Mistaken Covers

I'm trying to make a compilation of the original versions of songs that most people only know the cover.

Some examples...

Tainted Love - Gloria Jones
Hard To Handle - Otis Redding
Always Something There To Remind Me - Dionne Warwick
All Along the Watchtower - Bob Dylan
Ring of Fire - Anita Carter

Anyone got any good ones?

Downtown Train - Tom Waits

"Boys of Summer" - Don Henley
"I Drove All Night" - Roy Orbison
"Bizarre Love Triangle" - New Order
"Dead Souls" - Joy Division
"Blue Monday" - New Order
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" - Bonnie Tyler
"Don't Dream It's Over" - Crowded House

blue suede shoes- carl perkins (elvis)

hound dog- big mama thornton (elvis)

head on- the jesus and mary chain (pixies)

needles and pins- written by sonny bono, performed by the searchers (ramones)

red, red wine- neil diamond (ub40)

edit-added artist who covered each song



[Edited on Aug 29, 2003 by onesecondmore]

I Will Always Love You -- Dolly Parton

"Pictures of Matchstick Men".....I'm not sure who did the original, but I know it is older than Type O/Ozzy's version and older than Camper Van Beethoven

Status Quo did it first.

There was an album called Songs the Cramps Taught Us with the originals of the great Cramps covers ("She Said" by Hasil Adkins, "The Crusher" by The Novas, etc.)

Wasn't Costello's "What's So Funny bout Peace Love and Understanding?" a cover, of Nick Lowe or someone?

the covers project

sometimes they are wrong, but you can find covers there, who originally made them and what not.

[Edited on Aug 30, 2003 by inhaler97]

Here's one I learned about recently:
Somebody's Gonna Get Thier Head kicked In - By Fleetwood Mac, covered by the Rezillos, and then by Murphy's Law.

Song - Original Artist [cover artist commonly thought to be original artist]

Good Guys (dont wear white) - Ed Cobb [minor threat]
Am I Evil - Diamondhead [Metallica]
Smokin' in the Boys Room - Brownsville Station [Motley Crue]
Daydream Believer - John Stewart [the Monkees]
Pipeline - The Chantays [Agent Orange]
My Way - Paul Anka [Frank Sinatra]
Somethin' Else - Eddie Cochran [Sid Vicious / Sex Pistols]
i wanna be your dog - Iggy Pop [sid vicious]
The Passenger - Iggy Pop {Siouxsie and the Banchees]
Hey Joe - the Leaves [Jimi Hendrix]
God Gave Rock n Roll To You - Argent [Kiss]
Do You Wanna Touch Me - Gary Glitter [Joan Jett]


i'm sure i can think of more, but i have alot of covers, sometimes i even forget the original.

Crazy - Covered by Patsy Cline (by Willie Neslon)
Landslide - covered by everyone (by Fleetwood mac)

yeah

did simple minds do the original of don't you forget about me?

yes

The Green Manalishi & the Two Pronged Crown (Fleetwood Mac)
12XU (Wire)
Everything on Nirvana's Unplugged in New York

Crying - Roy Orbison by Don McLean
I Shot the Sheriff - Bob Marley by Eric Clapton
Sympathy for the Devil - The Rolling Stones by Guns n Roses
Fade Away - Grateful Dead by Buddy Holly
Twist and Shout - The Isley Brothers by the Beatles
Watchtower was already mentioned
Blue Suede Shoes - (unsure) by Elvis Presley
Respect - Otis Redding by Aretha Franklin


Fuck Clapton has more too.. Cocaine, Riding with the King, Knockin on Heavens Door...

black magic woman-santana (fleetwood mac)
Crazya cover, not really, Willie wrote the song but Patsy released it first; same goes for Watchtower.... An interesting twist to Watchtower is that Dylan considers Hendrix's version the definitive and in concert used that arrangement.

But willie plays it live now. So there is the rub..

Hanging on the Telephone - Blondie (written by The Nerves) the original is better in my opinion, check out rhino's 'DIY come out and play american power pop vol. 1'.

Not sure which came first, but the Fun Boy Three;s version of "Our Lips Are Sealed" is superior to the Go-Go's. It's tough to say which band really owns it as the singer for the FB3 and the GG's guitarist wrote it (if I'm remembering correctly).

Awww yeah... I knew the SG crew would represent.

Oh, BTW, the uber-clever name for this comp...

"I Can't Believe It's Not Cover!"

Rudi, a message to you - Judge Dread (The Specials)
Good Riddance - The Undertones (Greenday)

originaly by waits or thought ot be a cover?

Tom wrote it. Everyone else covered it.

Manfred Mann -- "Blinded By the Light" (Springsteen original)

Patti Smith -- "Because the Night" (Springsteen original)

The Rolling Stones -- "I Wanna Be Your Man" (Beatles original)