Original v. Cover: I Shot The Sheriff

[Mr. TM]

A new series I am doing after the incredibly unpopular Tri-Top series seems to take a break. The concept is easy, we compare two songs against each other, and you tell me and the world... of WrestleZone, which song you prefer, the original, or a famous cover. We will start with a classic first performed in 1973.

Bob Marley's I Shot The Sheriff.
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Eric Clapton's Cover
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Myself, as one massive Eric Clapton fan, I choose the cover version. I am a Marley fan, but I did not start listening to him until middle school. By the time that happened, I had been listening to Eric's battle with authority for around 10 years. So for me, this is one occurrence where the cover goes over the original by leaps and bounds.

 

[Ty Burna]

I gotta go with the original version, and sort of the same reason as TM, I've been a huge Bob Marley fan for a number of years now, Clapton is alright, I just never really got into his music I suppose. I think Marley's version is the way that song should be, as the lyrics are more of the Reggae style, more free spirited then Clapton's, plus Marley seems to put more emotion and feeling into his version of the song than Clapton did.

Not only that but Marley was a far better singer than Clapton could ever dream of being. So sorry TM, I'm going with the original reggae version here, nothing against Clapton but I'm a man who loves Reggae music and has a huge poster of Bob Marley as well. I like the idea you got going here, let's keep this going.

 

[X]

You have to go with the original here. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Clapton to death and I love his cover version as well. But at the end of the day, it's still a cover and Clapton didn't write the song. Marley did. That alone gives the edge to Marley for me, because only he would truly know the meaning of the song and how it should be played or represented.

Honestly I actually probably prefer listening to Clapton's version, but at the end of the day you have to give it to Marley. He wrote it after all.

 

[NSL]

I'm with the majority here. Eric Clapton is an amazing artist, and did the cover justice, but it just isn't the same. Bob Marley wrote it, and Bob Marley put the emotion into it. It epitomized everything he stood for, and everything he sang about, and it won't ever be duplicated.

If I was forced to make a choice on which was musically better, it's a case of 1 and 1a. But, in a matter of which one is just "better", it has to go to Marley.

 

[SK]

Clapton's effort just does not compare to Marley's. Both songs are great and very nice to listen to, but Bob Marley definitely takes it for me, he filled the song with emotion, and stood for what he says in his lyrics. I'm not taking anything away from Clapton though, a legend in his own right, but no-one could ever cover Marley and outdo him.

 

[D-Man]

Being the singer of a cover band, I can tell you that you can never duplicate classic songs. The original song is what made the song what it is. In my opinion, a cover of an original, classic song is better only around 10% of the time. This is clearly not one of those cases. Bob Marley is an icon, and this is one of the songs that skyrocketed his career. How could you NOT choose the original on this one?

 

[The Doctor]

I'm going with the original, hands down. I like Clapton's version, but compared to the original...it's not very good. If it was an original song, it would be very nice, but its not.

Bob Marley has the voice and style to pull it off perfectly. Clapton reduces the song to a lounge song.

In these, many times I go with one that catches the emotion of the song best, and in this case the original is it. Bob Marley's plaintive voice and style really works best in this case.