Apologies all around. I feel naked without my Whitburn by my side!
Did it make the Top 40?
ETA: Ah, I think I missed a joke. It did, but it’s not a cover, it’s a different song called “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg.”
Just don’t YouTube the Girls Aloud version if you respect your musical taste.
“Without You” – Nilsson and Mariah Carey
(Neither of which have any reason to exist. The ONLY version is Badfinger’s original.)
Roy Orbison’s “Crying” almost makes it, if you count the duet he did with k.d. lang, and charts other than the U.S. Hot 100:
- Orbison, 1961: #1
- Arlene Harden, 1970: #28 on the country chart
- Stephanie Winslow, 1980: #17 on the country chart
- Don McLean, 1981: #5
- Orbison and lang: #2 on the Canadian chart, #13 on the U.K. chart, #42 on the country chart
One more thing, while checking on this (I actually didn’t think Tiffany’s version quite made #1) I came across that pair of songs on a list called “Songs you didn’t know were covers.” Come on, am I that old already? I’m not quite 40, and the original was quite well known when I was growing up. I assumed everyone knew the Tiffany version to be a cover, but I suppose I could have been hanging out with kids who were more into oldies than the average. But it wasn’t even an obscure oldie, to my recollection.
Both Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow have had top 40 hits in the USA with covers of Cat Stevens’ old song “The First Cut Is the Deepest.”
Both the Rolling Stones and Marianne Faithful have had Top 40 singles in the USA with “As Tears Go By.”
Both Simon & Garfunkel and Aretha Franklin hit the top ten with “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”
Aretha and Ben E. King both ahd hits with “Spanishj Harlem”
Both Jackie WIlson and Rita Coolidge had big hits with “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher.”
Diana Ross had a very popular cover of “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” by Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers.
Anne Murray had a hit remake of The Monkees’ “Daydream Believer.”
When the Hollies made a comeback in the 80s, they had a top 40 hit with the Supremes’ “Stop in the Name of Love.”
Merrilee Rush’s “Angel of the Morning” and Shaggy’s “Angel”
Martha and the Vandellas had the first and most popular version of “Dancing in the Street,” but Van Halen had a top 40 cover version. So did the duo of Mick Jagger & David Bowie.
“We’ve Got Tonight”, first by Bob Seger (reached #13 in 1978), then by Sheena Easton with Kenny Rogers (reached #6 in 1983).
“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”
Marvin Gaye and then Diana Ross and the Supremes
Axl Rose/GNR “**Sweet Child O’ Mine **” - charted in the US and UK in 1988 & 1989
Sheryl Crow’s version - charted in the UK in 1999
Shaun Cassidy covered the Crystals Da Doo Ron Ron in 1977. His version went to #1, while the Crystals’ came in at # 2 or 3.
Both the Ronettes and Andy Kim had hits with “Baby, I Love You”
Elvis Presley had a #11 hit with his version of Dusty Springfield’s “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me.”
Cyndi Lauper had a big hit with a remake of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On”?
The Captain and Tennille (with female Toni Tennille on vocals) had a #4 hits with a remake of Smokey Robinson’s “Shop Around”