http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-29568083
You guys may find this more interesting than I did as about half were unknown to me. It's a BBC thing so it would probably be a bit different here in the States.
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-29568083
You guys may find this more interesting than I did as about half were unknown to me. It's a BBC thing so it would probably be a bit different here in the States.
Arnold Rypens works on this stuff for years already with his The Originals-project.
Most of those I knew were covers. Some I didn't know but am not particularly surprised, because I never thought of people like Elvis Presley, Kim Carnes and Cyndi Lauper as singer/songwriters.
I'm actually glad to learn that Harrison did not write Got My Mind Set On You, because I think it's a dog of a song.
If ever there was a case of an artist making a song their own, it was Aretha Franklin and Respect.
I was going to mention this, but you beat me to it. When you browse the site, you certainly get the impression there are more cover versions than originals out there.Originally Posted by interbellum
re: Cyndi Lauper, she actually co-wrote quite a few of the songs she's recorded, including She Bop (best song about masturbation ever) and Time After Time, both of which are much better songs than Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.
And I think by now it's pretty much common knowledge that Elvis didn't write any of the songs that he recorded, and in particular that That's Alright Mama, Hound Dog, and Good Rockin' Tonight were all covers.
She's also one of the few (the only?) people to have a co-writing credit on one of Billy Joel's songs.
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
Really? Which one was that?
Interesting list. The only ones that I knew were covers were "Got My Mind Set on You" and "Hound Dog."
Could be titled Ten Hits You May Not Know Were Hits as I've never heard of a bunch of 'em.
"Code of Silence," on The Bridge. Not one the stronger tracks on that album, IMO.
Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally
I get a lot of surprised looks when I mention Nilsson/Mariah Airraidsiren did not originally sing "Without You"
"Alienated-so alien I go!"
I kinda liked I Touch Myself - The Divinyls IIRC. Great scene in Buffy concerning that one.
Anyway, I'm glad someone had a little fun with the list.
Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000
I knew about most of these. I must say that Jackie de Shannon's original "Bette Davis Eyes" must come as a bit of a shock to those who have only heard the Kim Carnes version.
I did have no idea "Ray of Light" was a cover. And I'm pretty sure I never heard the Status Quo version of "Rockin' All Over the World." I say "pretty sure" as apart from the psychedelic gem "Pictures of Matchstick Men," NONE of their songs is in any way memorable. How did such a mediocre band find such phenomenal success in Europe? And who the hell are the Pussycat Dolls?
Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...
She Bop is a better song because it's not immediately blatantly obvious what it's about.You kinda have to read the lyric sheet and play connect the dots, as it were. It took me 15 years to find out what Blue Boy magazine is (it was like the gay version of Playboy, back in the 70's).
Last edited by GuitarGeek; 10-17-2014 at 11:29 AM.
70s Quo is great, I've been playing a lot of the albums I have lately and enjoyed them as much as ever. The classic, original line-up (minus keyboard player who was only on the very early releases) have reformed for gigs in recent years which has exposed a massive divide in their fanbase- look at fan forums, if you thought Genesis fans were divided, well...Unfortunately in the 80s and particularly 90s, they did become a sort of rock equivalent of Jive Bunny- witness the atrocious 'Anniversary Waltz' and other unspeakable 90s cover singles.
'I Love Rock N Roll', well, The Arrows version ironically appears on far more compilations over here than the much more famous and better Joan Jett version. The Arrows one is rather rhythmically plodding and leaden by comparison, I think.
'If You've Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody' was another James Ray song.
'I Write The Songs'...several of Manilow's hits were covers of a sort, though the lyrics were often changed. 'Can't Smile Without You' and 'Trying To Get The Feeling Again' for example, the Carpenters recorded both before Manilow did and the lyrics are quite different in both cases. I think 'I Made It Through The Rain' was also altered, though I don't know the original version. The weirdest thing for me is that Ian Hunter wrote one of his big hits, 'Ships'!
LOL Well both myself and Willow(from the aforementioned Buffy episode) were a little slow on the take. To be honest, neither was really my style of music back then so I really didn't pay attention to their lyrics. I had to be told about both but I do remember it was a much longer time after I Touch Myself that I found that out. Pretty damned sad really, as it's frikkin' CALLED I Touch Myself which is just a wee bit obvious.
I was really stupid back then. It's gotten slightly better over the years. Slightly.
Carry On My Blood-Ejaculating Son - JKL2000
I still run into people who don't know Peter Green wrote Black Magic Woman
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF STUPID PEOPLE IN LARGE GROUPS!
Joe Cockers version of the Beatles A Little Help From my Friends was, I think, a hugher hit than the Beatles version, something not easily accomplished.
Well the thing was, there were no actual singles released from Sgt Pepper.
I dunno if Mandy was a cover (for it to be a cover, someone else has to have released a version before yours), but I remember reading that it was originally an uptempo song called Brandy, and he turned it into a ballad and tweaked the lyrics, changing the girl's name so people wouldn't confuse it with the unlistenable Looking Glass song, which was a big Stateside hit.
I still run into people who don't even realize that there was a Fleetwood Mac before Lindsay Buckingham and his ex-girlfriend joined the band, never mind that they cut the original version of a song (I almost typed snog) that's typically associated with Santana.
You could figure that out from watching the video
Well, then you must have been a lot cleverer back in 1984 than I was, because I didn't actually get what the song was about until heard one of those religious fanatics who were polluting the airwaves at the time commenting on how the lyrical content of this particular song was another way rock n roll was "corrupting" youth. Yeah, because we would have never found out about masturbation without the help of a goofy chick from Ozone Park.You could figure that out from watching the video
I didn't really know what a "beefcake" was back then and anyway didn't have any concept of a connection between Steve Reeves movies and sexual titillation. What do you want from an 11 year old mind obsessed with rock n roll. And if you think that's ridiculous, you can only imagine how silly I felt when I finally realized what Fat Bottomed Girls and Big Bottom were about.
The video mostly struck me as another one of those ultra-surreal clips that everyone was doing back then, where it was mostly the director trying to out-Fellini Federico himself (or maybe they were trying to out-Dali Salvador, I dunno), that typically didn't have any real connection to the song (as per Pat Benatar and Neil Geraldo's comments about the Shadows In The Night video).
I think both "Pictures of Lily" and "Turning Japanese" are better songs than "She Bop".
Turning Japanese isn't about masturbation. Don't take my word for it, the man who wrote it, Dave Fenton even said so:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_Japanese
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