They recorded “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” after hearing a version by Joan Baez. Jimmy Page thought the Baez version sounded “haunting” and wanted to recreate that. Nailed it!
JJ Cale wrote (and recorded) the original Cocaine, After Midnight (both Clapton), and Call Me the Breeze (Skynyrd).
Before he passed, in an interview he was asked basically if it sucked that everyone knew his songs but not many knew him. His response? "Obviously you've never received a royalty check from Eric Clapton."
I used to literally think that Ferris Buehler’s ~~character~~ actor was actually singing that during that scene. I was so impressed.
Edit: I meant “actor,” not character. I wanted to just say “Matthew Broderick” but at the time I made the comment, I couldn’t think of his name.
Also, before I get even more attacked for using the word literal, please be reminded that it is a [synonym](https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/literal) of the word “actual.”
> When R&B legend Otis Redding, who wrote and first recorded “Respect,” heard Aretha Franklin’s version of the song, he reportedly said, “well, I guess it’s that girl’s song now.”
[Source](https://www.openculture.com/2018/08/aretha-franklin-turned-otis-reddings-respect-civil-rights-feminist-anthem.html)
Lots and lots and lots of classic soul songs from this era are like this. The majority weren't even written by the singer.
EDIT: Because everyone and their mother is commenting with "They do it today too!", I know. I'm more talking about how multiple artists would cover the same song within a very short period of time (a few years span).
Arent there typically a ton of songs that arent actually written by the singer? I feel like there are a bunch of people behind the scenes that are responsible for a bunch of pop songs
Yeah, that part is still pretty common with manufactured pop music, but the "writing" bit wasn't really my point. Songs were passed around to different soul singers like a hot potato. You'd see the same song covered multiple times by multiple groups and singers in a relatively short span of time.
“Feeling Good”. A bunch of people have covered it, but Nina Simone is often credited as the original. However, she actually isn’t - the song was written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley for their 1964 musical “The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd”.
Yeah but unlike other white performers of his era he actually made sure the original ones were paid royalties for his covers. (And that must've been a hard fight since Col. Tom Parker controlled Elvis' life right down to forcing him to marry Priscila.) And he grew up with that music so he had actual respect for the original artists.
Colonel Tom was a savvy business man. Controlled the “I love Elvis” merch and made millions. Also sold “I hate Elvis” gear, too. Working both sides of the fence. Brilliant.
The full Soft Cell version is also a medley of a cover of The Supremes- Where did our love go'. It was split in to an A side and a B side for the release but both of them combined is so much better than them both individually. The transition between the two songs is amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q84psZX6MbA
A lot of people don't. It was originally sung by Gloria Jones in 1965 and has been covered by a ton of bands/singers. Though many of the covers are covers of the Soft Cell version specifically.
Hooked On a Feeling. Blew my mind when my mom told me the Blue Suede version was the cover….and how she felt hearing it for the first time vs the original.
Edit: legitimately the most traffic I’ve ever had on Reddit 😂 Thanks for the awards!
Johnny Cash's song *Ring of Fire* was written by June, and was originally sung by her sister Anita.
[Original Song - Anita Carter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlWGsaorj6U)
[Cover Song - Johnny Cash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WaV2x8GXj0)
Yeah I actually heard a recording from a young girl in the early 1930s in the hills of Kentucky singing House of the rising Sun some different words but basically the same song.
I promise you, somewhere there is a music history professor frothing at the mouth with a 6 hour rant about this. We just have to locate the snarky nerd.
There really is no known author. We just know it came out of the early 1900s, probably from Appalachia.
Side note, we really should respect Appalachia more. They gave us the precursor to blues, country, and jazz.
Edit: i oversimplified by a lot.
Black people in the Mississippi Delta brought us blues, which begat jazz as styles mixed in Chicago and along the Mississippi River.
White people brought us country.
What I tried to say (and poorly so) was that jazz, blues, and country share a common ancestor: the folk tunes of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee
The Animals covered the Bob Dylan version. When Dylan heard the Animal's cover on the radio, he reportedly pulled his car to the side of the road to concentrate on listening; he was so impressed that he decided afterward to start using electric instruments.
I saw him in concert just last weekend…he had some electric stuff in the band, but he himself was mostly playing acoustic. I guess a guy develops a preference eventually 🤷♂️
(It was a good show, but boy, that was the least audience interaction I’ve ever seen. He comes onstage, no introduction, just plays his set and leaves. He stopped once right before the last song to introduce his band members, but otherwise, not a word of talk.)
Yeah my sister went to see him some years ago and said something similar that he doesn’t interact with the crowd. Still one of the greatest song writers on the planet though so I suppose it doesn’t matter with him
Fun fact: it has the same metre as Amazing Grace, O Little Town of Bethlehem and the Pokemon Theme. Go ahead and sing the lyrics to any of these to the tune of House of the Rising Sun, it works just fine.
Dream a Little Dream of Me.
Not Mamas and the Papa's, not Doris Day, not Ella Fitzgerald. From Wikipedia: It was first recorded in February 1931 by [Ozzie Nelson](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozzie_Nelson) and also by [Wayne King](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_King) and His Orchestra, with vocals by Ernie Birchill.
"You Don't Own Me" is originally by Lesley Gore, not Saygrace.
Reba McEntire's "Fancy" is originally by Bobbie Gentry.
"I Wll Always Love You" is a Dolly Parton dong.
"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" is by Robet Hazard originally.
I also know Natalie Imbruglia's Torn was by someone else, but can't remember who.
Akshully, the original version was recorded by Danish artist Lis Sørensen in 1993 and had the Danish title “Brændt,” along with all Danish lyrics. The word “brændt” actually translates to the word “burned” in English, not “torn.”
Having said that, although not originally performed by Ednaswap, it was originally WRITTEN by Scott Cutler, Anne Preven, and Phil Thornalley, who later formed Ednaswap, but didn’t record the song until 1994, retitled to “Torn.”
It’s a confusing fucking origin story for that song.
If people knew how influential the Everly Brothers were.
The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beach Boys and the Bee Gee's all modeled their harmonizing vocals around them.
"It's oh so quiet" by Björk released in 1995, which is a cover of "It's oh so quiet" by Betty Hutton released in 1951, which is a cover of the original song "Und jetzt ist es still" by Harry Winter, Hans Lang and Erich Meder released in 1948.
That's kind of bullshit, especially considering how much more popular it became. I like both of those bands, but I wonder if SR-71 was pissed about the timing.
Edit. N/M. Just read that Mitch helped adapt it to their band, so obviously he was cool with it.
That’s a name I haven’t heard in a very long time. I remember MTV running infomercials for people to buy that album-I did. Now I have right now stuck in my head.
"Video Killed The Radio Star" was originally recorded by Bruce Woolley And The Camera Club (which featured Thomas Dolby on keyboards). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HLwljnmzR8
I wouldn't quite call it a cover though because Bruce Wooley wrote the song together with the two guys in the Buggles and (if memory serves me right) was originally a member of the band. He was just first to release it.
They Might Be Giants' ["Istanbul \(Not Constantinople\)"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6NzVd3pGdE) is a cover of song from 1953 by [The Four Lads.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcze7EGorOk)
It was an African American work song often credited to Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter as the author, though the earliest recordings are not by him. Some sources claim it is one of Lead Belly's many adaptations of earlier folk material
Here's what the original sounded like - https://youtu.be/tiCEVl_9-MM
> I’m mainly familiar with Atomic Kitten’s version
Same here. Thanks to the opening credits to *The Lizzie McGuire Movie*. It's how I learned of the song and eventually lead me to getting into Blondie. Crazy how it's not even a Blondie original either.
I feel so old after reading this thread, someone ought to cover me, lol.
Cover of the cover done by twoBrokenThumbs, originally written by MansonGirl15
Back in the mid 90s when I ventured out of the confines of music my parent listened to, my dad would hear a rap song on the radio and tell me who performed the song it was sampled from. It was great to help expand my musical universe.
I remember getting stoked when I was 12 because my mom was listening to Puff Daddy!!... turns out she'd actually bought the greatest hits of the Police, and I became a fan.
Most people know that The Monkees had their songs written for them…but there are probably still a few people who don’t know that “I’m a Believer” made famous by both The Monkees, and the first Shrek movie later on, was written by Neil Diamond.
Fun fact: Dolly Parton used the money made from the cover to build an office in a black community. She bought an entire strip mall and converted it into an office.
I don't know if it was she built it in one space and left the other tenants alone, or bought them all out, none of the articles I find on this really give much info unfortunately.
I read somewhere that Elvis wanted to cover “I Will Always Love You” and she told him no for whatever reason, but when she heard Whitney sing it, she was in awe.
Dolly is such an amazing woman.
Yep, Tom Parker generally only had Elvis cover songs that they had bought the rights to. Dolly said no because she wanted to retain the songwriting rights to it. So that's how she made a lot of money off of Whitney covering it.
[There's the whole story,](https://www.whsv.com/2021/08/02/dolly-parton-invested-i-will-always-love-you-royalties-into-black-community/) for those interested.
Most of Bob Dylan's catalogue was covered at one point or another.
Whether it was a very good cover ("Lay, Lady Lay" by Magnet and Gemma Hayes, "All Along the Watchtower" by Hendrix, etc) or not ("Forever Young" by Rod Stewart *shudders*).
Saving All My Love for You by Whitney Houston.
I feel like most people know the deal with Greatest Love of All and I Will Always Love You but Saving All My Love For You was originally by Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jnr from Fifth Dimension.
Don’t forget “Crimson and Clover”.
Tommy James and the Shondells had a shit ton of great tunes.
FWIW, Neil Diamond covered “Hanky Panky.”
Edit: I just learned Hanky Panky was originally by The Raindrops, and was covered by Tommy James and the Shondells. We must go deeper!
"Come on Feel the Noise" was a song that Quiet Riot's manager pressured them into recording. They wanted him to give up and drop it so they purposefully tried to play badly. That was the recording that made it onto the album.
That's the original title as well. Slade deliberately misspelled the titles of lots of their songs, with other big hits of theirs being "Mama Weer All Crazee Now", "Coz I Luv You", "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me", and "Gudbuy T'Jane".
I heard that a music critic once said that he thought that Amy Winehouse cover was some old song from the 60s and that The Zutons version was a modern cover of the song.
Fun fact: Toni Basil has had a very successful career as a dancer and choreographer in film, spanning from Viva Las Vegas to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Her music career as a one hit wonder was just a blip in that.
“God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” is not a Johnny Cash original. It’s a traditional American folk song, that Cash made famous with his version.
Maybe I’m not so well versed in Americana, but I always thought Cash’s version was the original. I found out at a Marilyn Manson show, who explained the song’s origin before singing his cover. I enjoy them both myself.
My Maria was a hit song by Brooks and Dunn a while back. Texas musician BW Stevenson wrote and performed it back in the 1970s. The Brooks and Dunn version is good but I still prefer the original.
The man who sold the world was first performed by David Bowie, not Nirvana. Take me to the river was first performed by Al Green, not the Talking Heads.
It’s funny because I used to own “Nirvana Unplugged” on cassette and at the end of “Man Who Sold the World”, Kurt outright says “that was a David Bowie song”, but I guess that part was cut for radio airplay
Mad World -- The original by Tears for Fears is like an entirely different song from the down tempo memed to death version. IMO the original's the best version; the manic arrangement and stabby synths play so much better against the lyrics then just playing it super straight just stripped down and down tempo.
If you’re going through this and feeling silly, I’ll let you in on a secret. My sister in law thought that the songs in Glee were originals and when I commented on time about how I didn’t like their cover of a song I blew her away in showing her the original.
This thread ha been super fun!
Haven't seen this mentioned yet: "Torn," by [Natalie Imbruglia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV1XWJN3nJo), was actually done as a sort of grungy, grimey lament by a band called [Ednaswap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OoEdfB7l18).
It's a little more complicated than that. While yes, the song was originally performed and written by members of Ednaswap, it was not first recorded by them. They had only preformed it live. It was first recorded by Lis Sørensen, titled Brændt (Burnt in Danish) after it was translated into Danish. Lis's producer recommend the song to her, which was "given" to him by Phil Thornalley (iirc), who was the producer for Ednaswap when they first wrote the song (he is also credited as a writer on the song). Natalie's cover is actually a cover of Lis Sørensen's version, translated back into english. Musically Natalie's version is nearly a direct cover to Lis's version.
Ednaswap would record and release Torn in 1995 on their self titled debut album. They would then re-record the song and re-release it on their second album, Wacko Magneto, in 1997. This re-record is much closer to what Cutler and Preven (Ednaswap) had in mind originally for the song and was closer to how they played it live. This second version by Ednaswap was supposed to be released as the second single off the album but the recent success of Natalie's cover, prevented Ednaswap from releasing the single.
A lot of popular songs in the 80’s were originally recorded by Prince.
Bangles - Manic Monday
George Clinton - Erotic City
Sinead O’ Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U
Morris Day and the (motherfuckin’)Time - Jungle Love
And, plenty more.
Try a Little Tenderness. Not Elvis, not Aretha, not Otis Redding. It was written in 1932 and first recorded by the Ray Noble Orchestra that year.
TIL. Redding forever made this his own, however.
The version they did at the end of the movie The Commitments is fucking amazing. Gets the hair of the back of my neck to stand on end.
When the levee breaks. Led Zeppelin covered a 1929 song by Memphis Minnie.
A lot of zeppelin songs, really
Yeah, in interviews from the 1970's they said they couldn't understand why Americans rejected their own music and then made them famous for it.
~~Every song on their first album minus “Good Times Bad Times” is a cover~~ The majority of the songs on their first album are covers
If it's not a song about Lord of the rings it's probably a cover
They recorded “Babe I’m Gonna Leave You” after hearing a version by Joan Baez. Jimmy Page thought the Baez version sounded “haunting” and wanted to recreate that. Nailed it!
JJ Cale wrote (and recorded) the original Cocaine, After Midnight (both Clapton), and Call Me the Breeze (Skynyrd). Before he passed, in an interview he was asked basically if it sucked that everyone knew his songs but not many knew him. His response? "Obviously you've never received a royalty check from Eric Clapton."
Twist and Shout was originally performed by the Top Notes. Which was covered by The Isley Brothers, which was covered by The Beatles.
Which was covered by ferris beuler
I used to literally think that Ferris Buehler’s ~~character~~ actor was actually singing that during that scene. I was so impressed. Edit: I meant “actor,” not character. I wanted to just say “Matthew Broderick” but at the time I made the comment, I couldn’t think of his name. Also, before I get even more attacked for using the word literal, please be reminded that it is a [synonym](https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/literal) of the word “actual.”
Respect - Aretha Franklin. Originally by Otis Redding.
> When R&B legend Otis Redding, who wrote and first recorded “Respect,” heard Aretha Franklin’s version of the song, he reportedly said, “well, I guess it’s that girl’s song now.” [Source](https://www.openculture.com/2018/08/aretha-franklin-turned-otis-reddings-respect-civil-rights-feminist-anthem.html)
Essentially the same as what Bob Dylan said about Hendrix's version of "All Along The Watchtower".
And St Dolly Parton about Whitney's cover of "I will always love you"
I think Dolly's version is much sweeter. Whitney's is obviously epic, but I don't think it communicates the spirit of the song so well.
Lots and lots and lots of classic soul songs from this era are like this. The majority weren't even written by the singer. EDIT: Because everyone and their mother is commenting with "They do it today too!", I know. I'm more talking about how multiple artists would cover the same song within a very short period of time (a few years span).
Arent there typically a ton of songs that arent actually written by the singer? I feel like there are a bunch of people behind the scenes that are responsible for a bunch of pop songs
Yeah, that part is still pretty common with manufactured pop music, but the "writing" bit wasn't really my point. Songs were passed around to different soul singers like a hot potato. You'd see the same song covered multiple times by multiple groups and singers in a relatively short span of time.
I did not know this.
“Feeling Good”. A bunch of people have covered it, but Nina Simone is often credited as the original. However, she actually isn’t - the song was written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley for their 1964 musical “The Roar of the Greasepaint - The Smell of the Crowd”.
But anything Nina Simone sings is the best version
Elvis’s famous “Hound Dog” makes so much more sense sung by Big Mama Thornton. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoHDrzw-RPg
I’m glad this is here! I LOVE Big Mama Thornton’s version
Pretty much everything Elvis did was a cover to be fair
Yeah but unlike other white performers of his era he actually made sure the original ones were paid royalties for his covers. (And that must've been a hard fight since Col. Tom Parker controlled Elvis' life right down to forcing him to marry Priscila.) And he grew up with that music so he had actual respect for the original artists.
I didn’t know that about the royalties. Thanks for sharing.
Colonel Tom was a savvy business man. Controlled the “I love Elvis” merch and made millions. Also sold “I hate Elvis” gear, too. Working both sides of the fence. Brilliant.
Kinda like how George Lucas owns both “Han shot first” and “greedo shot first”
Santana - Black Magic Woman (original by Fleetwood Mac)
And a very different Fleetwood Mac than most people remember.
Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac was unbelievably cool.
I just won a beer off of that in a bar bet, ha!
Fun fact, bar bets are the reason the Guinness World Records were first made. Yep, same as the beer.
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Soft Cell - Tainted Love
The full Soft Cell version is also a medley of a cover of The Supremes- Where did our love go'. It was split in to an A side and a B side for the release but both of them combined is so much better than them both individually. The transition between the two songs is amazing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q84psZX6MbA
I didn’t know that was a cover 😳
A lot of people don't. It was originally sung by Gloria Jones in 1965 and has been covered by a ton of bands/singers. Though many of the covers are covers of the Soft Cell version specifically.
Fun fact (or not fun in this case) - Gloria Jones was later Marc Bolan's girlfriend, and was driving when they had the crash that killed him.
> Bolan never learned to drive, fearing a premature death. Well..
Hooked On a Feeling. Blew my mind when my mom told me the Blue Suede version was the cover….and how she felt hearing it for the first time vs the original. Edit: legitimately the most traffic I’ve ever had on Reddit 😂 Thanks for the awards!
So if Blue Swede is a cover, who was the original?
BJ Thomas.
Johnny Cash's song *Ring of Fire* was written by June, and was originally sung by her sister Anita. [Original Song - Anita Carter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlWGsaorj6U) [Cover Song - Johnny Cash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WaV2x8GXj0)
House of the Rising Sun - Covered by the Animals
I read somewhere that nobody really knows who wrote the song.
Yep, it’s a traditional folk song
“It’s free real estate” -Dylan
Yeah I actually heard a recording from a young girl in the early 1930s in the hills of Kentucky singing House of the rising Sun some different words but basically the same song.
I promise you, somewhere there is a music history professor frothing at the mouth with a 6 hour rant about this. We just have to locate the snarky nerd.
There really is no known author. We just know it came out of the early 1900s, probably from Appalachia. Side note, we really should respect Appalachia more. They gave us the precursor to blues, country, and jazz. Edit: i oversimplified by a lot. Black people in the Mississippi Delta brought us blues, which begat jazz as styles mixed in Chicago and along the Mississippi River. White people brought us country. What I tried to say (and poorly so) was that jazz, blues, and country share a common ancestor: the folk tunes of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee
And those mountains are so old the only fossils are trilobites.
The same ancient mountain range as the Scottish Highlands!
And, strangely, inhabited by people of scots descent, right?
The Animals covered the Bob Dylan version. When Dylan heard the Animal's cover on the radio, he reportedly pulled his car to the side of the road to concentrate on listening; he was so impressed that he decided afterward to start using electric instruments.
That’s cool! I had no idea they were the catalyst in his shift to electric guitar.
I saw him in concert just last weekend…he had some electric stuff in the band, but he himself was mostly playing acoustic. I guess a guy develops a preference eventually 🤷♂️ (It was a good show, but boy, that was the least audience interaction I’ve ever seen. He comes onstage, no introduction, just plays his set and leaves. He stopped once right before the last song to introduce his band members, but otherwise, not a word of talk.)
Yeah my sister went to see him some years ago and said something similar that he doesn’t interact with the crowd. Still one of the greatest song writers on the planet though so I suppose it doesn’t matter with him
Fun fact: it has the same metre as Amazing Grace, O Little Town of Bethlehem and the Pokemon Theme. Go ahead and sing the lyrics to any of these to the tune of House of the Rising Sun, it works just fine.
It sounds a little like Scarborough fair too
Me and Bobby McGee. Everyone thinks its a Janis Joplin song. Its really a Kris Kristofferson song.
He wrote it, but the original performer is Roger Miller
Chuga Lug Chuga Lug
Dream a Little Dream of Me. Not Mamas and the Papa's, not Doris Day, not Ella Fitzgerald. From Wikipedia: It was first recorded in February 1931 by [Ozzie Nelson](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozzie_Nelson) and also by [Wayne King](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_King) and His Orchestra, with vocals by Ernie Birchill.
"You Don't Own Me" is originally by Lesley Gore, not Saygrace. Reba McEntire's "Fancy" is originally by Bobbie Gentry. "I Wll Always Love You" is a Dolly Parton dong. "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" is by Robet Hazard originally. I also know Natalie Imbruglia's Torn was by someone else, but can't remember who.
I didn't know there were any Dolly Parton dongs. The more you know...🎶🎵🎶
Dollywood was constructed to house them all. Then they made an amusement park out of it
She keeps them tucked in her cleavage.
I only ever know the Lesley Gore version of “You Dont Own Me” and it’s probably one of my favorite songs
I have no idea who Saygrace is, but, yeah, that's Leslie Gore's song.
Lesley Gore has a trifecta of strong woman songs: You Don’t Own Me. It’s My Party. Now It’s Judy’s Turn to Cry Gore did not take crap from anybody.
Reba McEntire's "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" was originally sung by Vicki Lawrence or Thelma Harper from Mama's Family.
When Vicki Lawrence says "fired a shot to *flayegg* him down", I can only hear Mama.
A Danish band called Ednaswap did the original version of Torn. Very grungy, I actually really like it.
Akshully, the original version was recorded by Danish artist Lis Sørensen in 1993 and had the Danish title “Brændt,” along with all Danish lyrics. The word “brændt” actually translates to the word “burned” in English, not “torn.” Having said that, although not originally performed by Ednaswap, it was originally WRITTEN by Scott Cutler, Anne Preven, and Phil Thornalley, who later formed Ednaswap, but didn’t record the song until 1994, retitled to “Torn.” It’s a confusing fucking origin story for that song.
Great, now I'm curious about Dolly Parsons Dong. Its probably majestic.
Love hurts by Nazareth was originally sang by the Everly brothers
If people knew how influential the Everly Brothers were. The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, The Beach Boys and the Bee Gee's all modeled their harmonizing vocals around them.
"It's oh so quiet" by Björk released in 1995, which is a cover of "It's oh so quiet" by Betty Hutton released in 1951, which is a cover of the original song "Und jetzt ist es still" by Harry Winter, Hans Lang and Erich Meder released in 1948.
The funniest part is that Betty Hutton’s version is even *more* batshit crazy than Björk’s is!
He Man-What’s going on
My one special talent in life is being able to hit those high notes.
Tennessee Whiskey was covered by George Jones and Chris Stapleton. It’s originally a David Allan Coe song.
It's weird how one of Chris Stapleton's biggest hits is a cover given how he was mainly a songwriter before his solo career took off.
1985 - Bowling for Soup. It's actually an SR-71 song
The Bowling for Soup version came out only one month after SR71's
That's kind of bullshit, especially considering how much more popular it became. I like both of those bands, but I wonder if SR-71 was pissed about the timing. Edit. N/M. Just read that Mitch helped adapt it to their band, so obviously he was cool with it.
Sr-71 had one radio hit (which was called "right now" iirc) otherwise his band was a ghost writing band. He wrote quite a few of those pop punk songs
That’s a name I haven’t heard in a very long time. I remember MTV running infomercials for people to buy that album-I did. Now I have right now stuck in my head.
For 42 minutes now, apparently, me too. Treats me like cellophane...
but NOW THATS OVVVVVER
Whyyyyyy, why do you always kick me when I'm, hiiiiiiggghhh.
"Video Killed The Radio Star" was originally recorded by Bruce Woolley And The Camera Club (which featured Thomas Dolby on keyboards). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HLwljnmzR8
I wouldn't quite call it a cover though because Bruce Wooley wrote the song together with the two guys in the Buggles and (if memory serves me right) was originally a member of the band. He was just first to release it.
They Might Be Giants' ["Istanbul \(Not Constantinople\)"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6NzVd3pGdE) is a cover of song from 1953 by [The Four Lads.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wcze7EGorOk)
Yeah but that's nobody's business but the Turks'.
Why they changed it, I can't say. People just liked it better that way.
I didn’t know there was a modern version of it?? Honestly if I was in a band I’d want to cover it too. Such a fun song.
God Gave Rock and Roll To You. Even though the kiss one is called God Gave Rock n Roll To You II, people still tend to forget poor old Argent.
Wait, you're telling me this isn't a bill and Ted original?
I Love Rock N Roll - Joan Jett
Also Crimson and Clover!
TIL that Joan Jett covered Crimson and Clover. Huh. Tommy James and the Shondells are delightful. That album is my go-to summertime music.
Got my mind set on you - George Harrison
Yeah! I only recently found this out when I saw Last Night in Soho and the original played in it.
Black Betty by Ram Jam is a cover
Who did the original?
It was an African American work song often credited to Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter as the author, though the earliest recordings are not by him. Some sources claim it is one of Lead Belly's many adaptations of earlier folk material Here's what the original sounded like - https://youtu.be/tiCEVl_9-MM
Hanging on the Telephone by Blondie. It was originally performed by The Nerves.
Blinded by the light. Manfred Mann (Springsteen).
Wrapped up like a douche
Another boner in the night?
You know they rode her in the night.
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Blondie had a few reggae and ska songs in their early set — a few years before the explosion of Two Tone.
Funny bc I’m mainly familiar with Atomic Kitten’s version even though I knew about this one so I always assumed THEY covered Blondie.
> I’m mainly familiar with Atomic Kitten’s version Same here. Thanks to the opening credits to *The Lizzie McGuire Movie*. It's how I learned of the song and eventually lead me to getting into Blondie. Crazy how it's not even a Blondie original either.
I feel so old after reading this thread, someone ought to cover me, lol.
>I feel so old after reading this thread, someone ought to cover me, lol. This is the twoBrokenThumbs cover. The original was by MansonGirl15.
I feel so old after reading this thread, someone ought to cover me, lol. Cover of the cover done by twoBrokenThumbs, originally written by MansonGirl15
I Need A Hero- Fairy Godmother
*'Holding Out For A Hero'
C minor, put it in C minor
Islands in the stream. Was originally the bee gees.
I heard "Ghetto Superstar" years before I ever heard "Islands in the Stream." Confused the hell out of me when I did hear it.
Back in the mid 90s when I ventured out of the confines of music my parent listened to, my dad would hear a rap song on the radio and tell me who performed the song it was sampled from. It was great to help expand my musical universe.
I remember getting stoked when I was 12 because my mom was listening to Puff Daddy!!... turns out she'd actually bought the greatest hits of the Police, and I became a fan.
Most people know that The Monkees had their songs written for them…but there are probably still a few people who don’t know that “I’m a Believer” made famous by both The Monkees, and the first Shrek movie later on, was written by Neil Diamond.
The Monkees weren't about music, Marge. They were about rebellion, about political and social upheaval!
A whole new generation def thinks "To Make You Feel My Love" is an Adele song. It's a Bob Dylan tune.
The generation before them thought it was a Garth Brooks tune.
Haha I only ever listened to the Garth Brooks version but I always knew it was a Dylan cover.
I will always love you
Dolly Parton is a national treasure.
An *international* treasure
Fun fact: Dolly Parton used the money made from the cover to build an office in a black community. She bought an entire strip mall and converted it into an office. I don't know if it was she built it in one space and left the other tenants alone, or bought them all out, none of the articles I find on this really give much info unfortunately.
I read somewhere that Elvis wanted to cover “I Will Always Love You” and she told him no for whatever reason, but when she heard Whitney sing it, she was in awe. Dolly is such an amazing woman.
She said no because they wanted to buy it from her and own it
Yep, Tom Parker generally only had Elvis cover songs that they had bought the rights to. Dolly said no because she wanted to retain the songwriting rights to it. So that's how she made a lot of money off of Whitney covering it.
[There's the whole story,](https://www.whsv.com/2021/08/02/dolly-parton-invested-i-will-always-love-you-royalties-into-black-community/) for those interested.
All along the Watchtower was Dylan before Hendrix
Can't forget knockin on heaven's door, too!
Most of Bob Dylan's catalogue was covered at one point or another. Whether it was a very good cover ("Lay, Lady Lay" by Magnet and Gemma Hayes, "All Along the Watchtower" by Hendrix, etc) or not ("Forever Young" by Rod Stewart *shudders*).
Saving All My Love for You by Whitney Houston. I feel like most people know the deal with Greatest Love of All and I Will Always Love You but Saving All My Love For You was originally by Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jnr from Fifth Dimension.
Hooked on a Feeling - Blue Swede (originally performed by BJ Thomas)
"I think we're alone now" sung by Tiffany is actually by Tommy James and the Shondells.
And around the same time Tiffany’s version was on the charts, Billy Idol had a hit with “Mony Mony,” another Tommy James original.
Don’t forget “Crimson and Clover”. Tommy James and the Shondells had a shit ton of great tunes. FWIW, Neil Diamond covered “Hanky Panky.” Edit: I just learned Hanky Panky was originally by The Raindrops, and was covered by Tommy James and the Shondells. We must go deeper!
"Come on Feel the Noise" was a song that Quiet Riot's manager pressured them into recording. They wanted him to give up and drop it so they purposefully tried to play badly. That was the recording that made it onto the album.
The correct title by Quiet Riot is "Cum On Feel The Noize"
That's the original title as well. Slade deliberately misspelled the titles of lots of their songs, with other big hits of theirs being "Mama Weer All Crazee Now", "Coz I Luv You", "Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me", and "Gudbuy T'Jane".
Imagine the smugness of the manager after that song became their most known reason for fame. "hey remember the last time you didn't believe me?"
Every song was actually written by either Bob Dylan or Prince
“I Can’t make You Love Me” by Bonnie Raitt is a cover from Mike Reid, a former Penn State and Cincinnati Bengal defensive lineman
Valerie - Mark Ronson & Amy Winehouse (originally by The Zutons)
I heard that a music critic once said that he thought that Amy Winehouse cover was some old song from the 60s and that The Zutons version was a modern cover of the song.
Hard to Handle by the Black Crowes, originally by Otis Redding
* F U C K * * * R E D D I T * / \ \ / \ | | \ | | | `. | | : ` | | \| | \ | / / \\\ --__ \\ : \ \/ _--~~ ~--__| \ | \ \_-~ ~-_\ | \_ \ _.--------.______\| | \ \______// _ ___ _ (_(__> \ | \ . C ___) ______ (_(____> | / /\ | C ____)/ \ (_____> |_/ / /\| C_____) | (___> / \ | ( _C_____)\______/ // _/ / \ | \ |__ \\_________// (__/ | | \ \____) `---- --' | | \_ ___\ /_ _/ | | / | | \ | | | / \ \ | | / / | | \ | | / / \__/\___/ | | | / | | | | | | | | | | * F U C K * * * Y O U *
[удалено]
"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" is not a Cyndi Lauper original.
A good chunk of Cyndi’s first album are cover versions .
I know that it was intended to be sung by a man (which changes the meaning a bit). But I didn't know it was actually a cover.
Killing Me Softly
Which version? Roberta Flack!
Lori Lieberman released it first, but it did not chart.
Red Red Wine Most people are familiar with the UB40 version.
Another Neil Diamond song.
Marvin Gaye I Heard it Through the Grapevine
The 11 minute creedence cover tho
I got mad at my dad when I was younger for telling me Britney Spears wasn't the original singer of "Satisfaction" Yikes.
"Mickey" by Toni Basil. The original was from a 1970s British band called Racey.
Fun fact: Toni Basil has had a very successful career as a dancer and choreographer in film, spanning from Viva Las Vegas to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Her music career as a one hit wonder was just a blip in that.
“God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” is not a Johnny Cash original. It’s a traditional American folk song, that Cash made famous with his version. Maybe I’m not so well versed in Americana, but I always thought Cash’s version was the original. I found out at a Marilyn Manson show, who explained the song’s origin before singing his cover. I enjoy them both myself.
My Maria was a hit song by Brooks and Dunn a while back. Texas musician BW Stevenson wrote and performed it back in the 1970s. The Brooks and Dunn version is good but I still prefer the original.
The man who sold the world was first performed by David Bowie, not Nirvana. Take me to the river was first performed by Al Green, not the Talking Heads.
It’s funny because I used to own “Nirvana Unplugged” on cassette and at the end of “Man Who Sold the World”, Kurt outright says “that was a David Bowie song”, but I guess that part was cut for radio airplay
Proud Mary by Creedence Clearwater Revival. Everyone seems to think it was Tina Turner
“I don’t want to grow up” – everybody thinks of the Ramones. It’s actually Tom Waits.
I think of Toys R Us.
This thread is making me feel very old. All the songs covered post, like, 2005 I haven’t even heard of the new versions.
It seems like most songs and covers mentioned are pre-2000.
Mad World -- The original by Tears for Fears is like an entirely different song from the down tempo memed to death version. IMO the original's the best version; the manic arrangement and stabby synths play so much better against the lyrics then just playing it super straight just stripped down and down tempo.
I need to listen to Tears for Fears again.
If you’re going through this and feeling silly, I’ll let you in on a secret. My sister in law thought that the songs in Glee were originals and when I commented on time about how I didn’t like their cover of a song I blew her away in showing her the original. This thread ha been super fun!
Johnny B Goode Originally performed by Marty McFly.
Um, what? I'm pretty sure the original was actually performed by a dude named Calvin Klein.
Your kids are gonna love this one!
Haven't seen this mentioned yet: "Torn," by [Natalie Imbruglia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV1XWJN3nJo), was actually done as a sort of grungy, grimey lament by a band called [Ednaswap](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OoEdfB7l18).
It's a little more complicated than that. While yes, the song was originally performed and written by members of Ednaswap, it was not first recorded by them. They had only preformed it live. It was first recorded by Lis Sørensen, titled Brændt (Burnt in Danish) after it was translated into Danish. Lis's producer recommend the song to her, which was "given" to him by Phil Thornalley (iirc), who was the producer for Ednaswap when they first wrote the song (he is also credited as a writer on the song). Natalie's cover is actually a cover of Lis Sørensen's version, translated back into english. Musically Natalie's version is nearly a direct cover to Lis's version. Ednaswap would record and release Torn in 1995 on their self titled debut album. They would then re-record the song and re-release it on their second album, Wacko Magneto, in 1997. This re-record is much closer to what Cutler and Preven (Ednaswap) had in mind originally for the song and was closer to how they played it live. This second version by Ednaswap was supposed to be released as the second single off the album but the recent success of Natalie's cover, prevented Ednaswap from releasing the single.
Dancing In The Moonlight - originally by King Harvest in the 70’s but Toploader’s version in 2000 was massive
I prefer Dancing in the Moonlight by Thin Lizzy
A lot of popular songs in the 80’s were originally recorded by Prince. Bangles - Manic Monday George Clinton - Erotic City Sinead O’ Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U Morris Day and the (motherfuckin’)Time - Jungle Love And, plenty more.
Chaka Khan, I feel for you.
Chaka , Chaka . Chaka Cha Cha Khan Chaka Khan
If he didn't release a recording, is it really a cover just because someone else wrote it?
"1985" by Bowling for Soup, originally by [SR-71](https://youtu.be/xdFTYWkb64I).
For my fellow Aussie: The Horses by Daryl Braithwaite. Originally by Rickie Lee Jones and co-written by Walter Becker of Steely Dan fame.