UB40 - Red Red Wine (1983)
The only time I hear the 1968 Neil Diamond original is if I proactively listen to it.  UB40 based their cover version off the 1969 Tony Tribe cover version that was not a hit in North America, and only made #46 in the UK.  UB40 was the first act to take this song into the Top 40 in the US, UK and Canada

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXt56MB-3vc


Chilliwack - Arms of Mary (1978)
Had it not been for the Internet, I never would have known this was a cover version.  Now that I know (original by Sutherland Brothers and Quiver, 1976), I still often forget.  Both versions were hits in the US, but neither one made the Top 40.  Chilliwack's version reached #32 in Canada

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIYDLc837e8


Run-D.M.C. featuring Steven Tyler and Joe Perry - Walk This Way (1986)
The other day I heard it on the radio, and I was waiting for the DMC rap to come in, and it never did.  For a brief second, I had actually forgotten that there was a 1975 Aerosmith original

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B_UYYPb-Gk


Pukka Orchestra - Listen to the Radio (1984)
To be fair, the 1983 original version by Tom Robinson was not a hit in North America, but being a proactive listener of all songs that did not chart over here, I know his version (which is actually titled 'Atmospherics: Listen to the Radio') very well.  This cover reached #19 in Canada, and on the radio station I listen to, they play it atleast once a day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMmm0o_E-oQ

Hound Dog - Elvis   was a cover
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5JALwwaASg

Big Mama Thornton wrote it and sang it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_nNNIYTy9g








Every song on Led Zeppelins first album.

Going back to Neil Diamond again, he wrote and recorded this before some newfangled made-for-TV group got hold of it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ePXck9H1pI&feature=fvst

Though, to be fair, his version wasn't actually released until later in his career, but IMO it still counts as a cover...

Blinded by the Light ~ Manfred Mann's Earth Band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlBifX0H3yg

Original from Bruce Springsteen

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

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"I can't let go"  Song was co-written by Chip Taylor, who also wrote "Wild Thing" and is actor Jon Voight's brother. Song was a hit by the Hollies, in the UK

Here's another 60s version, which I like.

EVIE SANDS-I CAN'T LET GO

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

Here's Linda Ronstadt's version from circa 1980

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

Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now.

Tiffany's I Think We're Alone Now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkMFLUXTEwM

UB40's "Here I Am/Come And Take Me." I often forget that it was originally performed by Al Green.

Venus. I rarely think of the original by Shocking Blue. It's always Bananarama's awesome cover.

Venus. I rarely think of the original by Shocking Blue. It's always Bananarama's awesome cover.



Banarama's version is better.

Banarama's version is better.

Yes! And I love the video!

Yes! And I love the video!


me too.

Speaking of Bananarama, here's one for our British friends ...

One of the tracks on their 1983 debut album was called Young at Heart.  It was never released as a single.
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The following year, the song's co-writer Robert Hodgens recorded it with his band The Bluebells and it reached the UK Top 10 (A re-release in 1994 would top the UK chart)
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I had the Bananarama album, so I was familiar with that version.  It wasn't until I proactively started looking up UK charts in the late 90s that I learned of The Bluebells version, which is the one I prefer!

"Der Kommissar" by After The Fire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxa2HtNzuo0

This version was popular around early 1982-1983, although Falco had written it and originally recorded it in 1981, primarily in German (with a few words in English).

I've made this mistake a couple of times: calling the Bobby Fuller Four version of "I Fought The Law" the "original", but then I catch myself and remember that it was actually The Crickets who did the original.

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I've made this mistake a couple of times: calling the Bobby Fuller Four version of "I Fought The Law" the "original", but then I catch myself and remember that it was actually The Crickets who did the original.


I always seem to think of Bobby Fuller Four's version as the original too, simply because I never knew that the Crickets originally performed it. But you learn something new every day!

In addition, I know that the Clash also recorded a cover of it.

"Can't Get Enough Of You, Baby" - by Smash Mouth (1998). Apparently that song is a cover.

It was written by Denny Randell and Sandy Linzer and recorded by various artists, including the protopunk band ? and the Mysterians in 1967 (US Hot 100 #56). A year earlier, 1966, it had been recorded by two different bands: The Toys (of "A Lover's Concerto" fame) and The Four Seasons.

In 1985 it was recorded by a British band called The Colourfield; I have heard that version.

Then in 1998, Smash Mouth recorded their version, which was a big hit that year; it was on the soundtrack to that year's film Can't Hardly Wait and later included on their 1999 album Astro Lounge.

Barry White's 1974 No.1 in the UK  'You're The First, The Last, My Everything', the singer's first UK No.1, was riginally written in the 1950's as a country song with the title 'You're My First, You're My Last, My In-Between.'

Pretty much everyone who sings Boys of the Summer. Takes me a while to remember it was Bruce Springsteen.

edit: MESS it was made by Don Henley.

As a kid, I thought the song "Give a Little Bit", as performed by Puffy amiyumi for a Hurricane Katrina relief commercial, was the original version.

Years later I learned it was originally a Supertramp song (I know, shameful!).

As a kid, I thought the song "Give a Little Bit", as performed by Puffy amiyumi for a Hurricane Katrina relief commercial, was the original version.

Years later I learned it was originally a Supertramp song (I know, shameful!).

...and later covered by the Goo Goo Dolls.

To be honest, I never knew that "Let's Grove" by CDB was a cover of the Earth, Wind & Fire song of the same name. I only found that out tonight.  :-"Let's Groove" - Earth, Wind & Fire (1980)

"Let's Groove" - CDB (1995)

"Hard To Handle" by the Black Crowes.

It was originally recorded by Otis Redding in 1967 not long before his untimely death; and his version was released the following June. (Of course it was more than 2+ decades later when the Black Crowes recorded their version and scored a big hit with it.)

"A Little Help From My Friends" by Joe Cocker.  Always forget it was a Beatles song first.

"House Of The Rising Sun" by the Animals.  I thought I read Bob Dylan even liked their version better than his.

Being a 90s country fan, I forget that "Piece Of My Heart" by Faith Hill was by Janis Joplin.  I prefer Faith's version better.

"Downtown Train" by Rod Stewart, done by Tom Waits and several others first.

Not me particularly, but there are a lot of people who either forget or don't even know that the 1982 classic Hold On by Santana is a cover song.  It was written and first recorded by Ian Thomas the previous year, and while his version was a Top 40 hit in Canada, radio stations will still play the Santana version as it charted higher, and because Ian wrote it, it still qualifies for the same CANCON requirements regardless if they played Ian's original

"A Little Help From My Friends" by Joe Cocker.  Always forget it was a Beatles song first.

"House Of The Rising Sun" by the Animals.  I thought I read Bob Dylan even liked their version better than his.



Although keep in mind, it isn't a Dylan song either. It's a traditional folk song. Bob Dylan took his version from folksinger Dave Van Ronk's version. The Animals took their version, presumably, from Dylan. Joan Baez was also doing it around the same time as Van Ronk. It's been around forever.

I HOPE people know that Dolly Parton wrote "I Will Always Love You" and had a #1 country hit with it in 1974, long before Whitney Houston bellowed her overblown and histrionic version years later. And actor Richard Harris had a smash hit in 1968 with Jimmy Webb's unusual song "MacArthur Park". You'd be amazed how many people mistakenly think Donna Summer was the first to do that song.

And actor Richard Harris had a smash hit in 1968 with Jimmy Webb's unusual song "MacArthur Park". You'd be amazed how many people mistakenly think Donna Summer was the first to do that song.

I for one know Richard Harris' version fairly well. I also know that Weird Al wrote and recorded a parody of that version in 1993, 25 years later, and called it "Jurassic Park".