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Songs where the famous version is a cover

Started by SteveG1988, October 06, 2014, 12:32:02 PM

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SteveG1988

For example, in the USA the song Gloria is known as a Laura Brannigan hit from 1982, but it is really a reworked and fully reworded version of a 1979 Italian song, no lyrics other than the word Gloria is shared.
I found out about the Italian version while watching the wolf of wallstreet, song sounded familiar...but due to being in Italian it didn't catch until the beat and the lyric "Gloria" since the beat is almost the same.




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Henry

And speaking of 1982, Dolly Parton had a hit song called I Will Always Love You. Of course, the Whitney Houston version from 1992 is by far the better-known one.
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SteveG1988

I wish i could find it again but it has been taken down, the 1979 song Video Killed The Radio Star by the Buggles is a cover of a 1979 song called Video Killed The Radio Star, by Bruce Wooley and the camera club. Bruce Wooley, and Trevor Horn (Of the buggles) wrote it together. Weird cover story.
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Brandon

"I Heard It Through The Grapevine" - Marvin Gaye.  The Gladys Knight and the Pips version was the first released commercially.  Smokey Robinson and the Miracles recorded it first, but it was not released commercially, having been rejected by Barry Gordy as not having been "strong enough".

"Respect" - Aretha Franklin.  Otis Redding wrote and recorded the song.  She took it to much greater heights a couple of years later.

"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

Molandfreak

"Blinded by the Light," by Manfred Mann. Originally by Bruce Springsteen.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 05, 2023, 08:24:57 PM
AASHTO attributes 28.5% of highway inventory shrink to bad road fan social media posts.

Brandon

Quote from: Henry on October 06, 2014, 12:36:01 PM
And speaking of 1982, Dolly Parton had a hit song called I Will Always Love You. Of course, the Whitney Houston version from 1992 is by far the better-known one.

The song is older than 1982 (Best Little Whorehouse in Texas).  Parton originally penned it in 1973, releasing it in 1974.  It is, far, far better than Houston's screeching that permeates the cover.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

US71

Hugo Montenegro - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Paul Revere and the Raiders- Indian Reservation (originally released 1959 by Marvin Rainwater as "The Pale Faced Indian")
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Molandfreak

"Get Down, Make Love"--originally by Queen, covered by Nine Inch Nails. I think the NIN version is slightly more famous.

"Hurt"--originally by NIN, but covered by Johnny Cash. I prefer the NIN version, but a lot of people seem to prefer Cash's version.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on December 05, 2023, 08:24:57 PM
AASHTO attributes 28.5% of highway inventory shrink to bad road fan social media posts.

geocachingpirate

The song "The First Cut Is the Deepest" was written by Cat Stevens and originally released by P.P. Arnold.  The more famous versions are by Sheryl Crow and Rod Stewart.
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1995hoo

"Twist and Shout" is widely associated with the Beatles, especially by younger people who remember it from the Ferris Bueller movie, but it was originally a hit for the Isley Brothers.

Much more recently, Natalie Imbruglia had a hit with "Torn" (seemingly inescapable on the radio in 1997), a song originally recorded by an obscure band named Ednaswap.
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commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
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hbelkins

"I'm A Man." Originally by the Spencer Davis Group. A minor hit by Chicago on their first album.

I would almost argue that Van Halen's version of "You Really Got Me" is more famous than the original by The Kinks.

Can't remember who originally recorded "Soul Man" -- think it may have been Sam & Dave -- but The Blues Brothers' version is more famous.


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Grzrd

For a long time, "With a Little Help From My Friends" performed by Joe Cocker was much more popular than the Beatles' version on Sgt. Pepper:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POaaw_x7gvQ

Some might argue that John Belushi performing as Joe Cocker performing "With a Little Help From My Friends" enjoyed a brief spot at the top:


Brandon

Quote from: hbelkins on October 06, 2014, 01:12:51 PM
"I'm A Man." Originally by the Spencer Davis Group. A minor hit by Chicago on their first album.

I would almost argue that Van Halen's version of "You Really Got Me" is more famous than the original by The Kinks.

Can't remember who originally recorded "Soul Man" -- think it may have been Sam & Dave -- but The Blues Brothers' version is more famous.

Not sure I'd argue any of those as being more famous than the originals.

Spencer Davis Group took "I'm A Man" up to #10 on the Billboard charts while Chicago's version only got to #49.

Van Halen's version of "You Really Got Me" is more famous due to a Nissan commercial than anything else, but may be equal in how famous and popular the song is.

"Soul Man" is a Sam and Dave song (penned by Issac Hayes and David Porter), and I'd argue that the original is more famous than the Blues Brothers cover.  An interesting tidbit is that Steve Cropper and Donald "Duck" Dunn played on both the original and the Blues Brothers cover.
"If you think this has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention." - Ramsay Bolton

"Symbolic of his struggle against reality." - Reg

Pete from Boston

Nissan commercial?  Not quite.  "You Really Got Me" was a huge hit for Van Halen almost twenty years prior.  People used to tell the Kinks they did a great Van Halen cover, it was so well known.

Kacie Jane

Quote from: Molandfreak on October 06, 2014, 12:45:04 PM
"Blinded by the Light," by Manfred Mann. Originally by Bruce Springsteen.

*shrug* As a Springsteen fan, that's debatable to me. I was raised on the original, and never heard Manfred Mann's version until I was into my 20s. Although I realize that's anecdata and doesn't actually speak to which one's more famous.

On the opposite side, "Jersey Girl". Written by Tom Waits, but in my eyes, has to be a considered Springsteen song.

DandyDan

#15
Wow, we went this far without mentioning Jimi Hendrix's cover of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower".

Quote from: Brandon on October 06, 2014, 01:44:29 PM
Van Halen's version of "You Really Got Me" is more famous due to a Nissan commercial than anything else, but may be equal in how famous and popular the song is.
I always thought the reason that one was famous was because every radio station played "Eruption"/"You Really Got Me", where it was always played as a medley, even though they are separate songs, like Queen's "We Will Rock You"/"We Are the Champions".
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Pete from Boston

#16
Who can forget that classic George Benson theme from the Muhammad Ali biography movie The Greatest, starring Muhammad Ali: "The Greatest Love of All"? 

The answer is EVERYONE, because all anyone remembers is the Whitney Houston cover.


(Apologies to Randy Watson and Sexual Chocolate, who never truly got their due for their version, but it is what it is.)

roadman65

#17
Every Time You Go Away by Paul Young did better than Hall & Oates did.

Broken Arrow by Rod Stewart did better than Robbie Roberston who wrote and originally released it.

Eric Clapton I Shot The Sherrif did better than Bob Marley.

Also Clapton had hits with JJ. Cale Cocaine, and After Midnight.

Depending on who you ask, the unplugged Layla is a hit over the original for today's generation of music lovers.  Though the same artist, it is a cover. However the classic Clapton fans will say that the Derek and The Dominos version is the more famous one.

Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

Laura

Blue Suede's "Hooked on a Feeling" was a cover of a cover. The original was by B.J. Thomas, and the first cover was by Jonathan King (who added the hooga chaka to it). The David Hasselhoff cover is well known, too ;)


Pete from Boston

I'll start the list of countless Led Zeppelin songs that they were not the first to record but nonetheless will always get most of the credit for with Robert Johnson's "Traveling Riverside Blues."

Might as well add Robert Johnson's "Crossroads," and the many people from Eric Clapton on that got more credit than he did.

Come to think of it, the world of covered blues songs could be a thread all on its own.

roadman65

Does anyone know ig Billy Joel's Shameless was  more popular by Mr. Joel himself or after it gotten covered by Garth Brooks?  If Mr. Brooks was more popular than this would count toward this thread.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

6a

I don't know if the argument could be made that Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi is *less* popular than the cover by Counting Crows & Vanessa Carlton, but try finding someone under 30 who doesn't think those versions are reversed.

NJRoadfan

"If You Asked Me To" by Celine Dion was far more popular than the original Patti Labelle version. I didn't even know the latter existed until I heard it play over the credits of "License to Kill".

Brian556

"Hard To Handle" By the Black Crowes was originally done by Otis Redding in 1968.
"How Am I Supposed To Live Without You". The Michael Bolton version from 1989/90 is most remembered, but it was done by Laura Branigan in 1982.
"Ashes By Now". The LeAnn Womak version is more known, but Rodney Crowell did the original.

quote from roadman65:
QuoteDoes anyone know ig Billy Joel's Shameless was  more popular by Mr. Joel himself or after it gotten covered by Garth Brooks?  If Mr. Brooks was more popular than this would count toward this thread.
I had no idea "Shameless" was not a Garth original. I did stand out to me as a not-very-country country song, though.

amroad17

R.E.M.'s "Superman" from 1986's Life's Rich Pageant was a cover from a group called The Clique, who did the original in 1969.
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