10 Cover Songs Much Better Than The Original

1. Jimi Hendrix - "All Along The Watchtower" (Bob Dylan)

It's extremely rare for a Bob Dylan to be completely outclassed by another musician, but if there's ever an example where Dylan had his humility blown up for all the world to see, it was when the folk legend admitted that Hendrix's version of "All Along the Watchtower" is the definitive interpretation of the song. In fact, Dylan was so impressed by it that he now feels obligated to perform it Jimi's way in concert. In the booklet accompanying his 1985 compilation, Biograph, Dylan writes:

"I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way... Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way."

When a cover song is so good that it makes the original artist change the way they perform the song, it's pretty hard to argue that it isn't superior.