I much prefer the original Everly Brothers' version of "Love Hurts" to the Nazareth cover.

Waiting for Tonight -- 3rd Party over J. Lo.
How Do I Live -- Trisha Yearwood Over LeAnn Rimes
Blue Bayou -- Roy Orbison over Linda Ronstadt
The Best -- Bonnie Tyler over Tina Turner
Hide Your Heart -- Bonnie Tyler over Kiss
Save Up All Your Tears -- Bonnie Tyler over Cher
(Bonnie Tyler's "Notes From America" was a real gold mine for other people. And I really like the later versions of all three of these, too)

What's really embarrassing is finding out that a song you thought was originally by an artist is in fact a cover.

Case in point: I always thought Linda Ronstadt was the first person to sing "You're No Good," until I heard a '60s version by a soul singer whose name escapes me.

And you mean to say The Bay City Rollers weren't the original ones to have sung "Be My Baby?" Ronnie who??

What a great idea for another thread!

Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up - Jeff Simmons (with FZ on lead guitar) from 1969 is better than the FZ - Joe Garage's version

(co written by Simmons and Zappa - does this count???)

Joni Mitchell's Woodstock is much better the Matthews Southern Comfort's hit version (One of the few Ian Matthews covers I'm not fond of) & I also prefer it to the CSNY version.

David Essex's "Rock On" has been done by "heart throb", Michael Damien. But his cover version pales in comparison IMHO.

i will always love you is much better by dolly parton than whitney houston.

Jolene is much better by Paula Cole then by Dolly Parton!

(Renny, Sorry, I couldn't resist, came to mind immediately after reading your post)

Yeah, I hope someone comes up with that idea.

This same topic sorta came about upstairs when one of the guys posted a video for the Crew-Cuts' version of "Sh-Boom" and I posted a video for the recording by the Chords (which I happen to prefer,)

That conversation brought to mind all of the great recordings by African American groups which were re-recorded by White groups (because it was so difficult to get "race records" played at that time.) The Gladiolas' original version of "Little Darlin" trumps the Diamonds' better known version IMHO. Fats Domino's version of "Ain't That A Shame" is better than Pat Boone's version.

Others on my list are:

Huey Smith's "Rockin Pneumonia" blows away Johnny Rivers' version.
I like Irma Thomas's recording of "Time is On My Side" better than the one by the Stones.
"Do Ya" (by the Move) is marginally better than the ELO version (although I do like both)

Wendy Waldman's Heartbeat over Don Johnson's dreadful hit cover version. WW is SO underrated... Oddly the album with Heartbeat is her only LP never released on cd!

In a similar (but not nearly as extreme) vein, Karla Bonoff's Someone To Lay Down Beside Me over Linda Ronstadt's cover

Speaking of Pat Boone, his version of "At My Front Door" (a.k.a. "Crazy Little Mama") pales next to the original by the El Dorados. Similarly, "Sincerely" by the Moonglows slays the white bread version by the McGuire Sisters.

I quite like the original version of "New York Groove" by Hello, which was a Top 10 hit in the UK about 3 years before Ace Frehley covered it. This one's close to a draw in my book.

The Bee Gees' "If I Can't Have You" over Yvonne Elliman's #1 hit version
Paul Revere & The Raiders' "Steppin' Stone" over the Monkees' version from about a year later
Hall & Oates' "Every Time You Go Away" over Paul Young's
Angie Aparo's "Cry" over Faith Hill's
Let's Active's "Every Word Means No" over Smash Mouth's
World Party's "She's The One" over Robbie Williams'

Leon Russell & Rita Coolidge Superstar over the Carpenters (e-uw!)

Weren't Delaney & Bonnie the first to record "Superstar"?

That's what I thought. I was just gettting ready to post D&B's version over the Carpenters (which I like too) this morning.

The other one that I think of for this catagory is Warren Zevon's "Hasten Down the Wind" over Linda Ronstadt's version but I'm not sure that Ronstadt's didn't come first. Would Warren be covering Linda then?

I was thinking Leon Russell because my understanding was that he wrote it. I'm not a D&B fan & am not aware of their version; you may be right.

Here's an interesting article which if I'm reading it right says that Bonnie Bramlett has co-writing credit but that Rita Coolidge came up with the idea for the song. I THINK the article says that it was first performed by Coolidge on Mad Dogs & Englishmen, but truth is, everytime I reread this article I perceive it differently

http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?id=826

All Music Guide appears to state that Coolidge sang it on 1970's Mad Dogs & Englishmen & that D&B didn't record it until 1972's Together under the name "Groupie". In fact it appears that The Carpenters recorded it in 1971 before D&B.

I wasn't aware that BB was officially the co-writer, but I still consider it a Leon Russell song which he performed with Coolidge on MD&E before anyone else.

Black Magic Woman--Fleetwood Mac over Santana. The Mac's original sounds more ominous.

Betty Everett did a version in 1963 IIRC. Maybe that is the one you are thinking of??

I've always been deathly afraid that after all is said and done, fans are gonna think of Vanilla Fudge's "You Keep Me Hangin' On" as the definitive version, even though "The Sup's" original parked itself at #1 in '66. Still the greatest 2:41 in pop.

Kim Wilde, Rod Stewart, et al will not be considered. (smile)

"Cool Jerk" by The Capitals. The Go-Go's did the cover.

"LA Woman" by The Doors. Billy Idol did a good cover of the song.