As featured on Verso’s Home Run show on Felixstowe Radio – Tuesday 11th April 2023
The Beatles’ music is timeless. Their influence still shapes modern songwriting, production, and performance decades after their peak. One of the greatest signs of their cultural staying power? The sheer volume—and quality—of cover versions produced by artists across every genre imaginable.
Some remain faithful to the originals. Others flip the script completely. But every great cover keeps The Beatles’ catalogue alive, relevant, and emotionally powerful.
Here are ten cover versions that do just that—each one offering something fresh, unexpected, and genuinely moving.
🔟 Al Green – I Wanna Hold Your Hand
Watch on YouTube
Al Green turns teen euphoria into soulful seduction. His version oozes warmth, longing, and restrained power. Where the original bounces with puppy love, Green’s glides with late-night longing. The lush arrangement, gospel hues, and velvet vocals transform it into something rich, intimate, and grown-up.
9️⃣ Emmylou Harris – For No One
Watch on YouTube
McCartney’s most quietly devastating song finds new depth in Emmylou Harris’ hands. Her stripped-back country take and emotionally weathered voice give the song a lived-in sadness. It doesn’t try to overshadow the original—it simply reveals its loneliness more clearly.
8️⃣ Jeff Beck – She’s a Woman
Watch on YouTube
Jeff Beck takes this Beatles B-side and launches it into another galaxy. His guitar playing is explosive—equal parts blues, jazz, and unfiltered electricity. It’s no longer a rock ‘n’ roll number. It’s a wild instrumental voyage that proves you can honour a song by tearing it apart and rebuilding it entirely.
7️⃣ Joe Cocker – With a Little Help From My Friends
Watch on YouTube
Cocker’s growling, gospel-drenched rework took a Ringo singalong and elevated it to soul epic. It’s practically unrecognisable—and all the better for it. The build, the backing vocals, the raw ache in his voice… this is no friendly favour. This is survival through solidarity.
6️⃣ Billie Eilish – Something
Watch on YouTube
Where George crooned, Billie whispers. Her breathy, intimate performance strips away the romance and exposes the vulnerability. Minimalist and modern, this cover recasts the song not as confident admiration, but as fragile wonder. A bold reinterpretation that works through restraint.
5️⃣ The Cure – Hello Goodbye
Watch on YouTube
Leave it to The Cure to turn sunshine into shadow. They take one of The Beatles’ chirpiest tracks and dial down the light, crafting something pensive and dreamlike. The jangling guitars shimmer with melancholy, and Robert Smith’s delivery makes it feel like goodbye is winning the argument.
4️⃣ Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel – Here Comes the Sun
Watch on YouTube
Not every great cover needs to reinvent the wheel. Harley’s take on Here Comes the Sun walks the line between reverence and personality. His theatrical flair is present but controlled, giving Harrison’s hopeful anthem a slightly new emotional tilt—more grounded, more adult.
3️⃣ Oasis – I Am the Walrus (Live)
Watch on YouTube
If you’re going to cover I Am the Walrus, it helps to sound unhinged. Oasis blast through this psychedelic staple with distorted chaos and Gallagher attitude. It’s swaggering, loud, a bit of a mess—and somehow completely perfect. It’s not better. It’s just brilliantly different.
2️⃣ Petty, Winwood, Lynne & Prince – While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Watch on YouTube
This Hall of Fame performance is legendary for a reason. The lineup is elite—but Prince steals it all with a solo that scorches the stage. It’s passion, precision, and showmanship in one fiery burst. The moment he tosses his guitar and struts off is pure rock theatre. Goosebumps, every time.
1️⃣ Candy Flip – Strawberry Fields Forever
Watch on YouTube
The boldest—and most divisive—choice. In 1990, rave culture met psychedelia, and Candy Flip somehow made it work. Their electronic take shouldn’t work, but it does: dreamy synths, rave beats, and a bizarre yet beautiful homage to Lennon’s most surreal song. It’s weird, nostalgic, and oddly euphoric.
Final Thoughts
What makes a great Beatles cover? Not imitation, but imagination. These artists didn’t treat the originals as sacred—they treated them as starting points. And that’s why they shine. The Beatles wrote timeless songs. These covers prove just how timeless they truly are—because they can survive transformation, distortion, and reinvention without losing soul.
Got a better pick? A deeper cut? Drop your favourites in the comments.