I know all you wonderful people are fond of cover songs, and it made me wonder what some of your favourite cover songs are of all time!

I'm looking to expand my playlists a little bit, and eager to hear everyone's thoughts. If this thread gains some traction I'll mention some of my personal favourite covers.

Deleted....I misunderstood the question by the OP....sorry.

Carry on....

My favourite covers are definitely not going to be your taste in any shape way or form, but you asked for them so here you go!

Ordinary World - Red (DuranDuran)
Unstoppable [Redux Version] - Red (Sia)
Enjoy the Silence - Anberlin (Depeche Mode)
Zombie - Bad Wolves (The Cranberries)

I actually have a really bad habit of listening to songs, not realizing they are covers, and then hunting down the originals.

Edit:

Although, I know you like Glass Animals. Not sure if you'll like Love Lockdown, but it's a Kanye West cover.

I’m WAY too old to make a contribution I’ll check in with my younger wife.

Bud

If I was to name just one I would say "All Along the Watchtower", written by Bob Dylan, covered by Jimi Hendrix.

Unchained melody, and Leanne Rimes is my all time favourite singing it.

Perfect for whinging old gits like me rofl

Since you asked for a favorite, I won't dither. "Sound of Silence" by Disturbed. I think it can be argued that it is better than the original Simon and Garfunkel version.

I'd have to agree with Sounds of Silence by disturbed.... and Hendrix All along the watch tower....

But my favorite cover is:

5FDP ( Five Finger Death Punch ) Bad Company. This is the tamer version fit for human consumption. Best served loud with headphones or a monster sound system with subwoofers that can register on the richter scale.

Johnny Cash and Hurt. Originally by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails.



Alyn

We'll throw in CCR's "Proud Mary" as covered by Tina Turner.

J&B

+1

Some good suggestions here! Definitely a huge fan of what Johnny Cash did with Hurt - he truly made it his own. In my opinion, one of the strongest cover songs ever.

I always thought that Ambrosia did a pretty good cover of "Magical Mystery Tour", and of course Elton John's version of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds".

The album All This And World War II, from the supposedly awful movie I never saw, has some pretty good covers of Beatles songs by well known artists.

One of my favorites is Pink's Bohemian Rhapsody.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=68&v=eLfW_XMwBGk

My personal favorite - DMC Walk this Way cover.
Not the best cover I ever heard by others, which seems to be the tilt of most responses. I took the question as which was MY favorite cover to play.


/Taking a little liberty of course .. add a thumb/pop bass to this version and it was a blast to play .. kinda gave it a new twist that seemed well received whenever we played it.

If we are restricted to covers we've heard done by others, Fire (Springsteen's song) is an obvious omission so far, any version by whoever, really .. including Bruce <grin>

great songs can be done many ways, but we know the song

Who hasn't covered "Bridge Over Troubled Water?"
Roberta Flack's version gets my vote.

In the Stone and That's the Way Of the World, EWF.

Cheap Trick does a version I like too.

A song that has MANY covers! Here are the ones I love:
Panic! At The Disco <--Saw this live in concert, awesome! Lead singer played on a grand piano that was elevated in the middle of the floor seats up about 20 feet!
Puscifer
The Muppets

Also, just saw Queen/Adam Lambert in Nashville a few weeks ago. Best show I've seen in a while. Adam's been with them 8 years already and has an awesome voice. If you have a chance to see them, do it! You won't regret it.

I was not expecting THAT at all. RESPECT!

Even Queen doesn't do the center part of that song live. Oh yeah, it's in the show but the lights dim and it's obviously being played from a track. A case of smoke and mirrors....

Pink nailed the song and the center part was immaculately done.... live on stage. She's got almost as much on stage swagger as Freddy.

I liked the Muppets the best! I'm a big fan of them!

I actually only know Bad Company from Five Finger Death Punch. Who is it originally by?

Bad Company

I actually didn't care for Panic's cover of Bohemian Rhapsody. I really, really wanted to like it because I have a lot of respect for his vocals most of the time. I saw him live, and he was so invested in putting on a big flashy show he got really screechy and didn't really sing most of his songs, and I was pretty let down. I think my favourite versions of songs he has done have been at small, intimate gathers with just his guitar. He did a session for a radio show and did unplugged versions of a few of his own songs and they were phenomenal.

Music, however, is entirely subjective! So I know it's probably just my own personal taste showing through.

The ones mentioned are great! Really good list.

I actually have a lot, but to name A favorite would be difficult. For me, it depends on the genre, if it was converted to another genre...even how old I was when I heard it. Different "wow!" factors at different points in my life.

I had to look that up. I was thinking, "would a band called Bad Company make a song called Bad Company?"

Sure enough, they did! I'll have to give that a listen later. Thanks!

Sorry to hear that. I guess vocalists have their off nights. When they played here in St. Louis, he was on all night long. I got the goosebumps when he performed Bohemian Rhapsody as I was impressed with both his vocals and piano. He made it look effortless.

Interesting that Panic! at the Disco was brought up.

My good friends saw them perform live, and they say the rendition they did of Bohemian Rhapsody was outstanding. I checked out that link to their version for the Suicide Squad soundtrack, and it is actually impressive. That guy certainly has a good set of pipes. Thanks for sharing - I'm really not a fan of them and would've likely never heard that otherwise.

Sorry to hear about your experience Ember! Maybe you caught him on a bad day

Since it was noted, just thought I'd mention that Bad Company released the song "Bad Company" on their debut album also entitled "Bad Company" back in 1973. The album also included the songs "Can't Get Enough", "Rock Steady", and "Ready For Love" (which itself is a cover of the Mott The Hoople song from their 1972 "All The Young Dudes" album from when Mick Ralphs was with them).

I like surprises in covers and my favorite surprise still has to be Willie Nelson covering Coldplay’s “The Scientist”. Just didn’t see that one coming and while I’m not a Willie fan, I love hearing him do this one.

I don't know if it's my favourite but a song that I keep on coming back to time and time again is Eva Cassidy and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow"...



DIRECT LINK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rd8VktT8xY

Classic album! I have it here on vinyl. Always been a big Paul Rogers fan since I first heard him with the band "Free" featuring Paul Kossoff on guitar.

Don’t forget Herbie Hancock, Pink, John Legend, Tal Wilkenfeld, etc cover of Peter Gabriel’s “Don’t Give Up”. That one is magic
https://youtu.be/uVQxSFG-ahk

What! I had no idea this was a thing so I looked it up on YouTube. Definitely caught me off guard and Willie really did some justice to the song. Kudos Willie.

Yep, I've also still got it on vinyl (although I have digitized it so I can play it in the car).

Celtic Woman, did an amazing version of this a few years ago