Hit songs you are suprised, nay shocked, to learn are covers

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Who knew that 'Family Man,' a top ten hit for Hall and Oates in 1983, was actually a Mike Oldfield song? And doesn't it still seem so unlikely that you want to double-check to make sure I'm not making it up?

Let's have some other examples. Obviously we're looking more for songs that weren't hits in their original versions and not well-known covers (eg., Mr. Tamborine Man or whatever).

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:30 (nineteen years ago)

toni basil's "mickey" was originally done by the band racey (it was called "kitty").

― Bob Dylan’s harmonica can make it hard for office workers to concentrate. (Jody , Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:33 (nineteen years ago)

Pearl Jam's - "Last Kiss"

― Benjamin Fenton (plsmith), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:34 (nineteen years ago)

hahaha, I knew "Family Man" was a cover but I had no idea MIKE OLDFIELD did the original.

I remember being pretty surprised that "Bette Davis Eyes" was a Jackie DeShannon cover.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:35 (nineteen years ago)

was Elvis Costello's version of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace Love & Understanding" ever a hit? I definitely remember being shocked to learn that that was a cover.

― sixteen sergeants, Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:36 (nineteen years ago)

I was surprised to hear that Tainted Love is a cover, when I was a bit younger and had fallen in love with the Soft Cell version.

― Harrison Barr (Petar), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:37 (nineteen years ago)

Blondie--Hangin' On The Telephone (The Nerves)
Cyndi Lauper--Money Changes Everything (The Brains)

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

neither were particularly large hits, but I was definitely thrown for a loop when I found out "Can't Get Enough of You, Baby" was a ? and the Mysterians cover. Dunno what was more shocking, that Smash Mouth were ? fans or that ? had more than one song in the first place.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:40 (nineteen years ago)

James Taylor - "Handyman" (Jimmy Jones)

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:41 (nineteen years ago)

Torn - Natalie Imbruglia

― dewey2, Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:43 (nineteen years ago)

David Bowie w/ Tina Turner - "Tonight" (Iggy Pop)

― Eazy (Eazy), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:44 (nineteen years ago)

Smash Mouth "Can't Get Enough of You, Baby" (? and the Mysterians).
Just now from Dr. Bill!

I know Costello wrote the lyrics, but I remember being very surprised to find out that everyone in the world knew (and preferred) Robert Wyatt's (earlier) version of "Shipbuilding" to EC's. Actually, I remember first drunkenly denying the existence of said version.

― gooblar (gooblar), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:45 (nineteen years ago)

Torn - Natalie Imbruglia

NFW

who of?

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

The Yachts "Look Back in Love (Not in Anger)"

Actually a cover of a song by a 60's group called Teddy and the Pandas. The Yachts' version is so much of a piece with their originals (and sounding fully "1979," so to speak, and not like a 60's rehash), I was genuinely surprised when I learned they didn't write it.

― James, Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:46 (nineteen years ago)

Natalie Imbruglia's single "Torn" was an Ednaswap cover.

― dewey2, Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:48 (nineteen years ago)

NFW

who of?

Ednaswap. Aren't you glad you asked? (xpost!)

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:48 (nineteen years ago)

"i love rock'n'roll" (the arrows)
"bette davis eyes" (jackie deshannon)
"video killed the radio star" (bruce wooley and the camera club)

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:50 (nineteen years ago)

woolley may've got the first version out, but horn and downes co-wrote and released not that much later, so that's kind of cheating, chuck - i'm thinking of covers more narrowly.

but i was pretty surprised when i finally discovered - only about two months ago! - not only a bruce woolley trail, but the fact that he'd had a version of the song as well. i read somewhere that he wrote jingles or something and didn't think he ever had a pop career.

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

Cow-orker and me, a few weeks ago:

"This is a cover of that advert song!"
"No, it's the original."
"No, it's that Heartbeats song from the advert."
"Yes, but it's the original version. It's by The Knife, they're a swedish band."
"Wow!"
"The advert thing is a cover by a guy called Jose Gonzales."
"That's amazing. I thought it must be the original cos it's on an acoustic guitar."

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 20:23 (nineteen years ago)

Gary Lewis & the Playboys, "This Diamond Ring" (Sammy Ambrose)

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 20:32 (nineteen years ago)

"video killed the radio star" (bruce wooley and the camera club)

Wow, I always thought that song felt unnecessarily old-timey. How old is the Bruce Wooley song?

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 20:37 (nineteen years ago)

I made a lucky guess at a recent NTT competition that The Isley Brothers did the original version of the Human Beinz's "Nobody But Me". Still yet to hear it though.

And I think I also discovered that Great White's "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" was originally done by Mott the Hoople's Ian Hunter but I might need to be fact-checked on that one.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 20:39 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, Ian Hunter did it. It's on his first solo lp.

― Chairman Doinel (Charles McCain), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 20:42 (nineteen years ago)

Tommy James-"Hanky Panky" (The Raindrops)

― Chairman Doinel (Charles McCain), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 20:44 (nineteen years ago)

oh and pretty much every Linda Ronstadt song, but namely "You're No Good," whose original version is at least more obscure than most of her other hits.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 20:45 (nineteen years ago)

Both the Woolley and Buggles versions of the VKRS were released in 1979.

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 20:47 (nineteen years ago)

Did you really think that Linda Ronstadt wrote all those hit singles, Dr. Good Bill?

― pleased to mitya (mitya), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 20:49 (nineteen years ago)

Blondie, "Hanging On the Telephone".

― Pessimist (Pessimist), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 20:55 (nineteen years ago)

Which was already said. Oh, well! Sorry about that!

(People actually prefer the Wyatt version of "Shipbuilding"?)

― Pessimist (Pessimist), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

i'm shocked about 'once bitten, twice shy'. all my respect for great white...out the window!

― 6335, Wednesday, 10 May 2006 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

Did you really think that Linda Ronstadt wrote all those hit singles, Dr. Good Bill?

no, but I thought at least one or two of them were at least written specifically for her. Were her late-80s hits covers too?

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 21:03 (nineteen years ago)

I wasn't shocked to find out that Wilson Pickett's wasn't the first version of "Land of 1000 Dances," but I was completely blinded by Chris Kenner's original. It's beyond incredible.

― The Jazz Guide to Penguins on Compact Disc (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 22:38 (nineteen years ago)

woah, I thought Cannibal & the Headhunters was the original. Did that even come before Pickett?

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 22:39 (nineteen years ago)

I knew a lot of these, but the one that suprised me was...

Deep Purple, "Hush" - originally written by Joe South and previously covered by Billy Joe Royal.

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 22:47 (nineteen years ago)

Really? I'm going to have to go back further with that one now I guess. Sad to say it was Kula Shaker cover that got me into in the first place.

― Johnny Fever (johnny fever), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 22:49 (nineteen years ago)

Is "Our Lips Our Sealed" a Fun Boy 3 cover?

― Frightenstein, Wednesday, 10 May 2006 22:52 (nineteen years ago)

Speaking of Ian Hunter and 'Shipbuilding', wasn't 'Ships' (from Ian's YOU'RE NEVER ALONE WITH A SCHIZO record) a cover of a Barry Manilow song (or was it the other way around?)?

― Handsome Dan, Wednesday, 10 May 2006 23:26 (nineteen years ago)

When I was little I was shocked to learn that every single song off Willie Nelson's Stardust was a cover.

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 23:31 (nineteen years ago)

did jackie deshannon actually record 'bette davis eyes'? i knew she wrote it but i didn't think that it had been performed by anyone else..

― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 23:32 (nineteen years ago)

Really? I'm going to have to go back further with that one now I guess. Sad to say it was Kula Shaker cover that got me into in the first place.

The Billy Joe Royal cover is worth checking out.. it's got a great gritty '67 soul sound to it.

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 23:38 (nineteen years ago)

Yep, Jackie DeShannon recorded and released it. I finally found it on Slsk after months of searching for it.

A couple of songs that did surprise me back in the day were "Tainted Love" and "I Want Candy".

― musically (musically), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 23:42 (nineteen years ago)

"There But for the Grace of God" - The Gories

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 23:42 (nineteen years ago)

"The advert thing is a cover by a guy called Jose Gonzales."
"That's amazing. I thought it must be the original cos it's on an acoustic guitar."

Joe Wiley, of all people, played the Knife version just last week claiming it to be a cover of the jose gonzales. clueless.

― jed_ (jed), Wednesday, 10 May 2006 23:49 (nineteen years ago)

BB King - The Thrill Is Gone (Roy Hawkins)

I suppose in hind sight I should not have been suprised, but I never realized that The Thrill Is Gone was a cover until I heard the original on a blues show.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Thursday, 11 May 2006 00:00 (nineteen years ago)

David Bowie - China Girl

― Good Dog (Good Dog), Thursday, 11 May 2006 00:08 (nineteen years ago)

"Get a Move On" - Mr. Scruff

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 11 May 2006 00:16 (nineteen years ago)

Speaking of Ian Hunter and 'Shipbuilding', wasn't 'Ships' (from Ian's YOU'RE NEVER ALONE WITH A SCHIZO record) a cover of a Barry Manilow song (or was it the other way around?)?

I was going to mention this one. Barry's was the cover and I'll take Ian's anyday.

― jim wentworth (wench), Thursday, 11 May 2006 00:23 (nineteen years ago)

I was too young at the time to realise, but:
Tiffany - "I Think We're Alone Now" (Tommy James and the Shondells).

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 11 May 2006 00:56 (nineteen years ago)

I'd had a copy of REM's Document for at least ten years before I ever heard Wire's Pink Flag. The first time I heard "Strange" it literally shocked me. I so strongly associated that song with REM that I couldn't understand how Wire could cover a song ten years before it was released.

Just this past week I finally bought REM's Reckoning and was similarly confused when I heard "Camera" which I had only heard Pavement's version of. But it always seemed like a cover, unlike Strange which I never thought for a moment was.

Neither hit songs, I guess, but still.

― joygoat (joygoat), Thursday, 11 May 2006 01:07 (nineteen years ago)

"Barry's was the cover and I'll take Ian's anyday."

Well...yeah!

― Handsome Dan, Thursday, 11 May 2006 01:07 (nineteen years ago)

"woah, I thought Cannibal & the Headhunters was the original. Did that even come before Pickett?"

Yup, and the Chris Kenner original (from 62?) has the opening verse with the the title that isn't in the covers.

― Chairman Doinel (Charles McCain), Thursday, 11 May 2006 01:11 (nineteen years ago)

Kenner, '62
Cannibal, '65
Pickett, '66

Kenner's version is like a field holler, it's mesmerizing.

― The Jazz Guide to Penguins on Compact Disc (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 11 May 2006 01:14 (nineteen years ago)

Not sure if "cover" is the right word, but "Dazed and Confused" by Led Zep.

― dlp9001 (dlp9001), Thursday, 11 May 2006 01:17 (nineteen years ago)

GoGo's "Our Lips Are Sealed" isn't exactly a cover as I think Jane Weidlin and Terry(?) from Fun Boy co-wrote it about how they were knockin' boots on the sly or something. Not sure which version was actually released first though - could be Fun Boy, would have to check.

― Kim (Kim), Thursday, 11 May 2006 01:29 (nineteen years ago)

I was pretty surprised to find out Manfred Mann's very full sounding "Blinded By The Light" was originally a prototypical Bruce Springsteen blue collar ramble.

― Kim (Kim), Thursday, 11 May 2006 01:32 (nineteen years ago)

"wrapped up like a douche"! I hate that song.

― The Jazz Guide to Penguins on Compact Disc (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 11 May 2006 01:51 (nineteen years ago)

"Call Me the Breeze" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. And who knew that JJ Cale was just another white English guy?

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Thursday, 11 May 2006 01:59 (nineteen years ago)

understandable! but does it in any way resemble a Bruce Springsteen song?

x-post

― Kim (Kim), Thursday, 11 May 2006 01:59 (nineteen years ago)

Go-Go's were first.

And Cale's not English; isn't he from Oklahoma?

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Thursday, 11 May 2006 01:59 (nineteen years ago)

i was pretty surprised when i first heard that "black magic woman" was not a santana original...

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Thursday, 11 May 2006 02:11 (nineteen years ago)

understandable! but does it in any way resemble a Bruce Springsteen song?

Verses yes, chorus no.

― The Jazz Guide to Penguins on Compact Disc (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 11 May 2006 02:12 (nineteen years ago)

About half of Robert Palmer's hits, it seems. ("I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" being a good example.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 May 2006 02:21 (nineteen years ago)

Really? (I'm surprised, nay, shocked!) Seriously...who recorded the original?

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 11 May 2006 02:24 (nineteen years ago)

Cherelle did the original "Didn't Mean". Dunno whose version I prefer, but lordy are both great.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Thursday, 11 May 2006 02:42 (nineteen years ago)

"Live And Let Die" by GNR. Wasn't the original a Wings song? Don't think I've ever heard it.

― sleeve (sleeve), Thursday, 11 May 2006 02:43 (nineteen years ago)

You're serious? Not even seen the James Bond film of that name? (Which is where it first appeared.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 May 2006 02:49 (nineteen years ago)

it was a song for a James Bond film, called...Live and Let Die!

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 11 May 2006 02:51 (nineteen years ago)

x-post

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 11 May 2006 02:51 (nineteen years ago)

I didn't know until relatively recently that Blondie's "The Tide Is High" was by the Paragons. Listening to that Trojan double-CD comp has been pretty revelatory in this specific way... and it's completely made me lose the already tiny crumb of respect I had for UB40.

Ace Frehley's "New York Groove" -- originally by UK glam bubble gum group Hello.

My Bloody Valentine's "You Made Me Realise" -- originally an Accept outtake.

― DOQQUN (donut), Thursday, 11 May 2006 02:53 (nineteen years ago)

Sleeve, get thee to a video store! Or netflix! Or bittorrent! Or wherever the kids get their movies these days....

Yah gotta hear the original. The only almost-cool Wings song.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Thursday, 11 May 2006 02:54 (nineteen years ago)

My Bloody Valentine's "You Made Me Realise" -- originally an Accept outtake.

Hahahah

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 11 May 2006 02:56 (nineteen years ago)

Wow, I've seen some old James Bond but not that one. Will check it out posthaste. Thanks for the recommendation, people.

― sleeve (sleeve), Thursday, 11 May 2006 03:08 (nineteen years ago)

Ace Frehley's "New York Groove" -- originally by UK glam bubble gum group Hello.

YSI FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Thursday, 11 May 2006 03:09 (nineteen years ago)

Ummm.....The Braids' "Bohemian Rhapsody". When it came out I loved it. My dad heard it and told me it used to be a rock song, but I couldn't imagine it as rock at all.

― Dr. Rodney's Original Savannah Band (R. J. Greene), Thursday, 11 May 2006 03:14 (nineteen years ago)

(Note: I was 10 at the time.)

― Dr. Rodney's Original Savannah Band (R. J. Greene), Thursday, 11 May 2006 03:14 (nineteen years ago)

Chaka Knan's "I Feel For You" is another one.

― Dr. Rodney's Original Savannah Band (R. J. Greene), Thursday, 11 May 2006 03:17 (nineteen years ago)

Dunno what was more shocking, that Smash Mouth were ? fans or that ? had more than one song in the first place.

No, the best reaction was me going, "wow, Smashmouth is covering the COLOURFIELD? That's obscure."

― Hunter, Age 3 (Hunter), Thursday, 11 May 2006 03:19 (nineteen years ago)

it was only an indie hit in aus, but "brand new life" by toys went berserk. even after hearing and loving the YMG original the cover still stands up very well

― electric sound of jim (and why not) (electricsound), Thursday, 11 May 2006 03:21 (nineteen years ago)

I bet there's a lot of people who have never heard the original of "Credit In The Straight World", speaking of Hole...

― sleeve (sleeve), Thursday, 11 May 2006 03:25 (nineteen years ago)

Back around '80 or so, I was sufficiently indtrigued by an unfamiliar (and inferior) version of Aerosmith's "Come Together" that I immediately called the radio station to ask who it was. The answer stunned me, since I'd thought I already knew all of the Beatles hits - none of which sounded at all like "Come Together". (A mild fan, I wouldn't become a MAJOR fan until a year later, after the Lennon tributes began flooding in and the AM started playing all those fantastic "obscure"-to-me records I'd never heard until then.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Thursday, 11 May 2006 05:53 (nineteen years ago)

I knew Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock got the sample from somewhere, but the first time I heard Lyn Collins w/James Brown doing Think (About It) with the classic "it takes two..." chorus, I thought rock fucking on!

― nicky lo-fi (nicky lo-fi), Thursday, 11 May 2006 07:35 (nineteen years ago)

This is off-topic, but the soundtrack to Live and Let Die sports a second version of the title theme, a funk rendition sung by B.J. Arnau (she also appears in the movie). It's quite terrific. Heck, the soundtrack CD is worth buying for more than just the title song; George Martin scored the film - the first time someone other than John Barry wrote the music for a Bond film.

― James, Thursday, 11 May 2006 10:06 (nineteen years ago)

"Cheryl's coming home" John Otway was a cover of an Adam Faith one.

I was surprised to hear McCartney doing "Every Night" after some years of knowing the Phoebe Snow version. Similarly "I feel the earth move under my feet" the one revelation in an otherwise boring 70's night disco.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 11 May 2006 10:14 (nineteen years ago)

Nazareth - "This Flight Tonite" (Joni Mitchell)
Judas Priest - "Diamonds & Rust" (Joan Baez)

― hank (hank s), Thursday, 11 May 2006 12:23 (nineteen years ago)

A couple of others that may not necessarily fit here, but blew my mind regardless.

ELO's "Do Ya" - (I didn't know that it was originally done when Lynne was in The Move)

Spacemen 3 "Revolution" (it basically is a cover of the MC5's "Black To Comm")

― LOL Thomas (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 11 May 2006 15:27 (nineteen years ago)

Pat Benatar, "You Better Run" (Rascals)

― phil d. (Phil D.), Thursday, 11 May 2006 15:33 (nineteen years ago)

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