# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 7
**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 29, 2019, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/121 "2019-01-29T15:21:02Z")
> [@snoe](#): > > …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)… Thank you for sharing - that was fascinating. Here’s a little bit more information (not paywalled, at least in the UK) from, of all things, the Financial Times: > **[The mysterious origins of ‘Iko Iko’](https://www.ft.com/content/b5892a0a-6179-11e7-8814-0ac7eb84e5f1)** > > A hit for The Dixie Cups in 1965, the song is a gumbo of African, European and Native American influences j ---
**Author:** ![Rough\_Draft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rough\_Draft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rough_Draft)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2019, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/122 "2019-01-29T21:46:47Z")
I was surprised to find out recently that _The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face_ was a folk song dating back to the 1950s. I always thought Roberta Flack’s 1972 version was more or less the first time it had been recorded. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2019, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/123 "2019-01-30T02:29:00Z")
Here’s an interesting one, Most people are familiar with Blue Suede’s ‘Hooked on a Feeling’, especially since it was prominant in Guardians of the Galaxy. I knew that it was a cover of a B.J. Thomas song from a few years earlier, but it’s actually a cover of Jonathan King’s cover of the B.J. Thomas song. It was King that took the original and added the ‘OOGA-CHAKA-OOGA-OOGA’. bit to the song. B.J. Thomas’s version had sitars and a country flavor, but still hit #5 on the billboard chart. King’s version with the additions only cracked the top 30. But King was also a producer, and undaunted by the poorer reception his cover got over the original that had charted only three years earlier, he gave the song to a little-known Swedish band called Blue Suede, and it was their version that went to #1 on the U.S. chart, and is pretty much the only one people remember. So the song made it onto the billboard charts in three different versions in a space of only six years. [Hooked on a Feeling - BJ Thomas 1968](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wqt_iZBvtCo) [Hooked on a Feeling - Jonathan King 1971](https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=vNLo7OzNd_Q) [Hooked on a Feeling - Blue Suede 1974](https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=NrI-UBIB8Jk) ---
**Author:** ![Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reindeer_flotilla/32/3024_2.png) [@Reindeer\_Flotilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reindeer_Flotilla)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2019, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/124 "2019-01-30T21:31:26Z")
This is probably more well known than a lot that’s been mentioned here, but it wasn’t that long ago I found out that [Ram Jam’s Black Betty](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_2D8Eo15wE) was a cover. [Here’s the original from 1933.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiCEVl_9-MM) ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/125 "2019-01-31T05:21:03Z")
I think “Hallelujah” counts for me. I actually heard several covers, actually, but I assumed that one of them was the original. I’d heard the name Leonard Cohen, but I assumed he was one of the people I’d heard. It wasn’t until I was later trying to find one of the covers I’d listened to before that I stumbled upon the original version. There are also some Beatles songs that I originally only knew the covers, but I don’t remember which specific ones offhand. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/126 "2019-01-31T06:24:34Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Here’s an interesting one, Most people are familiar with Blue Suede’s ‘Hooked on a Feeling’, especially since it was prominant in Guardians of the Galaxy. > > I knew that it was a cover of a B.J. Thomas song from a few years earlier, but it’s actually a cover of Jonathan King’s cover of the B.J. Thomas song. It was King that took the original and added the ‘OOGA-CHAKA-OOGA-OOGA’. bit to the song. B.J. Thomas’s version had sitars and a country flavor, but still hit #5 on the billboard chart. King’s version with the additions only cracked the top 30. But King was also a producer, and undaunted by the poorer reception his cover got over the original that had charted only three years earlier, he gave the song to a little-known Swedish band called Blue Suede, and it was their version that went to #1 on the U.S. chart, and is pretty much the only one people remember. So the song made it onto the billboard charts in three different versions in a space of only six years. > > [Hooked on a Feeling - BJ Thomas 1968](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Wqt_iZBvtCo) > > [Hooked on a Feeling - Jonathan King 1971](https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=vNLo7OzNd_Q) > > [Hooked on a Feeling - Blue Suede 1974](https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=NrI-UBIB8Jk) The band is called Blue **Swede**. It’s a pun on blue suede and the band being Swedes. ETA: [Blue Swede - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Swede) ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/127 "2019-01-31T13:26:21Z")
Here is a straight cover by Gabriel Cilmi [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/F-wynYFFEVI/hqdefault.jpg "Gabriella Cilmi - Warm This Winter (Music Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-wynYFFEVI) the original [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H79-7rytoMI) Not much to choose between them really except that I think Connie shades it ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/128 "2019-01-31T16:06:01Z")
> [@Enlightening\_Meditation](#): > > 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) I did not know about this one and I love the original! I’m a fan of the 60’s garage bands so this is a new one for me to check out. Thanks! ---
**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 31, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/129 "2019-01-31T16:11:35Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > There are also some Beatles songs that I originally only knew the covers, but I don’t remember which specific ones offhand. I’m not entirely sure if there is a Beatles song that I didn’t know was a cover, but I did only recently (as in, within the last month) find out that Peter & Gordon’s #1 hit from the 60s, “A World Without Love” was a Lennon-McCartney song. The Beatles didn’t record it and, from my understanding, it actually predates the formation of the band, but I had not idea. Only one other Lennon-McCartney song made it to #1 in the US charts by an artist other than the Beatles: Elton John’s version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.” ---
**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 31, 2019, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/130 "2019-01-31T16:37:52Z")
Wilson Pickett’s [Hey Jude](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Jude_(Wilson_Pickett_album)) got to #23, and I’ll post it again: Pickett owns that 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 31, 2019, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189/131 "2019-01-31T17:42:49Z")
Incidentally, I just asked our smart speaker to play Elton John’s version of “Lucy…” and I have no recollection of ever hearing it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moments-when-you-realized-a-hit-song-was-actually-a-cover/828189.md?page=6)