Original Songs

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fan of Ray Williams said:
Forgot how much I liked this cover of the Box Tops "Letter" by Joe Cocker with Leon Russell. Leon keeps his cool on during the video. Box Tops also had a hit with Cry Like A Baby. Didn't know they were from Memphis. Cocker is really good in this. Fricking orchestra behind him.
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The Replacements got a song out of Alex Chilton (Box Tops lead singer) being from Memphis. That, and Chilton's later project-Big Star.

I never travel far, without a little Big Star

 




Before the Isley’s did “Twist and Shout” in June of ‘62 there was a Top Notes version in February of ’61.

The song, written by Bert Berns and Phil Medley, was originally known as “Shake It Up Baby” and heavily influenced by the mambo and “La Bamba”. Jerry Wexler at Atlantic assigned it to producer Phil Spector who had a different vision. Bert Berns, early in his career, was on hand for the session and not happy with Spector’s production. The song went nowhere.

A year later, asked to produce an Isley Brothers session for Wand, Berns convinced them to do “Twist and Shout”. And to do it his way-the mambo was back. It went to #17 on the charts. In ‘64 the Beatles cover of the Isley’s version with John Lennon’s famously shredded, end of the session voice, went to #2.

 


Your post with the Isley Brothers reminded me of my favorite covers, their version of Seals and Croft's "Summer Breeze":
 

Hearing Jake Bugg singing “Cathy’s Clown” led me to Phil Phillips “Sea of Love”. No. There’s no connection-just serendipity.

In July of 1959 the easy rolling, swamp pop, million seller, “Sea of Love” rose to #2 on the charts. Written by Phil Phillips (born Phillip Batiste), the song was arranged by Eddie Shuler and originally distributed by George Khoury’s Khoury label. As sales took off, the Mercury label took over distribution.

The many Sea of Love covers include Del Shannon (#33 in 1982) The Honeydrippers #3 in 1984 and Tom Waits. Waits invites us to a sea of un-tranquility.

theimmortaljukebox.com

Robert Plant, Tom Waits, Del Shannon (and Phil Phillips) dive into The Sea Of Love!

‘The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.’ (Isak Dinesen) ‘There is one knows not what sweet mystery about this sea, whose gently awful stirrings seem to spea…
theimmortaljukebox.com theimmortaljukebox.com

Phil Phillips career was effectively hamstrung by a lengthy contract with Mercury which he fought hard to escape from. Disillusioned with the record industry and never seeing any significant windfalls from later versions of his classic song he went on to be a well regarded radio DJ in Louisiana.
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Phil Philips died in March of 2020 at the age of 94.

Phil Phillips:

Tom Waits:
 

Last week The Current did a countdown of the best covers. Here's a link to the list. Seems like The Current listeners agree with Cool in his OP; Hurt & All Along the Watchtower were 1-2.

www.thecurrent.org

Top 89 Cover Songs

This fall, we asked you to share your favorite covers, and you responded! Results for The Current's Top 89 Cover Songs will post below as they are revealed on the air on <b>Tuesday, Oct. 13 from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. CDT</b>.
www.thecurrent.org www.thecurrent.org
 

I'm assuming a lot of the alt country/Tweedy fans have heard the Uncle Tupelo version. Here's the original Soft Boys (Robyn Hitchcock) version as well.


 



Thanks for including The Current list, Nokomis, many of the usual suspects, but some songs that I wasn't aware of that were covers and covers I hadn't heard (love that Husker Du version of 8 Miles High). Here's a particular favorite that I didn't realize wasn't originally done by Elvis Costello:

And here's Costello's version:
 

Shuffling through songs the other day, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers cover of "Something in the Air" came on, which jogged my memory to the original by Thunderclap Newman, a side project of Pete Townshend in the late '60s to showcase the talents of some musician friends (including Newman). I'm a big fan of Petty/Heartbreakers, but the original is golden:

Petty/Heartbreakers:
 

Frink said:
I'm assuming a lot of the alt country/Tweedy fans have heard the Uncle Tupelo version.

Here's the original Soft Boys (Robyn Hitchcock) version as well.
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Here's Robyn Hitchcock/Wilco covering the Soft Boys/Uncle Tupelo from last year:

 

coolhandgopher said:
Thanks for including The Current list, Nokomis, many of the usual suspects, but some songs that I wasn't aware of that were covers and covers I hadn't heard (love that Husker Du version of 8 Miles High). Here's a particular favorite that I didn't realize wasn't originally done by Elvis Costello:

And here's Costello's version:
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Here is the true original of the song;
 



tikited said:
Here is the true original of the song;
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Pretty sure you & Cool posted the exact same version just billed differently, so you're both right. Lowe originally recorded with his band, Brinsley Schwarz, and then included it on his greatest hits album. Same song, same version. At any rate, great song!
 

coolhandgopher said:
Thanks for including The Current list, Nokomis, many of the usual suspects, but some songs that I wasn't aware of that were covers and covers I hadn't heard (love that Husker Du version of 8 Miles High). Here's a particular favorite that I didn't realize wasn't originally done by Elvis Costello:
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Yeah, a few surprises in there. Biggest surprise for me was Istanbul (Not Constantinople). I just didn't ever think any other band would write such a goofy song besides TMBG.


 

For my money, there's no better drummer than Buddy Rich. Here he is with his band doing Norwegian Wood (though you don't get a classic Buddy Rich drum solo with this song).


 

Nokomis said:
Yeah, a few surprises in there. Biggest surprise for me was Istanbul (Not Constantinople). I just didn't ever think any other band would write such a goofy song besides TMBG.


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I had no idea about this one..
 


tikited said:
I had no idea about this one..
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Right... Now I'm questioning everything I thought I knew. Like I always thought the line "even old New York was once New Amsterdam" was a reference to the Elvis Costello song, New Amsterdam. I don't even know what's real anymore. :oops:

Anyway, keeping with the theme here's the original plus some absolutely terrible version I had to google to discover.


 


Samuel Barber- Adagio For Strings
Unfortunately it sounds like his life, near the end of it, took a turn for the worse. Alcoholism, depression.
 

"Headin' for the Texas Border" was released by the Flamin' Groovies in 1970 and covered a few years back by the Raconteurs. It was written by "Groovies" Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan.


 

Ope3 said:
Usually it's the younger generation covering the older, but here is a reversal:

Todd Snider, Alright Guy


Covered by Jerry Jeff Walker, who has made it a live staple:


And if you like either of them (and/or Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires) here is a youtube clip that always brings a huge smile to my face. Funny story. Great classic song with a special guest.

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Bump. RIP Jerry Jeff Walker.
 



Both versions are great but Johnny's blistering slide guitar and powerful vocal just makes it perfect.

"All Along the Watchtower"-prefer Hendrix
"Highway 61" -prefer Johnny


And ya, RIP Jerry Jeff.
 

sal said:
"All Along the Watchtower"-prefer Hendrix
"Highway 61" -prefer Johnny
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Even Dylan has said he feels like he is covering Hendrix when he plays All Along the Watchtower.
 

Work To Do, Isley Brothers wrote it and came out with it in 1972 and a couple of years later Average White Band covered it. AWB adds nice funk to it.


 
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The "Queen's Gambit" gave the Vogues "You're the One" a charge.

Written by Petula Clark and Tony Hatch and originally recorded for Clark's 1965 album "I Know a Place" the Vogues version of "You're the One" shot to #4 on the US Charts in October of 1965. Their success encouraged Clark to release it as a single in the UK.


 


I've been bumping into Laura Nyro's "Stoned Soul Picnic" recently. So, here's Nyro's original that the 5th Dimension covered for a hit.

"Can you surry?"

 


After rewatching the film Rushmore, I went down a Cat Stevens rabbit hole. I found out while Cat Stevens wrote Here Comes My Baby, the first record release was actually a was actually by a mod group called The Tremeloes in 1967.


Here's Yusuf performing it in 2010. I dig how he made a slight modification to the lyrics to bring it into the 21st Century.

 
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