20 of the Best Cover Songs in the History of the World!
And probably some other places too!
Back in the fall of 2021, I wrote a piece here in The Riff called ‘20 Cover Songs I Prefer Over The Originals. I had a lot of fun putting it together, and I’m happy to say that it became one of my most popular stories on Medium.
I’d thought about writing a sequel for a while, but one thing led to another, and I never got around to it — until I was recently re-inspired by great articles by Francis B. and Kevin Alexander about cover songs that they love.
So, here I am with my sequel!
As the title of this piece says, these aren’t just random cover songs. No, no, dear reader. These are truly 20 of the best cover songs in the history of the world!
In no order of preference, here they are:
1. Mrs. Robinson — The Lemonheads
I will always love the original version of this song by Simon & Garfunkel, but this rocking cover by The Lemonheads is AWESOME! On a related note, if you’re not familiar with the album this came from, It’s A Shame About Ray, I highly encourage you to give it a listen!
2. Runaway — The Traveling Wilburys
This cover of Del Shannon’s classic song was originally released as the B-Side to the band’s 1990 single “She’s My Baby.” Jeff Lynne sounds great singing lead here.
3. Try A Little Tenderness — The Commitments
Many artists have recorded this song since it was written in 1932, with Otis Redding’s legendary version from the 1960s probably being the most famous of them. However, my favorite version is this one by The Commitments. I love how the song slowly builds for the first couple of minutes, and then at the 2:37 mark, the entire band and the background singers “kick in” and raise the song to a wonderful level of musical awesomeness.
4. Diamonds And Rust — Judas Priest
A great hard rocking version of Joan Baez’s classic Top 40 hit from the 1970s.
5. Don’t Change — The Goo Goo Dolls
The original by INXS is one of my favorite songs ever, so I was cautiously optimistic before I first played this one. However, The Goo Goo Dolls are one of my favorite bands, so I wasn’t too worried about it. And darn it, folks, I was right. This cover rocks and is FANTASTIC!
6. Fox On The Run — Ace Frehley
Even though I like the original version of this song by The Sweet, I wouldn’t say it’s one of my all-time favorites. However, I really, really dig this rocking cover by Ace Frehley!
7. Friday I’m In Love — Phoebe Bridgers
Phoebe Bridger’s haunting (and quite awesome!) cover of the classic from The Cure.
8. Everybody Wants To Rule The World — Weezer
One of my favorite bands doing a wonderful job covering one of my other favorite bands, Tears For Fears.
9. Iron Man — The Cardigans
It took me a couple of listens to warm to this cover of Black Sabbath’s classic song, but it quickly grew on me.
It’s a little on the “quirky” side, but I spend a lot of time there on that side myself, so maybe that’s why I dig it.
10. Please Send Me Someone To Love — Sade
This song was first recorded by Percy Mayfield in 1950. Sade’s great remake here was recorded for the soundtrack of the 1993 movie Philadelphia. Singer Sade Adu and her band sound absolutely fantastic on it!
11. Little Wing — Sting
From Sting’s awesome album …Nothing Like The Sun. I actually heard this long before I heard the great original by Jimi Hendrix. I later grew to love Jimi’s version, but I slightly prefer Sting’s cover, mainly because of his vocals. Sting sings it with a lot of passion, and sounds amazing.
12. Smokin’ In The Boys Room — Motley Crue
Did I ever smoke cigarettes in the Boys’ Room back in high school in the 1980s? Is that part of why I love this 1985 cover of the hit song originally performed by Brownsville Station in the early 70s?
Hmmm…no comment!
P.S. To Any Kids Reading This: DON’T SMOKE!!!
13. Baker Street — Waylon Jennings
I’ve loved Waylon’s cover of the classic song by Gerry Rafferty ever since…well…ever since I first heard it a week or so ago! I love the original a lot and was a bit shocked by how much I love this version too.
14. …Baby One More Time by Fountains Of Wayne
I’ve been a huge fan of Fountains of Wayne ever since their awesome debut album in 1996. This very cool remake of Britney Spears’ first big hit came out in 2005. I think that it should have been a big hit too!
15. Peace Train — 10,000 Maniacs
I think the original version of this song by Cat Stevens is fantastic, but this cover by the Maniacs is extra-fantastic! Singer Natalie Merchant sounded amazing on it.
16. To Sir With Love — Susanna Hoffs
I was torn about whether I wanted to share Susanna’s studio version of Lulu’s song or the great live version she later did with Matthew Sweet — so I went with both of them.
P.S. to Paul Combs, Kevin Alexander, Alex Markham, and all other admirers of Susanna Hoffs: I’ve included a bonus live video of her covering a classic rock song from the 1970s at the very end of this story. I think you’ll enjoy it!
17. Got To Get You Into My Life — Earth, Wind & Fire
Does it bother anyone else that Earth, Wind & Fire doesn’t use an Oxford comma after the word “Wind” in their name?
No? Just Me? Okay, that’s cool. I’ll move on.
Anyway, their cover of The Beatles’ “Got To Get You Into My Life” is terrific! Not many acts can take a song from The Fab Four and make it their own as EWF did here. This is probably my favorite cover ever of a song by The Beatles.
18. Physical— Juliana Hatfield
Julianna Hatfield released a wonderful Olivia Newton-John tribute album in 2018 called, appropriately enough, Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John. This is one of my favorites from it.
19. Go Your Own Way — The Cranberries
I love, love, love The Cranberries, and I love, love, love Fleetwood Mac, so yeah, I definitely “heart” this one!
20. Overkill — Lazlo Bane (featuring Colin Hay)
“Overkill” by Men At Work is on my own personal ‘Top Five Favorite Songs Of All Time’ list, and I love this rocking cover of it by Lazlo Bane — which features the song’s writer and original singer Colin Hay from Men At Work.
I also LOVE this music video for the song, which shows Lazlo Bane rocking out to the song in what looks to be some sort of banquet room in a hotel or apartment building.
As the video progresses and the music keeps getting louder and louder, we also see Colin Hay, who seems to be playing the clerk at the establishment's front desk. He keeps receiving phone calls from people annoyed by the noise the band is making.
And then Colin bursts into the room where the band is playing and…okay, that’s enough from me.
Just watch it and TURN UP THE VOLUME!
If you’re one of those people who prefer music playlists instead of music videos, here’s my Spotify playlist for the above cover songs:
So, how about you? What are some of your favorite cover songs? Let me know in the comments, or better yet, write your own article about them! If you do the latter, please tag me in it so I can easily check it out.
Speaking of tagging…I’d love to see what cover songs these awesome people love: Jeffrey Harvey, Brandon Ellrich, Emile R., Ginger Cook, Kerry Purvis, Charlie Cole, Jason Provencio, Jennifer Barrios Tettay, Sarah Paris, Mark Holburn, Steve Devine, Kiki Wellington, Jasmine Aguilar, Jessie Waddell, Anthony Overs, Robert Gowty, Bob Merckel, David Acaster, and Paul Walker — and whoever else wants to play, of course!
Here are the aforementioned stories that inspired me to do the above by, respectfully, Francis B. and Kevin Alexander. Thanks, lads!
Bonus Live Cover Song by Susanna Hoffs!
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