Cover songs have been around since the early days of the music industry, when songs were often recorded by multiple performers or musicians had access to sheet music that allowed them to play their own versions of songs at home. Cover songs essentially allow artists to reinterpret a song in a way that makes it unique to them while still retaining elements of the original.

So what happens when a cover version not only interprets the original but actually winds up being better than it? These songs can become even bigger hits, giving new life to the original and additional recognition to the artist who decided to try something new with it.

1. “I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston
2. “All Along the Watchtower” by Jimi Hendrix
3. “Hurt” by Johnny Cash
4. “Proud Mary” by Tina Turner
5. “With a Little Help From My Friends” by Joe Cocker

“I Will Always Love You” by Whitney Houston

When Whitney Houston needed a new song for her 1992 movie The Bodyguard, she used an old song instead. “I Will Always Love You” was originally written and performed by Dolly Parton in 1973, but became a huge hit for Houston and ended up landing at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart and staying there for 14 weeks. 

In 2023, Parton described hearing Houston’s cover for the first time while driving her car, and said she needed to pull over to listen to it. “I couldn’t believe my little country sad song could even be done like that,” Parton said. “That was one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever had in my entire life.”

“All Along the Watchtower” by Jimi Hendrix

A song by Bob Dylan that hinted at impending doom became a barreling rock masterpiece with the guitar of Jimi Hendrix. A month after Dylan’s version was released, Hendrix and his band went to the studio in January 1968 and crafted “All Along the Watchtower,” recording more than 25 takes before the unique cover was complete and ready for Hendrix’s album Electric Ladyland. 

In a 1995 interview, Dylan said the cover overwhelmed him. “He had such talent—he could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them,” he said of Hendrix. “He found things that other people wouldn’t think of finding in there.”

“Hurt” by Johnny Cash

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails included “Hurt” on the band’s 1994 album The Downward Spiral, which heavily featured themes of pain and depression. Almost a decade later, however, the song was picked up by Johnny Cash, who was working on an album of covers with producer Rick Rubin. 

Reznor’s song takes on a new meaning with Cash’s gravelly voice, which turns the song into an old man’s reflections on his life. Reznor said he felt strange listening to Cash’s cover for the first time. “It was this other person inhabiting my most personal song,” he said. But after seeing the remarkable video that included flashes of Cash’s life, he said he found it to be a powerful piece of art. In 2004, Cash and director Mark Romanek won a Grammy for Best Music Video for “Hurt.”

“Proud Mary” by Tina Turner

Tina Turner originally heard “Proud Mary” on the radio in the late 1960s, performed by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Turner and her then-husband Ike Turner originally began covering the song live while touring as the opening act for the Rolling Stones, adding a funk element to it that fit with the music they were doing at the time. 

“Proud Mary” was released by Ike and Tina Turner in 1971 after the band picked the song to help fill out their Workin’ Together album. Ike and Tina Turner divorced a few years later, with Tina finding solo success in the 1980s, but “Proud Mary” remained a staple in her live shows. It was even featured in her farewell tour in the 2000s—almost 40 years after her initial success with the cover.

“With a Little Help From My Friends” by Joe Cocker

The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is considered one of the band’s best albums, pushing their creativity and technical ability as artists. The track “With a Little Help From My Friends” featured the band’s drummer Ringo Starr singing lyrics written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon that potentially alluded to drugs (though the band denied that this was the inspiration). 

But it was Joe Cocker’s gritty voice and blues inspiration that took The Beatles’ song to another level. McCartney later recalled Cocker visiting him in a studio so he could hear Cocker’s cover. “It was just mind-blowing, totally turned the song into a soul anthem and I was forever grateful for him for doing that,” McCartney said of the cover.

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