Had a revelation this morning while listening to a HonkyTonk playlist on Spotify that Jerry Reed originally made Amos Moses. For YEARS I just thought it was a Primus song as it has that vibe Les Claypool puts out.
Another for me was Astronomy Domine by Pink Floyd. I originally heard it on Headbangers Ball by Voivod and had no idea it was a cover. A few years later I discovered that it was a cover and to this day Pink Floyd and Voivod are two of my favorite bands.
So, What songs did you surprisingly find out were covers some time after hearing the song by the cover artist?
“I Put a Spell on You” is commonly attributed to CCR since they covered it on their debut album, but it’s actually a Screamin’ Jay Hawkins original.
The now infamous Billy Ray Cyrus debut single, “Achey Brakey Heart”, was actually a cover of The Marcy Brothers’ “Don’t Tell My Heart”. They were released within a year of each other but the Cyrus cover exploded in popularity in Australia (yes, Australia), and the rest is history.
Cyndi Lauper’s biggest hit, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”, was a Robert Hazard cover.
Elvis Presley had a really bad habit of ripping off lesser known (black) blues artists. As in, of the 24 songs off his first 2 albums, 20 of them were covers, bad.
There’s so many more I can think of off the top of my head, like Johny Cash’s cover of NIN’s “Hurt” getting Trent Reznor to say it “wasn’t my song anymore” after seeing the video, but I think that’ll do for now.
I once did an entire 2 hour radio show on this very subject.
There were some genuine surprises to me when I was doing the research for this one.
This is great. Me and a buddy are gonna sit down and listen to it this evening.
Thank you for saying so! I enjoyed doing that show.
Hendrix’s All Along The Watchtower, originally Bob Dylan
On Disturb’s album 10,000 Fist is a song called Land of Confusion. First listened to the album way back in the mid 2000’s.
Around 2006 or so I heard the same song being played on the speakers at the Ikea I worked at but it was a lot softer than I expected. Turns out it was originally done by a band called Genesis.
Both version slap but in different ways.
The video for Land of Confusion was straight nightmare fuel for children everywhere.
I think this is a great example of a cover capturing the spirit of the song more than the original. The Genesis version is good, but the lyrics and theme I think are projected better when Disturbed covered it.
a band called Genesis.
Man, this made me feel old, and also I had to laugh. Yeah, little band called Genesis. 😂
When I was young Genesis was everywhere. You couldn’t listen to the radio for more than 30 minutes without hearing a Genesis song. Since you seem to not know of them, allow me to introduce you: Phil Collins (vocals/drums), Mike Rutherford (bass/guitar), and Tony Banks (keyboards) is the lineup that most people know. They were the three left over after Steve Hackett and Peter Gabriel left the band in the 1970s. In the 70s, they were a prog-rock band, but in the 80s the three remaining members shifted from prog-rock to pop, and the rest is history.
I adore their old stuff, and there is so much to potentially introduce you to, but let’s go with this performance of Abacab from '87. The song was released in 1981, and is still in their ‘transition’ period from a prog band to a pop band. They were absolute powerhouses onstage. Phil Collins in particular is an incredible performer. This song sounds like the 1980s squeezed into pure music, but really, Genesis didn’t sound like 80s pop music. 80s pop music sounded like Genesis. Have a listen.
Thanks for the recommendation!
The funny thing (or sad thing depending on how you look at it) is that at the age of 37 I’m not that young, but there’s a lot of music out there I have little to no exposure to. Music hasn’t been a huge part of my upbringing despite all of my brothers being musicians; I was always a movie/tv/game kid. These days I trend towards heavy metal and some rap (depending on the artist).
You’re right though, that video is the most 80’s thing I’ve ever seen. I can see a montage of 80’s music flowing through my head when I was listening to it.
Sorry, I tend to gush a little bit about Genesis, they’re one of my favorite bands. Thanks for indulging me!
Nirvana’s Where Did You Sleep Last Night is the cover of a Leadbelly song
It’s weird you didn’t know that because in their only recording of it, Kurt says “this is a Leadbelly song” before it starts
Most people experienced the song through CD or radio play of the Unplugged in New York album version, which cut right to the start of the song.
But in a topical twist, Kurt Cobain didn’t realize Leadbelly was doing a cover as well, LOL.
The Mad World version by Gary Jules is actually a cover of Tears For Fears’ original:
- Gary Jules: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N3N1MlvVc4
- Tears For Fears: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ZvPSpLxCg
@Speiser0 I like them both and heard the Tears For Fears version first.
Police On My Back by The Clash was originally done by a group called The Equals.
Tennessee Ernie Ford - 16 Tons - a cover of a Merle Travis song
Live and Let Die, I thought the Guns N’ Roses version was the original…
Years later I found out it was Paul McCartney and the Wings.
Just “Wings.” No “the.” Although maybe Paul will see this and it’ll annoy him a little. In which case, it’s “Paul MacHeartnay and the Wings.”
You are right it’s “Paul McCartney and Wings”. As strange as it sounds to me.
Louie Louie was originally by Richard Berry. Unlike the Kingsmen’s more famous cover, this is completely intelligible.
I heard Alien Ant Farm’s cover of Smooth Criminal way before I ever heard the original. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDl9ZMfj6aE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_D3VFfhvs4
Also, Anthrax’s Got the Time turned out to be a Joe Jackson cover: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be7iNHw8QoQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTIPCc1nKYQ
Greetings fellow 35 year old.
Apparently these are actually pretty well-known covers but I only found out a few years after:
- Tina Turner’s Proud Mary is originally by Creedence Clearwater Revival
- Judas Priest’s The Green Manalishi (With the Two-Pronged Crown) is a cover of a Fleetwood Mac song
- Whiskey in the Jar is apparently an Irish traditional song, so both Thin Lizzy’s and Metallica’s (and also the Dubliners’) can be said to be covers
whiskey in the jar was one of mine. another is Natalie imbruglia’s cover of “torn” - the original is by a band called Ednaswap, and there are at least a couple of distinct versions by them, fairly radically different from each other.
I had no idea about the Judas Priest cover! Wow.
Type O Negative’s Summer Breeze is originally a song by Seals and Crofts
Apparently Peter had much ruder lyrics ready to go but the label told him he couldn’t do them. Mr. Bungle sort of covered it on their new live album, too, and took a lot of liberties with the lyrics.
Oh man thank you!
“Mad World” is the classic “what do you mean that’s a cover?” song… here are some great ones that I haven’t seen mentioned yet:
- Nine Inch Nails “Dead Souls” (from The Crow soundtrack) is a Joy Division cover.
- Guns ‘N Roses "Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door" is a Bob Dylan cover.
- Whitney Houston “I Will Always Love You” is a Dolly Parton cover.
- Nirvana’s “The Man Who Sold the World” is a David Bowie cover.
- Fugees “Killing Me Softly with His Song” is a Roberta Flack cover, but Roberta Flack’s version is also a cover, it was initially recorded by Lorie Lieberman.
Many of the songs Nirvana recorded for MTV Unplugged were covers. Love their rendition of In the Pines.
And since you brought up Nine Inch Nails, I’m surprised nobody has mentioned Johnny Cash’s Hurt being a cover. That’s the paradigm example for me.
Good one! It was certainly an unexpected cover when it was released, and it wouldn’t surprise me if the Johnny Cash version had overshadowed the original in terms of audience familiarity. I’m also fond of Nine Inch Nails’ cover of Queen’s “Get Down Make Love”, it was a rather niche track for both bands - so much so that despite being a Queen fan, I heard the NIN version first.
A significant portion of Led Zeppelin songs are covers. Lots of old Blues artists. https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/17/covers#nav-entity
