.

22 March 2020
11.27am
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jamessick
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It’s British humour, and it is in no way better than the original, but Peter Sellers “covered” A Hard Days Night, using an Laurence Olivier impression, in 1964.  You can find it on YouTube.

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22 March 2020
1.50pm
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Not better but these are sure jawdropping.

What is happening? And tell me how you've been.

22 March 2020
2.11pm
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Dingle Lad
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Just a mix. I’m not pretending everything is better than the original version.

Image Enlarger

21 tracks in playlist, average track length: 3:45
Playlist length: 1 hour 18 minutes 54 seconds
  1. Del Shannon – From Me To You (1:57)
  2. Rolling Stones – I Wanna Be Your Man (1:43)
  3. Otis Redding – Day Tripper (2:36)
  4. Silkie – You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (2:14)
  5. David And Jonathan – Michelle (2:53)
  6. Vanilla Fudge – Ticket To Ride (6:03)
  7. Joe Cocker – With A Little Help From My Friends (5:14)
  8. Marmalade – Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (3:04)
  9. Aretha Franklin – Eleanor Rigby (2:38)
  10. Stevie Wonder – We Can Work It Out (3:17)
  11. Richie Havens – Here Comes The Sun (3:44)
  12. Anne Murray – You Won’t See Me (4:04)
  13. Elton John – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (6:17)
  14. Rod Stewart – Get Back (4:27)
  15. Emmylou Harris – Here, There And Everywhere (3:42)
  16. Earth, Wind & Fire – Got To Get You Into My Life (4:10)
  17. Aerosmith – Come Together (3:46)
  18. April Wine – Tell Me Why (3:17)
  19. Cheap Trick – Magical Mystery Tour (4:10)
  20. Georgia Satellites – Don’t Pass Me By (4:52)
  21. Jeff Beck – A Day In The Life (4:46)

What is happening? And tell me how you've been.

22 March 2020
4.27pm
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WeepingAtlasCedars
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I love love LOVE Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers’ rendition of I Need You from the Concert For George. a-hard-days-night-george-9heart

Don’t get me wrong, I still do love it, but I feel the lead guitar on the original kind of makes the song stumble a little bit. mccartney-shrug_01_gif

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30 March 2020
9.00pm
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Beatlebug
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Not sure if these are BETTER but they’re certainly good…

I was very happy to see this in my subscriptions feed this morning:

Brian May has been doing daily Instagram guitar-playing addresses, which this channel has been good enough to upload to YouTube, and today’s was a nice little unplugged cover of You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away which quite made my day…

And finally, a few of my favorite #innerlight2020 challengers so far:

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30 March 2020
9.23pm
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WeepingAtlasCedars
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Beatlebug said
Brian May has been doing daily Instagram guitar-playing addresses, which this channel has been good enough to upload to YouTube, and today’s was a nice little unplugged cover of You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away which quite made my day…

Aww! Brian seems like such a sweet man. I love how he’s got Help ! just peeking out from behind him.a-hard-days-night-george-10

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