# Songs you didn't know were remakes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 25, 2014, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244 "2014-05-25T21:20:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/121 "2014-06-15T15:25:34Z")
I didn’t know until recently that Guns ‘N Roses’ “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” was a remake of a Bob Dylan song. GNR did it better. ---
**Author:** ![tsm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/db5fbb/32.png) [@tsm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tsm)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/122 "2014-06-16T06:30:59Z")
“I Think We’re Alone Now”: Tommy James and the Shondells recorded it in the 60s. Remade by Tiffany in the 80s. I grew up with the Tiffany version and only heard the Tommy James version a couple of months ago. I think the original is much better. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/123 "2014-06-16T07:53:52Z")
Maybe I missed it, but I’m surprised nobody mentioned that [“Unchained Melody” has apparently been covered and re-covered more often than my bed.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unchained_Melody) I suppose the version by The Righteous Brothers is so well-known that all of the previous ones are completely forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/124 "2014-06-16T08:08:14Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > As a spinoff of the “songs that had a male and female version” thread, how about a song you didn’t know was a remake? > > The first example that comes to mind for me is “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” which was a big hit in the early 1950s, and a lesser hit with a clever video ca. 1990 by They Might Be Giants. > [@Bozuit](#): > > That’s what I first thought of when I saw the thread. Another is “Why Does the Sun Shine?”, which was originally by Tom Glazer in 1959. I found out the two songs were covers at the same time. > > ETA: “Tainted Love” is a big one. A lot of people assume the Soft Cell version is the original, but that honour goes to Gloria Jones’ version from 1965. One more from They Might Be Giants, _New York City_ was originally done by a Vancouver trio called Cub. I saw them live (opening for TMBG, in fact) a few months before they broke up, and they rocked. Kinda like Sleater-Kinney, but cuddlier. [New York City](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFKThNh5Vqk&feature=kp), by Cub. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/125 "2014-06-16T08:49:16Z")
A young Portugese/Hawaiian fella named Glenn Madeiros won a radio-sponsored talent show for high schoolers called “Brown Bags to Stardom” back in the mid-80s. It was kind of a proto _American Idol_ show. I didn’t follow the competition, but his winning performance of _Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You_ instantly became inescapable to anyone in Hawaii who listened to the radio. The record soon went to nationwide airplay, and his career got enough early buzz that Aretha Franklin recorded _I Knew You Were Waitin’_ with him a few months later. I was always a little annoyed that NO ONE ever pointed out that his winning performance and its subsequent hit single was merely a karaoke rendering of the same track from the still-reasonably-current George Benson album _20/20_. And that he sang the words “how much I love you” as “wow much I love you.” ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/126 "2014-06-16T14:49:41Z")
Rage Against the Machine covered _Renegades of Funk_, which was originally done by Afrika Bambaataa. I thought the song was typical RATM pedagoguery without the “rage” element, then found out later about its origin. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2014, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/127 "2014-06-16T15:51:14Z")
> [@tsm](#): > > “I Think We’re Alone Now”: Tommy James and the Shondells recorded it in the 60s. Remade by Tiffany in the 80s. I grew up with the Tiffany version and only heard the Tommy James version a couple of months ago. I think the original is much better. In probably the weirdest coincidence in rock history, the very next week after Tiffany took a Tommy James cover to #1, Billy Idol’s cover of “Mony, Mony” went to #1. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/128 "2014-06-16T16:50:53Z")
“Love Hurts”. Big hit for Nazareth. Done by…the Everly Brothers? [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hFE2SnliiV0/hqdefault.jpg "Everly Brothers - Love Hurts") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFE2SnliiV0) ---
**Author:** ![chancetx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@chancetx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chancetx)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/129 "2014-06-16T17:12:22Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > A young Portugese/Hawaiian fella named Glenn Madeiros … got enough early buzz that Aretha Franklin recorded _I Knew You Were Waitin’_ with him a few months later. That’s news to George Michael. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/130 "2014-06-16T17:57:00Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > “Love Hurts”. Big hit for Nazareth. Done by…the Everly Brothers? > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFE2SnliiV0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFE2SnliiV0) Redone by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris as well: https://www.youtube.com/embed/6ivVJzGgcq0?feature=oembed&wmode=opaque ---
**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:** [June 16, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/131 "2014-06-16T18:10:35Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > Redone by Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris as well: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ivVJzGgcq0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ivVJzGgcq0) And Roy Orbison. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/132 "2014-06-16T23:05:25Z")
Another somewhat odd one: [“Me and Bobby McGee”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me_and_Bobby_McGee), as made famous by Janis Joplin, was written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster and was originally performed by Roger Miller. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/133 "2014-06-16T23:42:26Z")
When I first heard Led Zeppelin I, I thought Pagey had written the entire album…boy was I wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/134 "2014-06-17T08:59:15Z")
The Jacksons’ 1978 hit “Blame It On The Boogie” is amazingly a cover… performed by Michael (Mick) Jackson. He was a relatively unknown British musician but his version did chart in the UK. Of course, the album had M. Jackson listed as the writer so I grew up thinking MJ penned it until a few years ago. The Mick Jackson version is very different, much quainter. It’s also pronounced the English way “Boo-gie.” Also Spoon covered “Don’t You Evah.” I don’t recall the name of the original performers but the remake is a vast improvement… ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/135 "2014-06-17T14:27:57Z")
> [@Knowed\_Out](#): > > Rage Against the Machine covered _Renegades of Funk_, which was originally done by Afrika Bambaataa. I thought the song was typical RATM pedagoguery without the “rage” element, then found out later about its origin. I didn’t even recognize the Bambaataa version as the same song until the last two minutes. Then I watch the [RATM](http://youtu.be/1-LxmdxHEFg)video and they have a clip of the [original](http://youtu.be/yYzakWz3JxU) starting at 1:03. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/136 "2014-06-17T15:18:04Z")
I can think of several songs I orignally heard performed by Santana that I didn’t find out were covers until years later. “Oye Como Va” was actually a cover of an old tune by Puerto Rican bandleader Tito Puente. “Black Magic Woman” was a cover of an old song by the bluesy, Sixties edition of Fleetwood Mac. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2014, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/137 "2014-06-17T15:27:03Z")
Cass Elliot’s biggest hit Dream A Little Dream of Me was written in 1931, with music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt and lyrics by Gus Kahn, and was first recorded in February 1931 by Ozzie Nelson. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/138 "2014-06-19T09:35:21Z")
> [@chancetx](#): > > That’s news to George Michael. Yikes! How did I misidentify THAT? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/139 "2014-06-19T11:43:08Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Why is it that, so often, if a group or performer is known primarily for one song, that song turns out to be a cover? (Among many examples are the previously mentioned “Don’t You Forget About Me,” and even, for many people, Janis Joplin/BBatHC’s “Piece of My Heart”). Suggests to me that great pop songwriting is a rarer gift than “great” (?) pop song performing. No doubt at all about that in my mind. There must be a hundred - possibly even a thousand - really good singers for every really good songwriter. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Not only is Cat Stephen’s hit [Morning Has Broken](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_Has_Broken) a remake of a 1931 folk song, but the melody was written for a 19th hymn, Child in a Manger. > > I damn near passed out when I innocently googled one to find out what the original song was. Passed out? Why? ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244/140 "2014-06-19T11:58:29Z")
Connie Francis’s “Who’s Sorry Now” was an old standard from 1923 when she sang it. “Beyond the Sea,” popularized by Bobby Darin was originally an older [French song](http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=la+mer+charles+trenet). (Musically, at least - I believe the lyrics are very different.) The George Harrison hit “I’ve Got My Mind Set On You” was [originally recorded](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k68Fob0QA_k) in 1963 by James Ray. The Blondie and Atomic Kitten song “The Tide is High” was [originally by the Paragons](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrIP3DpYOV0) in the '60s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-didnt-know-were-remakes/689244.md?page=8)