Famous Songs that are Actually Covers....

No one is sure who wrote it, just speculation and insistence that it's been around forever. No, literally forever, possibly related to some tune from the 16th century. Here's a few of the thousands recorded. My favorites are Doc Watson and Five Finger Death Punch





 
That's good one... I always thought the Animals or Dylan was the original since I knew both of them were recorded "back in the day"
 
baimun said:
I'll get the "Entire Led Zepplin Catalogue" out of the way first...

... because there are so many blues songs, like "Walkin' the Dog" that I first heard from Ratt in the 80's was a cover of Aerosmith's... but soon found out it was a cover of a Rufus Thomas song.

And the eighties in general... every major Joan Jett song (I Love Rock and Roll, Crimson and Clover, Do You Wanna Touch, etc), "Tainted Love" Softcell covered Gloria Jones, "Mony Mony" was Billy Idol covering Tommy James... etc.

Then there's the ones that everyone (hopefully) know like Hendrix "All Along the Watchtower" was originally a Dylan tune, "Big Yellow Taxi" is a Joni Mitchell song that Counting Crows covered, Sinead O'Connor with "Nothing Compares to You" Chaka Khan with "I Feel for You" and Bangles "Manic Monday" were all covers of Prince tunes, "Twist and Shout" is an Isley Brothers tune that the Beatles made popular, and of course "Blinded by the Light" is actually a Manfred Mann Earth Band song despite everyone knowing the Bruce Springsteen Cover.

One that gets a pass is "Hurt" because even Trent Reznor says "Johnny Cash now owns that song I wrote".

There are some that make me sad when people don't realize that Britney Spears didn't write The Stone's "Satisfaction" or Bobby Brown's "My Perogative", or worse yet think that Uncle Kracker could have written Dobie Gray's "Drift Away".


But I heard two today that made the needle go... skreeeeeech.... what? in my brain.

Renegades of Funk was not written by Rage Against the Machine...


... but is a song from Afrika Baambaata :eek:


and one of Carlos Santana's most famous songs.... :jawdrop:


... was Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac?!?!
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"and of course "Blinded by the Light" is actually a Manfred Mann Earth Band song despite everyone knowing the Bruce Springsteen Cover."

This one is weird because Springsteen wrote it. Also, maybe because I'm old but I think of it as a MMEB song first and foremost.
 
Oddly enough, The Beatles sort of introduced the idea that bands should write their own material. A large number of hit songs that were debuted by an artist were songs written by songwriters who never performed their own songs. That, in my mind, makes it a cover song, even if it is the original recording of the tune.
 
Bob411 said:
"and of course "Blinded by the Light" is actually a Manfred Mann Earth Band song despite everyone knowing the Bruce Springsteen Cover."

This one is weird because Springsteen wrote it. Also, maybe because I'm old but I think of it as a MMEB song first and foremost.
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Thank you for pointing out what I knew but somehow reversed when I was typing it out... I re-read your quote twice and thought "I didn't say that, did I??" :embarrassed:

This is what I meant to say:

"and of course "Blinded by the Light" is actually written by Bruce Springsteen despite everyone being most familiar with the Manfred Man Cover."
 
Bob411 said:
"and of course "Blinded by the Light" is actually a Manfred Mann Earth Band song despite everyone knowing the Bruce Springsteen Cover."

This one is weird because Springsteen wrote it. Also, maybe because I'm old but I think of it as a MMEB song first and foremost.
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Bruce covered the song he wrote?
 
baimun said:
Thank you for pointing out what I knew but somehow reversed when I was typing it out... I re-read your quote twice and thought "I didn't say that, did I??" :embarrassed:

This is what I meant to say:

"and of course "Blinded by the Light" is actually written by Bruce Springsteen despite everyone being most familiar with the Manfred Man Cover."
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I wasn't trying to point out, I honesty thought everybody else knows it from Springsteen. Just thought I was behind the times. :grin:

I think any reasonable person would say, It's Bruce's fault.
 
Bob411 said:
I wasn't trying to point out, I honesty thought everybody else knows it from Springsteen. Just thought I was behind the times. :grin:
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Yeah, I assume that most people know that was originally a Springsteen song, even though the Manfred Man version is the most well known version.
 
My 13 year old daughter just discovered Dolly Parton so I bought her a 3/4 size classical guitar and I'm teaching her to play Jolene.
She was shocked to learn the Dolly wrote and sang 'I Will Always Love You' and that Whitney Houston's version was a cover.

 
I always thought Gary Moore did Shapes Of Things first. Not really. Of course Jeff Beck and The Yardbirds did it. But they didn't have Neil Murray and Ian Paice.

Epic video that cut out the meat of the guitar solo around the two minute mark. Somebody is fired!

No video, incredible guitar solo starts at two minutes
 
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Wait a minute! Wait a minute!
Bobby Brown's My Prerogative is a cover?
 
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