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You heard the cover first then discovered the original.

Redboy said:
Tom Waits' "I Don't Want to Grow Up" didn't really hit my radar until I heard the Ramones cover of it, even though I'd had the Waits album for a while.
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Which reminds me, that the Eagle's version of Ol' 55 was the only one I knew about, until I started to get totally imersed in Tom Waits a couple of years ago.
 
Yeah, a lot of people would be surprised at the number of Waits songs they recognized, even if they'd never heard of him. I need more Waits vinyl.
 
Foghat's "It Hurts Me Too" on the Stoned Blue album.
Found out it is Tamps Red's.
Backtracked through all the covers clear to the original.
FogHat nailed it!
Excellent Live version on youtube.

Clapton nailed J.J.Cale's "Cocaine"

I probably think of a lot of songs as belonging to the wrong people. I never paid much attention to who wrote the music over the years.

Somehow "Always On My Mind" sounded better when Willie Nelson did it. A lot of people thought it was Elvis' song, it goes all the way back to Brenda Lee and then some.

BTW, found a great cover of Donna Summer's "Hot Stuff" by eliZe on youtube yesterday.

There are a couple I'd like to see covered and really nailed.
"Hallelujah" By Cohen and "Because the Night" by "Patti Smith"
There have been good covers, but I think someone can still do them better.
 
Led Zep's Gallows Pole. I picked up an old Leadbelly album a few years back and heard Gallis Pole on it for the first time decades after first hearing Gallows Pole.

A lot of Clapton/Zep/Stones covers of old blues were obviously covers. Zep's Gallows Pole (Gallis Pole) wasn't as obvious to me.
 
spartanmanor said:
"Lake of Fire" performed by Nirvana originally by the Meat Puppets....but honestly I am not sure which one I heard first.....
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Just read that this was recorded as a hidden track on the album: "Too High to Die" I will have to check my copy at home to see if it is there.
 
Nine Inch Nails did 'Dead Souls', originally by Joy Division. I first heard NIN version, which is really industrial/heavy/tech....but the Joy Division version has more raw emotion and is, in the long run, mor engaging.
 
Cocaine Blues was covered a lot!
First version I heard was Dave Van Ronk who got it from Rev Gary Davis. I also remember versions by other artists including: JJ Cale, Ramlin' Jack Elliott, Hoyt Axton, Jackson Brown, and probably most famously Eric Clapton.

"Love and Happiness" by the Amazing Rhythm Aces was a favorite song of mine for many years. Only learned recently the original was done by Al Green.

Roger
 
313guy said:
"Black Magic Woman" Heard it first as a cover by Santana. In the mid nineties, a co-worker had the original Fleetwood Mac on a classic rock station and asked me, "What f@#%ed up version is this?". I had to break it to him that it was the original, and he wouldn't believe me that Santana's was the cover.
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Now play him Oye Como Va by Tito Puente...
 
I was probably about 19 (around 1986) before I found out All Along the Watchtower was a Dylan song and not Hendrix. It was probably about 5 years after that that i found out that Hendrix was also doing a cover when he recorded "Hey Joe".
ekmanning5 said:
Which reminds me, that the Eagle's version of Ol' 55 was the only one I knew about,(...)
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The Eagles did Ol 55? I didn't know that. (I do know the Rod Stewart version of Downtown Train, tough.
 
prisoners said:
Nine Inch Nails did 'Dead Souls', originally by Joy Division. I first heard NIN version, which is really industrial/heavy/tech....but the Joy Division version has more raw emotion and is, in the long run, mor engaging.
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I would have to agree 100% with you on this one.
 
You Can Leave Your Hat On

Alright I've got one. I had heard You Can Leave Your Hat On by not 1 but 2 artists before the original. First by Joe Cocker & then by Tom Jones but I knew Randy Newman had done it first and I finally heard him do it. Think I liked Joe Cocker best.
 
glum said:
My son is all ways coming to me with "new"music.
Then we dig through my collection for the different cover bands.
It blew him away when i showed him that the stones are primarily a cover band.
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Early Stones were....
And in this whole thing where do we stand on As Tears Go By? Written by Mick & Keith, but first recorded by Marianne Faithful, then "covered" by the authors? Or Superstition, written by Stevie Wonder, but first recorded by Beck,Bogert, & Appice?
 
"Cocaine" by Clapton before JJ Cale
"If You Could Read My Mind" by Johnny Cash before discovering Gordon Lightfoot
"I Don't Care About You" by GNR before Fear

*EDIT* And Green Manalishi by Priest before Fleetwood Mac*EDIT*
 
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The first version of 'Diamonds and Rust' that I heard was a live cover from Judas Priest. Then I heard the original from Joan Baez.....WOW!!!! The JP version totally kicks azz!
 
Ditto on Oye como va by Puente.

One Bourbon, One Scotch by George Thorogood and the John Lee Hooker original. Done so differently that you could consider them two seperate songs.
 
blhagstrom said:
Somehow "Always On My Mind" sounded better when Willie Nelson did it. A lot of people thought it was Elvis' song, it goes all the way back to Brenda Lee and then some.
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Pet Shop Boys' cover of "Always On My Mind" was a monster hit as well.

What about Paul Young's cover of Hall & Oates' "Every Time You Go Away"? That was a #1 song at the time of Hall & Oates' popularity peak that had me searching for the original.
 
Brett a said:
I was probably about 19 (around 1986) before I found out All Along the Watchtower was a Dylan song and not Hendrix. It was probably about 5 years after that that i found out that Hendrix was also doing a cover when he recorded "Hey Joe".
. . .
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Ditto on "Hey Joe" except I first heard it on self titled "Music Machine". My iTunes catalog contains ten artists doing "Hey Joe" and you know there are many more.

Gotta put "Stormy Monday" high on the list of most covered song :yes:

Roger
 
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