# Shortest time between original song and first cover version? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402 "2003-12-11T18:20:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hammos1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba8739/32.png) [@hammos1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hammos1)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/1 "2003-12-11T18:20:44Z")
What’s the shortest time between the chart debut of an original song, and the chart debut of the first cover version of the same song, _in the rock era_? (sorry, I was channeling Casey Kasem there for a moment) Chart debut means first appearance in the charts of any country. The cover version need not necessarily chart in the same country to count. As an example, _Do They Know It’s Christmas_ by Band Aid debuted in the UK charts in December 1984, and was then covered by Band Aid 2 in December 1989. Five years. But I’m sure you Dopers can do better. ---
**Author:** ![mouthbreather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a698b9/32.png) [@mouthbreather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mouthbreather)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/2 "2003-12-11T18:39:08Z")
I’m not sure if this counts as a cover or not, but the English and German versions of Der Kommissar by After the Fire and Falco were within a year of each other, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/3 "2003-12-11T18:42:36Z")
“You Are in My System” ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/4 "2003-12-11T19:03:22Z")
Seems to me I remember an old SD column where Cecil talked about various other groups in the 60’s doing covers of Bob Dylan’s “Mr Tambourine Man” but couldn’t release them because Bob hadn’t even released the original yet. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/5 "2003-12-11T19:13:21Z")
Hey Jude by the Beatles Released August 26, 1968 Highest Chart Position: #1 Hey Jude by Wilson Pickett Released late 1968, charted early 1969 (couldn’t find actual dates) Highest Chart Position: #23 Difference +/- 6 months ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/6 "2003-12-11T19:15:08Z")
[How about no time at all?](http://www.jerryosborne.com/6-12-00.htm) According to the link, “Alley Oop” had two versions enter the charts on the _same day_ in 1960, followed by a third version one week later. ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/7 "2003-12-11T19:15:25Z")
Hey Jude by the Beatles Released August 26, 1968 Highest Chart Position: #1 Hey Jude by Wilson Pickett Released December 21, 1968 Highest Chart Position: #23 Elapsed time: 4 months ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/8 "2003-12-11T19:22:35Z")
**D’oh!** ---
**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:** [December 11, 2003, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/9 "2003-12-11T19:26:23Z")
I got a “Could not find” error message, otherwise this would have been first. But it’s still relevant. There are millions of better examples than that. For instance, the most successful is probably “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” which was a #2 hit for Gladys Knight and the Pips in 1967 and a #1 hit for Marvin Gaye in 1968. And neither one was the original. Depending on what you call the beginning of the rock era, it was not uncommon in the late 1950s for artists to cover other records as soon as they heard a recording. There have been as many as five different versions of a song in the Top 40 at the same time! Many of these were white covers of black originals, which may or may not have made the regular top 100 charts. Here’s a famous one: “Long Tall Sally.” Little Richard’s version hit the charts on April 7, 1956 and stayed there for 12 weeks. Pat Boone had his on the charts by April 28, 1956 for a run of nine weeks. Amazingly, for the day, Little Richard hit a high of #6 and Boone’s never got over #8. ---
**Author:** ![threeorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@threeorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threeorange)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/10 "2003-12-11T19:33:45Z")
I’m not sure how many months elapsed between release dates, but **Proud Mary** was released by both **Creedence Clearwater Revival** and **Ike & Tina Turner** in 1969. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/11 "2003-12-11T19:38:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Exapno Mapcase \* > \*\*Many of these were white covers of black originals, which may or may not have made the regular top 100 charts. Here’s a famous one: “Long Tall Sally.” Little Richard’s version hit the charts on April 7, 1956 and stayed there for 12 weeks. Pat Boone had his on the charts by April 28, 1956 for a run of nine weeks. Amazingly, for the day, Little Richard hit a high of #6 and Boone’s never got over #8. \*\* I’m glad you brought up Pat Boone. He’s going to be the champ in this category. Boone did this kind of thing constantly. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/12 "2003-12-11T19:51:13Z")
Something like -20 some years. Simon and Garfunkle’s “Red Rubber Ball”. Cyrkle managed to release Simon And Garfukle’s song before S&G and S&G’s version wasn’t released until the early 80s’ ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/13 "2003-12-11T20:36:02Z")
I’m not sure if this qualifies because I don’t know if either one ever charted, but, recently, The Bangles released their version of “Tear Off Your Own Head” about one year after Elvis Costello’s original came out. ---
**Author:** ![Gundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Gundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gundy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/14 "2003-12-11T20:48:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bordelond \* > \*\*I’m glad you brought up Pat Boone. He’s going to be the champ in this category. Boone did this kind of thing constantly. \*\* Yeah, him and Johnny Rivers. Blue-eyed soul my ass. ---
**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:** [December 11, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/15 "2003-12-11T22:31:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > \*\*Something like -20 some years. Simon and Garfunkel’s “Red Rubber Ball”. Cyrkle managed to release Simon And Garfunkel’s song before S&G and S&G’s version wasn’t released until the early 80s’ \*\* Not exactly fair, since Simon (with Bruce Woodley) wrote the song and gave to the Cyrkle when one of the group was his bassist for a British tour. [http://entertainment.msn.com/artist/?artist=110467](http://entertainment.msn.com/artist/?artist=110467) > [@](#): > > Just at that moment, Don Dannemann was obligated to leave the band and civilian life for a short stint in the United States Coast Guard, which put the band on hiatus. What seemed like an interruption in their momentum, however, became the source of one of the biggest breaks imaginable – Dawes, left with nothing to do and having hooked up peripherally with Simon & Garfunkel, signed on as bassist for Simon & Garfunkel on one of their tours. While playing with them, he got to hear just about all of Paul Simon’s songs that Simon cared to utilize. The duo’s repertory was fairly thin, owing to their sudden success, including two numbers that Simon had written in England with Bruce Woodley of the Seekers, “Red Rubber Ball” and “Wish You Could Be Here.” “Red Rubber Ball” was recorded as soon as the quartet was back together, and with Epstein and Weiss exerting all of the pressure they could, got Columbia Records to sign the group and release the single. Issued in April of 1966, it rode the charts all that spring and got as high as number two, earning the group a spot on the Beatles’ 1966 summer and subsequently, final scheduled, concert tour. The bandmembers themselves, who had started doing this as a lark in college and, as recently as six months earlier had been playing Greenwich Village folk clubs to audiences of a couple of hundred people, were astonished to find themselves suddenly thrust into the role of an arena act. I don’t know of any evidence that Simon ever planned to put these out as S&G tunes. Ironically, though, the third of the Simon/Woodley songs, “Cloudy,” appeared on the _Cyrkle_ album in 1966 before it appeared on the _Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, & Thyme_ S&G album, although neither released it as a single. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/16 "2003-12-11T22:31:22Z")
Jimi Hendrix’s cover of “All Along the Watchtower” was actually released before Dylan’s original version. Dylan really wanted to stick it to his label that month, and at the time that was his only way of doing it. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/17 "2003-12-11T23:41:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Krokodil \* > \*\*Jimi Hendrix’s cover of “All Along the Watchtower” was actually released before Dylan’s original version. Dylan really wanted to stick it to his label that month, and at the time that was his only way of doing it. \*\* I was thinking of that example, but didn’t know when Hendrix took it to the charts. Dylan debuted it on 1/27/68. I wasn’t sure if it was before or shortly after Hendrix did it. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/18 "2003-12-12T00:25:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shoeless \* > \*\*Seems to me I remember an old SD column where Cecil talked about various other groups in the 60’s doing covers of Bob Dylan’s “Mr Tambourine Man” but couldn’t release them because Bob hadn’t even released the original yet. \*\* You are correct, sir! The article is: [Must you get permission to record someone else’s song?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_324b.html) A relevant quote: > [@](#): > > The composer’s one inalienable right is to decide who will record his song first. Bob Dylan pulled this one in the notorious case of “Mr. Tambourine Man”: the song was originally set to be issued in a version that Dylan had recorded live at a folk festival, but Dylan wasn’t happy with the results. Unfortunately, his contract with Columbia didn’t give him the right to decide on what material the company released, so Bob didn’t seem to have much of a choice. But then, the Poet of Our Generation remembered his first issue rights and denied a mechanical license to his own record company. The album was killed. > > Meanwhile, the Brothers Four, a once beloved folk group that had fallen on hard times, had recorded a highly commercial cover version of the song–a guaranteed comeback. But when Dylan’s anticipated first version failed to appear, the group was caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place, unable to release their dynamite single. It sat in the vaults until Dylan issued his approved version some months later–but in the meantime, the Byrds had recorded their cover version, and that was the one that went to the Top of the Pops. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/19 "2003-12-12T00:51:25Z")
_Gloria_ - released first by **Them** in February 1965, released in January 1966 by **Shadows of Knight**. ---
**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:** [December 12, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402/20 "2003-12-12T03:14:51Z")
“All Along the Watchtower” hit the US charts on Sept. 28, 1968 and the British charts on Oct. 23, 1968. “Gloria” by Them did not make the Top 40 charts in the US or the Top 50 in Britain. Hard to believe these days, I know. Sources: _Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits_ and _British Hit Singles_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shortest-time-between-original-song-and-first-cover-version/218402.md?page=2)