I never realised that Substitute was first recorded by The Righteous Brothers back in 1975
The only version I had ever heard was the version by Clout, the all female South African rock band from 1978 which was a big hit in Europe and a modest hit in the US
TCMF-2L
Well, there is this:
Why is a "cover song" called a "cover" song? - Covers music naming | Ask MetaFilter.
Back in the days of black radio stations and white radio stations (i.e. segregation), if a black act had a hot record the white kids would find out and want to hear it on “their” radio station. This would prompt the record company to bring a white act into the recording studio and cut an exact, but white, version of the song to give to the white radio stations to play and thus keep the black act where it belonged, on black radio. A “cover” version of a song is a racist tool. Many examples can be found from “Sha Boom” to “Good Lovin’” It is NOT a term intended to be used to describe a valid interpretation of an old song
Now, if I have a choice between wiki and Don Mclean, I will pick Don.
this cite gives both answers:
It’s not hugely different but I’ll give The Nerves their due credit for writing and first recording Hanging on the Telephone
Which is much better known as a Blondie hit
TCMF-2L
Well, this was one the very first singles I owned, and now you’ve shattered two illusions I’ve always had: that it was an original song (a cover of the Righteous Brothers, of all!?) and that Clout were a Dutch band. South African? Never would’ve thought.
They had another hit, but for the life of me I can’t remember the title.
ETA: Looked them up, the other hit I know was “Save Me”.
How could you not know Clout were South African? It’s not like many all female South African rock acts had success in the UK.
TCMF-2L
And yet another one: Frijid Pink - “House of The Rising Sun”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US9lRkeW-m0
I really can’t quite remember why I’ve always thought that Clout were Dutch, but I’m not from the UK but from Germany, and in the seventies a few Dutch pop bands had international success on the continent with English language songs, like Pussycat or Shocking Blue. I knew somehow that Clout weren’t British or American, but somehow i’ve always filed them under Netherlands.
No one denies that many black artists had their songs covered by white ones for racist reasons. But that’s not the origin of the term.
Don Mclean was seven years old at the time the term was first cited to have been used in 1952.
Here’s a possible example. Slightly questionable since it involves a ‘mash up’ combining two existing songs.
Freak Like Me was the successful debut single by R&B artist Adina Howard reaching Number 2 in the US and a modest Number 33 in the UK in 1995
In 2000 a different version by Tru Faith and Dub Conspiracy got to Number 12 in the UK charts
But the big hit in the UK came in 2002 when the Sugababes went to Number 1 in the UK with a version that overlaid the main riff from Tubeway Army’s Are “Friends” Electric?
Tubeway Army was an earlier version of Gary Numan who in the US (probably the UK as well) is I believe best known for Cars. Here is Tubeway Army and Are “Friends” Electric. One of my favourite songs. It was a number hit itself in 1979.
TCMF-2L
This one only applies in the UK but might amuse / bemuse / disgust those in the US
The Red Hot Chilli Peppers breakthrough hit Under the Bridge was fairly successful in the UK reaching number 33
But female band All Saints took their version to number 1 with altered lyrics and instrumentation although it keeps the main
guitar riff
Anthony Kiedis who wrote the song and considers it a deeply personal account of his darkest days of drug addiction apparently doesn’t care for the cover.
All Saints themselves initially recorded a more stripped back R&B version
TCMF-2L
I’d take that wager.
Good point there. The Byrds released their version of Mr Tambourine Man before Bob Dylan did. Of course, The Byrds released it as a single and on an album. I don’t think Dylan did any singles.
Video Killed The Radio Star falls under that category. Co written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley, Bruce’s own band, The Camera Club, actually released it months before the Buggles, though as an album track and not a single. Bruce’s band had a guy named Thomas Dolby playing keyboards. Small world.
Dylan didn’t have any singles? I immediately thought of Like a Rolling Stone. According to Wikipedia, he has released 94 singles, altho most of them didn’t chart.
Here are some of the most successful ones.
•Like a Rolling Stone (1965, #2)
•Positively Fourth Street (1965, #7)
•Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 (1966, #2)
•Lay Lady Lay (1969, #7)
•Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door (1973, #12)
•Tangled Up In Blue (1975, #31 - big on FM)
•Hurricane (1975, #33 - big on FM)
•Gotta Serve Somebody (1979, #24)
•I Contain Multitudes (2020, #5 digital)
This is a bit weird. Nick Lowe wrote a song that was released under the Brinsley Schwarz name. As with most of Lowe’s material, it is well done but a tad light-weight.
Later, the Elvis Costello version of What’s so Funny 'bout Peace, Love & Understanding appeared as the B-side of a Nick Lowe single and became the much better known version, probably because Costello put a lot more feeling into it. The Costello version was also produced by Nick Lowe.
With Elvis appearing as “Nick Lowe And His Sound”, IIRC.
j
That’s a good one. I still think that “What’s So Funny…” is the best thing Elvis Costello and the Attractions have ever done, and that’s saying something. But I have a little difficulty with calling Nick Lowe’s work “a tad light-weight”. That may apply to his work with Brinsley Schwarz, whose oeuvre I don’t know very well (it surely applies to the Brinsley Schwarz version of “What’s So Funny…” in comparison), but Lowe’s albums “Labour Of Love” and “Jesus Of Cool” are just as sharp and biting as Costello’s early albums (which were all produced by Lowe).
Elton John’s pinball wizard from the Tommy movie is very good. Pretty sure it was a bigger hit than the Who’s version. As you probably know it’s mostly a piano song with guitars. Who’s version was guitar/bass/drums/vocals.
Something has been percolating in my head for days, and mention of Nick Lowe (just above) has reminded me of it. Back in the late '70s we went to a gig where the headline band were ridiculously late on stage. The story going round the audience was that they had been recording Top Of The Pops and so they were delayed. The band was Rockpile, here’s the TOTP recording in question. I wasn’t there, but I was there (as it were). And Rockpile played a 40 minute set and were utterly indifferent.
(As 1950BobbyF says in his comment below the video, “This is the Rockpile lineup. Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Terry Williams, and Billy Bremner”.)
j