Who sang it better

Ten covers that did justice to the original songs that inspired them.

The Weeknd’s Blinding Lights was the track of 2020. Loi’s cover has made it a a timeless song

To say the weather has been miserable these past few days in London is an understatement. Suffice to say that 50 Shades of Grey could be a fitting title for the colour palette of the London sky, which like the protagonist of E.L. James novel has a fetish for inflicting pain on naive people who wake up everyday hoping for a shred of affection in the form of a blue sky.

When the miracle happened today, I couldn’t leave the house fast enough for a much needed dose of vitamin D, which to me is synonymous with a fix of vitamin C so I made my way to my coffee stand of trust. While I waited for my caffeinated tipple, arms stretched out, eyes closed, face up towards the skies à la Jacob Elordi in Frankenstein, my ears tuned in to the song that was playing on the radio. Nice one, I thought as I recognised it.

Before my brain could process the external stimulus and register the title, my feet were already happily tapping away and I was singing the words. For you see, this is one of those songs I fell in love with the first time I listened to it decades ago, when I couldn’t understand the lyrics because my English was very approximate but I could relate to its melody. I’m not surprised my senses are usually quicker than my reason when it comes to how I experience music.

As I paid for my coffee and walked away, I hurried to get my phone and search not for the original I had just listened to, which I love, but for the 1999 version that made me discover a theme that has become part of my life soundtrack and which, without exaggeration, is probably one of the best covers ever made.

It helps that the voices of George Michael and Mary J. Blige blend perfectly and add an extra layer of sultriness to what was already a soulful song penned by the musical genius of Stevie Wonder. I’m of course talking about the excellent As.

Because the sun and the song put me in a very good mood, and because I’ve had a post in my draft folder since June 2024 about music covers, I thought this was a perfect time to lose a few readers by writing about the topic. Apparently music is a subject that doesn’t seem to resonate well with some people, which is baffling given a) that I don’t write so often about it for people to unsubscribe instead of simply ignoring a post and b) my superb musical taste.

Anyway, I try not to take it personally because I’m also humble enough to accept that not all geniuses are recognised in their own lifetime and maybe my destiny is to be a misunderstood leading light in times of vapid cultural takes and increasing AI slop.

So without any further ado, today I bring you ten music covers that did justice to the original songs that inspired them.

This is where our paths may separate forever depending on whether you decide to carry on reading to discover a selection of songs that may have gone under your radar or vanish in the shapeless ether of the cyberspace by clicking unsubscribe.

However, as we don’t have enough music in our lives I’m of the opinion we can always do with a few recommendations that are 100% certified human and contribute to support real artists. So to use a Måneskin cover that has refreshed the original I’m begging you to join me for a musical ride.

It’ll be fun, I promise. Besides, you can always unsubscribe after you’ve liked this post. No hard feelings, seriously.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor covering Do You Remember the First Time?

A couple of years ago I was afflicted by that malaise that eventually catches up with all of us and convinces us that there is no time like the past. In my case, my bout of nostalgia manifested in the firm conviction that nothing could top 90s music. Which is how I ended up going down a Britpop rabbit hole that led me to Sophie Ellis-Bextor superb cover of one of Pulp’s best songs.

I listened to nothing else for the next few days, alternating the original with the cover, such was the effect discovering this song had on me. How funny, I said to myself as I sang the lyrics at the top of my voice while doing the dishes, taking a shower, or going for a walk, it has such title because I’m sure I’ll always remember the first time I listened to this song. As would those who had to suffer my ghoulish vocal rendition as I passed them by on the street.

If the voice of Jarvis Cocker makes this track sound quintessentially 90s, Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s clear cut porcelain vocals and acoustic version gives it a contemporary edge that fits like a glove, most notably by subverting the love triangle in the story when she sings the lyrics “Jesus, it must be great to be straight.”

Someone please offer this woman to make an album of 90s covers. She’d do a very fine job.

The Struts covering Supersonic

Staying on the topic of 90s nostalgia, the summer of 2025 will go down in history for giving us the Oasis Live Tour. An event whose emotional tsunami caught me totally off guard because I wasn’t even a massive Oasis fan back in the day. While their music has been somehow on my radar over the years, before this summer I would have only been able to name a handful of their songs. How the tables have turned!

Supersonic, however, wouldn’t had made the list despite being a song I have listened to multiple times before this summer. The reason? I first listened to the cover The Struts did of it a couple of years ago and it remained etched in my brain as theirs ever since. No small feat considering that attempting to cover an Oasis song producing something decent that is recognisable yet fresh without imitating Liam’s vocals or a copy-paste of their trademark wall of sound is not as easy as it seems.

Unless, of course, you happen to be one of the most talented British rock bands around today and have a frontman with a voice and attitude that can pull off anything. To the point of brilliantly taking to their musical territory one of the most iconic songs of the 90s by one of the most successful groups the decade produced and making you forget it is not actually theirs originally.

David Garrett covering Smells Like Teen Spirit

Sometimes the best way to a great cover doesn’t involve having to sing a note. Cue to David Garrett, a German classical and crossover violin artist, with the aura and charisma of a rock star.

It was difficult to pick one of the many songs he has covered over his career, but Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit, which introduced me to his music, is perhaps one of the best examples to showcase Garrett’s ability to make his violin sing like an in tune grunge idol.

His cover of Bohemian Rhapsody, from his Rock Revolution album, reinforces my belief in how it is impossible to like rock music without liking classical music at least a tiny bit (and vice versa) as the two are a match made in heaven. Queen knew it and so did David Garrett when he set on reinterpreting some of the world’s most recognisable rock anthems in a classical key.

Ben L’Oncle covering Seven Nation Army

In July of 2007 I found myself looking after a group of hormonal teenagers in the basement of an Edinburgh club. The second they tuned into a song that was very popular at the time, they started pogoing in unison and singing like hooligans. Smell Like Teen Spirit it was not, which would have been superior in any of its versions, but I realised every generation needs its own age-defining anthem, which in the case of these teenagers it turned out to be Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes.

Fast forward to some point between August 2007 and May 2008, when I was in the United States for a teaching stint and a fellow French tutor introduced me to Benjamin Duterde, in art Ben L’Oncle, a French artist whose funky take on a song I hadn’t thought much of totally blew my mind. The brass section and the soulful voice of Duterde gave this song the swagger it lacked in its original iteration and took it from underage club fodder to Ronnie Scott-worthy material.

I haven’t looked back ever since and to me this is the only acceptable version any person is allowed to listen to. Which is probably how French people feel about it too judging by my last trip to Paris, where it played while I was at Carrefour. I was so excited to hear it that I let out a loud “Ah, ça c’est Ben L’Oncle, j’adore!” as I reached out for a wedge of Comté, which earned me nods of approval from a couple of discerning Parisians that overheard me.

There’s a possibility they were praising my cheese choice instead of my musical taste and knowledge but it’s as slim as me playing again the original of this song.

Loi covering Blinding Lights

Is Blinding Lights by The Weeknd one of the best songs to have emerged from that collective blip that was the pandemic? Without a doubt.

I may be particularly biased because I have a soft sport for songs with an 80s vibe and which manage to be both nostalgic and timeless at the same time, of which Blinding Lights is a fantastic example.

Just when I thought I couldn’t like this song more, along came German singer Loi with an angelical voice and piano cover that transforms a psychedelic trip into a spiritual journey. The trepidation of the original is transmuted into a balm for the nervous system; the excitement and anticipation conveyed by the lyrics take a 180 turn towards a ballad that soothes the senses and pacifies the soul.

For maximum effect I strongly recommend listening to Loi’s cover on repeat while you take a hot bath, with the lights out and the candles on. You are very welcome.

Teddy Swims covering Cruel Summer

I am, by no stretch of the imagination, what you could describe as a Taylor Swift fan. Yet at the end of 2024 Spotify Wrapped would have made you question such categoric statement as Cruel Summer made it to my top 5 most listened songs of the year.

A clear outlier whose presence can be explained by the inescapability of a song that was not only an accurate description of the weather conditions between June-September in the UK, but which also became the unofficial soundtrack of every bloody rickshaw, restaurant, coffee shop and any place equipped with a music system within the M-25. As Taylor Swift descended into London for her Wembley shows in July and August, so did Cruel Summer.

I was one random playback away from developing PTSD when I found Teddy Swims and his excellent cover, which made Swift’s original a bit more bearable to endure out in the wild.

While Taylor’s voice makes this song sound playful and breezy like the best summer nights, Swims’ take on it gives it a depth that makes it perfect to listen to as you consider every life choice you’ve made while the heavens open up and rain falls upon London for the seventh day in a row in the middle of July. Cruel summer indeed.

Mina covering Oggi sono io

Italian songwriter Alex Britti may have won Sanremo (in the new comers category) with Oggi Sono Io, a reflective theme about finally meeting someone you want be your true self with but with whom you don’t even know how to find the right moment to strike up a conversation without feeling self-conscious. In his voice and musical arrangement, this is a candid pop song full of hope in front of the possibility of new love and being accepted for who we are.

In the powerful rendition of Mina this track ascends to new heights and is catapulted to the top of the pyramid of the Italian songbook.

Recorded from her studio in Switzerland, in the music video you can see Mina effortlessly hitting impossibly high notes at the tender age of 61 as she propells the song into a crescendo of majestic dimensions. Her voice was really out of this world and Oggi Sono Io is a testament to how her vocal prowess transformed a good pop song into a little piece of art that leaves no one indifferent when they hear it for the first time.

Seu Jorge covering Rebel, Rebel

Can a cover be still keep the spirit of the original song even when it changes language? Of course it can, and if you don’t believe it you only need to listen to Seu Jorge’s take on David Bowie for the soundtrack of Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.

With the exception of Ralph Fiennes in the role of Gustave H in The Grand Budapest Hotel, Jorge’s covers are the best thing to have ever come out of a Wes Anderson film. The acoustic and heartfelt renditions of Starman, Life on Mars?, Changes or Lady Stardust bring Bowie’s sound back to basics with a bit of saudade sprinkled here and there.

Whether you can understand Portuguese or not, you’ll be mesmerized by how great Rebel, Rebel sounds in Seu Jorge’s deep voice infused with a hint of bossanova. If you had to bottle a sunny spring morning in a song, this is as close as you’ll ever get.

Bruno Mars covering Valerie

The first time I listened to Amy Winehouse I was waiting to get on a train at Naples central station. I didn’t know who she was as Rehab played through the tannoy, only that I hadn’t heard a voice like hers in a long time.

Understandably few people have attempted to cover an Amy Winehouse song and fewer still have succeeded. Her unmistakable raw vocals gave her songs that extra touch that made them unique and notoriously difficult to imitate by anyone not as vocally and extraordinarily musically gifted as she was.

Luckily for us Bruno Mars ticks both of those boxes and he did justice to Amy when he interpreted Valerie as a tribute to her at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards. His musical talent, sway, and showmanship brought out all the doo wop and cheerfulness out of the melancholic lyrics with a performance that elevated one of the most upbeat jazzy themes Winehouse recorded without missing a bit on the spot on vocals.

Oasis covering I Am the Walrus

If it’s difficult to think of anyone successfully covering Amy or Oasis, imagine how hard it is to find someone successfully covering The Beatles. Yes, even when Yesterday is the band’s most covered song by a pop act.

How fitting then that the most successful British band of the 90s covered the most successful British band ever as the Gallagher brothers, who have admitted how heavily influenced by The Beatles their music is, decided to splurge on horns and strings for a terrific cover of I Am the Walrus to close their historic Knebworth shows in 1996.

Who else better than two brothers who have never hidden their admiration for the Fab Four, to the point one of them thinks he is the reincarnation of John Lennon, even though John Lennon was still alive when he was born?

While there’s a lot uncertainty about whether the Oasis reunion would lead them to record new music after their victory lap tour is finished, I think I’m not alone in wanting them to make a new album. Perhaps, to begin with, they could do one where they cover Beatles songs and give them the Oasis treatment.

Liam’s vocals are certainly up for the task and he’d do a very fine job with Lennon’s songs while Noel could take on McCartney’s and Harrison's compositions. It’d be such a fantastic full cycle moment after Sir Paul went to see their concert in LA this summer and the band reprising Octopus’ Garden as the coda to Whatever during this Live 25’ reunion, as they did at Knebworth 30 years ago.

Bonus cover

The Fratellis covering Yes Sir, I Can Boogie

During the traditional family gathering for Christmas Eve last year, at some point that must have been close to one in the morning (because we had already finished dinner but not yet embarked on the traditional game of cards that keeps us going until 7 am¹, at which time those of us still standing usually head for churros with chocolate), my aunt Lidia made a casual comment that marked a before and after in my musical knowledge.

The tv was on, playing one of the usual Christmas specials that focused on music, when a clip of Yes Sir, I Can Boogie by the duo Baccara played. “I love this song,” I said as I started humming. To which my aunt, who has been one of my main musical influences growing up, responded, “How funny that Mayte and María were both Spanish and were made to sing in English, don’t you think?”

And with that remark I discovered that one of my favourite 70s dance songs was made an international hit by two fellow citizens, a fact unbeknownst to me until that moment. I knew there was a reason I liked that song so much, and it couldn’t be only because my aunt used to play it all the time when I was a child or because The Fratellis, one of my favorite bands -and a criminally underrated one if I may add-, had recorded a wonderful cover of it. Which I had the luck to sing and dance to when I saw them live for the first time with the same ecstatic abandonment as those teenagers back in Edinburgh did all those years ago.

If it’s difficult to cover a song by Oasis, Amy Winehouse, or The Beatles, covering a 70s disco/dance song is almost an impossible task because they are already musically perfect. However, as Braveheart taught us, Scottish people aren’t easily intimidated by a challenge and so The Fratellis have brought new life and a contemporary spin to a favourite song. The versatile vocals of Jon Fratelli, the addition of a brass section, and the Scottish band rock touch give the song an extra dose of sparkle.

If Baccara’s original was the perfect dance floor song, The Fratellis have created the perfect festive anthem to get everyone in the mood for a good time, dance floor or not. It has even got the thumbs up from the song composers if not from Mayte and María.

Maybe I should attempt a Spanish cover to honour the duo that gifted this classic of disco music to the world. Definitely a task I can engage the support of my aunt in at the upcoming Christmas Eve dinner this year. One thing is for sure: We’ll have plenty of time to boogie as we try to come up with the right lyrics.

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Abroad is an independent publication about London, living in between cultures, creativity, and being human in the age of artificial intelligence.

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1. Joining the Christmas Eve dinner in my family is like entering in Dante’s inferno: You must abandon all hope of leaving at a reasonable time.