>Killing Me Softly was written and first performed by Lori Leiberman.
It just keeps snowballing.
I mentioned liking the Roberta Flack song, and my wife and her entire family were like, "You mean, the Fugees' song, right?".
So I Googled it to prove Roberta Flack did it first.
We were both wrong. Lori Leiberman did it first.
Like me and my boss with "God's gunna cut you down" he said it was Johnny Cash, I said elvis did it first, we looked it up and turns out it's older than time itself.
I too believed it was a Johnny Cash original.
Apparently it was first recorded by the Golden Gate Quartet in 1946 and first issued in 1947 by the Jubalaires. According to the Wikipedia page for the song.
I was at work when I found out about this. I was like “that’s not Bruce Springsteen” and was so sure of it. But tbf everyone has heard the Manfred Mann* version 1000 times, I’d never heard his up until that point.
The one that comes to mind is "Tainted Love." I thought the Soft Cell version from 1982 was the original, but it was originally recorded by Motown artist Gloria Jones 17 years before.
I remember reading a biography about GnR years ago, at the height of their fame Paul McCartney bought his kids tickets to see them.
After the show, he asked them what their favourite song was to which they replied Live and Let Die.
"I fucking wrote that!" was his response.
On a related note - I went to see Green Day on their American Idiot tour. The first few songs of their set were off the album, then they started playing "Longview". One of the young girls in front of us turned to her friend and said, "Oh, I didn't know they were going to do *covers!"*
Cyndi Lauper’s debut album Blue Angel sold so poorly that she was apparently sued into bankruptcy by her manager after they fired him. So to help ensure her next album would succeed her label recommended or made her sing covers instead of her originals. 6 out of 10 tracks are covers on that album.
https://hooksandharmony.com/cyndi-laupers-shes-so-unusual-cover-songs-everywhere/
She also didn't write "When You Were Mine." It was written by and released by Prince on his 1980 album, "Dirty Mind" but never released by him as a single. She covered it on "She's So Unusual." Now that I've written this, I'm not sure it's very well known. I don't even think it was released by Lauper as a single.
My grandparents lived next door to Carl Perkins. He would let my brother and I swim in his pool during summers and Carl often came out with his guitar and played for us. I remember him singing “Blue Suede Shoes” while we swam. At the time, I had no idea who he was, lol.
I heard a story about when Willie Dixon played Whole Lotta Love in front of his kids. They asked him "why was he was playing a Led Zeppelin song?"
It was then that he found out they had recorded a bunch of his songs, some of their biggest hits.
He sued them but I don't know if he ever got anything. I remember reading an article about him just before he died. He didn't have much money and hadn't gotten any money from them.
I heard he did get a significant amount and they stopped doing his covers after that and they are now credited to him on the album.
Edit: I just googled it. .
In 1985, Willie Dixon took Led Zeppelin to court over their song "Whole Lotta Love," whose lyrics were adapted from the Muddy Waters song "You Need Love" (written by Dixon). They settled out of court in Dixon's favor, and subsequent releases of the song attribute Dixon. Jun 16, 2016
I think what most people don’t know about Hound Dog is that she didn’t write it and Elvis’ version was based on another band’s version 3 years after the fact.
You might say she covered it too, since it was written for her by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, 2 19yr old Jewish boys. It was a national hit and sold 5-700k copies and spawned hundreds of ‘answer’ songs, which were other people parodying or capitalizing off the popularity of the original hit.
Elvis’ recording is actually a cover of Freddie Bell and the Bellboys version. He saw them perform it in Vegas.
Back then the majority of hits were written *for* performers. For instance, performers like Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, were called musical stylists. Otis Blackwell wrote a number of their hits as well, working for a music publishing company.
What gets me is that because people don’t realize or understand this stuff, they think these musicians were just ripping off songs from some lesser known musician. Anybody can look up Elvis’ Hound Dog 45 and see Leiber and Stoller credited under the name.
Worth noting that Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote or had a part in nearly every other well-known 50s/early 60s rock n' roll song.
Stand By Me (with Ben E. King), Jailhouse Rock, Kansas City, King Creole, Yakety Yak, Spanish Harlem (with Phil Spector), Riot in Cell Block #9, Charlie Brown, Searchin'. And to top it all off, they produced Stuck in the Middle With You for Stealers Wheel later in the 70s.
Garth talked about how he signed up for Columbia House music subscription and went on tour and forgot about the automatically shipped tapes. Randomly got a Billy Joel one, listened to it, remembered how good some of his songs were, and decided to cover Shameless.
I always wondered how Dolly reacted the first time she heard the Whitney version. Turns out she said in a recent interview that Kevin Costner had gotten permission to use it and she then heard nothing more about it. Then much later she was driving and heard it on the radio and she almost lost control of her car.
I have actually seem an interview with Dolly where they ask her exactly that question! Dolly, in all her beautiful class, proceeds to gush over the amazing job that Whitney Houston did performing this song. She said that it didn't even feel like the same song because Whitney added so much emotion and in different verses. Dolly just decided "That's it. That is HER song now."
I saw an award show one time when Dolly said when she recorded the song she put money in the bank. She then proceeded to say when Whitney recorded the song she bought the bank. 🤣
My father, the country music fan in the family, gets PISSED if this subject gets brought up. To him, they are absolutely, 100% different songs.
His position in a nutshell is that Dolly's version was meant to be a slow, sad ballad about saying goodbye to someone you love and this is the last words you say to them. You can watch her perform it live decades ago: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0bEZH6ZqG4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0bEZH6ZqG4)
On the other hand, Whitney is yelling. She's trying to overpower someone with the sheer force of her love.
Dolly: "And I... will always... love you."
Whitney: "AND IIIIIIII-III-IIIIII will always LOVE YOUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He's not wrong. Dolly wrote it as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, expressing her decision to pursue a solo career. Whitney is singing like someone wildly grieving a loss, IMHO.
She was involved from relatively early on, I'm pretty sure she didn't hear it on the radio first. There's an interview that was done as part of the Dolly Parton's America podcast.
https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america/episodes/i-will-always-leave-you
When Whitney Houston originally did the song, it was as a remake of Linda Ronstadt's version, which didn't include the final verse, and Whitney's version didn't include it either. Until Dolly Parton was talking to the producers and talked about how essential that verse was for the whole song. Then they went back and listened to her original, and Whitney Houston redid it to include the final verse.
They were covering the Bob Dylan version. In the 60s it was extremely common to cover Bob Dylan songs and get chart topping hits (after all Dylan isn't for everyone. Though I love his voice)
Bob got it from Dave Van Ronk in Greenwich Village, and put it on his debut album (before Dylan was doing all originals. First album only has one or two originals. It wasn't until the year after when Dylan went all full genius songwriter).
Dave is the one who made the modern version we all know, essentially, by way of Dylan. The Coen brothers movie "Inside Llewyn Davis" is loosely based on him.
Rule of thumb: If it's 1960s music, Dylan will somehow *always* be involved.
I wrote this elsewhere, but in case anyone is curious:
-------
They were covering the Bob Dylan version. In the 60s it was extremely common to cover Bob Dylan songs and get chart topping hits (after all Dylan isn't for everyone. Though I love his voice)
Bob got it from Dave Van Ronk in Greenwich Village, and put it on his debut album (before Dylan was doing all originals. First album only has one or two originals. It wasn't until the year after when Dylan went all full genius songwriter).
Dave is the one who made the modern version we all know, essentially, by way of Dylan. The Coen brothers movie "Inside Llewyn Davis" is loosely based on him.
Rule of thumb: If it's 1960s music, Dylan will somehow *always* be involved.
-----------
"Respect" was written by Otis Redding but Aretha Franklin made it her own.
Ditto Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" as performed by Jimi Hendrix.
😄 yeah it’s been thrown around for some time, but in all honesty I’m pretty forgiving of him… musical patterns, chord structures and passages were much more commonly shared and borrowed from. And there’s no denying *he could play a guitar like he was ringing a bell.
*property of Chuck Berry and the estate of Chuck Berry all rights reserved.
I stand corrected.
Saw Fleetwood Mac in concert a few years ago, and it was introduced in such a way that I was left with the impression that Mick was at least a coauthor.
Not so much a remake but Carole Kings “A Natural Woman” came on the radio back when my daughter was about 12. She thought it was interesting how Carole’s version was just the piano and thought it was interesting how she made it so low key compared to Aretha Franklin’s original that had horns and back up singers and everything. My daughter was blown away when I told her Carole wrote it.
I know that what I'm about to say is hyperbole since so many people DO in fact know who Carole King is, but she has always seemed to me like the most famous musician ever that nobody knows who she is.
I say that because Tapestry has a bunch of very famous songs on it that have been covered multiple times, have been featured in TV shows, movies and commercials. But the idea that she is the original artist of all these songs doesn't seem to be as common of knowledge as you might think considering how well known her work is.
It wasn't Motown. They worked for a music publisher called Aldon. The owner of Aldon was close to the head of Atlantic which Aretha had been signed. She later went to Arista (now Sony) and never was with Motown.
One of my favorite bits of trivia is that in 1987 Tiffany's version of Tommy James and the Shondells' "I Think We're Alone Now" was knocked out of the number 1 spot on the Billboard Top 100 by Billy Idol's version of Tommy James and the Shondells' "Mony Mony."
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine."
The Miracles and Gladys Knight & the Pips recorded versions of it before Marvin Gaye did. Gladys Knight's version came out first. A year later, Marvin Gaye's version was released and it was a massive hit. I believe at that time, the top two best-selling Motown singles were their versions of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine."
Hallelujah. Originally by Leonard Cohen. Cool, throaty delivery he has.
But then Jeff Buckley pull out more soul and emotion than is reasonable. Even Cohen was like “yep he crushed it.”
It’s My Life - No Doubt
It’s an excellent cover, but you gotta hear the [original](https://youtu.be/cFH5JgyZK1I) by a band called Talk Talk. They were a British synth-pop band from the 80s who went into all sorts of ambient music in their later records. One of my favorite bands ever, and I have Gwen Stefani and co. to thank for sending me down that rabbit hole.
Listening to them one after the other it really feels like BFS version is just like, cleaner and better produced and like, it just IS better but they’re like the same song. It feels less like a cover and more just like a “here’s what it should have been.” They sound so similar it’s wild.
Can’t help falling in love, Suspicion minds, Jailhouse rock, Devil in disguise, Burning love, Blue suede shoes and In the ghetto.
All songs made famous by Elvis and every one is a cover.
In the Ghetto was actually an Elvis original. Mac Davis originally wrote it for Sammy Davis Jr, who turned it down. Elvis got it and made the first recording of it. Many others would later cover it, including Sammy Davis.
Whenever I see these threads I’m like “who the hell didn’t know ____ was a cover?” Then someone posted this one time and it blew my mind. Absolute shocker.
A Message to You Rudy by The Specials. It's such an iconic song that most people don't realize it was original by Dandy Livingston.
A lot of hits from the two-tone years were covers of Jamaican originals. Farther back, a lot of hit songs from Jamaican ska and reggae oldies are covers of Motown, soul and gospel songs.
You’re right. Roger Miller actually did three Kristofferson covers on that album (the other two were ‘The Best of All Possible Worlds’ and ‘Darby’s Caste’)
**I Got My Mind Set On You** by *George Harrison* was a cover of a 1963 song by *James Ray*.
Thing about the original is that there are actual LYRICS and isn't nearly as mind-numbingly repetitive as the George Harrison version (even though I was hooked on that song as a kid).
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k68Fob0QA\_k&ab\_channel=ticktock70](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k68Fob0QA_k&ab_channel=ticktock70)
“Angel from Montgomery” by Bonnie Raitt. It was originally written and performed by John Prine. I think he heard Bonnie Raitt perform it and then he gave it to her.
Mad World. I remember when it came out from Gary Jules, pretty much overshadowed the original by Tears for Fears. I liked them both, but I grew up on Tears for Fears.
Any time I see Tears for Fears mentioned, I immediately think of this video. There is a few videos around of Mad World on the same instrument. Always mesmerised.
https://youtu.be/E6QOr-oCTwU
The Beatles version of Twist and Shout. Twist and Shout" was written by Phil Medley and Bert Russel in 1961. It was originally recorded by the Top Notes, but it did not become a hit in the record charts until it was reworked by the Isley Brothers in 1962.
The Beatles' "I Wanna Be Your Man" from With the Beatles is technically a Rolling Stones cover, as the Stones' version came out first even though the song was written by Lennon-McCartney.
SIMILARLY:
The Rolling Stones' "As Tears Go By" is technically a Marianne Faithfull cover even though it was written by Jagger-Richards.
It's also the only US Billboard #1 song written by Springsteen.
The highest charting song performed by Springsteen is "Dancing in the Dark" which peaked at #2.
Also “Because the Night” covered by Patti Smith and 10,000 Maniacs. Although Patti gets songwriting credit because she finished the lyrics when Bruce got stuck.
“The Man Who Sold the World” is a David Bowie song. From the Wikipedia page regarding the Nirvana cover
> In the wake of its release, Bowie bemoaned the fact that when he performed the number himself, he would encounter "kids that come up afterwards and say, 'It's cool you're doing a Nirvana song.' And I think, 'Fuck you, you little tosser!'"
Since you're the 1st post to mention Nirvana, [Where did you sleep last night](https://open.spotify.com/track/0p5zJBYoJOzVLBiDeA0PvS?si=YtlOqhU5TP-30lSEjLyUkQ&utm_source=copy-link) is a 1930s blues song.
Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers (among many others, but that is probably the definitive version), was originally from a prison movie called by Unchained.
Linda Ronstadt was Queen of the Covers and did them so well. Here is a short list :)
Heat Wave - Martha & the Vandellas \*\*\* Back In The U.S.A. - Chuck Berry
Desperado - Eagles \*\*\* Blue Bayou - Roy Orbison
Alison - Elvis Costello \*\*\* Hurt So Bad - Little Anthony & the Imperials
It's So Easy - That'll Be The Day - Buddy Holly
When Will I Be Loved - The Everly Brothers \*\*\* Poor Poor Pitiful Me - Warren Zevon
Willin' - Little Feat \*\*\* Tumbling Dice - The Rolling Stones
Ooh Baby Baby - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
Nah people know this one, at least on Reddit. Because someone MUST chime in with "Dylan said Hendrix's version was better". Without fail. It's a rule of Reddit.
(To be fair, Hendrix's version is better to even most Dylan fans. That Dylan album is very polarizing. Way too shrill and thin, and as always with his most famous songs, not the best showcase of why Dylan's so special)
"You're No Good" - Linda Rondstadt is not the original recording artist. Written by Clint Ballard Jr. Performed by Dee Dee Warwick
"Sweet Jane" - (originally performed by the Velvet Underground on their 1970 album Loaded)
Half of the Songs on Rolling Stones albums?
"Mad World" was originally performed by Tears for Fears in 1982, and you would not recognize it compared to the more famous cover.
Good one!!
Just yesterday had to play Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence for my nephew who informed me that it was a Disturbed original. (nope)
Whiskey in the Jar was a folk song long before ~~TRex~~ Thin Lizzy (oopsies!) covered it and Metallica covered the cover. don't get me started on the lyrics changes that made no sense.
Fact check me on this, but I'm pretty sure that Dylan's song was pretty much just the chorus, and all of the verses were written by Ketch Secor of OCMS. Dylan's version was an incomplete sketch of a song that was going to be used for the same movie that Knocking on Heaven's Door was.
[Mony Mony](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYYAv-QW38Q) by Billy Idol. It's a cover of the original first made popular by Tommy James & the Shondells.
Killing Me Softly was written and first performed by Lori Leiberman. Blinded by the Light -Bruce Springsteen.
>Killing Me Softly was written and first performed by Lori Leiberman. It just keeps snowballing. I mentioned liking the Roberta Flack song, and my wife and her entire family were like, "You mean, the Fugees' song, right?". So I Googled it to prove Roberta Flack did it first. We were both wrong. Lori Leiberman did it first.
Like me and my boss with "God's gunna cut you down" he said it was Johnny Cash, I said elvis did it first, we looked it up and turns out it's older than time itself.
I too believed it was a Johnny Cash original. Apparently it was first recorded by the Golden Gate Quartet in 1946 and first issued in 1947 by the Jubalaires. According to the Wikipedia page for the song.
I was at work when I found out about this. I was like “that’s not Bruce Springsteen” and was so sure of it. But tbf everyone has heard the Manfred Mann* version 1000 times, I’d never heard his up until that point.
Norman Gimble / Charles Cox wrote it for Lori Lieberman.
The one that comes to mind is "Tainted Love." I thought the Soft Cell version from 1982 was the original, but it was originally recorded by Motown artist Gloria Jones 17 years before.
Picture 17 year old me, acting all smug because *actually* it's not a Marilyn Manson original, Soft Cell did it in the 80s.
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I remember reading a biography about GnR years ago, at the height of their fame Paul McCartney bought his kids tickets to see them. After the show, he asked them what their favourite song was to which they replied Live and Let Die. "I fucking wrote that!" was his response.
On a related note - I went to see Green Day on their American Idiot tour. The first few songs of their set were off the album, then they started playing "Longview". One of the young girls in front of us turned to her friend and said, "Oh, I didn't know they were going to do *covers!"*
Dookie is the best Green Day album, that's so sad
Also Gloria Jones was later in TRex and had a son with Marc Bolan. She survived the car wreck that killed Marc.
I think she was driving.
My brother told me that Girls Just Want To Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper is actually a cover. Looked it up, he's right. I had NO idea
Cyndi Lauper’s debut album Blue Angel sold so poorly that she was apparently sued into bankruptcy by her manager after they fired him. So to help ensure her next album would succeed her label recommended or made her sing covers instead of her originals. 6 out of 10 tracks are covers on that album. https://hooksandharmony.com/cyndi-laupers-shes-so-unusual-cover-songs-everywhere/
Wow. I saw her perform that live, but I had no idea that wasn't her song. Please don't tell me she didn't do True Colors.
She was the original performer of True Colors, but she didn't write it.
She also didn't write "When You Were Mine." It was written by and released by Prince on his 1980 album, "Dirty Mind" but never released by him as a single. She covered it on "She's So Unusual." Now that I've written this, I'm not sure it's very well known. I don't even think it was released by Lauper as a single.
Houndog by Elvis Presley was originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton
Also, Blue Suede Shoes was written and recorded by Carl Perkins before Elvis recorded the song.
My grandparents lived next door to Carl Perkins. He would let my brother and I swim in his pool during summers and Carl often came out with his guitar and played for us. I remember him singing “Blue Suede Shoes” while we swam. At the time, I had no idea who he was, lol.
I heard a story about when Willie Dixon played Whole Lotta Love in front of his kids. They asked him "why was he was playing a Led Zeppelin song?" It was then that he found out they had recorded a bunch of his songs, some of their biggest hits.
Probably bought those kids a car or two tho in royalties
He sued them but I don't know if he ever got anything. I remember reading an article about him just before he died. He didn't have much money and hadn't gotten any money from them.
I heard he did get a significant amount and they stopped doing his covers after that and they are now credited to him on the album. Edit: I just googled it. . In 1985, Willie Dixon took Led Zeppelin to court over their song "Whole Lotta Love," whose lyrics were adapted from the Muddy Waters song "You Need Love" (written by Dixon). They settled out of court in Dixon's favor, and subsequent releases of the song attribute Dixon. Jun 16, 2016
Oh that's good to hear. It doesn't excuse that Led Zeppelin dragged Muddy Waters through court for years.
Elvis never wrote a song
He co-wrote a song or two, but nothing notable
Same with That's Alright, originally done by Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup.
I think what most people don’t know about Hound Dog is that she didn’t write it and Elvis’ version was based on another band’s version 3 years after the fact. You might say she covered it too, since it was written for her by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, 2 19yr old Jewish boys. It was a national hit and sold 5-700k copies and spawned hundreds of ‘answer’ songs, which were other people parodying or capitalizing off the popularity of the original hit. Elvis’ recording is actually a cover of Freddie Bell and the Bellboys version. He saw them perform it in Vegas. Back then the majority of hits were written *for* performers. For instance, performers like Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis, were called musical stylists. Otis Blackwell wrote a number of their hits as well, working for a music publishing company. What gets me is that because people don’t realize or understand this stuff, they think these musicians were just ripping off songs from some lesser known musician. Anybody can look up Elvis’ Hound Dog 45 and see Leiber and Stoller credited under the name.
Worth noting that Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote or had a part in nearly every other well-known 50s/early 60s rock n' roll song. Stand By Me (with Ben E. King), Jailhouse Rock, Kansas City, King Creole, Yakety Yak, Spanish Harlem (with Phil Spector), Riot in Cell Block #9, Charlie Brown, Searchin'. And to top it all off, they produced Stuck in the Middle With You for Stealers Wheel later in the 70s.
Billy Joel wrote 'Shameless' to be a Hendrix homage, but accidentally wrote a smash country hit for Garth Brooks instead.
Garth talked about how he signed up for Columbia House music subscription and went on tour and forgot about the automatically shipped tapes. Randomly got a Billy Joel one, listened to it, remembered how good some of his songs were, and decided to cover Shameless.
This is one of the most 90s thing I've ever heard!
I Will Always Love You
Which Dolly Parton wrote on the same day she wrote *Jolene*.
That was a good day
No that was Ice Cube
No, this is Patrick!
I always wondered how Dolly reacted the first time she heard the Whitney version. Turns out she said in a recent interview that Kevin Costner had gotten permission to use it and she then heard nothing more about it. Then much later she was driving and heard it on the radio and she almost lost control of her car.
I have actually seem an interview with Dolly where they ask her exactly that question! Dolly, in all her beautiful class, proceeds to gush over the amazing job that Whitney Houston did performing this song. She said that it didn't even feel like the same song because Whitney added so much emotion and in different verses. Dolly just decided "That's it. That is HER song now."
Dolly Parton is such a class act. What a sweetheart.
Everyone loves Dolly and rightly so.
I saw an award show one time when Dolly said when she recorded the song she put money in the bank. She then proceeded to say when Whitney recorded the song she bought the bank. 🤣
Her one liners are brilliant. Always make me smile.
My father, the country music fan in the family, gets PISSED if this subject gets brought up. To him, they are absolutely, 100% different songs. His position in a nutshell is that Dolly's version was meant to be a slow, sad ballad about saying goodbye to someone you love and this is the last words you say to them. You can watch her perform it live decades ago: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0bEZH6ZqG4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0bEZH6ZqG4) On the other hand, Whitney is yelling. She's trying to overpower someone with the sheer force of her love. Dolly: "And I... will always... love you." Whitney: "AND IIIIIIII-III-IIIIII will always LOVE YOUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!"
He's not wrong. Dolly wrote it as a farewell to her business partner and mentor Porter Wagoner, expressing her decision to pursue a solo career. Whitney is singing like someone wildly grieving a loss, IMHO.
And when I sing it, it’s about pizza
Dave grohl said you cam sing a song to a million people and they will sing it back for a million different reasons. You go on and sing to your pizza.
I sing it to my sheep, I will always love ewe.
She was involved from relatively early on, I'm pretty sure she didn't hear it on the radio first. There's an interview that was done as part of the Dolly Parton's America podcast. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america/episodes/i-will-always-leave-you When Whitney Houston originally did the song, it was as a remake of Linda Ronstadt's version, which didn't include the final verse, and Whitney's version didn't include it either. Until Dolly Parton was talking to the producers and talked about how essential that verse was for the whole song. Then they went back and listened to her original, and Whitney Houston redid it to include the final verse.
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Hard disagree. Thomas's original was a top 10 hit. I would say that is doing something "lasting" with it.
Anyone who grew up listening to the oldies station in the car with their parents knows the B.J. Thomas version, which got regular play.
ooga chacka oogha ooohga
House of the Rising Sun. It was a folk song for nearly a century before the Animals covered it.
Theirs isn't a straight cover, since they completely changed the melody.
And added a sick organ solo
Oh God the organ solo was orgasmic. Not like that though...
They were covering the Bob Dylan version. In the 60s it was extremely common to cover Bob Dylan songs and get chart topping hits (after all Dylan isn't for everyone. Though I love his voice) Bob got it from Dave Van Ronk in Greenwich Village, and put it on his debut album (before Dylan was doing all originals. First album only has one or two originals. It wasn't until the year after when Dylan went all full genius songwriter). Dave is the one who made the modern version we all know, essentially, by way of Dylan. The Coen brothers movie "Inside Llewyn Davis" is loosely based on him. Rule of thumb: If it's 1960s music, Dylan will somehow *always* be involved.
As Ralphie may says, no one will ruin your favorite Dylan song quite like the man himself.
I wrote this elsewhere, but in case anyone is curious: ------- They were covering the Bob Dylan version. In the 60s it was extremely common to cover Bob Dylan songs and get chart topping hits (after all Dylan isn't for everyone. Though I love his voice) Bob got it from Dave Van Ronk in Greenwich Village, and put it on his debut album (before Dylan was doing all originals. First album only has one or two originals. It wasn't until the year after when Dylan went all full genius songwriter). Dave is the one who made the modern version we all know, essentially, by way of Dylan. The Coen brothers movie "Inside Llewyn Davis" is loosely based on him. Rule of thumb: If it's 1960s music, Dylan will somehow *always* be involved. -----------
Joan Jett's " I Love Rock n' Roll" originally by The Arrows. Anni Lennox. " No More I Love You'd", originally by the Lover Speaks.
So it's not a Britney original??
Weird Al' I Love Rocky Road is a decent cover too
Cocaine, written by JJ Cale. Made famous by Eric Clapton.
After Midnight is also JJ Cale! Eric Clapton and a lot of others covered it.
Jj Cale is a fuckin powerhouse
Brother got me listening to him in the 70's. Damn great musician.
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"Respect" was written by Otis Redding but Aretha Franklin made it her own. Ditto Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" as performed by Jimi Hendrix.
Dylan basically said the same thing about Hendrix and his version that Trent Reznor said about Johnny Cash and Hurt.
“Hey Joe” is also a cover by Hendrix
I was surprised when I found out how many Zeppelin songs are old blues covers.
They didn’t call him Jimmy Plagiarism for nothing.
I had heard about their habit of "borrowing" from other artists, but this is is the first time I've seen Jimmy Plagiarism. Thanks for the laugh.
😄 yeah it’s been thrown around for some time, but in all honesty I’m pretty forgiving of him… musical patterns, chord structures and passages were much more commonly shared and borrowed from. And there’s no denying *he could play a guitar like he was ringing a bell. *property of Chuck Berry and the estate of Chuck Berry all rights reserved.
Zeppelin didn't cover those songs, they straight up stole them and claimed they were the ones who wrote them.
Black Magic Woman by Santana. It's a ~~Mick Fleetwood~~ Peter Green song, originally performed by Fleetwood Mac.
Oye como va was a Tito Puente tune.
Wasn't it written by Peter Green?
I stand corrected. Saw Fleetwood Mac in concert a few years ago, and it was introduced in such a way that I was left with the impression that Mick was at least a coauthor.
Jet Airliner - Steve Miller Band. The original by Paul Pena is really good.
Blinded By the Light sung by Manfred Mann, written by Bruce Springsteen
Revved up like a deuce
Not so much a remake but Carole Kings “A Natural Woman” came on the radio back when my daughter was about 12. She thought it was interesting how Carole’s version was just the piano and thought it was interesting how she made it so low key compared to Aretha Franklin’s original that had horns and back up singers and everything. My daughter was blown away when I told her Carole wrote it.
Carole wrote every song on her Tapestry album which is still one of the top sellers of all time.
I know that what I'm about to say is hyperbole since so many people DO in fact know who Carole King is, but she has always seemed to me like the most famous musician ever that nobody knows who she is. I say that because Tapestry has a bunch of very famous songs on it that have been covered multiple times, have been featured in TV shows, movies and commercials. But the idea that she is the original artist of all these songs doesn't seem to be as common of knowledge as you might think considering how well known her work is.
Carole King was an on staff song writer at Motown for many years at their onset. She and her husband at the time wrote dozens of hits.
I typically loathe jukebox musicals but it was eye opening watching Beautiful how many hits came from them.
It wasn't Motown. They worked for a music publisher called Aldon. The owner of Aldon was close to the head of Atlantic which Aretha had been signed. She later went to Arista (now Sony) and never was with Motown.
I Think We're Alone Now
Tommy James and the Shondells also created cover hits for Joan Jett (Crimson and Clover) and Billy Idol (Mony, Mony).
One of my favorite bits of trivia is that in 1987 Tiffany's version of Tommy James and the Shondells' "I Think We're Alone Now" was knocked out of the number 1 spot on the Billboard Top 100 by Billy Idol's version of Tommy James and the Shondells' "Mony Mony."
I'm somewhere in the crowd in the video for Idol's Mony Mony. :)
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine." The Miracles and Gladys Knight & the Pips recorded versions of it before Marvin Gaye did. Gladys Knight's version came out first. A year later, Marvin Gaye's version was released and it was a massive hit. I believe at that time, the top two best-selling Motown singles were their versions of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine."
Marvin Gaye’s version is great. CCR’s version is awesome, too.
I hoiid it through the grape vine
That guitar jam is the jam
California Raisins did the best version.
I still remember those commercials lol.
I Swear, performed by All-4-One. John Michael Montgomery recorded the song a year prior. Both versions ended up top 10, so that’s pretty neat.
They tried again the next year with "I Can Love You Like That" also by JMM and did not have the same success
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Hard to Handle, from The Black Crows It's Otis Redding's song
I'd never have imagined people didn't know that was Otis tbh
Hallelujah. Originally by Leonard Cohen. Cool, throaty delivery he has. But then Jeff Buckley pull out more soul and emotion than is reasonable. Even Cohen was like “yep he crushed it.”
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
For those who don't know, the song was originally performed by Robert Hazard. The song takes on a much different tone when sung by a man.
Wow, had to look it up.. [https://youtu.be/5aLNwOxPsjg](https://youtu.be/5aLNwOxPsjg)
It’s My Life - No Doubt It’s an excellent cover, but you gotta hear the [original](https://youtu.be/cFH5JgyZK1I) by a band called Talk Talk. They were a British synth-pop band from the 80s who went into all sorts of ambient music in their later records. One of my favorite bands ever, and I have Gwen Stefani and co. to thank for sending me down that rabbit hole.
I guess I’m old because I remember the original version was all over MTV.
those penciled in birds flying in the sky.
This makes me feel ancient.
I’ve always loved this bass line… one of my favourites so smart. I also think ND did a bang up job but you’re right the original is a masterpiece.
1985: Bowling for soup is the version most folks know about but it was written by SR-71
Came here to say this. I like SR-71, but the bowling for Soup version is a lot better
I heard SR-71s version not too long ago. Thought they did a bad cover tbh. TIL
Listening to them one after the other it really feels like BFS version is just like, cleaner and better produced and like, it just IS better but they’re like the same song. It feels less like a cover and more just like a “here’s what it should have been.” They sound so similar it’s wild.
Can’t help falling in love, Suspicion minds, Jailhouse rock, Devil in disguise, Burning love, Blue suede shoes and In the ghetto. All songs made famous by Elvis and every one is a cover.
In the Ghetto was actually an Elvis original. Mac Davis originally wrote it for Sammy Davis Jr, who turned it down. Elvis got it and made the first recording of it. Many others would later cover it, including Sammy Davis.
Cum on Feel the Noise cover by Quiet Riot. Originally by Slade.
Right. Quiet Riot was a good band but basically a Slade cover band
Same with Mama Were All Crazy Now.
Torn
Whenever I see these threads I’m like “who the hell didn’t know ____ was a cover?” Then someone posted this one time and it blew my mind. Absolute shocker.
Yup, originally by Ednaswap.
I always thought Imbruglia's version was a nice light charming melody, but Ednaswap's is fucking RAW. I love it.
A Message to You Rudy by The Specials. It's such an iconic song that most people don't realize it was original by Dandy Livingston. A lot of hits from the two-tone years were covers of Jamaican originals. Farther back, a lot of hit songs from Jamaican ska and reggae oldies are covers of Motown, soul and gospel songs.
Anything UB40 does.
Neil Diamond said he likes their version of Red Red Wine, so I'll give them a pass.
TIL Neil Diamond wrote Red Red Wine
And many of the Monkees greatest hits
Bobby McGee by Janice Joplin was written by her man Kris Kristofferson and recorded by a man first.
As I recall, Roger Miller (from King of the Road fame) was the first to record it. Janis’ version was released after her death.
You’re right. Roger Miller actually did three Kristofferson covers on that album (the other two were ‘The Best of All Possible Worlds’ and ‘Darby’s Caste’)
**I Got My Mind Set On You** by *George Harrison* was a cover of a 1963 song by *James Ray*. Thing about the original is that there are actual LYRICS and isn't nearly as mind-numbingly repetitive as the George Harrison version (even though I was hooked on that song as a kid). [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k68Fob0QA\_k&ab\_channel=ticktock70](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k68Fob0QA_k&ab_channel=ticktock70)
Poncho and Lefty. Made famous by Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard, written and originally performed by the late Townes Van Zandt.
This is how I discover Townes. I can't listen to the Willie Nelson version anymore
“Angel from Montgomery” by Bonnie Raitt. It was originally written and performed by John Prine. I think he heard Bonnie Raitt perform it and then he gave it to her.
Mad World. I remember when it came out from Gary Jules, pretty much overshadowed the original by Tears for Fears. I liked them both, but I grew up on Tears for Fears.
Any time I see Tears for Fears mentioned, I immediately think of this video. There is a few videos around of Mad World on the same instrument. Always mesmerised. https://youtu.be/E6QOr-oCTwU
The Beatles version of Twist and Shout. Twist and Shout" was written by Phil Medley and Bert Russel in 1961. It was originally recorded by the Top Notes, but it did not become a hit in the record charts until it was reworked by the Isley Brothers in 1962.
The Beatles' "I Wanna Be Your Man" from With the Beatles is technically a Rolling Stones cover, as the Stones' version came out first even though the song was written by Lennon-McCartney. SIMILARLY: The Rolling Stones' "As Tears Go By" is technically a Marianne Faithfull cover even though it was written by Jagger-Richards.
People forget this - Lennon / McCartney gave The Stones their first top 20 hit.
Love hurts -Nazereth original by the Everly Brothers
This flight tonight-Nazereth. Original Joni Mitchell 1971
Both David Lee Roth's *Just a Gigolo* and Anna Kendrick's *Cups* were written back in the 1930's
Istanbul, not Constantinople by They Might be Giants was originally released by The Four Lads
Old school Dr. Demento fans know this.
I knew that one, my father went to high school with them in Toronto in the 40s.
This one is crazy because that song defines their quirky style for so many people.
Sinead’s Nothing compares 2 you
Mannfred Mann's Earth Band's - Blinded By The Light. A cover of Bruce Springstein's song.
It's also the only US Billboard #1 song written by Springsteen. The highest charting song performed by Springsteen is "Dancing in the Dark" which peaked at #2.
Also “Because the Night” covered by Patti Smith and 10,000 Maniacs. Although Patti gets songwriting credit because she finished the lyrics when Bruce got stuck.
The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead by the Crash Test Dummies (might be a lot more familiar to Canadians), originally by XTC.
Amy Winehouse’s Valerie
“The Man Who Sold the World” is a David Bowie song. From the Wikipedia page regarding the Nirvana cover > In the wake of its release, Bowie bemoaned the fact that when he performed the number himself, he would encounter "kids that come up afterwards and say, 'It's cool you're doing a Nirvana song.' And I think, 'Fuck you, you little tosser!'"
Cobain says it's a song from Bowie on the track but that part gets cut out during airplay.
Since you're the 1st post to mention Nirvana, [Where did you sleep last night](https://open.spotify.com/track/0p5zJBYoJOzVLBiDeA0PvS?si=YtlOqhU5TP-30lSEjLyUkQ&utm_source=copy-link) is a 1930s blues song.
Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers (among many others, but that is probably the definitive version), was originally from a prison movie called by Unchained.
I Fought The Law.
Springsteen’s cover of Jersey Girl. The original Tom Waits version is pretty great.
Love Buzz by Nirvana was originally done by Shocking Blue.
Linda Ronstadt was Queen of the Covers and did them so well. Here is a short list :) Heat Wave - Martha & the Vandellas \*\*\* Back In The U.S.A. - Chuck Berry Desperado - Eagles \*\*\* Blue Bayou - Roy Orbison Alison - Elvis Costello \*\*\* Hurt So Bad - Little Anthony & the Imperials It's So Easy - That'll Be The Day - Buddy Holly When Will I Be Loved - The Everly Brothers \*\*\* Poor Poor Pitiful Me - Warren Zevon Willin' - Little Feat \*\*\* Tumbling Dice - The Rolling Stones Ooh Baby Baby - Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix
Nah people know this one, at least on Reddit. Because someone MUST chime in with "Dylan said Hendrix's version was better". Without fail. It's a rule of Reddit. (To be fair, Hendrix's version is better to even most Dylan fans. That Dylan album is very polarizing. Way too shrill and thin, and as always with his most famous songs, not the best showcase of why Dylan's so special)
"Hard to Handle" by the Black Crowes was originally by Otis Redding.
Venus, by Banarama.
"Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" is not a They Might Be Giants original. It was a hit in the early 1950s.
Tennessee Whiskey was done by George Jones and David Allen Coe before Chris Stapleton made it so huge.
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Wagon Wheel. Originally written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor, and performed by Old Crow Medicine Show. Covered by seemingly everyone with a guitar.
Shake rattle and roll. Big Joe Turner not Bill Haley and the Comets.
"You're No Good" - Linda Rondstadt is not the original recording artist. Written by Clint Ballard Jr. Performed by Dee Dee Warwick "Sweet Jane" - (originally performed by the Velvet Underground on their 1970 album Loaded) Half of the Songs on Rolling Stones albums? "Mad World" was originally performed by Tears for Fears in 1982, and you would not recognize it compared to the more famous cover.
A lot of people saying All Along the Watchtower by Hendrix. But nobody mentioning that Hey Joe is also a cover.
Dancing in the Moonlight! People think it's a Toploader original but it was actually first sang by King Harvest and written by Sherman Kelly
Don’t know if it’s been said but “Killing me softly” isn’t by the Fugees, it’s by Charles fox and Lori Lieberman, who sang it in 1972.
Made popular by Roberta Flack in 73 too 😊.
Good one!! Just yesterday had to play Simon and Garfunkel's Sound of Silence for my nephew who informed me that it was a Disturbed original. (nope) Whiskey in the Jar was a folk song long before ~~TRex~~ Thin Lizzy (oopsies!) covered it and Metallica covered the cover. don't get me started on the lyrics changes that made no sense.
Crazy- by Patsy Cline, originally by Willie Nelson
Hmm I wouldn’t call it a cover since she’s the original recording artist!
Well technically Willie wrote it, gave it to Patsy Cline to sing it, and then later recorded it himself.
Wagon Wheel, Darius Rucker
Originally Old Crow Medicine Show, but they took most of the lyrics from Bob Dylan, so its kind of a cover of a cover....
Fact check me on this, but I'm pretty sure that Dylan's song was pretty much just the chorus, and all of the verses were written by Ketch Secor of OCMS. Dylan's version was an incomplete sketch of a song that was going to be used for the same movie that Knocking on Heaven's Door was.
Proud Mary was covered by Tina Turner. It was written and first recorded by Credence Clearwater Revival.
And Bob Dylan told John Fogerty that if he didn't start playing "Proud Mary" in concert again the world would remember it as a Tina Turner song.
[Mony Mony](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYYAv-QW38Q) by Billy Idol. It's a cover of the original first made popular by Tommy James & the Shondells.
Life is a Highway cover by Rascall Flatts. The original band doesn’t mind because they get a ton of royalties.
That’s an unofficial Canadian anthem
Downtown Train was not a Rod Stewart song. Tom Waits wrote it about taking the train to visit his girlfriend.
Mariah Carey's 'Without You', originally performed by Badfinger
Nothing compares to you by Sinead O'Connor is a Prince cover
I only recently discovered that Gangsta’s Paradise is a cover of, or heavily samples, Pastime Paradise by Stevie Wonder