There are actually a lot more covers than most people know about, especially with songs that are really popular. For instance, Wiki any of the Eagles hits and you’ll find them covered by lots of artists, many you’ve never heard of. And so it goes with virtually any popular song.
Many popular covers I’ve liked just as much as the originals, even if done very differently, such as The Supreme’s version of “You Keep Me Hanging On,” vs. the cover by Vanilla Fudge, or The Beatles “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" vs. Elton John’s excellent version. The Carpenters did superb covers of a number of songs, such as “Please Mr. Postman,” “A Song For You,” “Ticket To Ride,” “I’ll Never Fall In Love Gain,” and more.
And, it’s not uncommon for some covers to be bigger hits than the originals. The Beatles “Please Mr. Postman” (again) comes to mind , which was a cover of a song originally done by Motown girl group the Marvelettes, or Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog,” which was originally recorded by Willie Mae Thornton.
Or sometimes the covers are just done better than the originals. In addition to “Postman” and “Hound Dog” mentioned above, I’ve always thought that Basia’s version of “Until You Come Back To Me” blows away Stevie Wonder’s and Aretha Franklin’s versions. Same with Chicago’s version of Steve Winwood’s “I’m A Man" and The Rippington's jammin' instrumental version of the O'Jay's "Backstabbers."
But I know what you mean about some are better just left alone. In driving around town here in Corpus Christi I regularly listen to an easy-listening station that plays lots of instrumental covers of popular songs from the ’60s through ’80s. Some are so much like the original versions it’s like “Why did you bother?” Others are unique interpretations, and sometimes it works and sometime not. Strangely, on one commute to work they played two instrumental versions of The Beatles “When I’m Sixty-Four (strange to hear both in like a 30-minute time span!). The first was great, the second was like “What were you thinking?”
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt