We all have our favorite songs in our heads, those we sing out loud thinking that on the other side of the window no one can hear us. In today’s playlist, we present you 10 songs – essential – that are versions but that, without a doubt, are much better and have triumphed more than their originals.
Knocking On Heaven’s Door
The original song is a Bob Dylan creation from 1973, but it is Guns n ‘Roses with the unmistakable voice of Axl Rose that brought it to a wider audience. Converted into a heavy ballad, it was released in 1990 as the soundtrack of a film that is also mythical and that is undoubtedly in the imagination of all those young people of the 90s: Tom Cruise’s ‘Days of Thunder’.
With A Little Help From My Friends
We know that The Beatles are untouchable. But if anyone can make a version that surpasses the original, it is Joe Cocker. The original song was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney in 1967 and sung by drummer Ringo Starr. Nothing bad can be said about it as it peaked at # 304 of the 500 greatest songs of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. But Joe Cocker’s version, from 1969, went on to win the Grammy Hall of Fame Award and became one of the iconic images of the legendary and remembered Woodstock festival. It was also the opening theme for the series “Those wonderful years.”
All Along The Watchtower
It is one of the songs that Bob Dylan, its author, has played the most times live, but the version that really gives us goosebumps is Jimi Hendrix’s. A cover, by the way, that saw the light only 6 months after the publication of the original song. But how good that electric guitar suits Dylan’s lyrics.
Black Magic Woman
Original song by the British rock group Fleetwood Mac from 1968. A song that got the band, for the first time, on the UK Singles Chart. But it was the Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana who took it to the top in his version of the year 1970. The song went from being framed within blues-rock to being part of the Latin rock of the new era thanks to the fact that the new version also had a mix with the song ‘Gipsy Queen’ by the Hungarian Gábor Szabó. This version of Santana reached number 4 on the 1971 American Billboard Hot 100 chart.
I Shot The Sheriff
The original song is the one written by Bob Marley and Richard Gray and recorded in 1973 for Marley’s album ‘The Wailers Burnin’, but it was British Eric Clapton who catapulted it to fame just a year later. A superb mix version of soft rock and reggae that became the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100.
The Man Who Sold The World
Although Michael Stipe has surprised us with a splendid and minimalist version of the original song by David Bowie, we are left with the acoustic of Nirvana and the unmistakable voice of Kurt Cobain.
The Sound of Silence
Simon & Garfunkel in front of Disturbed. The original version was written in February 1964 after the assassination of John F. Kennedy the previous year. The song wanted to convey, and it did, the feeling of desolation of an entire country for its president. Many will assure – and not without reason – that no version comes close to it, not in vain it has been the song number 156 of the 500 best songs of all history according to Rolling Stone magazine. However, in 2015, the heavy metal of Disturbed once again took this song to the top in the unmistakable and surprising voice of David Draiman. This new version has risen to number one on Billboard’s rock music chart, number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number one in Austria.
Last Kiss
Who was going to tell Pearl Jam that the single they prepared as a gift for their fan clubs was going to become the band’s most commercial song to date? It happened in 1999. The original song was composed by Wayne Cochran 38 years before and it was hardly successful.
I Love Rock And Roll
Joan Jett’s big hit and one of the most successful songs in history according to Rolling Stone magazine. I love rock ‘n’ roll was a smash hit in the United States and beyond, and since then it has been covered numerous times when, in fact, the hit is already a cover. The original song was released by The Arrows in 1975 without success on the music charts.
Twist And Shout
The Beatles really put a big twist on this song, as 1961 original by The Tope Notes left a lot to be desired. The piece gained more fame with The Isley Brothers, but the Liverpool quartet was the one who took it to another level.