The original has a sweeter tone, and really sounds like it should be the opening to a musical film.
So, I don't know if this song is considered controversial or not, but I pick "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" as the next song:
Original by The Band (what a name)
Joan Baez's voice is a lot more pleasant than the vocalist of the Band. Otherwise the two songs are on equal ground musically.
"Twist in My Sobriety"
The original, by Tanita Tikaram
Not a fan of the cover. :\ The original's strength lies in its, well, sobriety. Adding a technobeat to it actually makes it less powerful. So original wins.
Killing in the Name!
Margrave of the Marshes
That's a very good cover, very inventive. The lyrics (important for RATM) come across more clearly. It reminds me a lot of the Alex Sklonick Trio. But the original kicks so much ass, I'm going with the original by a thin margin.
Since we recently celebrated the anniversary of the moon landings but we already did a Hawkwind song, let's pick another space-themed song: Astronomy Domine
Voivod produced a faithful cover, adding a touch of their own style. The cover wins.
"Полюшко-поле (O Field, My Field)"
The original, sung by Red Army Choir
Edited by Millership on Aug 1st 2019 at 9:05:03 PM
Spiral out, keep going.
I like the more relaxing Origa cover. This next one may be cheating as the original singer appears on the cover, but it still counts, Walk This Way:
Aerosmith (original): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA5A_AcBKvs
RUN DMC (cover): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B_UYYPb-Gk
The cover doesn't quite have the momentum that the original has so I'll pick the original.
Going back to "Rocky Horror", here's the song "Eddie's Teddy":
Earliest known recording by Kimi Wong, Richard O'Brien's then-wife note
Meat Loaf's performance from the 1974 Roxy production
Meat Loaf's version has more meat on its bones, so my vote goes there.
"Heigh Ho"
The original, by the Seven Dwarfs
Margrave of the Marshes
How can one vote against Tom Waits? You can't. You can count on Tom turning some silly Disney song into a carnival march from Kafka's vision of hell. Let's keep on the Tom Waits track, shall we.
I'm tempted to give both artists other than Waits a lead just for rising up to the challenge of covering him, because, well, of everything about his style of music. This particular song, though, fits very well into punk-ish tracks that the Ramones trail, but that's a low-hanging fruit. Holly Cole's creepily melancholic cover wins, as her style of music fits the theme of the song even better than Waits'.
"Tango Till They're Sore"
Spiral out, keep going.
The cover isnt available in my country, so Tom Waits by default]. Now, lets go into the world of novelty music:
Fish Heads
Original by Barnes and Barnes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cn73Wtem0No (song doesnt start proper until 2:16)
Cover by Osaka Popstar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF2mXC_sJHE (doesnt start until 0:42)
Definitely the weirdest thing I've listened to in a long while. The cover wins by the virtue of being far less annoying than the original.
"Halo"
Edited by Millership on Aug 26th 2019 at 7:20:37 PM
Spiral out, keep going.
I liked PMJ's 50's upbeat tone.
Since Christmas is around the corner, here's "Santa Baby".
"... and then Madonna sang it...
The Madonna version is more uptempo, but the Eartha Kitt version is more seductive, so this is a tough call. I guess Madonna if we're going by music alone. Here's a cover I only recently found out about.
Johnny 99
Original by Bruce Springsteen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAjhHbtZyQU
Cover by Johnny Cash: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F04YAnxuU2g&t=69s
Both are fun country classics, but Johnny Cash's cover is a bit meatier.
"Comptine d'Un Autre Été"
Spiral out, keep going.
I really don't like heavy metal, and the original sounds more peaceful, so I say the original.
And now, the infamous holiday tune "Baby, It's Cold Outside."
Original by Husband & Wife duo, Frank Loesser and Lynn Garland.
Cover by Michael Buble and Queen Elsa... er... Idina Menzel
Being a foreigner to American culture I have no prior knowledge and context for the controversy that surrounded the lyrics of this song, so I guess I could judge both version unbiased? Anyway, that thing notwithstanding, Buble and Menzel have better chemistry, for a lack of a better word. It's also predictably classier than the original, so my vote goes to the cover.
"Diamonds"
A rather unusual situation in that the cover is performed by the songwriter. So I leave the judgment whose version is original to the next poster.
Spiral out, keep going.
Tough call, but right now I prefer the more bombastic Rhianna version.
Wuthering Heights
Original by Kate Bush: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk-4lXLM34g
Cover by Pat Benatar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnDijNVpngA
I already have a bias towards Pat Benatar, and Kate Bush's sounded too Helen Kane-ish (minus the New York accent), but was overall unappealing to listen too. Benatar's cover isn't too much better (her voice gets too high-pitched at some points), but it nicely demonstrates her singing skills better than Bush's original does, and you hear a bit of her old opera skills. My vote goes to Benatar.
"Cruel To Be Kind"
With all the memes about women choosing a bear over a man, Hollywood might wanna get on an 'East of the Sun and West of the Moon' adaptation
I liked the cover's arrangement and the singer's voice a tad bit more than the original's.
"Грешная страсть" (Sinful Passion)
Cover version by Dimash Kudaibergen
Wanted to share this example of Kazakh pop music.
The translated lyrics:
You have suddenly came, as from moon-dream.
Oh, If only you knew, that I need, only you alone!
Pouring rains all alone, were sleepless all nights.
And my heart in a cold, as in a spring have warmed-up, only by you alone!
Let me. Let me, to blaze, as a lingering fire in the darkness and tempest.
Let me. Let me, night and day to burn in a flame of sinful passion.
Night have closed its lashes and quiet around,
Sounds, arms, faces have been forgotten - I need only you alone!
Bewitched by you, a potion I'll drink to the end,
You'll bring me back, into this world from abyss, only you alone...,
Let me. Let me, to blaze, as a lingering fire in the darkness and tempest.
Let me. Let me, night and day to burn in a flame of sinful passion.
Give me a shot of your mystery, it's more besotting than wine.
You are fateful my savior, and I need only you alone...
https://lyricstranslate.com
Jer gets all the girls
The guy in the cover had an impressive voice, certainly, but I feel like by the end he was showing off his voice at the expense of the song, which ended up being a minus for me. Also, the original has crunchy distorted guitar, and I love me some of that.
Original wins out, for me.
And now, as a bit on an RIP to Greedy Smith from Mental as Anything, from me an old song that changed a fair bit in the cover: "(Just Like) Romeo and Juliet".
Everybody's all "Jerry's old and feeble" till they see him run down a skyscraper and hijack a helicopter mid-flight.
The Reflections' version is a nice classic rhythm and blues song, but the cover is a lot more energetic and bombastic. The cover wins in my books.
Now, which version of "The House of the Rising Sun" you like the most?
The Five Finger Death Punch version
The original reeks of sweat, dirt and dust.
The White Buffalo version has a more breezy feel to it.
The 5FDP version feels like it's trying too hard (and that intro doesn't help).
The Muse version is an assault on the ears.
The Santa Esmeralda version is… err, danceable at least? But it becomes so unrecognizable in the second half that it might as well be a different song.
My favorite cover would be the WB since it keeps a good balance between faithfulness and innovation… but I still don't think it beats the original in terms of pure evocativeness (is that a word?) The Animals win. Though not gonna lie, I also like Johnny Hallyday's version. 
And now for one I discovered recently: Street Spirit (Fade Out).
Cover by These Grey Men (a cover project helmed by John Dolmayan, the drummer of System of a Down).
Edited by Lyendith on Jan 28th 2020 at 11:34:12 AM
I like noises.
Kind of hard to choose a better version: for some reason, even when I had an intense Radiohead phase, I never saw much in this song. I'd say that the original is still better in the end though, since songs like this one work best when the instrumentation is minimized to the bare essentials, while the cover sounds more like typical post-grunge with some violins thrown in that actually reduce the dramatic effect, in my opinion.
"The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)"
Nonsense is better than no sense at all.
Buble's classy cover adds to the original sultriness, but it's Nick Cave's overblown and dirty, dirty version that takes the cake in my books.
"Нежность (Tenderness)"
The song is a Dedication to Yuri Gagarin. Comes in two flavours:
Maya Kristalinskaya's original
Yuri Gulyayev's "masculine" cover (titled "Your Tenderness")
Translation from Russian (source
):
Without you, the earth is empty now.
How am I to live these next few hours?
In the gardens, leaves float through the air,
Taxis always in a rush somewhere.
It's just empty on the earth, alone,
Without you.
And you, you fly on,
And the stars reach out to you their tenderness.
It was just as empty on the earth,
As Exupéry flew West, or North.
Just as now, the air held falling leaves,
And the earth simply could not conceive:
How was she to live without him, while
He flew on,
Flew on, and the stars
Shone down, reaching out to him their tenderness
The cover has different lyrics, which I can't find a nice translation of.
Edited by Millership on Jul 15th 2019 at 3:14:02 PM
Spiral out, keep going.