IMHO, Two Nice Girls' "Sweet Jane (with Affection)" is the best cover of all time. It's a sweet melody that mixes Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane" with Joan Armatrading's "Love and Affection" to create something new and interesting. It can be found on their first self-titled album, I believe. Suprisingly, it is not on their cover album, _Like a Version_.

As far as others go, I have so many, but Bonnie Raitt's cover of Del Shannon's "Runaway" is also a personal favorite. Shawn Colvin's cover of The Talking Heads' "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" stands out.

As far as self-covers go, the strongest by far is Eric Clapton's stripped-down cover of "Layla". Many of The Talking Heads' raves of their stuff on _Stop Making Sense_ is also right on the money.

I've been intending to create a 2-CD set for friends for at least 15 years now. The first CD would have originals and the second would have covers. The idea is that I have to love both versions, and they have to be very different songs. And preferably one or the other should be "unknown" to most people.

Covers better than originals:

- "Lady Marmalade" (recent Moulin Rouge version)
- "Landslide" (Dixie Chicks version -- I know I'll stand alone on this one!)
- "Leaving on a JetPlane" (Chantal Kreviazuk, on the soundtrack to the movie "Armageddon")
- "Fever" (I don't even know who/when/what the original was, but I've heard lots of versions of this I've liked -- including Nana Visitor on "Deep Space Nine")

Inexcusable covers:

- "American Pie" (Madonna -- I'm with you on that one!)
- "Emotion" (Destiny's Child cover of the Bee Gees -- what the heck is the point?!)

According to the All Music Guide, Otis Redding's song "Respect" peaked at number 35 on Billboard's Pop Singles chart and number 4 (!) on the Black Singles chart. But we tend to remember the song better as Aretha Franklin's first trip to the top of the Pop Singles chart.

Better than Originals:

Jeff Buckley, "Hallelujah" - quite possibly the best cover ever. Somewhere, Leonard Cohen is shaking his head and saying to himself, "So that's how the song goes."
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, "Woodstock" - Joni Mitchell's was practically a funeral dirge.
Jimi Hendrix, "Hey, Joe" - the Leaves just weren't very interesting.
Manfred Mann's Earth Band, "Blinded by the Light" - Bruce was the brilliant lyricist, but this version was just too cool for words.
Harry Nilsson, "Without You" - no, this wasn't his originally, it was Badfinger's, and he made their mediocre tune into the soulful, pathetic cry for help that Mariah Carey picked up thirty years later.
Joe Cocker, "With a Little Help From My Friends" - yes, the Beatles original was great, but this was unreal.
Billy Joel, "I'll Cry Instead" - not sure why the Beatles' original just doesn't resonate with me, but Billy's B-side live version sure does.

Respectable:

Faith Hill, "Cry" - she shouldn't have changed Angie Aparo's original lyrics to the bridge, but at least it got the relatively unknown Angie some money and some notoriety. Track down the original, it's outstanding.
Yes, "America" - Simon & Garfunkel's original is a true classic, but damn if this eleven-minute experiment wasn't a bizarrely interesting thing to do to a true classic.
Jamie Notarthomas, "Sir Duke" - he hasn't put it on a CD yet, but live, it's remarkable to watch him do with a six-string guitar and his voice almost everything Stevie Wonder had done with a seven-piece band on the same song.

Self-covers, Good:

Eric Clapton, "After Midnight" - okay, he did it for a beer ad, but I thought it was a good, down'n'dirty re-interpretation of a very different song.

Self-covers, Bad:

Gregg Allman, "Midnight Rider" - seriously, why bother?

Inexcusable:

Late '90s synth-pop version of Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" - way to completely lose the point, people!
Stephen Stills, "In My Life" - Your voice just ain't high enough, Steve.
Joe Cocker, "Can't Find My Way Home" - How the mighty had fallen.
Bono, "Hallelujah" - okay, maybe it wouldn't be quite so bad in a world where Jeff Buckley's version didn't exist, but it's just too cold.
Ugly Kid Joe, "Cat's in the Cradle" & Lenny Kravitz, "American Woman" - tied for the all-time "I don't even remotely understand the point of this song" award.

Another great one is "Suzy" by The Chenille Sisters, which is a cover of the forgettable version by Uncle Bonzai. I can listen to that song for days at a time.

Oooh, and Frete's version of "Bizarre Love Triange", originally by New Order.

Wow, there are some great picks on your lists. Thanks!

I'm listening to my iTunes on shuffle play (I've got my "5-star" picks shuffled) while I'm working this weekend, and was just reminded that although Ian Hunter had a great song in "Once Bitten Twice Shy", Great White did a fantastic cover. I was a DJ when that one came out, and it was a stand out at the time.

Went over to Apple's site and bought the Ian Hunter version, too, since both versions rock.

Here's a question for you all: if Mac Davis writes a song for Elvis, and it isn't released as a single (but it does appear on an Elvis album), and then Mac Davis performs the song on an album of his own, and it isn't released as a single then, either, but then thirty years later a dj remixes the Elvis version of the song and it becomes a major hit from the Ocean's 11 soundtrack... well, then:

Who covered whom? Is Mac Davis's version the cover? Is the remix a cover? Or is the remix just a different version of the original, and Mac Davis's is the cover? Or is Elvis the cover because Mac Davis wrote it, even though Elvis recorded it before Mac Davis?

Yes. I admit it. I know who Mac Davis is. And, truth be told, I've always kinda liked his version of "Little Less Conversation", even though the sentiment of the lyrics is obnoxious.