# Songwriters covering their own songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436 "2003-12-11T21:12:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lembranca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@lembranca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lembranca)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/1 "2003-12-11T21:12:45Z")
I don’t know if this was already explored by the teeming millions, but I was thinking of songs written by a songwriter initially for someone else and made famous by said singer/band. The songwriter then later covers the song for him/herself, and becomes at least moderately successful with that song. I’m thinking along the lines of Carole King and all the songs she wrote in the sixities…I’m sure there is a a lot more out there but right now can’t think of any. ---
**Author:** ![ThePyroWeasel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@ThePyroWeasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThePyroWeasel)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/2 "2003-12-11T23:06:27Z")
This example’s out of the obscure indie pop community, but Scottish songwriter Momus has collaborated quite a bit with Japanese pop singer Kahimi Karie. Momus has written about a handful of songs for her which he has done renditions of on his own albums. In turn, Kahimi Karie has recorded versions of some of Momus’ songs. Good titles to check out are “Pygmalism”, “I Am A Kitten”, and “Good Morning World”. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/3 "2003-12-11T23:13:22Z")
Bruce Springsteen has done that a few times, e.g. ‘Because the Night’. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/4 "2003-12-11T23:14:41Z")
Elvis Costello’s album [All This Useless Beauty](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDCASS70311232247440436&sql=Asbp1z81aoyvn) is a collection mostly of songs he wrote for other people and then “covered” for the album. ---
**Author:** ![lembranca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@lembranca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lembranca)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/5 "2003-12-12T00:00:03Z")
I just remembered another one: Leaving on a Jet Plane, John Denver’s song made widely popular first by Peter Paul and Mary ---
**Author:** ![ThePyroWeasel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/54ee81/32.png) [@ThePyroWeasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThePyroWeasel)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/6 "2003-12-12T00:20:30Z")
Willie Nelson’s “Crazy”, made famous by Patsy Cline, and recorded later by Willie. ---
**Author:** ![OfBlinkingThings](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ebca7d/32.png) [@OfBlinkingThings](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OfBlinkingThings)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/7 "2003-12-12T00:35:39Z")
Bob dylans “All Along The Watchtower”. Hendrix sang it first and then bob dylan started doing it live, having to remind the crowd that he wrote the song. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/8 "2003-12-12T00:45:31Z")
Prince has performed songs that he has written for others. I know that the Talking Heads played a song(s) that David Byrne wrote for an unrelated project. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/9 "2003-12-12T01:09:06Z")
Hall & Oates did a cover of their tune, “Every Time You Go”, on their “Live at the Apollo” album after Paul Young had a hit with it. ---
**Author:** ![festive\_catfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@festive\_catfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/festive_catfish)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/10 "2003-12-12T01:47:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OfBlinkingThings \* > \*\*Bob dylans “All Along The Watchtower”. Hendrix sang it first and then bob dylan started doing it live, having to remind the crowd that he wrote the song. \*\* sorry, all along the watchtower was originally released on john wesley harding on december 27, 1967. hendrix recorded his version of the song in january 1968 for his 1968 release electric ladyland. ---
**Author:** ![Gamaliel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b487fb/32.png) [@Gamaliel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gamaliel)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/11 "2003-12-12T02:16:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by adam yax \* > \*\*Prince has performed songs that he has written for others. I know that the Talking Heads played a song(s) that David Byrne wrote for an unrelated project. \*\* He was pissed about the success Sinead O’Connor had with the song he penned, “Nothing compares 2 u”, and made various efforts to reclaim the song, covering it in concerts and calling one of his compilations “Nothing compares 2 him”. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/12 "2003-12-12T02:19:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by adam yax \* > \*\* I know that the Talking Heads played a song(s) that David Byrne wrote for an unrelated project. \*\* Are you referring to the movie **True Stories**? It wasn’t completely unrelated–the band plays “Love For Sale” in the movie and is part of the lipsynchers in “Wild Wild Life.” ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/13 "2003-12-12T02:31:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lisa-go-Blind \* > \*\*Are you referring to the movie **True Stories**? It wasn’t completely unrelated–the band plays “Love For Sale” in the movie and is part of the lipsynchers in “Wild Wild Life.” \*\* Nope, that is not what I was referring to. Actually, David Byrne once said that **not** having the actors sing the songs was a mistake. What I was referring to are the songs ‘Big Business’ and ‘What a Day That Was’ that Byrne wrote for a broadway show (ballet?) _The Catherine Wheel_. The songs were also featured in _Stop Making Sense_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/14 "2003-12-12T03:57:52Z")
Shel Silverstein recorded several songs that he wrote for others, including “Freaking at the Freaker’s Ball.” His version of “A Boy Named Sue” was the same year as Johnny Cash’s, but I don’t know which came first. After it became a hit for countless artists, Cole Porter recorded a version of “Anything Goes.” Peter Townsend recorded “Pure and Easy” on a solo album after the Who made a recording of the song, but the Who’s version wasn’t released until several years later. ---
**Author:** ![doctordoowop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@doctordoowop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doctordoowop)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/15 "2003-12-12T04:20:07Z")
Ernie Maresca wrote “The Wanderer” for Dion, & later released his version . Burt Bacharach has recordrd many of the songs he wrote for DWarwick. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/16 "2003-12-12T04:56:21Z")
I’m pretty sure that Stevie Wonder originally wrote “Superstition” for Jeff Beck, who recorded it with Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice. Later, Stevie recorded it himself, and it became a big hit. Neil Diamond wrote “I’m a Believer” for the Monkees, but later recorded it himself and often sings it in concerts. ---
**Author:** ![lembranca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@lembranca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lembranca)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/17 "2003-12-12T16:34:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mr. Blue Sky \* > \*\*Hall & Oates did a cover of their tune, “Every Time You Go”, on their “Live at the Apollo” album after Paul Young had a hit with it. \*\* I beleive Hall & Oates originally released the songs themselves first on their 1980 Voices Album, before Paul Young released his version. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/18 "2003-12-12T17:26:52Z")
Paul Simon wrote “Red Rubber Ball” for the Cyrcle in 1966. It finally appeared on a Simon and Garfunkle album in 1997. Bob Dylan’s “The Mighty Quinn” was a hit for Manfred Mann in 1968. Dylan didn’t officially record it until “Self-Portrait” in 1970, though the song was on the “Great White Wonder” bootleg in 1969. ---
**Author:** ![Ana\_Byrd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ana\_Byrd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ana_Byrd)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/19 "2003-12-13T17:04:57Z")
I’ve been told that Joni Mitchell’s “The Circle Game” had already been covered more than once before it appeared on “Ladies Of The Canyon” in 1970. David Bowie wrote “All The Young Dudes” for Mott the Hoople in 1972. His (far inferior IMHO) version appeared on “David Live” in '74. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436/20 "2003-12-14T04:04:33Z")
Bonnie Raitt had great success with “Thing Called Love” written by John Hiatt, who frequently plays it in his live show. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songwriters-covering-their-own-songs/218436.md?page=2)