Best cover songs ever

All Along the Watchtower — Jimi Hendrix▲ Rising

Dylan wrote it as a spare, biblical riddle, but Hendrix set it on fire with that wah-wah cyclone of a solo and turned it into the definitive version — so definitive that Dylan himself started playing it live like it was Hendrix's song all along. It's the cover that flips the script on authorship entirely, proof that interpretation can eclipse origin.》

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Hurt — Johnny Cash▲ Rising

Trent Reznor wrote a song about addiction's void; Cash, dying and gaunt at 71, turned it into a eulogy for himself, and that stark video of his shaking hands over a piano still stops hearts cold. Reznor said after seeing it, "that song isn't mine anymore" — the ultimate surrender of a cover claiming total ownership.

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Respect — Aretha Franklin▲ Rising

Otis Redding's original was a plea; Aretha flipped the gender and the power dynamic, spelling out R-E-S-P-E-C-T like a demand backed by the Sweet Inspirations and her own thunderous command, and turned it into a feminist and civil-rights anthem overnight. Otis reportedly said the song belonged to her now — rare grace from a legend watching his own song get transformed into something bigger than he imagined.

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I Will Always Love You — Whitney Houston▲ Rising

Dolly Parton wrote a tender, plainspoken goodbye to a mentor; Whitney took that a cappella opening and detonated it into the most towering vocal performance in pop history for The Bodyguard, a key change that still gives people chills decades later. It became the best-selling physical single by a woman ever — Dolly herself has said the royalties bought her a chunk of Dollywood.

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Hallelujah — Jeff Buckley▲ Rising

Leonard Cohen's original was dense, almost liturgical; Buckley stripped it to guitar and that impossibly fragile falsetto, turning a cult deep cut into the wedding-and-funeral standard it is today. His version is the reason nearly every singing-competition contestant now reaches for this song — for better or worse, he's the template.

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Nothing Compares 2 U — Sinéad O'Connor▼ Falling

Prince wrote it and buried it on a Family side project; Sinéad's shaved head, single tear, and unflinching close-up in the video turned it into one of the rawest, most iconic performances MTV ever aired. It's a cover so total in its emotional takeover that most people had to be told Prince wrote it at all.

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Valerie — Amy Winehouse▼ Falling

The Zutons' original was a jangly indie-rock throwaway; Amy and Mark Ronson slowed it down, dressed it in Motown horns and that unmistakable smoky ache, and made it sound like it had always been a soul classic waiting to be found. It became her biggest hit and Ronson's calling card as a producer — a cover that fully rewired a song's DNA.

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Twist and Shout — The Beatles▼ Falling

The Isley Brothers had already made it a party staple, but the Beatles' version — recorded in one desperate take while Lennon's throat was shredded from a cold, tea with honey be damned — became the definitive closer that ends 'Please Please Me' in glorious chaos. That vocal, ragged and screaming past its own limits, is rock and roll abandon distilled, and it's the reason this cover outlived the original in the culture's memory.

added by IJR