"I Shot the Sheriff" (Eric Clapton)

This is one of those rare instances when I actually prefer a cover version to the original.  But just by a hair.
"I Shot the Sheriff" was written by Bob Marley for The Wailers and originally recorded for the band's second album, Burnin' (1973).  Eric Clapton was introduced to the song after his  rhythm guitarist George Terry played him Burnin' during the sessions for 461 Ocean Boulevard, the 1974 album that marked Clapton's return to the music industry after kicking a years-long addiction to heroin.  
When Clapton eventually met Marley in the late 70s, Marley hinted that parts of the song were true; although, I seriously doubt that he ever shot anyone.  I've always taken the song as a metaphor for standing up to a bully.  Considering the unrest in Jamaica in the early 70s, when police harassment of poor blacks in Kingston's Trenchtown neighborhood was commonplace, the tale of shooting a corrupt sheriff as an allegory of the disenfranchised overcoming an oppressor seems pretty plausible.
As spirited as the original is, the groove on Clapton's version is what makes it for me.  Specifically, it's drummer Jamie Oldaker.  There's still that slight reggae feel in Oldaker's hi-hat pattern, but he shifts the downbeat ever so slightly, giving it a Latin/funk feel.  
And purely from a recording/production standpoint, the snare sounds amazing: clean, present, and alive.  (In my humble opinion, "I Shot the Sheriff" and the entire 461 Ocean Boulevard album have some of the purest, best-sounding drums of any rock album of the 70s, next to maybe Led Zeppelin's albums.)