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January 18

Songs which are more popular as remakes

I'm trying to come up with a list of songs that were more popular when they were remade than they were in the original incarnation. I don't particularly want to use Billboard charts as the only measure, because a lot of times a song which ranks poorly on the charts does much better in subsequent years. But Billboard ratings shouldn't be ignored.

In no particular order, this is what I have so far:

All Along the Watchtower (Original by Bob Dylan, remake by Jimi Hendrix)
I Will Always Love You (Original by Dolly Parton, remake by Whitney Houston)
There She Goes (Original by The La's, cover by Sixpence None the Richer)

Songs which were about equally as popular as remakes:

Smooth Criminal (Original by Michael Jackson, remake by Alien Ant Farm)
Killing Me Softly with His Song (Original by Roberta Flack, remake by the Fugees)

Magog the Ogre (t • c) 02:09, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Black Betty, In the Pines, House of the Rising Sun, I Think We're Alone Now, You'll Never Walk Alone, and as much as I like the Velvet Underground, I like the Cowboy Junkie's version of Sweet Jane a lot more. AlexiusHoratius 02:18, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Well the first three are anonymous traditional folk songs. I'd rather not count anonymous songs. Also, I have to be honest, that cover by Tiffany is absolutely awful (first time I've ever heard it). Magog the Ogre (t • c) 02:30, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hey I never said I liked Tiffany - it did chart higher though. Also Johnny Cash's remake of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt" was probably more popular, but the original was better. AlexiusHoratius 02:34, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I wasn't asking for your opinion of the music, just the popularity, so you did well.

And that song by NiN reminds me of another one: Blue Monday (New Order -> Orgy). Magog the Ogre (t • c) 02:40, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Respect (song) by Otis Redding, redone by Aretha Franklin. Staecker (talk) 02:39, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Right now Anne Hathaway seems to be doing OK with "I Dreamed a Dream". (I have though dared to move away from the American emphasis of this thread so far. Hope that's OK.) HiLo48 (talk) 03:37, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I've always found it strange how Susan Boyle's version is always hailed as so inspirational considering the song is one of the most depressing songs that Hank Williams or Joy Division didn't write. Anyway - Downtown Train was first recorded by Tom Waits and later by Rod Stewart, reaching #3 on some chart. A Google search of "best cover versions" or something isn't exactly the same thing as Magog is asking but yields lots of useful stuff. AlexiusHoratius 03:53, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Magog mentioned All Along the Watchtower (Original by Bob Dylan, remake by Jimi Hendrix). I suspect a lot of early Dylan songs were more popular when recorded by people with more "normal" singing styles. A couple that instantly come to mind are The Times They Are a-Changin' and Blowin' in the Wind. HiLo48 (talk) 04:04, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Mr. Tambourine Man was a big single for The Byrds. Staecker (talk) 13:30, 19 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Elvis' version of Hound Dog surpassed the earlier version by Big Mama Thornton. StuRat (talk) 04:05, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Nothing Compares 2 U was written by Prince but didn't receive much attention at the time. Also, Puttin' On the Ritz should probably by mentioned - if only for it being such an odd base for an 80's song. The original seems to have been popular as well, though. AlexiusHoratius 04:16, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The early Beatles did several covers that most likely did better than the originals. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:56, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Soft Cell's version of "Tainted Love" was more popular than the original, Joe Cocker's version of "With a Little Help from My Friends" is at least as popular as the original Beatles version, as is the Ike & Tina Turner version of "Proud Mary", originally by CCR. The Loco-Motion has had no less than three different hit versions in three different decades: Little Eva in the 1960s, Grand Funk Railroad in the 1970s, and Kylie Minogue in the 1980s. Elvis' version of Blue Suede Shoes is as well known as the Carl Perkins version. Tom Jones had a big hit with the song Kiss originally by Prince. The Lemonheads biggest hit was a cover of Simon and Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson". The Byrds had a big hit with "Mr. Tambourine Man", originally by Bob Dylan. George Thorogood and the Destroyers had a string of big hits with other people's songs; including John Lee Hooker's One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer and Bo Diddley's Who Do You Love?. The Creedence Clearwater Revival version of I Put a Spell on You outshone the original by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. Much of the first two Led Zeppelin albums are (sometimes uncredited) cover versions of songs by American Delta Blues artists like Robert Johnson and Willie Dixon. The Black Crowes had a big hit with "Hard to Handle", originally an Otis Reading song. "Train Kept A-Rollin'" was a hit for two bands, The Yardbirds and Aerosmith, and both surpassed the original version. "I'm a Believer" was an obscure Neil Diamond track before The Monkees covered it and made it a hit. The Kingsmen version of Louie Louie is the definitive version over the more obscure version by Richard Berry. Similarly Wild Thing was a big hit for The Troggs, few people realize that it was originally recorded by another band called The Wild Ones. Few people realize that "I Fought the Law", most closely associated with The Bobby Fuller Four and later The Clash had actually been recorded by The Crickets after Buddy Holly's death; the song was written by their post-Holly leader Sonny Curtis. "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" was a minor hit for several Garage Rock bands before Joan Jett and the Blackhearts hit it huge in the early 1980s. "Smokin' in the Boys Room" was a bigger hit for Motley Crue than the original by Brownsville Station. "Cum on Feel the Noize" was the signature song and biggest hit for Quiet Riot, though it was originally a moderate hit for Slade. "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" was a bigger hit for Great White than it was for ex-Mott The Hoople frontman Ian Hunter. "Heroes" was a pretty big hit for The Wallflowers, and I'm pretty sure it got more airplay than the David Bowie original. "I Shot the Sheriff" was as big of a hit for Eric Clapton as it was for Bob Marley, and Clapton did not one, but two different successful cover versions of J. J. Cale's "After Midnight", and also covered Cale's "Cocaine" to much greater success than the original. "Hush" was the breakout single for the Rod Evans-fronted era of Deep Purple, but it was a cover of an earlier hit by Billy Joe Royal. "There She Goes" was the sole hit late 80's indie band The La's and later a big pop-crossover hit for Contemporary Christian band Sixpence None the Richer a decade later. "The First Cut Is the Deepest" was recorded by several people, but the versions by Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow were bigger than the Cat Stevens original. Cat Stevens himself had one of his biggest hits covering the Sam Cooke song "Another Saturday Night". After that list, I think I'm spent. I'm sure there's a few dozen others I could come up with off the top of my head, but the two beers I've had composing this list are starting to go to my head. --Jayron32 05:06, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Black Magic Woman originally by Fleetwood Mac and covered by Santana (band). Twist and Shout originally by The Top Notes and covered by quite a few but the best known was probably The Beatles. Respect (song) originally by Otis Redding covered by Aretha Franklin. Just found Cover version which may list more. CambridgeBayWeather (talk) 05:35, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A few more drifted through my brain. "Venus" by Shocking Blue was their biggest hit, and later was the biggest hit for Bananarama. The Bangles version of "A Hazy Shade of Winter" was a bigger hit than it was for Simon and Garfunkel. "You Keep Me Hangin' On" is a song with an interesting history, originally a girl group classic for The Supremes, it was also a really big hit for the proto-heavy metal band Vanilla Fudge and the 80's New Wave singer Kim Wilde. "A Groovy Kind of Love" was a bigger hit for Phil Collins than The Mindbenders original. "The Letter" was a big hit for both The Box Tops and for Joe Cocker. "The Tide Is High" is a seminal Jamaican rocksteady song from the 1960s, but the best known version was by New Wave band Blondie. "Love Rollercoaster" by the Ohio Players was later a hit for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a band that also had a big hit with Stevie Wonder's "Higher Ground". Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" also had some success for Stevie Ray Vaughn. Vaughn also had a hit with an instrumental cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing", and the Elmore James song "The Sky Is Crying". "Blinded By The Light" was a much bigger hit for Manfred Mann's Earth Band than it was for Bruce Springsteen. Another Springsteen song, Because the Night, had been recorded by him as an unreleased demo, but was later a big hit for both Patti Smith and 10,000 Maniacs. "Hey Joe" had a few versions hit the airwaves before Jimi Hendrix made it a big hit. Santana's cover version of Tito Puente's classic "Oye Como Va" was a huge hit. The best selling version of "The Girl from Ipanema" was the cover by Getz/Gilberto. "Signs" was a bigger hit for Tesla than for the Five Man Electrical Band. "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" was an early Marvin Gaye/Tammi Terrell hit, and later an even bigger hit for Diana Ross. "Get Ready" was a hit for the Temptations, but the version by Rare Earth was also one of their biggest hits, and one of the rare oddities as a really long single: the Rare Earth version clocks in at 21 minutes; there was an edited single version, but some stations have been known to play the full version. "Sea of Love" was a big hit in the original for Phil Philips (not the American Idol star) and later for the post-Led Zeppelin band The Honeydrippers. --Jayron32 05:40, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

How many of you even knew that "Torn" was originally a song by a band called Ednaswap before Natalie Imbruglia covered it, or that Listen to Your Heart was first recorded by Roxette before D.H.T. released their version during the 2005/2006 season? Jeremy Jigglypuff Jones (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 07:03, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Torn song is a good one, as the cover was much better known than the original. The Roxette version of Listen to your Heart was a huge international hit for them, one of the biggest songs the year it came out, so it wasn't obscure in the least, but it would possibly fit the "cover version as well known as the original". --Jayron32 07:13, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Midnight Train to Georgia (original by Cissy Houston, remake by Gladys Knight & the Pips)
I Heard It Through the Grapevine (original by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, remake by Marvin Gaye ) Oda Mari (talk) 07:23, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
- Ooh, Good ones. Also, Creedence Clearwater Revival had a big hit with Grapevine as well. --Jayron32 07:24, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
- As did Gladys Knight and the Pips a year before Gaye's version. Catrionak (talk) 16:04, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The version of Superstar (Delaney and Bonnie song) by The Carpenters is another. ParadigmShift51 (talk) 07:27, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Disagree somewhat about There She Goes by the La's. Here in the UK it's about the only version that ever gets played. --TammyMoet (talk) 11:19, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I will note the Americas-centric nature of many of the replies: here in the UK a lot of the covers mentioned weren't hits. Having said that, I'll give you Status Quo's version of "Rocking All Over the World" by Creedence Clearwater Revival: their cover of "Wild Side of Life" is another one. I'll also mention "Shipbuilding" by Robert Wyatt, written by Elvis Costello, but apparently although Mr C released a version of it, he wrote it for Mr W - so who covered what? And has anyone mentioned Wimoweh (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) yet? --TammyMoet (talk) 11:26, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

All excellent songs. Since you mentioned Elvis Costello, his version of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding is the definitive one, not the Nick Lowe/Brinsley Schwarz version. --Jayron32 14:00, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

"Try a Little Tenderness" was first recorded in 1932 by the Ray Noble Orchestra, and various versions were released before Otis Redding completely owned it in 1966. And I'm sure Leonard Cohen has made more money from royalties on covers of "Hallelujah" (by e.g. John Cale, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, Alexandra Burke, KD Lang) than he has from sales of his own version. Cohen's another one, like Dylan, whose songs usually sound better sung by someone other than him. --Nicknack009 (talk) 13:10, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

To be fair, Cohen's songs sound better when sung by a deaf-mute with a harelip than when sung by himself. Brilliant songwriter, unlistenable as a singer. --Jayron32 14:00, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There's something for everybody in this thread. I always assumed harelip was spelt "hairlip". Now I know better. Thanks, Jayron. -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 19:04, 20 January 2013 (UTC) [reply]

I'd like to add Elvis Costello to that category Nicknack: just see the fine job Dave Edmunds made of Girls Talk! Oh but EC absolutely owned "A Good Year for the Roses", a cover of a George Jones song. --TammyMoet (talk) 14:26, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Greatest Love of All (original by George Benson, remake by Whitney Houston)
I'm Gonna Make You Love Me (original by Dee Dee Warwick, remake by Diana Ross & the Supremes )
Wedding Bell Blues (original by Laura Nyro, remake by The 5th Dimension)
(They Long to Be) Close to You (original by Richard Chamberlain, remake by The Carpenters)
We've Only Just Begun (original by Smokey Roberds, remake by The Carpenters) Oda Mari (talk) 15:36, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Saving All My Love for You (original by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., remake by Whitney Houston)
You've Made Me So Very Happy (original by Brenda Holloway, remake by Blood, Sweat & Tears) Oda Mari (talk) 17:28, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

We've Only Just Begun - the original was by Paul Williams. --TammyMoet (talk) 18:23, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned this yet (sorry guys, tl;dr — I skimmed through), but Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen did not achieve popularity upon its initial release. It wasn't until John Cale covered it for a Cohen tribute album that it received widespread attention, and several artists have recorded their own versions since then (my personal favourite being Rufus Wainwright's interpretation [1]). Kurtis ^(talk) 17:02, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Righteous Brothers' cover of "Unchained Melody" is certainly better known than Al Hibbler's. Clarityfiend (talk) 02:29, 19 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Ob La Di Ob La Da was a hit for Marmalade though it was a Beatles song Hotclaws (talk) 09:02, 19 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A few:

Ghost Riders in the Sky is far more well known as a Johnny Cash song than as a Burl Ives record.

John Lennon's Stand By Me is measurably more popular than Ben King's original, at least it has been in recent years.

Van Halen's cover of You Really Got Me was pretty popular, maybe as much as the Kinks'.

Three Dog Night's Shambala was originally a Daniel Moore tune, though they were released within a couple weeks of each other, IIRC.

I Want Candy was first recorded in 1965 by the Strangeloves, a full two decades before Bow Wow Wow got around to it.

Talking Heads' Take Me to the River was an Al Green song.

Most people I've talked to don't realize that Crazy was originally Willie Nelson's song, not Patsy Cline's.

Joe Cocker arguably has a number of these, including "Feelin' Alright" (Traffic), "With a Little Help from My Friends", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" (both by the Beatles), and something else that I'm forgetting.

And every Led Zeppelin song ever.

There are more that I can't remember. Jeremy did a pretty good job above. Evanh2008 ^{(talk|contribs)} 06:06, 20 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Probably the biggest hit recording of "Ghost Riders", which was made shortly after Burl Ives made his version, was by Vaughn Monroe. But same idea. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 10:36, 20 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

So tell me what songs Kashmir and D'yer Maker were the originals for Led Zeppelin to cover? --TammyMoet (talk) 10:58, 20 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Mea culpa; I exaggerated. There were a few originals in there, but not nearly as many as one would think from looking at a track listing. Evanh2008 ^{(talk|contribs)} 11:32, 21 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There is an excellent CD called You Heard It Here First! - [2] - with a lot of examples, some of which haven't been mentioned so far. For example, "Rock Around The Clock" (Bill Haley) was first recorded by Sonny Dae and His Knights; "Somethin' Stupid" (Frank and Nancy Sinatra) first recorded by Carson & Gaile; "My Boy Lollipop" (Millie Small) by Barbie Gaye; etc. etc. Ghmyrtle (talk) 08:21, 21 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Rainbow's cover of Since You Been Gone has to be better known than Russ Ballard's original. And speaking of Russ Ballard songs, I think Kiss' version of "God Gave Rock n' Roll to You" and Ace Frehley's version of "New York Groove" were more popular. Joefromrandb (talk) 13:58, 24 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The New York Dolls' cover of "Pills" seems to be better known than Bo Diddley's original. Joefromrandb (talk) 14:02, 24 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

"National Brotherhood Week" by Tom Lehrer

In one version of the song, he sings: "See Cassius Clay and Mrs. Wallace dancing cheek to cheek"; I get that one. In an alternate version, he sings: "Lena Horne and Sherrif Clarke are dancing cheek to cheek". I can't seem to figure out who "Sherrif Clarke" is. Anyone know?

I think it has to do with an infamous police-brutality case in Selma. I'll get back to you. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:08, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Yep. Read all about it:Jim Clark (sheriff) It was very current to the time that Lehrer first recorded that song. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 13:10, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Must be a misprint in the lyrics. Joefromrandb (talk) 13:08, 19 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Do you mean "sherrif" instead of "sheriff"? ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 14:46, 20 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I think he meant Clarke instead of Clark. RudolfRed (talk) 00:52, 21 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Movie Grosvenor Square - copy of the pink book about Britain given to US troops

I have been watching the movie 'I live in Grosvenor Square' from 1945 and the US troops have been given a pink paper booklet to help them understand more about life in Britain simply called 'Britain.'

Does anyone have a copy of this book or the text for it?

I am particularly interested in culture and think this would be a fascinating read.

Thank you in advance for any further information.

Sue Ellson 19 January 2013 Sueellson (talk) 23:14, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

This book? --Jayron32 23:30, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

More extracts.--Shirt58 (talk) 03:25, 19 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I own a copy of this one. Appears there is an "Instructions for American Servicemen in [place]" series. --Shirt58 (talk) 02:51, 19 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]