# 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:** 6
**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 26, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/101 "2019-01-26T15:27:09Z")
I always thought I was smart because I knew The Beatles Twist and Shout was a cover of an Isley Brothers song. Rudolph Isley told me about introducing the song to John Lennon, and then told me the Isley Brothers version was a copy of the original song written by Phil Medley and Bert Berns (later credited as “Bert Russell”) and originally recorded by the Top Notes. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/102 "2019-01-26T15:50:17Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > My version of this sort of cascade is Handbags And Gladrags… > As someone said, if it’s good… > > j [Good enough to be done by CHASE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ThzF3JtFiE), an amazing band. One of the only covers they ever did. ---
**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 26, 2019, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/103 "2019-01-26T15:51:48Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > 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. I’m not sure I agree. If you’re talking about sound, later Beatles was absolutely heavily produced. Now, sure, they all had good melodies, so you didn’t need the production, but it was the same with the Beach Boys. Their music absolutely was carried by the melody, harmonies, and lyrics, as you put it. Pet Sounds is their most adventurous work (usually equated with Sgt. Pepper in terms of its ambition and production values), but all the songs there have great melodies. Wikipedia, for example, lists thirty-two covers of “God Only Knows,” for instance. David Lee Roth’s “California Girls” was a mid-80s hit here in the US (peaking at #3; looks like it made #6 in Australia.) ---
**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 26, 2019, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/104 "2019-01-26T16:38:53Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > 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. The BEATLES! BEATLES BEATLES BEATLES. It was a double pun, on Buddy Holly’s Crickets and on music with a beat. There was an early band called the Beetles, an exploitation group whose name was intended to fool clueless parents into buying the record for their kids. Since them a ton of cover and tribute groups have called themselves The Beetles. There are joke Meet the Beetles albums with pictures of an all-insect group. And that’s because the Beatles are the most famous rock group in history. The BEATLES! BEATLES BEATLES BEATLES. Grump. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/105 "2019-01-26T22:15:57Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The BEATLES! BEATLES BEATLES BEATLES. It was a double pun, on Buddy Holly’s Crickets and on music with a beat. Triple pun. It also references the beatniks. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/106 "2019-01-27T00:54:32Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > Ditto – especially because Parton was a well-known musician and actress and personality when Houston’s version came out. It was many years before I heard that it was Parton’s song. > > 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) > Also, “[Iko Iko](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iko_Iko).” I grew up hearing the Dixie Cups version on the radio occasionally; then came the cover they used in _Rain Man._ Not until I watched _Treme_ did I get the New Orleans/Mardi Gras connection and eventually find James “Sugar Boy” Crawford’s original, titled “Jock-a-Mo.” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgOrIar\_qGk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgOrIar_qGk) (Another song where the lyrics sound semi-nonsensical at first – but they make a lot more sense once you know about Mardi Gras Indians.) “Drunk History” did a funny segment on Dolly Parton and why she wrote “I Will Always Love you.” The Bobby Fuller Four played at my high school’s Boys League annual concert, so I knew about their version. Bobby committed suicide (this in dispute, apparently) shortly after, so he was another victim of the Boys League jinx. Something bad always happened to bands who played at that concert. First band to escape the jinx was Three Dog Night. I LOVE “Iko Iko” – glad to see the earier version. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![JohnM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/848f3c/32.png) [@JohnM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnM)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/107 "2019-01-27T02:00:16Z")
I just found out about this one earlier today because WXPN did an afternoon of music from 1986. The song “Superman” from R.E.M.'s _Life’s Rich Pageant_ is a cover; the original version was from Texas band The Clique in 1969. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/108 "2019-01-27T02:00:52Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > “Drunk History” did a funny segment on Dolly Parton and why she wrote “I Will Always Love you.” Looked this up – it’s good! Thanks 🙂 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFR-2m9CHI0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFR-2m9CHI0) > [@](#): > > I LOVE “Iko Iko” – glad to see the earier version. Thanks! If you haven’t already, it’s worth looking into the weird ritualized pseudo-violence of the [Mardi Gras Indians](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardi_Gras_Indians). That’s where all the stuff about setting people’s flags on fire and so forth comes from. The HBO show _Treme_ did a plot line about one of the “tribes” – here’s one scene to give a taste. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmgXIMbT3cU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmgXIMbT3cU) I love that the Dixie Cups turned the chanting of a subculture that was still kind of sinister/disreputable when they were little girls into a catchy pop 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 27, 2019, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/109 "2019-01-27T02:40:49Z")
> [@JohnM](#): > > I just found out about this one earlier today because WXPN did an afternoon of music from 1986. The song “Superman” from R.E.M.'s _Life’s Rich Pageant_ is a cover; the original version was from Texas band The Clique in 1969. Oh, no kidding! I did not know that. Always loved the REM song, never realized it was a cover! [The original for those interested](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyfDH0HKLjs). ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/110 "2019-01-27T03:00:07Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Oh, no kidding! I did not know that. Always loved the REM song, never realized it was a cover! [The original for those interested](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyfDH0HKLjs). Nice! Never heard it either. I think it might be better than REM’s at communicating the how the narrator’s, well, a bit pathetic. (Insert jokes on how Stipe always sounds kinda pathetic.) ---
**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 27, 2019, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/111 "2019-01-27T04:05:41Z")
I just found out that Bad Company’s “Ready for Love” - the only version I’ve ever heard - was a cover of Mott the Hoople. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/112 "2019-01-27T05:26:09Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > 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. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > And that’s because the Beatles are the most famous rock group in history. The BEATLES! BEATLES BEATLES BEATLES. Reminds me of [this sketch](https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2mddvr) from Victoria Wood. ---
**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 27, 2019, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/113 "2019-01-27T05:55:38Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > Nice! Never heard it either. I think it might be better than REM’s at communicating the how the narrator’s, well, a bit pathetic. (Insert jokes on how Stipe always sounds kinda pathetic.) It all makes sense then because Mike Mills sings lead on the R.E.M. version. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/114 "2019-01-27T12:55:13Z")
I ran across a Sarah McLauchlan cover of an ol’ Eagles song, looked at the credits and learned it was actually from [this guy](https://youtu.be/PejBkU4-1fk). There were a number of covers in the '70s that seem just a bit too glossy compared to the originals (Manfred Mann, I am looking at you). ---
**Author:** ![Sandwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@Sandwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sandwood)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/115 "2019-01-27T14:49:35Z")
Once upon a time, when I was listening to random music on the radio, this song came up: [Everly Brothers - “Love Hurts”](https://youtu.be/hFE2SnliiV0). Wait, what? The rock ballad by [Nazareth](https://youtu.be/G_1LP3Z6pW4) is not an original? And also, it’s not like the Everly Brothers were one-hit wonders or anything, so how did I not know they did the first ever recording of this song? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/116 "2019-01-27T15:53:30Z")
> [@Sandwood](#): > > Once upon a time, when I was listening to random music on the radio, this song came up: [Everly Brothers - “Love Hurts”](https://youtu.be/hFE2SnliiV0). > > Wait, what? The rock ballad by [Nazareth](https://youtu.be/G_1LP3Z6pW4) is not an original? And also, it’s not like the Everly Brothers were one-hit wonders or anything, so how did I not know they did the first ever recording of this song? Hey, it was years after I heard Simon & Garfunkel’s version of “Bye Bye Love” that I became aware that it was a cover of the Everly Brothers. Of course, back in that (_waaaaay_) pre-Web era, how would you know who wrote the song if you didn’t buy the record? ---
**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 27, 2019, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/117 "2019-01-27T16:14:03Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > Hey, it was years after I heard Simon & Garfunkel’s version of “Bye Bye Love” that I became aware that it was a cover of the Everly Brothers. > > Of course, back in that (_waaaaay_) pre-Web era, how would you know who wrote the song if you didn’t buy the record? Huh. Somehow I don’t even remember S&G’s version. And I even had the album _Bridge Over Troubled Waters_. I guess I just never really listened to the last two tracks on the album. (Though I do seem to remember “Song for the Asking,” so I don’t know if I just skipped over it or what. I don’t like recorded versions of live songs 95% of the time as it goes, especially on studio albums, so that’s probably what happened.) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/118 "2019-01-27T18:10:26Z")
Simon & Garfunkel even plagiarized themselves. For years I was unaware that _Somewhere They Can’t Find Me_ was just a plugged-in version of _Wednesday Morning 3AM_. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2019, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/119 "2019-01-27T21:48:45Z")
> [@Sandwood](#): > > Once upon a time, when I was listening to random music on the radio, this song came up: [Everly Brothers - “Love Hurts”](https://youtu.be/hFE2SnliiV0). > > Wait, what? The rock ballad by [Nazareth](https://youtu.be/G_1LP3Z6pW4) is not an original? And also, it’s not like the Everly Brothers were one-hit wonders or anything, so how did I not know they did the first ever recording of this song? Hell, all this time I’ve been thinking the Roy Orbison version was the original. :o ---
**Author:** ![Enlightening\_Meditation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecc23a/32.png) [@Enlightening\_Meditation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enlightening_Meditation)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/120 "2019-01-28T22:45:52Z")
The song I thought for the longest time as original but actually a cover is most likely [“Louis Louis”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RZJ4ESU52U) by The Kingsmen. The [original version](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-2CKsaq5r8) was written by Richard Berry and recorded by Richard Berry & The Pharaohs in 1957. I heard this song for decades before finding out it was a cover while reading about Frank Zappa carrying the torch, in a sense, for this song (Royal Albert Hall version on _Uncle Meat_ album, other live performance snippets, etc.). For the first couple years that I listened to Jimi Hendrix, I did not realize that [“Hey Joe”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXwMrBb2x1Q) was a cover song earlier recorded by [The Leaves](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWv03Wgz0PQ) For some years, I did not realize that Harry Belafonte’s [“Day-O”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMigXnXMhQ4) is a cover of a [traditional Jamaican song first recorded by Edric Connor in 1952](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDf2tUyY5jw). Some of my ska/reggae loving friends were shocked to find out that [Sublime’s “Scarlet Begonias”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cg2O4SsHQw) is actually a [cover of a classic tune by The Grateful Dead](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBEvFeHwQx4) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189.md?page=7)