Wow. 
Well, Three Dog Night recorded it in March, 1970! It was on It Ain’t Easy, Side II, third cut.
So that means Elton covered his own song, right?!
OK, two more:
Not Fade Away- As covered by the Rolling Stones (Orig. by Buddy Holly)
Just My Imagination- As covered by the Rolling Stones (Orig. by ???)
If You Don’t Know Me By Now- As covered by Simply Red (Orig. by ???)
Uh…I mean three more. Math. Not my strong suit. :o
friend spoke,
again, you asked:
just my imagination was originally done by the temptations.
if you don’t know me by now was done by harold melvin and the blue notes.
great tunes! the covers weren’t bad, but the originals rocked!
Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity -Kahlil Gibran
It’s very possible: going by release dates only, it’s certainly the case. It’s also possible that John recorded it earlier, but it got no air play until well after Three Dog Night put it on an album. You may recall that Tommy James and the Shondells had a hit with Hanky Panky in 1966, though they actually recorded it about 5 years earlier. So I don’t know – you’d have to ask Elton. At any rate, it was John’s first hit.
It Ain’t Easy was also recorded by a few other artists – John Baldry, David Bowie and Mitch Ryder & Detroit come to mind – but nobody was able to make a hit out of it. I prefer Detroit’s version.
Three Dog Night made hits off quite a few cover tunes: Liar (Argent) and Mama Told Me Not To Come (Randy Newman) come to mind. And weren’t One and Easy to be Hard from the musical Hair?
T. Rex.
I’d also like to second Burn’s nomination for the Dead Kennedys version of I Fought The Law. Spoke, that was originally a Bobby Fuller Four tune.
I seem to be losing the debate against Devo’s cover of Satisfaction, though. Maybe everyone should listen to it? I realize that music is just a matter of taste, but other than Whip It, everything that Devo has done seems wooden, including their cover of Working In a Coal Mine.
Ok, more favorites:
She Came In Through The Bathroom Window – Joe Cocker (Beatles)
Honky Tonk Woman – Joe Cocker (Stones)
Sympathy For The Devil – Bryan Ferry (Stones)
House of the Rising Sun – Frijid Pink, Animals (? – written by Price)
My Babe – Foghat (Righteous Brothers)
Doing Alright With The Boys – Joan Jett (Gary Glitter)
Light of Day – Joan Jett (Bruce Springsten, though I think Joan recorded it first)
No Fun – Sex Pistols (Stooges)
Do You Wanna Dance? – Ramones, Beach Boys (Bobby Freeman?)
Good Morning Little Schoolgirl – Ten Years After (Sonny Boy Williamson?)
If You Were Mine – Mitch Ryder (Prince)
Woodstock – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Joni Mitchell)
Money – Pretenders, Beatles (Barrett Strong)
Ain’t That A Shame – Cheap Trick (Fats Domino)
Teaser by Motley Crue is a passable cover, but Tommy Bolin’s original is better, IMO.
Covers that should never have been recorded:
Woodstock – Matthew’s Southern Comfort (Joni Mitchell)
You Keep Me Hanging On – Rod Stewart, Vanilla Fudge (Supremes)
One great one I can’t leave out:
Midnight Special- as performed by Credence Clearwater Revival (Orig. by ???)
Don’t know who originally wrote/recorded this number, but it is an old song. Heck, there’s even an old episode of the Andy Griffith Show where Andy plays the tune sitting on his front porch.
Springsteen, I mean.
Forgot to mention, he also covered Respect Yourself (Staple Singers), with the help of the Pointer Sisters, I think. While I actually liked that version, I agree that we shouldn’t be encouraging Willis to sing.
John
Easy to be Hard was. Not sure about One.
(Dang, I hope all that UBB made it through!)
:rolleyes:
Can’t help with the original, but Johnny Rivers recorded an up-tempo version of it a few years earlier on his live album. On the same album, he covered Chuck Berry’s Memphis and the Secret Agent Man theme song. Along with these, add the Blues Brothers version of the Peter Gunn theme to my list of favorites.
Lib, the only Three Dog Night album I have is a greatest hits collection, and it doesn’t list any credits. I don’t think One was originally theirs, though. Lots of Hair tunes got covered that year, including the theme song, Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In, and Good Morning Starshine, and I thought One was the first, and among the best-selling. Maybe somebody with the soundtrack can confirm or refute.
No one’s mentioned Run DMC’s cover of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.”
Granted, I’m not a fan of rap, but this is a song that not only helped bring rap into the mainstream, but relaunched Aerosmith’s career after it was all but in the toilet.
Another one unmentioned was the Beach Boy’s cover of “California Dreamin’.”
And on the bad side, we can’t forget Mariah Carey’s version of “Without You” by Nilsson.
[Moderator Hat ON]
Moving to Cafe Society.
[Moderator Hat OFF]
Here’s a good one
Tina Turner covering John Waite’s “Missing You”.
I forgot one
Smashing Pumpkins covering Fleetwood Macs “Landslide”
Is no one going to mention Nirvana’s cover, on the MTV Unplugged album, of Leadbelly’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night”? That song, while totally kicking ass in its own right, was also the catalyst that got me to take Nirvana (and Kurt Cobain) seriously, as people who understood the tradition they were coming from. I’d put that at the very top of my list of covers that beat the original.
(And incidentally, no cover of any Beatles song even makes the list. There is no point in covering a Beatles song.)
Covers I love, and in all cases improvements on the original (IMHO of course):
Peter Gabriel “Suzanne”
Carpenters “This masquerade”
MMEB “Blinded by the light”
Natalie Imbruglia “Torn”
Bryan Ferry “Where or when”
Tori Amos “Time”
Johnny Winter’s cover of “Highway 61 Revisited”
I came by this cover by accident.
“Cruel Summer” covered by Ace of Base, originally done by Bananarama
Also another good cover, When I use to listen to Country Music]
“Fancy” covered by Reba McIntire, originally done by Jeannie C. Riley (I think)
“Walk this way” ~ Leftover Salmon
“Helter Skelter” ~ Government Mule
“Accross the Universe” ~ Rufus Wainright
“Gin N’ Juice” ~ Phish
“Head Like a Hole” ~Devo (NIN)
“Cinnamon Girl” ~Smashing Pumpkins
“Where the Streets Have No Name” ~Petshop Boys
Most of Dwight Yoakum’s covers, i.e. “Wichita Lineman,” “Ring of Fire.”
These aren’t necessarily better than the originals, but stand on their own as good covers.
As far as the carwreck type bad that you can’t look away from: Pat Boone’s entire album “In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy.”
I like Seal’s cover of “Fly Like An Eagle” by The Steve Miller Band