Music

"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.

Hendrix's All Along The Watchtower, originally Bob Dylan

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.

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.

Nirvana's Where Did You Sleep Last Night is the cover of a Leadbelly song

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

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.

Louie Louie was originally by Richard Berry. Unlike the Kingsmen’s more famous cover, this is completely intelligible.

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

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

Type O Negative's Summer Breeze is originally a song by Seals and Crofts

Kinda going back to that post I did the other day about Ska, but The Clash's cover of Wrong Em Boyo, which was originally by The Rulers.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JNp9ymVrugQ

A significant portion of Led Zeppelin songs are covers. Lots of old Blues artists. https://secondhandsongs.com/artist/17/covers#nav-entity

When I was in middle school I didn't realize how many of Reel Big Fish's songs were covers until late in high school, obviously that's kind of their shtick but when you don't have access to a big list of nearly every song things slip by you pretty easily, this experience is probably less common these days with streaming etc.

I didn't know primus covered Amos Moses I'm much more familiar with the original track I'll have to check that out seems like a great fit.

The Lion Sleeps Tonight has been covered so many times that the Disney version sung by Nathan Lane (Timon) and Ernie Sabella (Pumbaa) in the original Lion King movie is essentially a cover of a cover.

Funily enough, after the movie's release, they released a new version of the cover with the female vocals of Lebo M alongside the other two.

Got sued for the whole thing, but it ended up as you'd expect with Disney.

Another one is Tainted Love by Soft Cell, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in '64. My mind's blowing a little bit because because Soft Cell's version was released in '81, which means it was covered less than 20 years later and their version was released over 40 years ago. Don't know why, but that seems fucking wild to me.

Like, the time between the original and cover compared to how long the cover has been around.

For some reason I thought the original was older.

"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.

According to some guy trying to neg me at a party once, my favorite song by a band I like.

I recently learned that Always Something There to Remind Me is not in fact originally by Naked Eyes, but was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David and first performed by Dionne Warwick

i just found out recently that Fuel My Fire by The Prodigy is a cover originally by L7, which L7 took from parts of another punk song

JUST TODAY I found out "Long Time Gone" by The Chicks is a cover!

Nina Hagen's version of I'm Going To Live The Life I Sing About in My Song

Nina Hagen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdiTFj0WDWc

Mahalia Jackson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXYauoAIvfA

I first heard The Nurse Who Loved Me from A Perfect Circle. I also thought it was the weakest song on the album, but when I saw them live it was awesome. Turns out they played it closer to the original Failure version. Also that entire Failure album is fantastic.

@[email protected] Nothing Compares 2 U. I'd only heard the Sinead O'Connor version for years. Didnt know it was written by Prince for The Family.

Betty Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes was a cover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPOIS5taqA8

The original was by Jackie Deshannon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAQsOJbs-yo

Tricky's Something In the Way is a Nirvana cover. I was more of a Tricky fan than a Nirvana fan so it took me forever to figure that out.

Considering the genres I tend to listen to most frequently (country, jazz, blues, bluegrass) don’t really have a problem with people doing covers, that is a very long list.

The only one that pops to mind currently is Hurt by Johnny Cash. I think it was the better part of a year before I found out about Nine Inch Nails’ original version.

Mad World in Donnie Darko, the original has a very different vibe because they slowed it down quite a bit in the movie.

• Original
• Donnie Darko

Take On Me by Reel Big Fish (but I found out within a day or two.)

A longer episode was Such Great Heights by Iron and Wine. I could have sworn Postal Service was the cover....but I was wrong. So wrong.

I didn't know Planet Caravan by Pantera was a a cover of Black Sabbath until my dad pointed it out. I like the original but I think the cover is a bit better.