# Moments when you realized a hit song was actually a cover **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2019, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189 "2019-01-22T11:16:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![typoink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@typoink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typoink)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/41 "2019-01-22T22:18:37Z")
Oh, another one that really shocked me: finding out that “You & Your Sister” wasn’t written by This Mortal Coil. This surprise was followed by discovering that This Mortal Coil wasn’t really a band, the song was sung by the vocalists of The Breeders, and the woman on the album cover is just a model. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/42 "2019-01-22T22:30:44Z")
I remember the first time I heard Big Star play the theme song for That 70s Show. ---
**Author:** ![smokey78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@smokey78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smokey78)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/43 "2019-01-23T01:32:59Z")
“I think we’re alone now” Also UB40 song: “Here I am” ---
**Author:** ![basset\_hound](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/basset_hound/32/1432_2.png) [@basset\_hound](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/basset_hound)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/44 "2019-01-23T01:34:17Z")
I’m embarrassed to admit it, but for years I thought Quiet Riot was the first with _Cum On Feel the Noize._[The Original](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qu_ozjAu_vM) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/45 "2019-01-23T02:33:46Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I loved Lauper’s [All Through The Night](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZONKoKIQ9RY), and found out decades later it was a cover of a song by Jules Shear. If you [listen to his](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gXSJ8LGwrM), it’s a whole different feel. > > I prefer Cyndi’s. Much moodier, which matches the lyrics. > > Although I LOVE the almost-acapella [cover by Girlyman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8W40E9pGJL4)! Even more moody. > > ETA: Many songs turn out to be Jules Shear covers. Like [“If We Never Meet Again”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gLPGEu2HRU) covered by Roger McGuinn. And [“If She Knew What She Wants”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYTND2ZwrGI) (Bangles?) **Time After Time** was written in 1947, but I like Lauper’s version a lot. A lot of the 50s/60s songs that I liked were covers of much older songs, much to my later surprise. The Beatles did several, as I recall. Spanky and Our Gang did a nice cover of **Stardust** , which was written by Hoagy Carmichael in 1927. The Righteous Brothers covered **Summertime** , a 1934 Gershwin song, and had a hit with **Unchained Melody** , written in 1955. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/46 "2019-01-23T02:44:19Z")
When Whitney Houston sang I Will Always Love You, I thought it was written for her. I didn’t realize Dolly Parton was the one responsible and that it had already been well known by some. I was pretty surprised. Add me to any number that did not know that Nothing Compares 2 U was not originally a Sinead O’Connor song. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/47 "2019-01-23T03:08:10Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > **Time After Time** was written in 1947, but I like Lauper’s version a lot. Wait. What? Am I being whooshed? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/48 "2019-01-23T03:24:36Z")
But here’s the thing- if a artist puts their own original stamp on it, \*who cares \*if it’s a 'cover"? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/49 "2019-01-23T03:27:29Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Wait. What? Am I being whooshed? Different time. Different place. Different writers. The 1947 version was by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne. The Marcels’ doo-wop “Blue Moon” really was written by Richard Rogers in 1934, though. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/50 "2019-01-23T03:31:39Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But here’s the thing- if a artist puts their own original stamp on it, \*who cares \*if it’s a 'cover"? Zillions of reasons to care. Wanting to know musical history. Wanting to find out whether the stamp is original or not. Wanting to hear different versions for the pleasure of them. Wanting to learn more about the songwriter. Wanting to know about different genres of music. None of them are mandatory. You don’t have to care. But you can’t dismiss those who do, for any reason at all. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/51 "2019-01-23T03:34:37Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Zillions of reasons to care. Wanting to know musical history. Wanting to find out whether the stamp is original or not. Wanting to hear different versions for the pleasure of them. Wanting to learn more about the songwriter. Wanting to know about different genres of music. None of those matter if a song is a cover or not. You can learn how many people have recorded a song without thinking the the first was somehow special. And unless you write all your own stuff, everything you do is a cover. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/52 "2019-01-23T03:46:23Z")
> [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](#): > > When I found out Soft Cell’s _Tainted Love_ was a cover, the world didn’t make sense anymore. [Here’s the original.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSehtaY6k1U) I came here to say this too. But, BUT, the weirdest part of the story is how I found out…the original version is played on the oldies channel in grand theft auto:vice city. So embarrassing:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/53 "2019-01-23T03:51:26Z")
When Them (featuring Van Morrison) recorded [Gloria](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDo-GA1hLk4) in 1964, it didn’t get U.S. airplay. Allegedly, it was because the song had a line about a girl coming into the singer’s room “just about midnight.” A garage band from Chicago, the Shadows of Knight, [re-recorded (you could barely call it a cover)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdAezc-RX-o) the song, changed the line so the girl stayed outside, and hit the top 10 with it. ---
**Author:** ![from\_a\_to\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5fc32e/32.png) [@from\_a\_to\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/from_a_to_z)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/54 "2019-01-23T03:59:36Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > None of those matter if a song is a cover or not. Amen. If you don’t mind a time-consuming addiction, MusicProf78’s YouTube collection of “First Recording of the Song” is [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADUAroX-Hyg&list=PLTFzQlK7fWk9cuGqCM_byNMgSkKyDuRV9). My confession (are you listening?)… [ul] [li]I thought for years that The Yardbirds were the first to do “Train Kept a Rollin’” ([here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y078n95ApA)), or “Let’s call it ‘Stroll On’!” ([here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FDLrJFp18Q)).[/li][li]Then one day a colleague mentioned Aerosmith ([here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98XL03W9CN4)).[/li][li]I was in my early 30s and realized, shockingly, that my time had already passed.[/li][li]I was rejuvenated when I heard Imelda May perform it ([here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mz147m98jdQ)).[/li][li]She credits Johnny Burnette ([here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkZhJJ8sPmw), hi Bettie!).[/li][li]Then I discovered Tiny Bradshaw ([here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ci4EQDD4CqA)).[/li][/ul] A moral, perhaps?: If it’s good, then it’s good enough. (Or, read the label for the credits.) ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/55 "2019-01-23T05:12:20Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > The first time I recall this happening to me was when I heard the original Status Quo version of [Pictures of Matchstick Men](https://youtu.be/QQyB5buEV5s), which I had always thought was a Camper Van Beethoven original. I liked the original so much better that I remade my mix tape and replaced it. (This was a while ago :)). Somewhat surprisingly, _Matchstick Men_ is not the only hit song that directly references the painter L.S. Lowry. There is also [Matchstalk Men & Matchstalk Cats and Dogs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmopSVOMSsU), which went to number 1 in the UK in 1978. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/56 "2019-01-23T06:02:09Z")
Madonna’s _Ray of Light_ is a reworking of [Sepheryn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ5OtnBdcWw) by the obscure British group Curtiss Maldoon. (I learned this in the book _[Rough Notes](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EAT5ERK/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)_ by Bruce Thomas.) Led Zeppelin’s _Dazed And Confused_ is likewise a reworking, if not a straight-up “cover”, of the original song of the same name by [Jake Holmes.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTsvs-pAGDc) Not an American bluesman but another obscure Brit who opened for the Yardbirds in 1967, when Jimmy Page heard the song that he would “borrow.” ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/57 "2019-01-23T12:08:01Z")
Once upon a time, while playing around on YouTube, I learned that in 1957, Robert Mitchum (yes, the actor) recorded an album of calypso songs called _Calypso — Is Like So . . .!_ One of the songs was titled [“From a Logical Point of View”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkwgQUCwLFg). Listening to it, I thought, “Wait a minute. That is Jimmy Soul’s [‘If You Wanna Be Happy’](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxUY-99TPRY).” :eek: On further research, it turned out that both were covers of [“Ugly Woman”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DCL3zGxbnc) first recorded in 1934 by a Trinidadian singer named Roaring Lion. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/58 "2019-01-23T14:12:24Z")
This is a slightly different take; more of a case of not recognizing a reworking of a song that I actually knew. When Alien Ant Farm came out with their version of _Smooth Criminal_, I didn’t realize it was a cover of the Michael Jackson song. How I completely forgot about the MJ version, I don’t know. Hell, we used to sing it as “Annie is you walkin’ ?” so I definitely had a conscious knowledge of it. Anyway, I really dug AA’s recording and never put the two together until I heard the original again for the first time in about 20 years. A real :smack: moment, that. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/59 "2019-01-23T14:21:40Z")
Slight hijack: I once read a book on Babra Streisand that said while her version of Memory from CATS wasn’t a hit, Elaine Paige’s cover of it hit the British charts. How did such a mistake get into print? Methinks the author should have checked who covered whom? I once had a boss ask me to get the lyrics for Whitney Houston’s “I Will always Love You.” She objected when I got her the Dolly Parton version. “I asked for Whitney, not Dolly.” Uh, she recorded it first. And she wrote the song." The look on the woman’s face was priceless. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/60 "2019-01-23T15:52:05Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > This is a slightly different take; more of a case of not recognizing a reworking of a song that I actually knew. > > When Alien Ant Farm came out with their version of _Smooth Criminal_, I didn’t realize it was a cover of the Michael Jackson song. How I completely forgot about the MJ version, I don’t know. Hell, we used to sing it as “Annie is you walkin’ ?” so I definitely had a conscious knowledge of it. > > Anyway, I really dug AA’s recording and never put the two together until I heard the original again for the first time in about 20 years. A real :smack: moment, that. When Marilyn Manson first became famous, I would usually change channels whenever one of their songs came on. One day, I was away from the remote, and I let the song play out. I suddenly realized "Wow! That is “Sweet Dreams!” Their version is not bad. (Although Annie Lennox looked much better in a suit than Manson does in a dress.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189.md?page=4)