OK, so maybe “Black Betty”? The Ram Jam version is the one most people know., but the original goes back to at least the early 1930s.
Oh, while we’re on the blues, there’s “When the Levee Breaks” by Zeppelin that I won’t even bother linking to, and there’s the Memphis Minnie original
Eddie Cochran’s original version of Summertime Blues in 1958 was a bigger hit (#8 on US Hot 100) than most later covers. The Who had a hit with it too (#27), though it’s very similar to Cochran’s. The most radically different version to chart (#14) was Blue Cheer’s.. Alan Jackson hit #1 on the Country charts with his version.
Worth a quick listen just to make this thread’s point, that almost any song can be completely changed. Here’s Bert Jansch, live:
I’d like to raise your post if I may, and offer the version by ‘Agent Orange’ as the snappiest version of Miserlou.
Thanks @digs. I hadn’t heard that one before. Nevertheless,it’s exactly the kind of thing I was thinking of and I really liked the guitar playing.
I regret that I tossed off this comment when I was too busy to hit youtube and remind myself which version I used to listen to. Turns out it was on a bargain bin cassette I used to have of the Kingston Trio.
Not quite in line with the topic, but
Grand Texas
vs
Hank Williams’ reworking, which is far more recognizable
I learned on the Dope a while back Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun wasn’t the original version. The original was by Robert Hazard. which is a bit different.
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The Arrows version of I Love Rock’n’roll is not radically different from Joan Jett’s gender-flipped version, but the fact that the song is a cover is surprising information to some folks.
In the UK Leaving Here by Eddie Holland wasn’t very well known.
Until Motörhead had a modest hit single with their cover version.
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Does “From a distance” by Bette Midler count? I heard the original version by the guy that wrote it - just once. It never got played, unlike Bette Midler’s take on it.
A number of cover versions change the tempo, some songs are quite different when taken slower, but I can’t recall any that were big hits, let alone managed to eclipse the original.
I’m no expert on R&B, but I gather that the Stones and Led Zep borrowed / ripped off a lot of blues numbers.
Johnny Kidd and the Pirates version of Please Don’t Touch was long forgotten
When Motörhead and (female Heavy Rock band) Girlschool did their cover version (seen here on iconic UK pop show Top of the Pops)
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I’m not certain but I believe in the USA the song Our Lips Are Sealed is best known as The GoGos version
However in the UK the version by Fun Boy Three is better known
Not sure whether it completely counts as a cover version. The song was co-written by Terry Hall of the Fun Boy Three and Jane Wiedlen of The GoGos during a brief romantic entanglement they had.
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I’d say not really a cover. But this cross-band provenance is a very interesting tidbit of pop music history.
I wonder how common it is for a song to be co-written by members of two (or more) bands, and then have that song recorded by both bands. One example: “Take It Easy” was written by Glenn Frey and Jackson Browne, and both recorded it (Frey via the Eagles).
The Who had done it too (though that wasn’t a hit). I suspect that Motörhead’s version was rather modeled after the Who’s.
That Bert Jansch version reminds me of this:
Roy Harper, Another Day
And two radically different covers:
Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel.
and
This Mortal Coil
I don’t know how to judge “success” here, though, because none of them were released as singles. But the TMC version is very widely known in my music subculture.
How about China Girl written by David Bowie and Iggy Pop. Bowie released his version 6 years after Iggy and had a massive hit with it.
Iggy
Bowie
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Or another shared song would be Because The Night. Bruce Springsteen started writing the song but didn’t want to complete it. He gave it to Patti Smith who had her biggest hit with it having added her lyrics.
Springsteen has since performed it live and released recorded versions using both his own lyrics and Smith’s lyrics.
Here is Patti Smith’s version.
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These aren’t necessarily hugely different but I’ll mention (Arthur Lee’s) Love and Alone Again Or
And the later version by British Rock Band UFO
The reasons I want to include it are firstly because I have always liked the UFO version but secondly it can serve as a very minor tribute to UFO bass player Pete Way who sadly died a few days ago.
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We need to split hairs here but in the UK Prince got to Number 6 with Kiss
So The Art of Noise (featuring Tom Jones) version reaching Number 5 makes it a bigger hit. Plus the Welsh Crooner’s golden pipes are nothing like Prince’s falsetto
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