# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/81 "2019-01-24T21:57:18Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > The Clash’s “I Fought the Law” – when looking up the lyrics (again, for classroom use) I discover that it’s a cover, and the original is pretty great! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgtQj8O92eI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgtQj8O92eI) > > Same for “Police On My Back” – great Clash song, but in the last year or so I do a little research to use it in class, find out it’s a cover, and the original is also pretty great! Never heard of The Equals, but they’re pretty badass. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJxYNUoJKs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJxYNUoJKs) [Police and Thieves](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nz_uSssKTw) is a cover The Clash did too - original written by Junior Murvin and Lee “Scratch” Perry ---
**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 24, 2019, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/82 "2019-01-24T22:17:53Z")
Oh, I knew “I Fought The Law,” because i listened to oldies stations all the time as a kid, and I’m pretty sure I was introduced to “Police On My Back” as being a cover (though I had not heard the original before the Clash version), but when I was first really getting into the Clash (early 90s, for me, late high school), “Pressure Drop” was on some alternative/college rock mix tape a friend made for me, and I had no idea for years that it was a cover of essentially a reggae standard originally by Toots and the Maytals. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/83 "2019-01-24T23:00:23Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Synchronicity - I just found this out yesterday, when the Sirius Beatle’s channel played the Mama’s and Papa’s version. I don’t think I’d ever heard the Beatle’s do it until I looked it up on Youtube when I got home. > > I prefer the M&P version, but I have a strong “like the first heard version” bias, and am a sucker for harmonies. Not to mention, with that 1963 song (I Call Your Name), the Beatles casually invented ska in a twenty-second section. (I exaggerate… but only a little!) ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/84 "2019-01-24T23:10:26Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Many of those 80’s ska hits were covers of 60’s ska songs. One Step Beyond by Madness is another one. This led to my realization mentioned by the OP – my sister had a tape of all the originals. Depressing. > > Then, it happened again just a few weeks ago – Smoke Two Joints by Sublime is also a cover! And UB40’s biggest hit, [Red Red Wine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Red_Wine), is a Neil Diamond tune from 1967 ---
**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 24, 2019, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/85 "2019-01-24T23:19:47Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Not to mention, with that 1963 song (I Call Your Name), the Beatles casually invented ska in a twenty-second section. > > (I exaggerate… but only a little!) Interesting. Looking it up, it looks like Lennon was a fan of ska, and this song is mentioned as having a Beatles attempt at ska (or “blue beat” – Jamaican R&B – according to some sources) at the instrumental bridge. It doesn’t really sound that much like ska to me at all, especially with that bass line; I mean I guess it has the off-beat chords, but that comes from the rock and roll tradition, as well. Seems its a common enough sentiment that I could find references to it, but, man, I would never have picked that out in a million years. ---
**Author:** ![songsearch1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@songsearch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/songsearch1)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/86 "2019-01-25T03:33:14Z")
Lots of Led Zeppelin I and II are reworks of old blues songs. ---
**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 25, 2019, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/87 "2019-01-25T03:41:18Z")
> [@songsearch1](#): > > Lots of Led Zeppelin I and II are reworks of old blues songs. This is Led Zeppelin IV, and I don’t know if this is the original or just an old folk number, but I had no idea “When the Levee Breaks” was not an original tune until the 2000s. [Here is the Memphis Minnie recording](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swhEa8vuP6U), which I understand to be the original recording, at least, if not the origin of the song. (I believe they did credit the original artists on this one, though. ETA: Yes, [the record does have Memphis Minnie](https://www.popsike.com/pix/20150213/281597884410.jpg) on it.) ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/88 "2019-01-25T05:25:53Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > * * * > > I will add to the list: > > The Clash’s “I Fought the Law” – when looking up the lyrics (again, for classroom use) I discover that it’s a cover, and the original is pretty great! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgtQj8O92eI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgtQj8O92eI) This has been mentioned in previous threads, but the original was written/performed by [the Crickets](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kLoskF32tCU) after the death of Buddy Holly. But I love the Bobby Fuller version. The guitar just makes the song, and I’ve no patience for versions that weaken that strumming. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/89 "2019-01-25T06:14:17Z")
> [@Baal\_Houtham](#): > > This has been mentioned in previous threads, but the original was written/performed by [the Crickets](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kLoskF32tCU) after the death of Buddy Holly. > . :smack: I knew that (and forgot). > [@RitterSport](#): > > Then, it happened again just a few weeks ago – Smoke Two Joints by Sublime is also a cover! That one I knew was a cover — Jim “The Poorman” Trenton liked to play the original on KROQ during the “Loveline” call-in show. ---
**Author:** ![BenedictusXIV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b19c9b/32.png) [@BenedictusXIV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BenedictusXIV)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/90 "2019-01-25T13:08:59Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > …but it was a cover of “Jet Boy, Jet Girl” by the Damned, and I never knew until 20-30 years later. First time I ever heard of the French version of a song being cleaner than the American version. Just for the record, the Damned was a British band. I was backstage during their final non-concert where Captain Sensible never showed up. Ended up with then bass-player “Moose” holding a ffing switchblade to my throat. Because after that there were no more volunteers to bring the band to the airport, I gave them a ride. He apologized 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/91 "2019-01-25T13:46:14Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Well, first of all you have to define “cover”. > > I have had three definitions: > > 1. The first version is “original” the rest are covers. This would make all tunes not done by the writer = covers. > > 2. The first recorded for sale version is “original” the rest are covers. > > 3.The first version to hit the charts is “original” the rest are covers. #2 should probably be adjusted to “released for sale.” It may not happen often that a song is recorded with the intent of releasing iit, but isn’t released, and then it becomes a hit for someone else, but it does happen. An example is Neil Diamond’s “I’m a Believer.” It was in the can and ready to go when the producers of The Monkees made him an offer. I don’t think the Monkees’ version can really be considered a cover in the sense that we usually mean since it wasn’t heard by the public until years later when it released on on a Diamond retrospective compiliation album called In My Lifetime. Diamond later said that selling them the song was the best financial decision he ever made. It would have been a hit for him, but at nowhere near the scale and longevity that it was for The Monkees. The opposite happened with Prince’s “Kiss.” IIRC, he wrote it for someone else and didn’t like how it was going, so he took it back, re-worked it, and released it himself. I’m not sure how far along the other band was in the recording process, however. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/92 "2019-01-25T15:43:05Z")
> [@songsearch1](#): > > Lots of Led Zeppelin I and II are reworks of old blues songs. For example…? ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/93 "2019-01-25T15:58:55Z")
[The Led Zeppelin songs that Led Zeppelin didn’t write](https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-led-zeppelin-songs-that-led-zeppelin-didnt-write) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/94 "2019-01-25T16:15:03Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > [The Led Zeppelin songs that Led Zeppelin didn’t write](https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-led-zeppelin-songs-that-led-zeppelin-didnt-write) Helluva link-Thank you. ---
**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 25, 2019, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/95 "2019-01-25T16:24:42Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Helluva link-Thank you. We’ve done this in CS countless times before, but if you just go to Youtube and look up “Led Zeppelin plagiarism,” you’ll find a number of videos with side-by-side examples. There’s a number I don’t agree with, but, yeah, there were a lot. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/96 "2019-01-25T17:17:07Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > An example is Neil Diamond’s “I’m a Believer.” It was in the can and ready to go when the producers of The Monkees made him an offer. I don’t think the Monkees’ version can really be considered a cover in the sense that we usually mean since it wasn’t heard by the public until years later when it released on on a Diamond retrospective compiliation album called In My Lifetime. Slight correction here: Neil Diamond’s version of “I’m a Believer” was released on his second Bang album, _Just for You_. So it was heard not long after he recorded it. However, it wasn’t released as a single, and The Monkees indeed got the big hit with it, and it’s their version that’s remembered. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/97 "2019-01-25T20:39:53Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > And UB40’s biggest hit, [Red Red Wine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Red_Wine), is a Neil Diamond tune from 1967 …But they thought they were covering Tony Tribe. j ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/98 "2019-01-25T20:59:07Z")
Years ago I picked up on something remarkable playing on the radio. Hadn’t caught the title or artist, but it was obviously Johnny Cash and I eventually found out the song was called In My Life: But it was an age - maybe years - before it dawned on me that this was the Beatles song. Cash just put his mark on it so emphatically that I never made the connection. > [@from\_a\_to\_z](#): > > 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.) My version of this sort of cascade is Handbags And Gladrags Mike D’abo wrote it - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApIMvj3xLvM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApIMvj3xLvM) and Chris Farlowe had a hit with it (produced by D’abo) - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3yN0JvG5co](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3yN0JvG5co) - if you’re a generation older than me, you probably think this is the original. It was recorded by Rod Stewart; if you’re my age, you probably think this was the original (I certainly did) - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edbFVGrTG-c](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edbFVGrTG-c) And if you’re a generation younger than me, then obviously it’s a Stereophonics original - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51GuG6N2qHE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51GuG6N2qHE) As someone said, if it’s good… j ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/99 "2019-01-26T08:24:52Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > . . .Cash just put his mark on it so emphatically . . . He’ll do that. Cash did such a spectacular rendition of Nine Inch Nails’ _Hurt_, that Trent Reznor [has said](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad6UBAwbNsE) that he no longer considers it his own song. mc ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/100 "2019-01-26T08:38:40Z")
And another one for the Beetles: I thought that the Beetles were just another oldies band. But I really liked Elton John’s “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds”. (1972) Easily the best thing he had ever done. When I realized that it was just a cover version, that was the moment when I first thought that the Beetles might actually be more than just another band that had been popular at some time in the past. One of the reasons why the Beetles have already been mentioned several times in this thread is that their songs are really easy to cover. They’re carried by the melody harmonies and lyrics, not by the production, voices or special effect (natural or artificial). Even I used to make a decent shot at covering some of the hits. Contrast the Beach Boys, who were only rarely covered: it’s just too difficult to get that sound. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189.md?page=6)