# Musicians who covered their own songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 6, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-covered-their-own-songs/652198 "2013-03-06T16:29:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-covered-their-own-songs/652198/41 "2013-03-07T19:42:05Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I think both of these fall into the “Basement Tapes” category (i.e., the composers _recorded_ it first but didn’t _release_ that recording until after someone else did), which I excluded in the OP. Another example is “I’ll Be On My Way”, a version of which was recorded by the Beatles at the BBC on April 4, 1963 but not officially released until the 1994 _Live at the BBC_; Billy J. Kramer released a version on April 26. But it’s a little complicated, because composers (Willie Nelson and Carole King, for example) often made a recording of their songs that was never meant to be released – it was just a demo to give to singers/band members/producers to get them to buy the song (and then record it for commercial release). Of course, years after “Crazy” became a hit for Patsy Cline, someone dug up Willie’s original demo recording, cleaned it up, and put it on an album (as is the case for lots of other demos, I’m sure). So “Crazy” does or doesn’t qualify for the OP, but I think it certainly fits the spirit of the OP – the demo would never have been released if Patsy hadn’t made it a hit. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-covered-their-own-songs/652198/42 "2013-03-07T20:42:04Z")
I’m not sure I buy the definition of already recorded. Many songs which are covered have demos done by the artist and not for release - for Dylan we now have an official copy of [The Witmark demos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bootleg_Series_Vol._9_%E2%80%93_The_Witmark_Demos:_1962%E2%80%931964), many of which got recorded by other people before Dylan recording them officially, even if only in concert. In fact the point of them was to sell them to people who would cover them because Dylan at the time was writing too much to record himself. At the beginning of the bootleg “I was young when I left home” Dylan says “If it not good for me it must be good for somebody.” (I don’t know if it is on the official bootleg or just the version of it I have back from 1971 or so.) The Basement Tapes were never meant for release, so I don’t buy that appearing on them disqualifies a song. I suspect most artists record sessions even for songs that never get released. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-covered-their-own-songs/652198/43 "2013-03-07T20:54:36Z")
**Harry Nilsson** wrote _Cuddly Toy_ for the **Monkees** and quickly released his own version. Wikipedia says they were only 1 month apart. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-covered-their-own-songs/652198/44 "2013-03-07T21:50:51Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I’m not sure I buy the definition of already recorded. Many songs which are covered have demos done by the artist and not for release - for Dylan we now have an official copy of [The Witmark demos](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bootleg_Series_Vol._9_%E2%80%93_The_Witmark_Demos:_1962%E2%80%931964), many of which got recorded by other people before Dylan recording them officially, even if only in concert. In fact the point of them was to sell them to people who would cover them because Dylan at the time was writing too much to record himself. At the beginning of the bootleg “I was young when I left home” Dylan says “If it not good for me it must be good for somebody.” (I don’t know if it is on the official bootleg or just the version of it I have back from 1971 or so.) > The Basement Tapes were never meant for release, so I don’t buy that appearing on them disqualifies a song. I suspect most artists record sessions even for songs that never get released. Of course, being the OP I can come up with any old definition I want. 🙂 I can give my justification, though… as you say, artists do demos all the time, and for that very reason, I chose to exclude cases where a composer’s demo was released after someone else released their own version. It’s an interesting category, but separate from what I was looking for. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-covered-their-own-songs/652198/45 "2013-03-08T00:16:00Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Of course, being the OP I can come up with any old definition I want. 🙂 I can give my justification, though… as you say, artists do demos all the time, and for that very reason, I chose to exclude cases where a composer’s demo was released after someone else released their own version. It’s an interesting category, but separate from what I was looking for. I buy that - I was talking about when the composer releases a real version of the song after the demo and after someone covers the demo. Besides Dylan which composer would have demand for demos? Carole King might if she did them as opposed to just writing the music. ---
**Author:** ![alphamatix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@alphamatix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphamatix)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2013, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-covered-their-own-songs/652198/46 "2013-03-08T02:32:55Z")
“Shipbuilding” was a song written by Elvis Costello and Clive Langer, given to Robert Wyatt who released it in 1982 as a single. The following year Costello recorded his own version for his Punch The Clock album, produced by Langer. I’m torn about which one I like better as I find Wyatt’s a little too sparse and Costello’s a little too bombastic. ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Harvey\_The\_Heavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_The_Heavy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2013, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-covered-their-own-songs/652198/47 "2013-03-09T15:06:34Z")
KISS demoed a song called “It’s My Life” in 1982, and then gave the song to Wendy O. Williams for the _W.O.W._ album in 1984. KISS then recorded a proper version of it in 1998, but it got cut from their reunion album _Psycho Circus_. It did get released on a box set a few years later though. ---
**Author:** ![staili](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c57346/32.png) [@staili](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/staili)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-covered-their-own-songs/652198/48 "2013-03-10T05:12:47Z")
Michael Bolton co-wrote “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” with Doug James, and it was a No. 12 hit in the US for Laura Branigan in 1983. Bolton then released his own version in 1989, which hit No. 1. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2013, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-covered-their-own-songs/652198/49 "2013-03-10T05:21:50Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Bruce Springsteen wrote \*Fire \*for the Pointer Sisters. He also wrote “Because the Night” for Patty Smith. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-covered-their-own-songs/652198/50 "2013-05-03T13:35:06Z")
Leslie West of Mountain wrote, recorded, and released a song called “[Baby, I’m Down](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM5mtgvuyl8),” which was rearranged with different lyrics and recorded by Clutch 30 years later as “[Immortal](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AjibPHIS8c),” then Mountain [covered Clutch’s version](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSdu3PyusZE). ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2013, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-covered-their-own-songs/652198/51 "2013-05-03T15:25:06Z")
Sort of along the lines of the OP’s criteria, Ke$ha contributed heavily to the writing of Britney Spears’s “Till the World Ends.” Shortly after the song was released, there was a remix that featured vocals by Ke$ha, Britney, and Nikki Minaj. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/musicians-who-covered-their-own-songs/652198.md?page=2)