Songs covered by another artist

[MrSpeedy]

I think Linda Ronstadt did a lot of really good covers. I do not think she quite gets acclaim for that now that she did back then. But how many of those songs were "well-known" before she covered them? ... I would argue that lots of what Ronstadt covered brought those songs to the public's attention and they probably never would have become well-known but for her covers.

Interesting. I think "That'll Be the Day" was a big hit and still well-known by the time she covered it. But some others - "Blue Bayou" (Roy Orbison) and "Tumbling Dice" (Rolling Stones), for example - are now known as "Linda Ronstadt songs".

Similarly, most people today know "Where Did You Sleep Last Night" as a Nirvana song, even though he was covering Leadbelly. But that song is so old and goes by so many other names, mainly "In the Pines", and has been covered by so many other artists it's impossible to even know who wrote it originally.

Speaking of Nirvana, I love their unplugged version of "Man Who Sold the World" (but I think I like Bowie's version better).

 

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

Another early example of similar ilk is House of the Rising Sun. As I recall, the Animals were really doing Bob Dylan's version, which Dylan got from someone else. Although in this case it is more or less a traditional song that no one can take credit for writing.

In a matchless example of the psychedelic era matching the psychedelic song you can't beat The House of the Rising Sun version by Frijid Pink. Those boys just nailed it:

 

[The Knize]

Fun discussion.

I would say that Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" was well-known when LR covered it. The internet tells me it was one of BH's biggest hits.

I hate to disagree too much, but I think "Tumblin' Dice" was well-known at the time LR covered it and I would not consider it an LR song. The Stones version was the "primary" single from Exile on Main St, and was released in April 1972. It peaked at number 5 in the UK the internet tells me, and was in the top ten for quite a while. As far as I know the Stones are still playing it in concert. The LR version was released as a single in '78 and peaked at 32 on Billboard. The LR version, to me anyway, was not better than the Stones versions, and was not as popular. Still a good version.

I would have gone along with you on "Blue Bayou," but I looked into it a bit. I was pretty young in 1963 when Roy Orbison released it as a single, and I have always really liked RO, but when LR came out with her version, I had not remembered RO releasing a version at all. But the Internet tells me it reached number 3, so it was a big hit. Hard for me to say it was not well-known, but I sure did not know it. LR's version also reached number 3. I do think LR's version is superior and it was hugely popular. Seems like a LR song to me at this point!

I was thinking more about the Warren Zevon and Karla Bonhoff songs she did, and even Elvis Costello's "Party Girl." People certainly knew of Warren Zevon--I did--when LR did her covers, but I do not know that the particular songs she did were that well-known. I think Karla Bonhoff has managed to stay undeservedly obscure even after LR did covers. The McGarrigles probably somewhere in between. Who knew that "Heart Like a Wheel" was that great a song?

Anyway, fun to think about!

 

[MrSpeedy]

Fun discussion.

I would say that Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" was well-known when LR covered it. The internet tells me it was one of BH's biggest hits.

I hate to disagree too much, but I think "Tumblin' Dice" was well-known at the time LR covered it and I would not consider it an LR song. The Stones version was the "primary" single from Exile on Main St, and was released in April 1972. It peaked at number 5 in the UK the internet tells me, and was in the top ten for quite a while. As far as I know the Stones are still playing it in concert. The LR version was released as a single in '78 and peaked at 32 on Billboard. The LR version, to me anyway, was not better than the Stones versions, and was not as popular. Still a good version.

I would have gone along with you on "Blue Bayou," but I looked into it a bit. I was pretty young in 1963 when Roy Orbison released it as a single, and I have always really liked RO, but when LR came out with her version, I had not remembered RO releasing a version at all. But the Internet tells me it reached number 3, so it was a big hit. Hard for me to say it was not well-known, but I sure did not know it. LR's version also reached number 3. I do think LR's version is superior and it was hugely popular. Seems like a LR song to me at this point!

I was thinking more about the Warren Zevon and Karla Bonhoff songs she did, and even Elvis Costello's "Party Girl." People certainly knew of Warren Zevon--I did--when LR did her covers, but I do not know that the particular songs she did were that well-known. I think Karla Bonhoff has managed to stay undeservedly obscure even after LR did covers. The McGarrigles probably somewhere in between. Who knew that "Heart Like a Wheel" was that great a song?

Anyway, fun to think about!

I think the difference between BH, the Stones, and RO vs. Zevon, Bonhoff, and Costello is the level of mainstream success/popularity they had. The first trio were all big names that had a lot of mainstream success, and are still being regularly played on oldies/classic rock stations. The second trio had a bit of mainstream success, but by and large are left-of-center artists. But that's what was great about LR - she was a true artist who would pull from anywhere and adapt it to her style. She's my favorite female vocalist, ever.

As we are talking about Zevon (I'm a huge fan, BTW) here's his version of Steve Winwood's "Back In the High Life". It sounds...exactly like you'd expect.

 

[emwolf]

Fun discussion.

I would say that Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" was well-known when LR covered it. The internet tells me it was one of BH's biggest hits.

I hate to disagree too much, but I think "Tumblin' Dice" was well-known at the time LR covered it and I would not consider it an LR song. The Stones version was the "primary" single from Exile on Main St, and was released in April 1972. It peaked at number 5 in the UK the internet tells me, and was in the top ten for quite a while. As far as I know the Stones are still playing it in concert. The LR version was released as a single in '78 and peaked at 32 on Billboard. The LR version, to me anyway, was not better than the Stones versions, and was not as popular. Still a good version.

I would have gone along with you on "Blue Bayou," but I looked into it a bit. I was pretty young in 1963 when Roy Orbison released it as a single, and I have always really liked RO, but when LR came out with her version, I had not remembered RO releasing a version at all. But the Internet tells me it reached number 3, so it was a big hit. Hard for me to say it was not well-known, but I sure did not know it. LR's version also reached number 3. I do think LR's version is superior and it was hugely popular. Seems like a LR song to me at this point!

I was thinking more about the Warren Zevon and Karla Bonhoff songs she did, and even Elvis Costello's "Party Girl." People certainly knew of Warren Zevon--I did--when LR did her covers, but I do not know that the particular songs she did were that well-known. I think Karla Bonhoff has managed to stay undeservedly obscure even after LR did covers. The McGarrigles probably somewhere in between. Who knew that "Heart Like a Wheel" was that great a song?

Anyway, fun to think about!

also Ronstadt's cover of Mike Nesmith's Different Drum is hers alone.

 

[The Knize]

Absolutely re Different Drum. An immortal version. I had thought that Nesmith knew LR and had offered the song to her. But the net says she heard the Greenbrier Boys version and liked it with no contact with Nesmith. MN really liked what LR did with the song. No one from the Stone Ponies other than LR appear on the recorded version.

Nesmith offered it to the Monkees but was turned down before the SP version was recorded. He did not record a version until much later.

 

[Ad Astra]

Metallica's cover (album Garage Inc) of Blue Oyster Cult's Astronomy ... they just have more juice than the boys from Long Island. Worth hearing.

AA

 

[MrSpeedy]

Metallica's cover (album Garage Inc) of Blue Oyster Cult's Astronomy ... they just have more juice than the boys from Long Island. Worth hearing.

AA

And they did a rockin' cover of "Whiskey In the Jar" that's clearly inspired by the Thin Lizzy version.

 

[emwolf]

One I had forgotten was The Mamas and the Papas cover of California Dreamin'. Although the original recording by Barry McGuire sounds nearly identical as the Mamas and the Papas provide the backing and the arrangement is the same.

 

[brucered]

This concert is FINALLY getting a vinyl release and reminded me of this one!

Natalie>Patti>Bruce

 

[MrSpeedy]

Came across this cover and it is WILD!

 

[The Knize]

One I had forgotten was The Mamas and the Papas cover of California Dreamin'. Although the original recording by Barry McGuire sounds nearly identical as the Mamas and the Papas provide the backing and the arrangement is the same.

I read that John and Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and Papas actually wrote this song. So I guess the question arises of what a "cover" technically is!

 

[emwolf]

I read that John and Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and Papas actually wrote this song. So I guess the question arises of what a "cover" technically is!

They did write it, but I would assume the first released official recording would be the "original," while any subsequent would be the cover.

 

[The Knize]

I would assume the first released official recording would be the "original," while any subsequent would be the cover.

A quick tour of the internet seems to reveal some differences of opinon as to what a cover is. Some entries say specifically, it does not matter who wrote the song, a cover is when someone else does a song that has been previously released. Other definitions seem to say that a cover of a song is a song done by by someone other than the performer who first released it or the person who wrote it, without a lot of dicussion about what happens in the writer of the song releases it after someone else!

For purposes of this thread, it seems to me the second definition is really what we are talking about, at least that is what I am thinking. We are looking for instances where someone wrote a song or first performed it and somone else came along did it better. That is, I shoiuld not be surprised that Prince does a great version of "No One Compares to You," given that he wrote it, even though he did not officially release a version for a very long time after Sinead O'Connor released her version. And even Chris Cornell released his version.

Actually based on the original post, the inquiry goes to well-known songs that are covered by someone else! Which is yet another nuance. I do not know how well-known Barry McGuire's version of "California Dreaming." I just listened to it for what I think is the first time for me. His vocals seem pretty rough to me.

Interesting that the Phillips wrote the line as "I got down on my knews and I pretended to pray." Barry McG sings it that way. The Mamas and Papas sing it as "I began to pray." I think the latter is the better lyric!

 

[Alum of Potash]

"House of the Rising Sun" by the Animals has always bothered me. As it is the well-known version, it remains the template upon which many subsequent versions have been based.

The problem is that "House of the Rising Sun" is about a young woman who has been "ruined" (according to the song lyrics) in having become a prostitute. As such, the song was originally sung from the woman's perspective. Even Bob Dylan's 1962 version follows this example. This follows a long line of old-time songs whereby the woman's voice or role is sung by a man or the man's voice or role is sung by a woman; Charlie Poole's "My Gypsy Girl" is a prime example.

With the Animals' version, the focus changes and it becomes the young man who is somehow "ruined" by spending a night in a brothel. This is the opposite meaning to the moral of the song as originally intended.

 

[The Knize]

it becomes the young man who is somehow "ruined" by spending a night in a brothel

Well, maybe not just one night. I suspect brothels were not cheap.

And maybe Dylan came back to the theme in "Frankie Lee and Judas Priest":

Well, the moral of the story
The moral of this song
Is simply that one should never be
Where one does not belong
So when you see your neighbor carrying somethin'
Help him with his load
And don't go mistaking Paradise
For that home across the road

Earlier in the song he describes that home across the road:

He just stood there staring
At that big house as bright as any sun
With four and twenty windows
And a woman's face in every one

So a young man is at his peril if he mistakes that house across the road for paradise!

I am not sure Frankie Lee's lyrics every really made much sense!

 

[Alum of Potash]

And maybe Dylan came back to the theme in "Frankie Lee and Judas Priest":

Well, the moral of the story
The moral of this song
Is simply that one should never be
Where one does not belong
So when you see your neighbor carrying somethin'
Help him with his load
And don't go mistaking Paradise
For that home across the road

Earlier in the song he describes that home across the road:

He just stood there staring
At that big house as bright as any sun
With four and twenty windows
And a woman's face in every one

So a young man is at his peril if he mistakes that house across the road for paradise!

Interesting interpretation of “The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest”!

 

[Quaznoid]

Judy Collins cover of “Both Sides Now” is better than the Joni Mitchell original, IMHO.

 

[Quaznoid]

Any Dylan song sung by anyone else.

 

[The Knize]

Interesting interpretation of “The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest”!

Not to unduly belabor this. but i did have a look around the internet for interpretations of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest.

By the way, I agree wholeheartedly that House of the Rising Sun makes a heck of a lot more sense sung from the perspective of a woman!

Anyway, various interpretations of Frankie Lee do conclude that that house across the road is a brothel, and conclude that FL got money from Judas Preist in order to go there. They also see JP as devil figure. Some who leads FL into temptation. And in this song, the house, "as bright as any sun," not only ruins the poor boy, it out and out kills him. "For sixteen nights and days he raved, But on the seventeenth he burst, Into the arms of Judas Priest, Which is where he died of thirst."

I think you are really onto something, A of P! As helpful as "House of the Rising Sun" was to Dylan's early career, to the extent he out and out stole it from Dave Van Ronk before DVR could even record it himself, I think in FL & JP Dylan is mocking that he sang "House of the Rising Sun" from the perspective of a ruined man, and that that does not really make a lot of sense! That would have to be a man of very strong appetities indeed! A man you could exert himself to the point of dying of thirst!

Not that I think much of FL & JP really makes much sense at all. I think maybe Dylan is sort of mocking this kind of story telling, story with a moral folk song altogether!

But we can all draw a lesson from it. If we see a fellow carrying something, we should reach out and help him with his load, if we can. And none of us should mistake paradise for that home across the road. Any home across any road!