Ialways considered The Beatles version of The Isley Brothers Twist and Shout to be a striaght cover version.Likewise The Stones version of The Valentinos "It's all over now". Now not all covers were inferior but most are. Johnnie Allens "Promised Land" is for me at least,a better version of the song than Chuck Berry's original. (I never thought I'd say that),likewise Steve Gibbons Band's version of "Tulane" knocks Chuck's into the hal'penny place.But then I suppose that the last two mentioned are strictly not covers, just better versions of the songs?. Can someone please tell why Ronan Keating bothered to record Fairytale of New York?. Shane and Kirsty, Now that's an original recording that cannot be bettered, especially by someone who's not used to singing songs for grown ups.