Artist	Song
Roberta Flack	Killing Me Softly With His Song
from Killing Me Softly (2010)
Fugees	Killing Me Softly With His Song
from The Fugees: Greatest Hits (2003)
Uncle Kracker	Drift Away
from No Stranger to Shame (2006)
The Guess Who	American Woman
from The Best of the Guess Who (2006)
Lenny Kravitz	American Woman
from Lenny Kravitz: Greatest Hits (2000)
Guns N' Roses	Live and Let Die
from Guns N' Roses: Greatest Hits (2004)
Manfred Mann's Earth Band	Blinded By the Light
from The Best of Manfred Mann's Earth Band (2008)
Supertramp	Give a Little Bit
from The Very Best of Supertramp (1992)
The Goo Goo Dolls	Give a Little Bit
from Give a Little Bit - Single (2004)
Brownsville Station	Smokin' In the Boys Room
from Yeah! (2005)
Mötley Crüe	Smokin' In the Boys Room
from Theatre of Pain (2008)
Barry Manilow	Could It Be Magic
from Ultimate Manilow (2002)
Donna Summer	Could It Be Magic
from Greatest Hits (1998)
T. Rex	Bang a Gong (Get It On)
from Electric Warrior (Remastered) (2003)
The Power Station	Get It On (Bang a Gong)
from The Power Station (2005)
Carpenters	Superstar
from Carpenters (1998)
Sonic Youth	Superstar
from If I Were a Carpenter (1994)
Electric Light Orchestra	Can't Get It Out of My Head
from The Essential Electric Light Orchestra (2003)
Velvet Revolver	Can't Get It Out of My Head
from Libertad (Deluxe Version) (2007)
Seals & Crofts	Summer Breeze
from Seals & Crofts' Greatest Hits (1987)
Jason Mraz	Summer Breeze
from Everwood (2004)
The Hollies	He Ain't Heavy... He's My Brother
from The Hollies' Greatest Hits (2002)
Neil Diamond	He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother
from The Neil Diamond Collection (1999)
Elton John	Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long Long Time)
from Elton John: Greatest Hits (1992)
My Morning Jacket	Rocket Man
from Chapter 1: The Sandworm Cometh - Early Recordings (2004)
Redbone	Come and Get Your Love
from The Essential Redbone (2003)
Real McCoy	Come and Get Your Love
from Platinum & Gold Collection: Real McCoy (2003)

Comment:

If these are some of your favorite songs — at least in their most recent incarnation — you just [i]gotta[/i] jump in the Wayback Machine with us and hear the '70s originals that gave them life. After Sonic Youth ran "Superstar" through their distort-o-tronic weirdifier — a version that broke through to a whole new level after appearing in [i]Juno[/i] — it's hard to imagine how clean and uncreepy the Carpenters' version started out, with Karen's maple-sugar vocals simply breaking your heart over the top of the plushest charts this side of Henry Mancini. It's a pretty safe bet that the Fugees didn't give the slightest thought to Don "American Pie" McLean when they hip-hopped their way through Roberta Flack's double-whammy GRAMMY®-winner, "Killing Me Softly with His Song," but he's the inspiration behind her gospel-infused whisper of soul-baring soul. And when Paul McCartney wrote, "You got to give the other fella [i]hell[/i]" in his orchestra-of-the-gods-sized theme for [i]Live and Let Die[/i], he was referring to Bond, James Bond — not Rose, Axl Rose . . . although the song certainly spoke to GNR. From "Rocket Man" to "Summer Breeze," every brilliant cover has an equally brilliant original behind it — sometimes [i]decades[/i] behind it — and we've dug up the best of the best.

Feedback: