What synthpop, electronic or dance music tunes are covers of older non-electronic tunes?

February 10, 2009 3:08 AM

Having recently discovered the original northern soul version of Tainted Love by Gloria Jones, I'm keen to find more songs like this, i.e. acoustic, rock, folk, soul, etc. songs which have a later and well known synthpop or electronic cover version.

So I'd like to put together a mix set of slightly to very obscure tunes of music made using real instruments, where all the songs have that "Oh, I know that one!" feeling, because you've heard the well known, iconic, synthpop or electronic version.

Basically, what I'm looking for is a list of synthpop, new romantic, electronic pop, dance music, etc (from 1980 onwards) tunes that are cover versions of older, non-electronic tunes, so that I can track down the originals. I'm not bothered about the quality of the originals - in fact, in many ways, the worse they are, the better.

posted by iivix to media & arts (39 answers total)

Speaking of Marc Almond, you should include Jacques Brel's "La chanson de Jacky" in your mix set. I think it matches your criteria. It's not very obscure, but I think Almond's cover is more well known over the world.

Marc Almond has made quite a few Brel covers over the years, BTW.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 3:28 AM on February 10, 2009

Iggy Pop - China Girl
posted by dydecker at 3:34 AM on February 10, 2009

Step On by The Happy Mondays is a remake of a track by Kongos.
posted by dydecker at 4:04 AM on February 10, 2009

Japan's 1980 cover of "Ain't That Peculiar," originally written by Smokey Robinson and here performed by Marvin Gaye in 1965.
posted by applemeat at 4:52 AM on February 10, 2009

Junior Boys do a version of the Cahn/Van Heusen standard "When No One Cares" that's pretty different from Frank Sinatra's take. Pairing them may highlight the comparatively meager quality of the Junior Boys version, though.

Of course, there's Devo's fantastic take on "Satisfaction." Too obvious to mention?
posted by .kobayashi. at 4:53 AM on February 10, 2009

Oh yeah, then there's Taco, who synth-pops Fred Astaire like nobody else.
posted by .kobayashi. at 4:57 AM on February 10, 2009

Perhaps the original is too famous (although I didn't realise it was a cover for many years) but how about Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Saint Etienne, a synthpop version of the Neil Young tune.
posted by ninebelow at 5:07 AM on February 10, 2009

I think the OP is after songs where the original was somewhat overlooked - And the Synth-Pop version was a 'hit'.

Most of the suggestions above seem the other way around. For Example:

Cindi Lauper had a hit with a cover of Iko Iko, which was of course a version of a much much older song:

James "Sugar Boy" Crawford: Jock-A-Mo (1953)
Larry Williams: Jockamo (aka Iko-Iko) (Late '50s)
Dr. John: Iko Iko (1972)
Dixie Cups: Iko Iko (1965)
posted by mary8nne at 5:09 AM on February 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

One more: Grace Jones' cover of the Normal's Warm Leatherette
posted by dydecker at 5:11 AM on February 10, 2009

Julian Cope's 1988 cover of The Vogue's 1965 "5 'o Clock World"
posted by applemeat at 5:16 AM on February 10, 2009

Bananarama recorded a version of Venus - the original Shocking Blue version was however also a #1 Hit in 1970.

Actually I think there have been a few hit covers over the years of Shocking Blue songs.
posted by mary8nne at 5:18 AM on February 10, 2009

Venus (not by Bananarama)

There's a million of these from the 80s. It's similar to the way in the late 90s hiphop would blatantly sample large chunks of earlier songs in a deliberate act of cultural memory-eraser sabotage.

How many people thought Locomotion was written by Kylie? Answer: Some.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 5:20 AM on February 10, 2009

here is a list of 80s Songs that were cover versions. so that might be a good start:

http://www.inthe80s.com/covers2.shtml

(actually they are mostly lesser known covers of 80s hits.)

-
also on the China Girl thing. wasn' that a Bowie song that he 'gave' to Iggy Pop cause Iggy was broke? Bowie later recorded his own version.
posted by mary8nne at 5:21 AM on February 10, 2009

that list has:

"Groovy Kind of Love", Originally by Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders , Remade by Phil Collins
posted by mary8nne at 5:23 AM on February 10, 2009

Wow, we're forgetting an obvious one:

Naked Eye's huge 1983 hit "Always Something there to Remind Me," a Burt Bacharach/Hal David song (here performed by Sandie Shaw in the early 1960's.)
posted by applemeat at 5:24 AM on February 10, 2009

also on the China Girl thing. wasn' that a Bowie song that he 'gave' to Iggy Pop cause Iggy was broke?

No. It was co-credited to both Pop and Bowie, as were all the songs on 'The Idiot'. Later Bowie might have recorded the song again for those reasons, but who knows?
posted by dydecker at 5:32 AM on February 10, 2009

China Girl: According to Wikipedia:
"China Girl" is a song which was co-written by Iggy Pop and David Bowie during their years in Berlin, first appearing on Pop's album The Idiot. However, it was not popularized until it was released by Bowie on his album Let's Dance. Bowie decided to put the song on his album when Pop, his old friend and musical collaborator, was in financial straits and was close to facing bankruptcy. Bowie decided to release the song on Let's Dance so that Pop could collect half the royalties (as co-writer of the track) and get back on his feet financially.
posted by mary8nne at 5:35 AM on February 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

not quite what you mean but the somewhat recent hit by Beck "Everybody's gotta learn sometime" was a cover of a lesser known track by Korgis
posted by mary8nne at 5:44 AM on February 10, 2009

"The Tide Is High" - The Paragons (Blondie)
"Bettie Davis Eyes" - Jackie DeShannon (Kim Carnes)
"I Want Candy" - The Strangeloves (Bow Wow Wow)
"Mary Mary" - The Monkees (Run DMC, after a fashion)
"Hazy Shade of Winter" - Simon & Garfunkel (The Bangles)
"Ring Of Fire" - Johnny Cash (Wall of Voodoo)
posted by rhizome at 5:49 AM on February 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

Eloise. Original 1968 Barry Ryan Version. 1986 version by The Damned.

"Money's Too Tight (To Mention)" is a single first recorded by The Valentine Brothers and successfully covered by the British pop/soul group Simply Red in 1985 (Wp)

"Don't Leave Me this Way" Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes then the Communards.
posted by Jakey at 5:50 AM on February 10, 2009

A little later example, The Lightening Seed's 1997 cover "You Showed Me," which was originally a 1968 song written by The Turtles.
posted by applemeat at 5:54 AM on February 10, 2009

The late 70s new wave-ish Denis by Blondie was a cover of Denise by Randy and the Rainbows.
posted by gspm at 6:29 AM on February 10, 2009

Other that might pass for "I didn't realize that" status...

Laura Branigan's hit Gloria was a cover of a late 70s Italian song Gloria by Umberto Tozzi.

The Love and Rockets hit Ball of Confusion is a cover of a Temptations song

As mentioned, I Want Candy (recorded by Bow Wow Wow among many others, was originally a song by the Strangeloves.
posted by gspm at 6:38 AM on February 10, 2009

Ritchie Cordel's Orignal 1967 Version of "I think we're alone now" (later covered by Tiffany most famously).

France Gall's original of "Laissez tombe les filles". Covered as "Chick Habit" by April March.


The Dixie Hummingbird's version of "She Loves Me Like a Rock". In fact they sang backing on Paul Simon's version - not sure if they wrote it.

The Go Gos version of "Our Lips are Sealed" - as covered by Duffy, Fun Boy 3, etc.

The Staple Singers original(?) of "Slippery People" as covered by Talking Heads.

Linda Lyndell's original of "What a Man" as covered by En Vogue.
posted by rongorongo at 7:03 AM on February 10, 2009

Laura Branigan also covered Tozzi's "Ti Amo".

And this straddles the line between plagiarism and covering, but Patsy Gallant's 1976 disco single "From New York to L.A." has a wholesale lifting of the melody from Gilles Vigneault's 1964 song "Mon Pays."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:06 AM on February 10, 2009

Not terribly well-known, but there's Orange Juice - L.O.V.E. Love, originally by Al Green.
posted by seldomfun at 7:14 AM on February 10, 2009

You might find the CD Uncovered helpful. I'm old enough that I didn't know some of these songs had been covered and/or were considered better known in the cover version than the originals.
posted by immlass at 7:23 AM on February 10, 2009

My favorite is Take Me to the River by Al Green, covered by the Talking Heads
posted by abirae at 8:11 AM on February 10, 2009

Jane & Barton's "It's A Fine Day", later made a hit by Opus 3 and Kirsty Hawkshaw
posted by coach_mcguirk at 9:25 AM on February 10, 2009

Thanks for all your suggestions so far.

> I think the OP is after songs where the original was somewhat overlooked - And the Synth-Pop version was a 'hit'

Yep, that's exactly it.

I've got to admit, I definitely thought Venus was 1980s original. Same for I Want Candy, Denis, I Think We're Alone Now. Those are exactly the sort of thing I was after.
posted by iivix at 9:29 AM on February 10, 2009

Most of The Specials' hits from their EP Specials were old reggae and ska hits that weren't famous in the mainstream music world. Rod Stewart's big hit "Reason to Believe" was originally a heartbreaking song by Tim Hardin (I definitely recommend listening to the original). Sheryl Crow's "The First Cut is the Deepest" is much, MUCH better sung by P.P. Arnold, although it was written by Cat Stevens.
posted by scarykarrey at 10:13 AM on February 10, 2009

This made me think of Cola Bottle Baby.
posted by Paragon at 10:22 AM on February 10, 2009

We're veering off the dance/electronic question point, aren't we? Anyhoo...

Lightning Seeds 'Touch' is a cover of a Colour Field album track that was only a few years old at the time.

But (he said, wheeling out the firepower), almost nobody knows that Robbie Williams' 'She's The One' is a note-for-note rip off, right down to the arrangement, of the original by World Party. Karl Wallinger's extremely unhappy about it, too, despite it having paid for his ongoing costs of living while he was crippled for several years by a brain aneurysm eight years ago whose onset, it is implied, may not be unrelated to his extreme stress and anger about that cover.
posted by genghis at 11:52 AM on February 10, 2009

This is sort of obvious since it was part of the original Soft Cell medley, but "Where Did Our Love Go" (The Supremes).

You might also want to check out Nouvelle Vague (http://www.nouvellesvagues.com/english/discog.html), which is sort of the opposite - retro / bossa-nova style covers of a lot of New Wave songs.
posted by PandaMcBoof at 2:30 PM on February 10, 2009

A different Devo suggestion: Working in a Coal Mine, originally performed by Lee Dorsey. Also: a contemporary performance by Allen Toussaint, the songwriter.
posted by O9scar at 7:02 PM on February 10, 2009

Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Neil Young.. Wikipedia tells me it was a top 40 hit in the 70's though, and the cover by Saint Etienne was a top 40 hit (UK) in the early 90's and was #1 on the dance charts.
posted by citron at 9:50 PM on February 10, 2009

Cheers for all your suggestions.

> Cola Bottle Baby

Yep that definitely has that "I know this one! Wait, what?!" feel, with the bonus of being a great tune in its own right.

> Only Love Can Break Your Heart by Neil Young..

Excellent stuff. It might have been a hit in 70s, but for those of us of a certain age it's totally a Saint Etienne tune.
posted by iivix at 2:48 AM on February 11, 2009

While on the subject of the origins of Sheryl Crow songs I was surprised to find that the lyrically inventive "All I Wanna Do" is pretty much lifted from Wyn Cooper's 1987 poem "Fun"
posted by rongorongo at 4:16 AM on February 11, 2009

And here is a page about the late Ritchie Cordell. He particularly deserves a mention here since he wrote both the afore-mentioned "I Think We're Alone Now" and "Mony Mony". These were consecutive number 1 hits in the UK for Tiffany and Billy Idol. He was the producer of Joan Jett's version of "I Love Rock'n Roll" - as originally done by The Arrows by the way.
posted by rongorongo at 4:54 AM on February 11, 2009