PowerPlant Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 I had heard that Rezner was pissed by how good that Johnny Cash version came out. Cash completely owned that song in the way Whitney Houston did Dolly Parton's "I will always love you", and in Rezner's mind "took it away from him", IIRC. I did not know this, but Cash's version is infinitely better, in my opinion
PowerPlant Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 (edited) But never mind Cash and Reznor... I bet everyone thinks Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night" is one of his greatest original hits, right? Incorrect! Although there is some dispute, the original was composed in 1965 as an instrumental-only film score by German composer Bert Kaempfert, and first performed in 1966 by Croatian singer Ivo Robić as "Stranci u noći" in the Croatian language, and as "Fremde in der Nacht" in German, while Sinatra bought the rights to cover the song only a couple of months later, turning it into a huge international hit Edited May 11, 2015 by PowerPlant
Joe Handley Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 (edited) I did not know this, but Cash's version is infinitely better, in my opinion Hands down, the Cash version is better. Cash's has that sound of a long, hard life that is now full of regrets, while Rezner's just makes him sound like a whiney goth. Edited May 11, 2015 by Joe Handley
mikemodeler Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 Pat Benatar recorded "I Need a Lover" and made it a hit for John Mellencamp, who had recorded it earlier but did not get much airtime until after it was a hit for Pat! I believe the hit "Take it Easy" by the Eagles was actually a Jackson Browne tune. "Because the Night" by Patti Smith was a Springsteen tune that she made popular.
Dave Ambrose Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 These days, I hear the Taj Mahal version of Take a Giant Step far more than I hear the original version by the Monkees.
Snake45 Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 "Because the Night" by Patti Smith was a Springsteen tune that she made popular. I mentioned that one back on page 1. It was an even bigger hit in the early 2000s for 10,000 Maniacs (or their girl singer, solo). There were bootlegs of Bruce doing it live but no "official" version from him was available until it appeared on his box set in the early/mid '80s. One of his very best songs IMHO. To this day I can't believe he didn't put it on Darkness on the Edge of Town.
Harry P. Posted May 11, 2015 Author Posted May 11, 2015 Of course Linda Ronstadt's Poor Poor Pitiful Me was by Warren Zevon. Pretty much every Linda Rondstadt hit song was a cover. And I never knew that "Piece of My Heart" by Janis Joplin was a cover! I am so familiar with Janis' version (and I love it!) that hearing that song done by someone else sounds weird to me. But I have to admit, Erma Franklin's take on it sounds good...
Harry P. Posted May 11, 2015 Author Posted May 11, 2015 "Hey Joe" ... every-one is familiar with the Jimi Hendrix version ; however , here's an earlier version by The Leaves , c.1966 : https://youtu.be/PCZNFPaz1iw I knew about the Leaves' version, but seriously... Hendrix's version is so cool and so bluesy and so perfect...
drball Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 Peter Tosh/Mick Jagger Don't Look Back recorded originally by Temptations.
Snake45 Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 Very VERY interesting! I'd never heard that before, and it's my favorite Elvis song, (But then I am one of the few people who prefer White Leather Elvis to Black Leather Elvis.) Thanks for posting this!
Harry P. Posted May 12, 2015 Author Posted May 12, 2015 Man, I am learning so much about songs that I never knew! I had no idea that "Burning Love" was a cover.
Chuck Most Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 Maybe it's just a generation gap, but I'm always shocked at how many people don't know that "Old Town" by The Corrs is actually a cover of a solo song by the late, great Phil Lynott (lead singer of Thin Lizzy). Unlike most covers, though, The Corrs version is actually pretty good, worth checking out if you haven't heard it. Another one that's got to be a generation thing... a lot of die hard Johnny Cash fans don't seem to be aware of the fact that "Hurt" was originally done by Nine Inch Nails.
Harry P. Posted May 12, 2015 Author Posted May 12, 2015 Everyone knows Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks"... How many of you know that it was originally written and released in 1927 by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy?
Can-Con Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 Most people will know the song "I go blind" as a Hootie & the Blowfish song but it's from the self-titled album of 54-40 9 years earlier. "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" from the movie "Dumb and Dumber" was done by the Crash Test Dummies but was originally done by brit new wave band XTC. And Rascal Flatts did "Life Is a Highway" for the movie "Cars" ,, Originally a Tom Cochrane hit that spent many weeks at 1# in Canada.
Snake45 Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 And Rascal Flatts did "Life Is a Highway" for the movie "Cars" ,, Originally a Tom Cochrane hit that spent many weeks at 1# in Canada. It was a hit down here too in the early '90s. Just heard it on one of the classic rock stations yesterday.
Petetrucker07 Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 And Rascal Flatts did "Life Is a Highway" for the movie "Cars" ,, Originally a Tom Cochrane hit that spent many weeks at 1# in Canada. Rascal Flatts wasn't the first country group to cover that song. Chris Leduc did it a few years before he passed.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OF-pyWeMLZs
slantasaurus Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 Originally written by Jerry Ragovoy under the pseudonym Norman Meade. Irma Thomas recorded Time Is On My Side in early 1964 as a B side to her single Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand). The Rolling Stones recorded the song a few months later.\ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRBJyfsEEIk
Harry P. Posted May 12, 2015 Author Posted May 12, 2015 And you thought this was a Doobie Bros. original?
Harry P. Posted May 12, 2015 Author Posted May 12, 2015 Ok, here's a weird one, Everyone knows "California Dreamin' " by the Mamas and Papas... probably their biggest hit ever. And it was written by a Mama and a Papa... John and Michelle Phillips. So it would seem to be a Mamas and Papas original. But here's where the story gets weird... John and Michelle were members of a folk group before they morphed into the Mamas and Papas (with Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty). They had written "California Dreamin' " but never had recorded it. The first recorded version of the song was actually on a Barry McGuire album (he's the guy who sang "Eve of Destruction"). The arrangement and backing vocals on Barry McGuire's recording of the song are very similar to the version that was recorded later by the Mamas and Papas... the version we all know. In fact John and Michelle did the backing vocals on the McGuire version. So the much more well-known Mamas and Papas version of the song was actually a cover version... a cover version of their own song!
slantasaurus Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 Wooden Ships by Crosby, Still, and Nash was written by David Crosby, Grace Slick, and Paul Katner.......and recorded by Jefferson Airplane before CSN. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAm_C6sGWa0
Harry P. Posted May 12, 2015 Author Posted May 12, 2015 Grand Funk had a big hit with "The Loco-motion"... But it wasn't their song,...
lysleder Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 Twisted Sister had something of a hit with "The leader of the pack". but the song itself is an old Shangri-La's original.
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