What's the best musical cover ever?

Is this the original? I love this version.

It's not the original, but it's my favorite version too. This version was used in The Sopranos when Tony kills Chris after the car accident. That was my introduction to the song.

(I didn't embed the youtube vid because it was kind of graphic)

This is the original:

drummerboy said:

One of my hobbies is listening to covers of Uncomfortably Numb ...

 That's a serious rabbit hole.  Thank you.

max_weisenfeld said:

This is the original:

 How could I forget!

Song above is actually called Magic Stick by Lil' Kim. 

A great cover but to be honest I'm still stuck on the Leon Russell original.

Here's something different...

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

^^^ Paradoxical Post of the Day (Avatar Division)

DaveSchmidt said:

^^^ Paradoxical Post of the Day (Avatar Division)

 You just knew I’d deliver something dripped in hooks and a big fat chorus...I might have seen them at Max’s too! 

I haven't real all of this thread, I'll try soon, but my three of my favorite covers (and I love covers, particularly Beatles covers) are: 

(The guitar playing on the Hendrix is beyond stunning, it's jaw-droppingly amazing throughout.) 

We could do a whole sub-thread of Vanilla Fudge covers -- I would start with 

DaveSchmidt said:

Best overall cover artist (tie):

Aretha Franklin

Vanilla Fudge

Vanilla Fudge’s debut album always makes me giddy. If you’re going over the top, you might as well go all the way. I don’t know how seriously Bogert, Appice and company took themselves — their ponderous follow-up band, Cactus, suggests fairly seriously — but the guitar squawk in their chorus of Ticket to Ride is the rock equivalent of the Interrupting Cow knock-knock joke. Gets me every time.

Aretha Bridge Over Troubled Water

Another great Supremes cover, by the underrecognized Margie Joseph.

DaveSchmidt said:

Another great Supremes cover, by the underrecognized Margie Joseph.

 I'm not sure it adds a lot to the original track. 

Begs the question: what makes a great cover? Acknowledgement of the tracks greatness? and an inspired and perhaps different take?  

Here's another cover that improved upon the original significantly. Like Hendrix's Watchtower, this one creates an entirely new feel and gestalt. It's sublime. Irresistible. It has the inevitability that I think all great art must have. That feeling that it could not be different. Perfection. or call it Beauty. 

I generally prefer Lauro Nyro's recordings of her own songs - the poor woman did not get enough credit - but this Jill Sobule cover of Stoned Soul Picnic is lovely:

bub said:

I generally prefer Lauro Nyro's recordings of her own songs - the poor woman did not get enough credit - but this Jill Sobule cover of Stoned Soul Picnic is lovely:

 The Fifth Dimension also did some very nice covers of Laura Nyro's songs. They were poppy and commercial but you couldn't deny those harmonies. Thanks for reminding of Nyro's work. I'll have to go back and listen to it. 

Jill Sobule is kind of nutty but I like her. And the Nyro cover you posted above is great. 

I have nothing against the poppy hits made of her songs, even Streisand's version of Stony End (my mom was a big Babs fan).  They're good.  I just like LN's simpler soulful piano-based versions of her songs more.  
It's not like she died in obscurity although way too young.  I just think there's a big gulf between her name recognition and the level of her success as a writer of songs made into hits by other people.  She was a giant of songwriting as well as wonderful performer in her own right.  I think the great majority of casual music fans of that era, who listened to top 40 radio and bought the singles, did not know who she was. 

Extremely different covers of same song, love them both:

Two more I like, one a Dylan cover, the other a Randy Newman cover...

One more, a cover of another Stevie Winwood tune... very, very nice. What a great band Chicago was early on, great guitar playing, arrangements, soul and spirit, the whole 9 yards. Alas, it didn't last. The death of Terry Kath was the beginning of the end. One of  the great rock guitarists. 

One more.  John Hiatt is one of my favorite singer/songwriters and many artists have covered his songs. Here's one of my faves. (No dubbing or lip synching here.This is the real deal. Bonnie is so great.) 

Not sure it's properly called a cover because I don't think he put it on an album himself but this is a nice version of a Hiatt song:

Here's one, a Kinks cover,  I hadn't thought about in a long time, by The Flock (1969). featuring Jerry Goodman on violin. He later played with Mahavishnu and others. 

This new B-side is rocketing up my chart. Thanks for the introduction, Binky and WFUV.

Tina's cover of Ann Peebles original