Original Songs

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The original Young Man Blues. Mose Allison also wrote I'm Not Talkin' which also got good covers by The Yardbirds and The Bangles.

 

Nokomis said:
I had a friend once tell me his favorite Rolling Stones song is Not Fade Away. Your favorite Rolling Stones song is a two-minute Buddy Holly cover? Sounds about right. :rolleyes:


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Let's be honest here, every penny both Buddy and The Stones made off this song should have gone to Bo Diddley.
 


Speaking of Bo Diddley, here's one that was covered by The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, The Zombies, The Pretty Things and countless others. Also, the Teddy Boys in this are awesome.
 

Frink said:
Speaking of Bo Diddley, here's one that was covered by The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, The Zombies, The Pretty Things and countless others. Also, the Teddy Boys in this are awesome.
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Is that Chuck Berry grabbing Bo at the end of the video?
 





Hitting the airwaves shortly after Claude King's Wolverton Mountain was another big crossover hit: Skeeter Davis' "End of the World" written for her by Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee.

 








My intent was to add the Elvis cover of this one, but I just couldn't be that mean to Elvis.
 
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LOVE this version of 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' Lorde did for Hunger Games. Gives the apocalyptic themes of the song a sense of urgency you just don't get with the Tears for Fears original.


 

Forgot to post this earlier: The original "I Fought the Law" was written by Sunny Curtis and performed by the Crickets (yes, those Crickets) in 1960 a year or so after Buddy Holly's death.



2014 interview with Sonny Curtis:

www.tennessean.com

Story Behind the Song: 'I Fought the Law'

"I Fought the Law" became anthem for numerous rock 'n' roll rebels.
www.tennessean.com
 

Not too many artists cover their own songs. But that's what Elvis Costello did with some of the songs on Wise Up Ghost, the album he did with The Roots. For example, Stick Out Your Tongue is a cover of Pills & Soap.


 



I really like The White Stripes cover of Conquest. Patti Page wasn't the original, but the first to popularize it.


 

Songs that skipped a decade (or more): Here are a couple of songs which were hits for their original artists and later covered for hits in the '80's.

First up "Venus" by the Dutch band Shocking Blue. It was written by their guitarist Robbie van Leeuwen and a was an international hit reaching #1 in 1969. 16 years later it was a #1 hit for Londoners, Bananarama.


Second up is the 1966 top twenty Simon and Garfunkel composition "Hazy Shade of Winter". Almost 22 years later the Bangles in 1988 drove it to #2 on the Billboard charts.

 

Ignatius, your Simon & Garfunkel post made me realize I totally overlooked the famous and frequently heard in Peru Andean anthem, El Condor Pasa:

In 1970, S&G added lyrics to the instrumental:
 

And the El Condor Pasa cover reminded me of Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show, but the chorus originally written by Bob Dylan in the Billy the Kid period, but never put together as a full song:

And Old Crow's version, with lyrics. A song deserving a full throttled sing along headed down the highway:
 


Danzig

Lissie

Kind of like the Lissie version of Mother
 
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"Someday, Someway"; something got me thinking about this '81/82 song. It was written by Marshall Crenshaw for his debut album; but the first artist to hit the airwaves with it was rocker Robert Gordon. It received enough airplay in NYC that Crenshaw released it as a single. Crenshaw's version made the Billboard top 40.

I really like Robert Gordon's version which has a bit more tempo. Gordon's effort also featured an all-star group of musicians including Guitar Legend (and unfortunately) the late Danny Gatton. (It caused me to take a couple of CD's down off the shelf; "The Humbler" (Robert Gordon and Danny Gatton Live) and Danny Gatton's, "88 Elmira St.").

As a bonus, there's a youtube video of John Sebastian describing how a teenage Danny Gatton inspired "Nashville Cats". This story was from Nick Spitzer's "American Routes" show; which was where I heard it.

Robert Gordon:

Marshall Crenshaw:

The story:
 

I was trying to think of something a little off kilter and then remembered Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass did Love Potion #9 on the Whipped Cream album. I think most people are familiar with The Searchers version; the song was first recorded by The Clovers.



 

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