Surprise covers

[geoviki]

I haven't posted music in a while, and this collection's pretty cool. Every so often I discover that a song that I thought was original is actually a cover of some little known earlier effort by a poor schmuck who never got the hit. See if these cover songs surprise you as well – I have the more familiar version(s) first, with the original showing up last in the group:


Most everyone knows that "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" predates 'The Lion King'. Most of you will probably guess the original is The Tokens' version, and a few of you might have heard the earlier Weavers take on it. But this song is actually a much older tune from South Africa, and I bet you've never heard that one before.
The Lion Sleeps Tonight – The Tokens (1961)
The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh) – The Weavers (1951)
The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Mbube) – Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds (1939)

Poor Carl Perkins got run over by the train that was Elvis Presley. What a difference a year makes.
Blue Suede Shoes – Elvis Presley (1956)
Blue Suede Shoes – Carl Perkins (1955)

Although The Clash may have the best version of this song, they missed being the first version by a good 17 years. And it wasn't the Bobby Fuller Four, either – it was The Crickets (sans Buddy Holly).
I Fought the Law – The Clash (1977)
I Fought the Law – Bobby Fuller Four (1964)
I Fought the Law – The Crickets (1960)

This song was a top ten hit for the Scottish rock group, Nazareth, whose vocalist hit ranges only dogs could hear. Folk rockers preferred the Gram Parsons/Emmylou Harris version from 2 years earlier, but it was an Everly Brothers 1960 tune.
Love Hurts – Nazareth (1975)
Love Hurts – Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris (1973)
Love Hurts – The Everly Brothers (1960)

I don't know if this was as big a hit elsewhere, but it sure was in Detroit when I was a kid. But it was really a medley of R&B tunes from several years earlier.
Devil With the Blue Dress/Good Golly Miss Molly – Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels(1966)
Devil With the Blue Dress – Shorty Long (1964)
Good Golly Miss Molly – Little Richard (1958)

C'mon, Aretha pwns this next song! But she didn't record it first – Otis did.
Respect – Aretha Franklin (1967)
Respect – Otis Redding (1965)

This song was this week's surprise. I was (still am) a fan of Delaney and Bonnie, American blues rockers who hooked up with Eric Clapton in the 70's, but I never had heard this original of what I used to think was a Carpenter's tune.
Superstar – The Carpenters (1971)
Groupie (Superstar) – Delaney & Bonnie & Friends (1969)

This cover might be more commonly known as such. Still, when I say 'Black Magic Woman', you think Santana, don't you? Not Fleetwood Mac.
Black Magic Woman – Santana (1970)
Black Magic Woman – Fleetwood Mac (1968)

Another surprise. I had to look up ol' Chris, and contrary to his sound, he's not black, but a white British R&B singer – who knew? Rod ripped him off, though, and Chris never had a hit. He's still out there touring, I read on Wikipedia.
Handbags & Gladrags – Rod Stewart (1969) (this is a 1990 live version)
Handbags & Gladrags – Chris Farlowe (1967)

So many groups mine the R&B goldmine for their hits. (Michael McDonald, late of The Doobie Brothers, does nothing but Motown covers these days). It's a practice that's as old as R&B itself.
You've Made Me So Very Happy – Blood, Sweat, & Tears (1968)
You've Made Me So Very Happy – Brenda Holloway (1967)

Joe Cocker was mainly a singer of other folk's songs, but regardless, this one's always linked to him and not to Traffic (or to Dave Mason, who sings it here in the original and re-released it himself when he went solo.)
Feelin' Alright – Joe Cocker (1969)
Feelin' Alright – Traffic (1968)

Toni snuck this one past us all by changing the gender in this song from its original she-ness. And since 'Kitty' is even odder than 'Sue' for a boy's name, it became 'Mickey'. He's still so pretty, though, regardless of gender.
Mickey – Toni Basil (1982)
Kitty – Racey (1979)

Another soul-song borrowing, and so thoroughly is it associated with the synth pop group Soft Cell that poor Gloria Jones is utterly forgotten.
Tainted Love – Soft Cell (1981)
Tainted Love – Gloria Jones (1965)

After the Fire moved fast on this song and put it out in English, knowing that the original German was never gonna fly in America. It's practically identical otherwise, though. I like Falco's a little better, but then I like Falco.
Der Kommissar – After the Fire (1982)
Der Kommissar – Falco (1982)

This song is the answer to the ubiquitous trivia question: What was the first video shown on MTV? It was The Buggles' version. Bruce Woolley never knew what he missed. Oh, no, I bet he did. I bet he's a bitter, bitter man today because of it.
Video Killed the Radio Star – The Buggles (1979)
Video Killed the Radio Star – Bruce Woolley and The Camera Club (1979)

Joan pretty much left this song alone, but her stage presence was a lot more…interesting.
I Love Rock & Roll – Joan Jett & the Blackhearts (1982)
I Love Rock & Roll – The Arrows (1976)

This song is just about identical to the original, and those poor Canadians, 54/40, are probably still crying in their Molsons at the loss of this hit.
I Go Blind – Hootie and the Blowfish (2000)
I Go Blind – 54/40 (1986)

If you know that Annie's album, Medusa, was all covers, you were tipped off that this wasn't an original either. But I'd never heard of Lover Speaks. They didn't Speak very loudly, that's all I can say.
No more 'I Love You's' – Annie Lennox (1995)
No more 'I Love You's' – Lover Speaks (1986)

I think the spelling is a dead giveaway that this is an original Prince song. Now you get to hear it as His Purpleness does it (live).
Nothing Compares 2 U – Sinead O'Connor (1990)
Nothing Compares 2 U – Prince (w/ The Family) (1985)

The purpose of this entry is to share music and my thoughts about that music. Out of fairness to the creators of the music, if you find something here you like, please purchase it, if that is at all possible. If you own the copyright to any of this music and object to its being included, email me, and I will remove it.

Comments

[spinfrog.livejournal.com]

Heh, I actually discovered that Nothing Compared 2 U was a Prince song a couple of years ago when I researched Prince for someone.. she does it so much better though IMO..

Also, I was totally surprised that Piece of My Heart wasn't a Janis Joplin original..

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I knew Janis didn't write that one; Aretha Franklin's sister, Erma, did. But I don't have Erma's version so I couldn't post the pair. (I have Janis's, Melissa Etheridge's, and Dusty Springfield's - a great group of vocalists altogether.)

[romaine24.livejournal.com]

I love Traffic's version of Feelin' Alright. I do like Joe Cocker a whole bunch, too, but I remember my sister's discussing which one was better when I was 8 and 9. :) I have an old tape that has some Traffic songs that I play in my car now and then.

I think I knew about a 1/3 of these.
Thanks for sharing. This brought back a lot of great memories.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

The first version I really got to know was that remake by Dave Mason that caught my ear in college.

Glad to indulge the memories!

[gblvr.livejournal.com]

I snagged a couple of these -- thanks!

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Enjoy!

[sobelle.livejournal.com]

There are a number of songs that bear retrieving and repeating. It would be nice if my brain could actually ~supply~ the names of some of them that I would love to hear redone, but that would be asking too much it seems =/

I grew up in the South, which was supplied musically by the bluegrass, country, rockabilly and soul circuit. (my 1st concert was Ike Turner and the Ikettes with the hottest singer (Tina Turner) I'd ever seen. She blew away those constipated little uptight southerners by making sweet love to her mic stand and just blasting the doors off that auditorium. I totally fell in love with her that night =) (even if they had to drive on to Ft.Smith to find a hotel that would let to blacks =(

I also accidentally discovered Fleetwood Mac's _English Rose_ about the same time. I have several of their cd's (replacing my old lp's =)

Which leads me to another subject. That of replacing music with each successive format. LP's to 8 tracks (I missed that phase, I was in hippie land =) to cassettes (I was back) to CD's... MP3's and what's next??

Argh, it's late and I should go to bed. but I do love talking about music.

Re: the Everly Brothers? they learned a lot about harmony from hill music and the Louvin Brothers. and I learned a lot about singing harmony from them too.

Oh, and the only version of _The Lion Sleeps_ I have is by REM =)

Thanks again for your music posts, they always make me happy!! =)

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're enjoying these. I'd start a music blog if I had the time and if there weren't a kajillion of them out there already. Instead I regale my flist with these posts from time to time, which probably leaves some of my friends bemused since they're here for the HP stories. Or the manga. But I do spend a huge amount of time on musical knowledge.

*N'Sync also has a pretty good version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

[phreid.livejournal.com]

I love your music posts, when I remember to drop by. But--

*N'Sync also has a pretty good version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight.

--I think my brain just broke.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

No, no really! It's a capella, and I like that sort of thing.

[phreid.livejournal.com]

Ooh, sounds interesting. I found an instrumented version on YouTube that was... about what I'd expected. My father walked in and said, "Um. They harmonize well."

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I just added you so that you can read the locked music posts too, which are nearly all of them. I'm all about J-Rock these days.

[phreid.livejournal.com]

I have more important things to do than dig through your old posts.

But who am I kidding? *digdigdig*

[painless-j.livejournal.com]

Took a few. Thank you, hon!

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Did you recognize many? I bet the Mitch Ryder totally never made it to Moscow.

[painless-j.livejournal.com]

No, not many. But then again, most of them are from the years earlier than those I'm interested in.

[jamoche]

I think Fleetwood Mac, but then I'm a fan of them, not so much of Santana. And it was definitely Falco that had the heavy play on MTV; I didn't know there was another version.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

the 'Aftr the Fire' version's the one you get on all those '80s retrospective hits CDs. Becasue English, right?

[mkcs.livejournal.com]

The two that have really surprised me are David Bowie's 'Sorrow' and Soft Cell's 'Tainted Love'.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised at least once a month (but I don't always have both versions so I posted the ones I did have).

[cordelia_v]

Wow. I didn't realize that Prince originated "Nothing Compares" (and I am definitely old enough to remember it; somehow it slipped my aging mind). Thanks, dear!

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

He didn't record it until later - he was fairly generous with his songs.

[maggiehoneybite.livejournal.com]

I didn't like the Hootie and the Blowfish cover of I Go Blind much when it came out; to me the 54/40 version was far superior. But then, I'm Canadian. ;)

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

The fact that I finally scored the Hootie version yesterday was the reason I posted this - for some reason, I had the original a lot longer. I actually like Hootie's voice, but both versions are nice.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Oh, what a fabulous idea for a music post! Although, hee, I never knew anyone OTHER than Falco did Der Kommissar - I used to have this on vinyl.

You know what you're missing? (And I'd supply it if I had it!) Take Me To The River - as popularized by the Talking Heads, and originally recorded by Al Green.

I'm going to snag bunches of these~

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Cool! I already have in mind that I need a coda to this - I thought of 2 other songs myself, so I'll add all three in a future post.

[meri-oddities.livejournal.com]

This is great. I've taken a few. Thanks so much.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Consider it a belated birthday pressie!

[meri-oddities.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I know it's early but are you going to go to Azkatraz? I'm going to sign up soon!

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Yes, and I am going to sign up soon too. Room together, yes?

[meri-oddities.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. I'm going to reserve for the whole week, and maybe a bit more. I'm going to be in SF with my husband the week before. It's our 25 anniversary and we're going to tour the wine country and do SF for a few days, but he's going home before the con. *g*

[dbassassin.livejournal.com]

Most of these I knew, (except for the few songs I'm not familiar with at all). I knew Otis Redding had recorded Respect, but I thought he'd done it after Aretha. She and her sister wrote it, though, didn't they?

And I agree with the poster above, 54/40's version of I Go Blind is about 8 zillion times better than Hootie's. But then, they're talented, even if this isn't one of their better songs. ;)

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Nope, Otis wrote it, too. Surprising, huh? Aretha's sisters are in the background of her version though.

[zerostress.livejournal.com]

The only two I was aware of are 'Nothing Compares to You' and 'Der Kommissar' by Falco.

I am curious to hear the original "I Fought the Law".

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

It's very much old-time rock and roll from the late 50's, huh? I remember the Bobby Fuller Four one the best.