A straightforward one: the original is unlistenable


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCXnol8NGbg

Whereas Bill Bragg's version is a right banger


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwQwA_kFxoE

Not a fan of the George Thorogood original and Rudy Giuliani just did a complete trainwreck rendition of it on Masked Singer because we live in the worst timeline imaginable but this instrumental version from Rock 'N' Roll Racing on the SNES kicks some serious ass.

I can think of a couple of songs.

Manfred Man's Blinded by the light is better than the Springsteen original.

While my guitar gently weeps by the Jeff Healey Band is better than George Harrison's original.

I'd also suggest that any Dylan cover is better than the original.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ghIH167-gY

• **** me is this version good

That's different, but in a good way. It reminds me of the Toad the Wet Sprocket version of Rock N Roll All Nite.

holy sh*t! this is an excellent cover!

i personally really like midge ure's cover of "The Man Who Sold the World". unfortunately i can't post URL's yet but once i can i'll edit this post with a URL

I'm not saying it's better per se, but I really like it...