Instances where a cover song changes the title

Rufus and Chaka Khan - Ain't Nobody (1983)
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Richard X vs Liberty X - Being Nobody (2003)
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There have been several notable instances of this.

For example, the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" was covered by Tiffany, who titled her version "I Saw Him Standing There" (as it was from the opposite gender's viewpoint).

Leo Sayer - Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance), 1974
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Shooter - I Can Dance (Long Tall Glasses), 1975
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Elton John - I've Been Loving You (1968)
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Wednesday - Loving You Baby (1975)
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"Killing Me Softly With His Song" by Roberta Flack was covered by The Fugees, who dropped the last three words of the title.

"Candle in the Wind" is a threnody with music and lyrics by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It was originally written in 1973, in honor of Marilyn Monroe, who had died 11 years earlier. In 1997, John performed a rewritten version of the song, "Candle in the Wind 1997", as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales.

"Candle in the Wind" is a threnody with music and lyrics by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It was originally written in 1973, in honor of Marilyn Monroe, who had died 11 years earlier. In 1997, John performed a rewritten version of the song, "Candle in the Wind 1997", as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales.

That's true, sometimes when an artist re-records a song, they'll add something to the title (such as the year they rerecord it).

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In The Still Of The Night, The Five Satins

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Ronnie Milsap changes it up a little and calls his version “Lost In The Fifties Tonight”

I think this qualifies as an example...

In 1964, the Motown girl-group The Velvelettes recorded "He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'"; it was a minor hit, charting moderately well on the R&B singles chart in early '65.

In 1981, the British new-wave girl-group Bananarama recorded their own version of it, but gave it the title "Really Saying Something" (dropping "He Was" from the original title and spelling out the apostrophized words). Their version performed well on the charts in their native UK. Not so well in the US. (As an added bonus: Siobhan Fahey, a member of Bananarama, re-recorded the song decades later with her new band Shakespear's Sister, also under the title "Really Saying Something", but that version wasn't really a hit.)

"It's in His Kiss" is a song written and composed by Rudy Clark. It was first released as a single in 1963 by Merry Clayton that did not chart. The song was made a hit a year later when recorded by Betty Everett, who hit No. 1 on the Cashbox magazine R&B charts with it in 1964.

Covered...

"The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss)" by Cher, for the soundtrack of her 1990 film Mermaids in which it played under the closing credits, and the single's U.S. release coincided with the November release of the film.

"Bang A Gong (Get It On)" by T Rex was covered by supergroup The Power Station, who transposed the two three-word phrases so that the other one was parenthesized...IOW, their version was called "Get It On (Bang A Gong)"!

"Bang A Gong (Get It On)" by T Rex was covered by supergroup The Power Station, who transposed the two three-word phrases so that the other one was parenthesized...IOW, their version was called "Get It On (Bang A Gong)"!


When T. Rex originally released this song in their home base of England in 1971 it was simply called "Get It On". No parenthesis. Believe it or not, the American record company thought this was too risque and retitled it "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" for the American market. This was a few years before Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" in 1973. I suppose it was OK by then to say  "get it on".

When T. Rex originally released this song in their home base of England in 1971 it was simply called "Get It On". No parenthesis. Believe it or not, the American record company thought this was too risque and retitled it "Bang A Gong (Get It On)" for the American market. This was a few years before Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" in 1973. I suppose it was OK by then to say  "get it on".


I'm not surprised by that.  I read that some radio stations wouldn't play "You've Never Been This Far Before" by Conway Twitty because it was too suggestive lol

"Message to Michael" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, that has been a hit for several different artists under several different titles. The song was first recorded as "Message to Martha" by Jerry Butler in 1962. In 1964, singer Lou Johnson had a minor US hit with the song, with the title "Kentucky Bluebird". British singer Adam Faith also recorded the song as "A Message to Martha (Kentucky Bluebird)" in 1965, and had a substantial hit with it in the UK, reaching No. 12. Exactly the same recording was issued in Australia as "Message to Martha", where it was a No. 15 hit for Faith. In the United States, Dionne Warwick's version, titled "Message to Michael", was a top ten hit there in 1966.

"Brandy", later called "Mandy", is a song written by Scott English and Richard Kerr. It was originally recorded by English in 1971 and reached the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart. "Brandy" was recorded by New Zealand singer Bunny Walters in 1972, but achieved greater success when released in the United States in 1974 by Barry Manilow. For Manilow's recording the title changed from "Brandy" to "Mandy" to avoid confusion with Looking Glass's "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)". His version reached the top of the US Hot 100 Singles Chart. Later, it was recorded by many other artists. The song was a UK number-one hit in 2003 for Irish boyband Westlife.

"Candle in the Wind" is a threnody with music and lyrics by Elton John and Bernie Taupin. It was originally written in 1973, in honor of Marilyn Monroe, who had died 11 years earlier. In 1997, John performed a rewritten version of the song, "Candle in the Wind 1997", as a tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales.

That's true, sometimes when an artist re-records a song, they'll add something to the title (such as the year they rerecord it).
When singing  live, Elton John does not sing this song out of respect.

"Sloop John B" (originally published as "The John B. Sails") is a Bahamian folk song from Nassau. A transcription by Richard Le Gallienne was published in 1916, and a version was included in Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag in 1927. Since the early 1950s there have been many recordings of the song with variant titles including "I Want to Go Home" and "Wreck of the John B".

Renown covers:
"I Want to Go Home" by Lonnie Donegan in 1960
"Sloop John B" by the Beach Boys in 1966