Songs you didn't know were covers b/c originals are relatively obscure
September 16, 2017 12:14 PM   Subscribe

After the current bump in online chatter regarding Natalie Imbruglia's 1997 hit "Torn" actually being a cover of a relatively obscure song by relatively obscure group Ednaswap from 1993, I'm curious just how many of the songs I know and love are actually covers by popular artists of unknown/obscure bands/songs.

Tell me about the awesome original recordings nobody knows about that got lost in history, only to come to prominence as performed by entirely different artists (and generally no acknowledgement of the people who wrote/performed it first).

I'm not looking for the reverse, so please don't recommend great covers of already-popular songs or the like. That's a whole other ask.

No offense meant if you are the world's biggest Ednaswap fan--but your average FM-listening Joe hasn't heard of them, and that's what I'm after.

Hit me!
posted by tzikeh to Media & Arts (92 answers total) 57 users marked this as a favorite
 
Here's a list of 20 more.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 12:23 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


It was years before I realized that "Brand New Cadillac", which the Clash recorded so memorably on "London Calling", was a cover.
posted by Nerd of the North at 12:23 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]


The original I Want Candy is a cute vaguely surf-y faux-British Invasion thing from 1965, with a pun on "Candy" as a girl's name that stopped making any sense when Bow Wow Wow gender-swapped it.
posted by nebulawindphone at 12:24 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


She's The One by World Party was copied note for note, arrangement and all, wholesale by boyband refugee Robbie Williams. There is some speculation that the cover (and the fact it sold about forty bajillion copies and was completely unavoidable for nearly a whole year) nearly literally killed the original artist.

Gloria Jones's 1965 version of Tainted Love smashes the Soft Cell cover into a million pieces.

Without You by Nilsson is also a cover. But of a lousy original.
posted by genghis at 12:27 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


I bet a lot of Bruce Springsteen fans have no idea that Jersey Girl is a Tom Waits song.
posted by ejs at 12:33 PM on September 16, 2017 [5 favorites]


Once upon a time, Mambo No. 5 was actually a mambo.

No word on mambos 1-4, though.
posted by basalganglia at 12:37 PM on September 16, 2017 [5 favorites]


A lot of 1960s-1970s rock songs were originally written by blues musicians or folk singers.

>In their career, the British rock band Led Zeppelin recorded many songs that consisted, in whole or part, of pre-existing songs, melodies, or lyrics. They sometimes credited those sources, sometimes not. This was common practice in the blues music world that influenced Led Zeppelin. The band has been sued a number of times over attribution, some cases having concluded with others being awarded writing credit for the song in question.

>In 1969, the Rolling Stones recorded an updated rendition [of Love in Vain] featuring an electric slide guitar solo. The popularity of their adaptation led to a lawsuit over the copyright, which was eventually resolved in favor of Johnson's estate.
posted by philfromhavelock at 12:52 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


Cyndi Lauper sang Money Changes Everything 3 years after The Brains did it first.
posted by Homer42 at 12:59 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


Best answer: "They Don't Know" by Tracy Ullman, orig: Kirsty MacColl
"I've Got My Mind Set On You" by George Harrison, orig: James Ray
"Some Other Guy" by The Beatles, orig: Richie Barrett
"What Am I Doing Hanging Around?" by The Monkees, orig: Michael Martin Murphy
"Shake A Tail Feather" by Ray Charles in "The Blues Brothers", orig: The Five Du-Tones
"Drift Away" by Dobie Gray, orig: John Henry Kurtz

Sorry about all the "embedding disabled" bullshit
posted by rhizome at 1:01 PM on September 16, 2017 [7 favorites]


Robert Hazard's original version of the song is known mostly because Cyndi Lauper's breakout hit with Girls Just Want to Have Fun 4 years later.
posted by Homer42 at 1:05 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


Dolly Parton wrote and performed the original version of Whitney Houston's blockbuster hit, I Will Always Love You.
posted by Room 641-A at 1:05 PM on September 16, 2017 [18 favorites]


I love these types of questions. My favorite example of this is the Eddie Vedder song that was used in Into the Wild Hard Sun, is actually by Gordon Peterson (Indio) which was big in Canada brifly but who sort of faded away afterwards. But Vedder changed a few of the lyrics and Peterson sued.
posted by jessamyn at 1:10 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]


I Love Rock & Roll - made famous by Joan Jett & The Blackhearts. Originally performed by The Arrows.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 1:11 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


The Clash were quite a cover machine.

Janis Joplin's "Get it While You Can" was a cover of Howard Tate.
posted by General Malaise at 1:15 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


The Exciters did Do-Wah-Diddy-Diddy well before Manfred Mann
posted by TheRaven at 1:23 PM on September 16, 2017


Naked Eyes' brilliant treatment of "Always Something There to Remind Me" eclipsed numerous earlier recordings of same; perhaps this was only a surprise to us kids who grew up in the '80s.

I seem to recall hearing stories about Nirvana fans praising David Bowie for his "cover" of "The Man Who Sold the World." In fairness, that Unplugged version made it sound VERY Kurt Cobain-y.
posted by armeowda at 1:30 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]


Best answer: The Clash were quite a cover machine.

Yeah, I'm not gonna dive too deep into The Beatles, either.

"Ball and Chain" by Janis Joplin is unrecognizable from the Big Mama Thornton original.
"Hanging On The Telephone" by Blondie, orig: The Nerves
"Istanbul Not Constantinople" by They Might Be Giants, orig: The Four Lads
"There's a Kind of Hush" by Herman's Hermits and The Carpenters, orig: The New Vaudeville Band
"Blinded by the Light" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, orig: Bruce Springsteen
"Without You" by Nilsson, orig: Badfinger
posted by rhizome at 1:31 PM on September 16, 2017 [8 favorites]


"Blinded by the Light" was originally by Bruce Springsteen, a version I never heard until I was well into my 20s and someone played me his album. (I am too lazy for links, sorry!)
posted by obfuscation at 1:31 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


Oh, also relevant to your research is this TVTropes entry, though by design it is ruled by the Law of YMMV.
posted by armeowda at 1:34 PM on September 16, 2017


The anti-war song "Universal Soldier" was written and recorded by indigenous musician Buffy Sainte-Marie before it became a big hit for Donovan.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:36 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]


I was recently surprised when I heard Tom Rush's original version of No Regrets, having always known The Walker Brothers' cover of it without knowing it was a cover.
posted by misteraitch at 1:38 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


"There She Goes" is originally by criminally underappreciated band The La's but Sixpence None the Richer's version achieved greater fame.
posted by jocelmeow at 1:54 PM on September 16, 2017 [7 favorites]


I think enough people know Nick Lowe wrote 'What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding,' but they may not have actually heard his Brinsley Schwarz version.
posted by sageleaf at 1:56 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]


Tears for Fears published Mad World in 1983. Gary Jules published a cover that was included on the soundtrack of the film Donnie Darko that is so different from the original that I did not recognise it.
Joni Mitchell published This Flight Tonight. Nazareth published a very different cover of it.
This may be an outlier, but Stephen Duffy and Tin Tin published '80s dance classic Kiss Me... some of the lyrics in the chorus are from the Song of Solomon.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 2:10 PM on September 16, 2017 [5 favorites]


There's a song that was a US hit in 1956: "My Prayer" as performed by The Platters. (It recently figured prominently in the Twin Peaks revival.)

Not only is it a cover of a Glenn Miller recording from 1939, the Glenn Miller recording is a cover of the 1926 Romanian instrumental original.
posted by infinitewindow at 2:11 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


Also? The Golden Girls theme was a cover.
posted by infinitewindow at 2:14 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


Most folks think They Might Be Giants wrote "Why Does the Sun Shine?" but it's a cover of a song from a 1965 series called Singing Science.
posted by rhiannonstone at 2:17 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]


I bet a lot of Bruce Springsteen fans have no idea that Jersey Girl is a Tom Waits song.

Downtown Train is also originally Tom Waits, but TBH I don't know any Rod Stewart fans so I have no idea if they know that or not. :)
posted by nebulawindphone at 2:22 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


Steve Miller made famous "Jet Airliner" apparently after hearing the original artist's then unreleased album. Paul Pena was the original writer/performer, and you should watch the documentary "Genghis Blues" to learn much more.
posted by mzurer at 2:27 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]


Naked Eyes' brilliant treatment of "Always Something There to Remind Me" eclipsed numerous earlier recordings of same; perhaps this was only a surprise to us kids who grew up in the '80s.

Should have ridden in the car with my mom, then. "I know that! That's a Burt Bacharach song!"

"There She Goes" is originally by criminally underappreciated band The La's but Sixpence None the Richer's version achieved greater fame.

On the other hand I'm so old I had no idea that cover existed.

My late friend Amanda overheard a couple vapid girls at a Dave Matthews Band concert, where one revealed to the other that Dave Matthews hadn't written All Along the Watchtower, Jimi Hendrix had. Amanda told them the Bob Dylan had written it, and the Jimi Hendrix girl said, "whatever."

Does Toxic count since it was written for, but never recorded by, Kylie Minogue?
posted by fedward at 2:31 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


"Not Fade Away" was written and recorded by Buddy Holly before the Rolling Stones got to it.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 2:37 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


Neil Diamond wrote Red Red Wine. Several bands covered it, but the reggae cover by UB40 is much more famous. Diamond later performed a UB40-inspired version of the song while on tour.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 2:37 PM on September 16, 2017 [8 favorites]


Best answer: Limit to your Love by James Blake (22m views on Youtube) was originally a Feist album track (712k views). Coincidentally, Feist's big hit from that same album, 1234, was itself a cover of an unreleased song by Sally Seltmann.

Gloria, Ti Amo, and Self-Control by Laura Branigan were all originally Italian disco songs. (Gloria & Ti Amo by Umberto Tozzi, and Self Control by Raf).
posted by rollick at 2:39 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


Also, Midnight Train to Georgia was originally written and recorded by Jim Weatherly as Midnight Plane to Houston. Gladys Knight wasn't the one who changed the lyrics, Cissy Houston (Whitney's mom) was. “My people are originally from Georgia, and they didn’t take planes to Houston or anywhere else. They took trains.”
posted by fedward at 2:44 PM on September 16, 2017 [5 favorites]


This one doesn't quite fit, but it's such a weird story it's worth knowing about.

Sheryl Crow's 1994 hit All I Wanna Do (wiki) was based on an obscure poem by poet Wyn Cooper, originally published in a book of poetry with a 500 copy print run. Crow's group found the book in a used bookstore, and Cooper ended up with a huge sum of unexpected money and a new career as a professional songwriter.
posted by rollick at 2:52 PM on September 16, 2017 [11 favorites]


He's not exactly a household name, but a lot of people have heard José González's soulful version of Heartbeats without realizing it's a cover of electro-pop duo The Knife.

I recently learned that most of "All By Myself" by Eric Carmen (later covered by Celine Dion) was directly based on the second movement from Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18. Carmen did the same thing with Never Gonna Fall in Love Again and the third movement from Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony (skip to around 7:30). He ended up having to give 12% of the royalties to Rachmaninoff's estate when he was informed that, "No, just because it's classical does not automatically make it public domain."
posted by Diagonalize at 2:59 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


The song "Handy Man" was originally recorded by The Sparks of Rhythm, then Jimmy Jones had a hit with a very different version, then Conway Twitty recorded a countryfied version that sort of split the difference (although it wasn't released as a single), then Del Shannon had another hit with a version similar to Jones' version, then James Taylor slowed it way down in a version that seems closer to Twitty's take and had huge hit.
posted by slkinsey at 3:09 PM on September 16, 2017


From my 70's childhood: Captain and Tennille's Love Will Keep Us Together and the Carpenters' Breakin' Up Is Hard To Do are both Neil Sedaka songs.
posted by fedward at 3:13 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


The song "Mack the Knife" which is well known in classic pop renditions by Bobby Darin and Louis Armstrong comes from "Die Moritat von Mackie Messer" from Kurt Weil's Die Dreigroschenoper and sounds like this.
posted by slkinsey at 3:16 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


Toni Basil's "Mickey" is a reworking of Racey's "Kitty".
posted by themanwho at 3:16 PM on September 16, 2017 [4 favorites]


90s alt-rockers Mazzy Star had a minor hit with "Blue Flower", which was done by the Pale Saints a year later. 70s avant-popsters Slapp Happy did the original.
posted by hydrophonic at 3:32 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


"Blue Suede Shoes" — written and originally recorded by Carl Perkins, covered by Elvis Presley

"Twist and Shout" — originally recorded by the Isley Brothers, covered by the Beatles (Yes, I know, the Isley Brothers version isn't obscure — but the Beatles' version is far better known and many people don't realize it's a cover!)

"Time Is on My Side" — written by "Norman Meade" (Jerry Ragovoy), originally recorded by Kai Winding and his Orchestra, covered by the Rolling Stones

"The House of the Rising Sun" was a traditional song developed by many people over time, including Bob Dylan, before the famous version by the Animals.

"I Heard It Through the Grapevine" — written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, originally recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips, then Marvin Gaye

"Love Buzz" — originally written/recorded by Shocking Blue in 1969, then covered by Nirvana on their debut album 20 years later (and it was their first single).
posted by John Cohen at 4:04 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


"Sukiyaki" by A Taste of Honey, orig: Kyu Sakamoto (different lyrics)
posted by rhizome at 4:20 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


"Angel of the Morning" by Juice Newton, orig: Merrillee Rush
posted by rhizome at 4:23 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


Patsy Gallant had a 1970s disco hit with From New York to LA. The tune is from Gilles Vigneault's Mon Pays, which incensed a lot of Québecois people, who viewed Mon Pays as a Québec nationalist anthem.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 4:39 PM on September 16, 2017


The Pointer Sisters' Fire is a Springsteen song, though he hadn't yet recorded it. Their version is nice. His version blows them away.
posted by she's not there at 4:44 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


Sorry—I forgot about the "obscure" part. The Pointer Sisters released Fire in 1978, i.e., about 2 years after Bruce made the cover of both Time and Newsweek in the same week.
posted by she's not there at 4:51 PM on September 16, 2017


John Hiatt-Thing Called Love covered by Bonnie Raitt

John Hiatt-Angel Eyes covered by Jeff Healey

And I don't want to go down the rabbit hole that would be looking for Harry Nilsson videos, but a number of his songs were covered by others with greater success, while some of his biggest hits were covers of others songs.

Finally, the ever-schmaltzy Seasons in the Sun by Terry Jacks was a cover of a Jacques Brel song called Le Moribond, which is the same song but also very different pre-translation.
posted by TedW at 4:52 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


I only very recently discovered that Physical by Nine Inch Nails - a song I've loved for nigh on 20 years - is a cover of an Adam and The Ants original, also totally awesome.
posted by freya_lamb at 5:03 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


Since I brought up cheesy 1970s pop, I might as well point out that Paper Lace originally recorded Billy Don't Be A Hero which was a US #1 for Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods.
posted by TedW at 5:07 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


Roger Miller recorded Me and Bobby McGee a year before Janis Joplin.
Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails wrote and recorded Hurt before Johnny Cash.
posted by jmsta at 5:08 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


For certain values of obscure: as a North American child of the seventies, my instinct is that "Love Hurts" is by Nazareth*. It was years later that I learned it was shopped around by the original writer Boudleaux Bryant a decade and a half earlier, and had been recorded by The Everly Brothers as an album track and subsequently released as a single by Roy Orbison. (I could have sworn I also have heard a demo by Buddy Holly, but no luck in Googling it now.)

The Who used to play it in their very early days, lifting their arrangement from Orbison. They were still playing it occasionally in 1989. When they played in Toronto on that tour, it did not have Roger's explanation which explains how I was mystified in the eighties to hear a sixties band playing a somewhat fifties arrangement of what I thought to be a seventies song. Note that you can tell how much influence Nazareth had on popular perceptions of the song: they changed exactly one word of the lyrics and their change is incorporated int almost every rendition since ("Love is like a stove flame that burns you when it's hot.")

*I specify North American because Brits of a similar vintage might recollect it as a Jim Capaldi song, which I had never heard until last year.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:11 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


Also... Tin Tin Out's smash hit Here's Where The Story Ends was an anodyne rendering of the far superior early 90's original by indiepop lovelies The Sundays.
posted by freya_lamb at 5:16 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


Oh, also Kim Carne's anthemic New Wave "Bette Davis Eyes"? A rolicking barrelhouse Jackie DeShannon number from eight years earlier. DeShannon and co-writer Donna Weiss came to some shaky peace with the new arrangement, I think.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:20 PM on September 16, 2017


I had cleanse my palate after those last few videos so here is the traditional Whiskey In The Jar; covered by numerous bands, but many consider The Dubliners version its first wide exposure, then covered by Thin Lizzy, and eventually Metallica.
posted by TedW at 5:26 PM on September 16, 2017


I'm not going to find all the videos, but The First Cut is the Deepest has a long history of being covered after Cat Stevens wrote it, most notably by Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow.
posted by TedW at 5:56 PM on September 16, 2017


Mary Chapin Carpenter had a huge hit with Passionate Kisses in 1992, but Lucinda Williams wrote it, and released it in 1989.
posted by SuperSquirrel at 6:22 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


Roger Miller recorded Me and Bobby McGee a year before Janis Joplin.

And that song was written by Kris Kristofferson who also recorded a version before Joplin, as did Gordon Lightfoot, Bill Haley and the Comets, and others. Lightfoot's version reached #1 on the Canadian country charts, so not obscure, but I don't think it's widely known.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:26 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


Superman by REM is a cover of a song by Le Clique.
posted by rednikki at 6:54 PM on September 16, 2017 [3 favorites]


Hazy Shade of Winter was written by Simon and Garfunkel in 1966. Covered by The Bangles in 1987.
posted by Zedcaster at 9:21 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


The Brothers Johnson topped the R&B chart in 1977 with Strawberry Letter 23 – which was written and recorded by Shuggie Otis in 1971.
posted by nicwolff at 9:57 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


I just found out that Elvis Costello's "A Good Year For the Roses" was a cover; he did quite a few cover versions.
posted by kmennie at 10:07 PM on September 16, 2017


Australia's unofficial Indigenous anthem 'My Island Home' was made famous by Christine Anu, who later performed it at the Sydney Olympics' closing ceremony.
It was originally performed by Warumpi Band, and was written about their lead singer's home, Elcho Island, off the coast of Arnhem Land, in far northern Australia.
posted by brushtailedphascogale at 10:09 PM on September 16, 2017 [1 favorite]


Bananarama's Venus was originally by Shocking Blue.
posted by bendy at 10:59 PM on September 16, 2017 [2 favorites]


Cranky Old Man Comment: Time was that a song belonged to the songwriter and all the singers sang all the hit songs. That somewhat came to an end with the rise of the singer/songwriter, and rock bands writing their own songs. Plus the Beatles. And now we have the odious use of the word "cover". I've even see it used for Baroque music as in "my cover of Bach's Saciliano." Ugh. If Carol King wrote a song for James Taylor, and then recorded it herself, did she deserve the disdain of "cover".

Back on topic: There is no point is chasing this notion back earlier than about 1970. There would be too many example to list.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:53 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


I was late finding out that Hard to Handle was an Otis Redding song.
posted by ftm at 8:08 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


Bad Case of Lovin' You by Moon Martin more famously covered by Robert Palmer.
posted by stevil at 8:09 AM on September 17, 2017


Nirvana was quite prolific in covering bands they liked. Just on the Unplugged album, there are songs by the Vaselines, David Bowie, the Meat Puppets, and Leadbelly. Investiture also has a few, notably more of the Vaselines, and if you dig around in B-sides and non-album tracks, you'll find a lot of stuff by obscure bands like the Wipers. I like Nirvana's music, but Cobain's relentless promotion of indie bands he liked is, to me, his true legacy. I found so much interesting music just by looking up the bands from t-shirts that Cobain wore in random photos.
posted by kevinbelt at 8:14 AM on September 17, 2017 [2 favorites]


The Hall & Oates song "Family Man" was a cover of a Mike Oldfield song.
posted by rmd1023 at 8:15 AM on September 17, 2017




Marc Jordan co-wrote (with John Capek) and recorded Rhythm of My Heart, which became a huge hit for Rod Stewart
posted by kate4914 at 9:30 AM on September 17, 2017


Watching The Defiant Ones taught me that Bruce Springsteen wrote Because the Night, but thought it was too poppy and would grab too much attention, so Jimmy Iovine brought it to Patti Smith.
posted by benbenson at 10:26 AM on September 17, 2017


This post inspired me to download Torn by Ednaswap (I used to have the original CD! But lost it in a move) on Apple Music. It appears in two Apple Music playlists about this very topic, which include many of the examples listed here, and a bunch more besides!
posted by ejs at 10:37 AM on September 17, 2017


"The Wreck of the John B" by The Weavers preceded The Beach Boys "Sloop John B".
Willie Nelson wrote and recorded "Crazy" before Patsy Cline made it famous.
Jimi Hendrix' "Hey Joe" was a cover of The Leaves' original.
posted by dreaming in stereo at 11:03 AM on September 17, 2017


Crap From The Past, available to stream on the web, has several episodes called "I Didn't Know That Was A Remake".
posted by wittgenstein at 11:59 AM on September 17, 2017


Misirlou (aka the Pulp Fiction Theme) is a surf rock version of a traditional eastern Mediterranean song.
posted by O9scar at 12:30 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


Hound Dog was originally Big Mama Thornton, covered by Elvis Presley.
posted by BeeDo at 7:44 PM on September 17, 2017


Long Black Veil - original Lefty Frizzell.
Let's Stick Together - original Wilbert Harrison.
posted by unliteral at 9:02 PM on September 17, 2017


Misirlou - original Tetos Dimitriades.
posted by unliteral at 9:50 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


Dick Dale is almost certainly covering Korla Pandit's arrangement.
posted by rhizome at 10:17 PM on September 17, 2017 [1 favorite]


I made a playlist once called Original Versions of Famous Songs. Most of them have already been covered here (ah hick!). Here’s a few more:

Louie Louie
By The Kingsmen, originally done by Richard Berry and The Pharoahs. Spoilers: the lyrics are fully discernible.

For Once in My Life
By Stevie Wonder; Jean Dushon took first shot at this one.

At Last
Made gloriously by Etta James, first performed by Glenn Miller and his orchestra in the 1941 film Sun Valley Serenade.

Mah Na Mah Na
From The Muppet Show, composed by Piero Umilliani, originally came from an Italian mondo (exploitation) film called Svezia, inferno e paradiso.
posted by Start with Dessert at 4:57 AM on September 18, 2017 [4 favorites]


Perhaps this is common knowledge outside the US, but No Doubt's "It's My Life" is a cover of the original by Talk Talk.
posted by BeBoth at 10:21 AM on September 18, 2017


Jerry Reed's original recording of "U.S. Male" is terrific (he played guitar on Elvis's version as well but I prefer it with Reed's voice).
posted by tomcooke at 1:33 PM on September 18, 2017


"Try a little Tenderness" - not by Otis Reading originally but by the Ray Noble Orchestra with Val Rosing.
"Sailing" - not by Rod Stewart but by The Sutherland Brothers

And there are a number of songs where the well known English version has been taken from a foreign language original. - for example "Seasons in the Sun" comes not from Terry Jack's schlocky version but from Jaques Brel's Le Moribond for example - many more just in French.
posted by rongorongo at 8:10 AM on September 20, 2017


Country singer-songwriter Bruce Robison has built a decent side career from country stars releasing smash hit covers of his songs.
Travelin' Soldier: Robison 1999, Dixie Chicks 2002
Angry All the Time: Robison 1998, Tim McGraw 2001
Wrapped: Robison 1998, George Strait 2006

Darrell Scott is another country musician whose songs have been covered by a LOT of significant artists (Beyoncé by way of Dixie Chicks!)
posted by nicebookrack at 12:59 AM on September 22, 2017


The Melodians wrote Rivers of Babylon, and Jimmy Cliff did a pretty straightforward cover that was included in the soundtrack for the film The Harder They Come. (The lyrics are from Psalm 137.) Boney M released a disco cover in 1978 that became a hit. I don't know whether the audiences for the reggae original and the disco cover are distinct enough that the original is considered obscure.
(I love questions like this, too!)
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 6:12 PM on September 22, 2017


Ça Plane Pour Moi - Plastic Bertrand --> Jet Boy Jet Girl - Elton Motello --> Jet Boy Jet Girl - The Damned
posted by Room 641-A at 1:36 PM on September 23, 2017 [1 favorite]


It's taken me weeks but I finally tracked down the song I vaguely remembered when this question was posted. Canned Heat's Going Up The Country is a cover of Henry Thomas's Bull Doze Blues.
posted by vespabelle at 10:47 PM on October 7, 2017 [1 favorite]


New one:

"You Better Run" by Pat Benatar, orig: The Young Rascals
posted by rhizome at 1:29 AM on October 20, 2017 [1 favorite]


Hard To Handle: Otis Redding >> Black Crows (Hon. Mentions: Blues Brothers 2.0, Tom Jones)
posted by Room 641-A at 7:45 AM on October 20, 2017


I recently learned that Great Big Sea's "When I'm Up" is a cover of the Oysterband original.
posted by Lexica at 10:56 AM on October 20, 2017


Ça Plane Pour Moi yt - Plastic Bertrand --> Jet Boy Jet Girl yt - Elton Motello

This is a bit of an odd one as it is literally the same recording of the backing track with two different versions of the vocals. There is at least one other song where this was done but I cannot recall the title or artist(s).
posted by ricochet biscuit at 10:05 AM on October 21, 2017


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