The original version of “When the Levee Breaks” was much less heavy on the drums:
Hoyt wrote a couple that Three Dog Night recorded. His lyrics were that he was born in Oklahoma…born in a coma.
Also:
While we’re talking about Three Dog Night, wikipedia says:
In Sayer’s version, the last line of the chorus is “I won’t let the show go on”. Three Dog Night sang it as “I must let the show go on”, which Sayer was reportedly not happy about.[ citation needed ]
Bobby Darin had a big hit with “Mack the Knife.” I find Lotte Lenya’s original (in German) far better.
Another Three Dog Night:
5th Dimension:
I was reminded of this one, as I just used it in a Thread Games post.
The acappella group Pentatonix recorded “White Winter Hymnal” for a 2014 Christmas album, which gets a lot of airplay on holiday playlists. The original version was recorded, six years earlier, by Fleet Foxes.
More Three Dog Night…
A google reveals that the Animals released “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” which was written by Randy Newman, years before.
And BW Stevenson released Shambala first.
One week before Three Dog Night’s version appeared on the charts, Texan singer-songwriter B. W. Stevenson’s minute-shorter version bowed at No. 96 and later peaked at No. 66 the week of June 9.[8][9] It also reached No. 31 on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart.[10] This lesser-known version is often regarded as country pop or country rock and appears on collections of such.
Thank you for that - I hadn’t realized that it was available. An intriguing listen.
j
Bonnie Raitt had a huge hit with “Thing Called Love.” But I like the raucous, throw-caution-to-the-wind energy in the song when it’s performed by John Hiatt, the songwriter.
This one is slightly unusual - also I don’t know how well known it is.
The original version of Je T’aime (Moi Non Plus) by Serge Gainsbourg and…Brigitte Bardot. I guess this is arguably NSFW, therefore the link is spoilered:
IIRC Gainsbourg was unhappy because this recording was “Too hot”, something corrected with the (relative) coolness of the Jane Birkin version.
j
“Killing Me Softly with His Song” was a hit for Roberta Flack, but Lori Lieberman did it first. And better.
There is something that fucking Serge Gainsbourg found “too hot”? Doesn’t compute. 
Here’s the original Bulldoze Blues, later to show up as Goin Up The Country. Man, rock bands covering/stealing old blues songs could be its own thread.
“Love Song” by Lesley Duncan. Covered by Elton John, Olivia Newton-John and many more.
Another Cyndi Lauper cover is my personal favorite song on her debut album, “Money Changes Everything” by The Brains.
Songweiter Tom Gray passed away a few years ago, but before he did, he had a country/roots combo called Delta Moon, and he cut another stellar interpretation of the song:
“Torn” had an odd history.
Ednaswap wrote it in 1993. They performed it live, but did not release a recording.
In 1993, Lis Sorensen recorded and released a Danish translation, titled “Brændt” (Danish for “Burned”). It charted in Europe.
In 1995, Ednaswap released a recording of the English-language version.
In 1997, Natalie Imbruglia’s cover charted in the U.S.
So, which version counts as the “original”?
You may be familiar with The Clash’s version of this song
Or this one
This one is more complex than I realized. Working backwards, the well known version of Rum And Coca Cola is by The Andrews Sisters. Great record, by the way.
I knew that this had been essentially an uncredited copy of an original:
With the writer of the original left unpaid etc etc etc (but in this case able to sue with at least partial success). But what I hadn’t realized was that you can take this a further step back. The real original, at least of the melody - L’année Passée - was based on a folk song (which is fair game, I guess). Here’s a version of the song, which I think may be the original, but it comes with precious little information.
j
ETA: story of the song here:
This reminded me of the other big Andrews Sisters’ song, “Bei Mir Bistu Shein” (alias Bei Mir Biste Scheen, Bei Mir Bist Du Schön, etc.), which history I just heard about the other day on the radio and which has a similarly fascinating and convoluted history as “Rum And Coca-Cola”. It first started as a song in a Yiddish operetta before becoming the first big hit for the Sisters in the English version.
That’s a hell of a story. I’m still grappling with the concept of
a Nazi-sponsored German propaganda swing ensemble
That, surely, is niche music.
j
You are probably familiar with Jimmy Soul’s If You Wanna Be Happy.
If you surf around YouTube, you may have run across Robert Mitchum’s version. (No, I’m not kidding.)
There is also a version by “The Charmer”, who later joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name to Louis Farrakhan. (No, I’m not kidding.)
The original was Ugly Woman, by a Trinidadian named Roaring Lion.