The Better Cover Song?

Last week I wrote a post about songs that should never, ever be covered. It turned into one of my most popular posts. So it got me thinking more about cover songs. What about songs that were actually better when they were covered? There are a lot of examples, but I'm going to focus on just one. It is probably a song that you never even realized was a cover - Blinded by the Light. 

This song was originally written by The Boss - Bruce Springsteen - and was released as the first song on his debut album 'Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.'. It was also his first single. It wasn't a hit and never appeared on the charts. Four years later Manfred Mann's Earth Band, a British Progressive Rock group, released a version of the song on their album 'The Roaring Silence'. It reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and the Canadian RPM chart in 1977. I say 'version' because Manfred Mann changed several of the lyrics. The most popular was part of the hook. Instead of singing "cut loose like a deuce", they sang, "revved up like a deuce." The biggest change in versions for me is the fact that in Springsteen's version you can actually hear and understand the lyrics. In the cover, lead singer Mann was hard to understand and that line has been commonly misunderstood as, "wrapped up like a douche." In fact, Springsteen has joked about it saying that it wasn't until Mann rewrote the song about a feminine product that it become popular. 

So, what do you think? Do you think 'The Boss' has the better version, or was the song better after Mann got his hands on it? And, what other songs were better as covers?

Original

Cover