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11.54pm
3 February 2014
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Reviewers
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1 May 2011
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Ron Nasty said
That’s just nasty posting that. Flippin’ heck that is horrendous.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
6.43pm
15 May 2015
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Though strictly speaking not a Beatles song (it was written by the accomplished “granny music” show tunes composer, Meredith Willson), I think they (probably largely Paul) made it into a Beatles classic — Till There Was You .
In some ways, I like the Ray Charles rendition better. Needless to say, he adds considerable gravitas of heart and soul. Paul in that song was doing this thing he does sometimes — cultivating sort of a flat affect in his tonality (think Fool On the Hill, Yesterday , Blackbird , I Will , etc.) which I like in its own way; but the lyrics of Till There Was You are simply too poignant to be treated in such an anodyne way, I think.
Also, the careful listener will notice Ray Charles adds his own little twists to the lyrics here and there:
There were bells
on the hill
but I never heard them ringing
Oh no, I never heard them at all
Till There Was You … baby
Oh no, oh no…
There were birds
in the sky
but I never saw them winging
Ahhh… I never saw them at all
Yes! There was music
and there wonderful roses
Y’all know they tell me: in sweet, fragrant meadows
of dawn, and dew…
There was love
the thing was all around me
(He he!) And I never heard it singing, singing, you know…
I never heard the thing at all
Yeah, yeah, yeah!
There was music
and oh, there were wonderful roses
didn’t I say they tell me
in sweet, fragrant meadows
of dawn, and dew…
Oh, there was love
and it got all around me, baby
but I never heard it singing
no darling, I tell you I never heard it at all…
Sing your heart out baby, sing it!
[Choir:] There were bells!
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12.15am
27 March 2015
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I’m generally not a big fan of covers (unless done by the Beatles 
), and I’m definitely not impressed by the majority of attempts to cover Beatles tunes. They’ve got such a distinctive sound, and their songs match that perfectly. I’ve heard many very poor covers, not just of Beatles music, it makes me not want to hear any of the good ones either.
But, there are exceptions to any rule. Joe Cocker’s version of With A Little Help From My Friends is legendary, of course. Tat’s not even a cover anymore; he re-made the entire song!
And then a friend of mine surprised me a few years ago by covering Blackbird . He also played the song for my mum when she was going through chemo, so his way of playing it is special to me. I had to get used to Ellem’s singing style (not a fan of that thing she does where the back of the throat is sort of locked) but I’ve come to really like this version:
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4.17am
11 November 2013
Offline There is the odd cover which is quite nice but, as far as I’m concerned, not one equals the original. And I cordially detest Cocker’s With A Little Help From My Friends – its bombastic spasming misses the point of the original completely.
12.54pm
28 March 2014
Offline derek said
I know there are not many Bee gees fans and lesser fans of that 1978 film, BUT i do love Robin Gibb’s version of “Oh! Darling ” one of his best vocal performances, shouldve been on a Bee Gees Greatest Hits album.
Uuuugh! I hate everything about that movie soundtrack, this song included! 
I take that back, Aerosmith’s version of Come Together is done quite well! 
BEATLES Music gives me Eargasms! 
7.05pm
Reviewers
14 April 2010
Offline JPM-Fangirl said
Joe Cocker’s version of With A Little Help From My Friends is legendary, of course. Tat’s not even a cover anymore; he re-made the entire song!
I think he did an amazing job with this song. Often, when I hear his version, I have to remind myself it was a Beatles song.
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9.37pm
18 May 2016
Offline I know that most of you are thinking about Beatles covers, but since it doesn’t say Beatles covers that are better than the original, i’m going in for the kill on this one:
I think this rendition is a million times better than the original and shows that covers can add more to a song and therefore make it better. My oldest son loves this song too because it was in the intro to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Movie which is one of his favorite movies as a kid (he would’ve been 10 at the time) and he didn’t realize until he was an adult that the Red Hot Chili Peppers were covering Stevie Wonder.
9.45pm
Reviewers
17 December 2012
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Yes, but this thread is in the part of the forum about The Beatles songs, and not in “All Together Now ” which is for non-Beatles conversation.
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2.21pm
18 July 2018
Offline Ron Nasty said
I’ve always liked Siouxsie & The Banshees’ (featuring Robert Smith of The Cure at the time) 1983 take on Dear Prudence .
I’ve always liked their version better and was afraid to admit it, especially to my sister who is as big of a Beatlemaniac as I. Then she told she likes Elton’s Lucy better. And here I can admit it to the whole world.
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11.33pm
24 June 2019
Offline The interesting thing about Cocker’s version of With A Little Help From My Friends is that he took a song in 4:4 and recorded it in 3:4, giving it more of a waltz quality.
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7.26pm
4 September 2019
Offline Ron Nasty said
I’ve always liked Siouxsie & The Banshees’ (featuring Robert Smith of The Cure at the time) 1983 take on Dear Prudence .
I’ve never heard this version before, so thanks for posting it. I do like their take on it quite a bit, but I still have to prefer the original. I’ve always thought the travis picking was one of the best parts of the song.
I’m with IMDeWalrus, I can’t think of any cover that I’ve liked better than the Beatles version.
6.26pm
25 February 2020
Offline4.44pm
28 February 2020
Offline Bongo said
derek said
I know there are not many Bee gees fans and lesser fans of that 1978 film, BUT i do love Robin Gibb’s version of “Oh! Darling ” one of his best vocal performances, shouldve been on a Bee Gees Greatest Hits album.
Uuuugh! I hate everything about that movie soundtrack, this song included!
I take that back, Aerosmith’s version of Come Together is done quite well!
Earth Wind and Fire’s Got To Get You Into My Life is by fare the best thing in the movie.
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11.27am
1 May 2019
Offline It’s British humour, and it is in no way better than the original, but Peter Sellers “covered” A Hard Days Night, using an Laurence Olivier impression, in 1964. You can find it on YouTube.
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28 February 2020
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Not better but these are sure jawdropping.
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2.11pm
28 February 2020
Offline Just a mix. I’m not pretending everything is better than the original version.
| 21 tracks in playlist, average track length: 3:45 Playlist length: 1 hour 18 minutes 54 seconds |
- Del Shannon – From Me To You (1:57)
- Rolling Stones – I Wanna Be Your Man (1:43)
- Otis Redding – Day Tripper (2:36)
- Silkie – You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away (2:14)
- David And Jonathan – Michelle (2:53)
- Vanilla Fudge – Ticket To Ride (6:03)
- Joe Cocker – With A Little Help From My Friends (5:14)
- Marmalade – Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (3:04)
- Aretha Franklin – Eleanor Rigby (2:38)
- Stevie Wonder – We Can Work It Out (3:17)
- Richie Havens – Here Comes The Sun (3:44)
- Anne Murray – You Won’t See Me (4:04)
- Elton John – Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (6:17)
- Rod Stewart – Get Back (4:27)
- Emmylou Harris – Here, There And Everywhere (3:42)
- Earth, Wind & Fire – Got To Get You Into My Life (4:10)
- Aerosmith – Come Together (3:46)
- April Wine – Tell Me Why (3:17)
- Cheap Trick – Magical Mystery Tour (4:10)
- Georgia Satellites – Don’t Pass Me By (4:52)
- Jeff Beck – A Day In The Life (4:46)
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4.27pm
11 April 2016
Offline I love love LOVE Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers’ rendition of I Need You from the Concert For George. 
Don’t get me wrong, I still do love it, but I feel the lead guitar on the original kind of makes the song stumble a little bit. 
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9.00pm
Moderators
15 February 2015
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Not sure if these are BETTER but they’re certainly good…
I was very happy to see this in my subscriptions feed this morning:
Brian May has been doing daily Instagram guitar-playing addresses, which this channel has been good enough to upload to YouTube, and today’s was a nice little unplugged cover of You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away which quite made my day…
And finally, a few of my favorite #innerlight2020 challengers so far:
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9.23pm
11 April 2016
Offline Beatlebug said
Brian May has been doing daily Instagram guitar-playing addresses, which this channel has been good enough to upload to YouTube, and today’s was a nice little unplugged cover of You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away which quite made my day…
Aww! Brian seems like such a sweet man. I love how he’s got Help ! just peeking out from behind him.
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