Songs you didn't know were covers

[NESpowerhouse]

Okay, so sometime last month, I was listening to Laura Branigan's Self Control (fantastic song, one of my favorite pop songs of the 80s), and I go down to the comments and see some people reference an original version of the song. I was like, "wait, what? This song is a cover of something else?" And sure enough, it seems like the song was a cover of an Italo Disco song of the same name by the artist Raf:


Link because fuck YouTube

Okay, so I listened to it, and I was like, "hey, this is damn good!" and added it to my Italo Disco/Hi-NRG playlist.

Fast forward to tonight where I was listening to another one of Laura Branigan's hits, this time Gloria, and a very similar thing happened: I scroll down to the comments and again see people comparing it to an earlier version. I was like, "wait, this again?" So I look it up and sure enough, another one of Laura Branigan's hits was based on an existing Italian piece (this time actually sung in Italian).


Link because fuck YouTube again

So what about you guys? What were some covers that you had no knowledge of before?

 

[Mona]

Aretha Franklin - Respect

 

[thekonamicode]

Natalie Imruglia - Torn
Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now

 

[themoralcenter]

zep 1 + 2 the thread

 

[ascii42]

Nothing Compares 2 U was originally by Prince

 

[Banderdash]

At the time, I thought K.D. Langs version of Hallelujah was just a really shitty cover of a Jeff Buckley song.


Now I know better... it's a really shitty cover of a Leonard Cohen song.

 

[Quantum Leap]

Girlpool - Cut Your Bangs

 

[verygooster]

This happened with me twice because of Mad Men:

"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" by Dionne Warwick. I was always just familiar with the Naked Eyes cover.


And then there's "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by The Supremes. Mad Men used a cover by Vanilla Fudge, but I grew up with the Kim Wilde version.

 

[TheMadTitan]

It took me awhile to realize that Sara Bareilles' Take On Me was a cover of Take On Me.

By awhile, I mean like seven years.

 

[Dracil]

is a cover of



Da Pump's version is much better though

 

[Cat Party]

Aretha Franklin - Respect

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Dammit I always like to post this one.

 

[MidnightMania]

Behind Blue Eyes - Limp Bizkit

 

[Tom Nook Says...]

A few that stuck out to me through the years:

 

[Drain You]

I know a lot of people who never knew Hurt wasn't a Johnny Cash song. I knew it wasn't but always thought it was surprising Cash chose to cover it. Came out great but if you had told me beforehand I would have been skeptical.

 

[Cranster]

The Green Manalishi (With The Two-Pronged Crown)

 

[Walter White Walker]

I spent at least 20 years not knowing that Manfred Mann's Earth Bands "Blinded by the Light" was a cover of the Bruce Springsteen original.

 

[Kromis]

Didn't know that...

• Hurt was a Nine Inch Nails song
• The Man Who Sold The World was a David Bowie song

 

[smurfx]

 

[Sectorseven]

 

[Drain You]

Didn't know that...

• Hurt was a Nine Inch Nails song
• The Man Who Sold The World was a David Bowie song

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I didn't know this at first either. I ended up liking both quite a bit but I think I enjoy Nirvana's better, seems more emotional or less sterile or something.

 

[TheCthultist]

"Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" by They Might Be Giants is the one that really got me when I found out. Always just assumed that was their's.

 

[NESpowerhouse]

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I literally heard this the other day on an infomercial lol. I always thought it was a Bananarama song.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

Heard the original and thought the original was really fuckin wack.

 

[Drain You]

Heard the original and thought the original was really fuckin wack.

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I only ever heard the Skrillex song the sampled this song, always wondered where it came from. Thanks. Listened to em both, not actually sure which I prefer between the one you posted and the original.

No I do not like the Skrillex song.

 

[hordak]

first one blew my minddddd

 

[NateDrake]

Red Red Wine is a Neil Diamond song.

 

[ZackieChan]

I spent at least 20 years not knowing that Manfred Mann's Earth Bands "Blinded by the Light" was a cover of the Bruce Springsteen original.

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This got me thinking about another Mann song, Quinn the Eskimo. Which is a Bob Dylan song. Then you think about All Along the Watchtower, another Dylan song. Any others from Dylan that were made more famous by others?

 

[Joni]

Frank Sinatra with My Way, until I discovered CloClo.

 

[MontlyCure]

I was blown away when I found out Smooth Criminal was not originally done by Alien Ant Farm. Had no idea it was actually a cover of a Michael Jackson song until I randomly heard the bass line one day.

 

[Mulciber]

I spent years not knowing that BNL's Lovers in a Dangerous Time was a cover, but now I feel kind of dumb admitting that.

 

[Mulciber]

I was blown away when I found out Smooth Criminal was not originally done by Alien Ant Farm. Had no idea it was actually a cover of a Michael Jackson song until I randomly heard the bass line one day.

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Reading this is the oldest I've felt so far on ResetEra.

 

[Classicrock78]

Queensryche i wanna get close to you.

 

[MontlyCure]

Reading this is the oldest I've felt so far on ResetEra.

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To be fair this discovery was made about 12 years ago lol.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Cum On Feel The Noize isn't by Quiet Riot

 

[Mulciber]

To be fair this discovery was made about 12 years ago lol.

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haha, I can't decide if this helps or not.

 

[mescalineeyes]

Not in love by Crystal Castles

 

[Acidote]

Nothing Compares 2 U was originally by Prince

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I didn't know about this one until those videos of Prince's recordings were released a few months ago.

 

[DeathPeak]

first one blew my minddddd

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WHAT!?

That Robert Hazard original is pretty rad, but it works better as a synthy pop song.

 

[Advance.Wars.Sgt.]

Anyone remember Vanessa Williams, "Dreamin", which went on to be a huge hit when it released?

Yeah, that song was actually originally recorded by an unknown band called Guinn:



And if you ask me its the FAR superior version. In fact, Guinn's whole album is great, and its sad to me they never blew up like they should have.

 

[oberjin]

Nirvana's Love Buzz (original by Shoking Blue) & Turnaround (original by Devo)

Gun - Word Up (original by Cameo)

The Clash - I Fought the law (original by Bobby Fuller)

 

[KentP]

The Damned - Eloise

The original (by Paul & Barry Ryan (not to be confused with Paul & Barry Chuckle, or American policitican, Paul Ryan)) came on the radio at some point and I thought someone had done a lazy cover of the Damned song

...Nope!

 

[Wackamole]

Natalie Imruglia - Torn
Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now

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Never knew until now.

 

[MontlyCure]

haha, I can't decide if this helps or not.

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I would have been 15 at the time. I hope this makes you feel older.

 

[Mulciber]

I would have been 15 at the time. I hope this makes you feel older.

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Oddly, that helps. :)

 

[NoRéN]

zep 1 + 2 the thread

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Good One!

I made a dude lose his shit pointing this out.

Personal one because I love them: a handful of CCR songs.

 

[Temp_User]

The song was different from your average No Doubt song but i didn't know until much later that it was not an original song.

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[CHEROKEEE]

 

[Burpelson]

Don't know if it really counts as a cover or what because Dead Boys was kind of a splinter band but somehow I never knew about Rocket from the Tombs all these years and Ain't It Fun being a Peter Laughner song.

 

[Deleted member 8197]

Fucked me up when I found out Blondie's Hanging on the Telephonme was a cover, and a really similar one at that:

 

[Kanhir]

I only discovered recently that Annie Lennox's famous song No More I Love You's is a cover of an 80s song by The Lover Speaks.

The most well-known version of Everlasting Love in Germany is Sandra's version. In the UK, it's The Love Affair. In the US, it's Carl Carlton.
The original recording is none of these - it's by Robert Knight.
(He didn't write it, though, so arguably all of the versions are equally original.)

One of the signature songs of the 80s is Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want To Have Fun...except it's actually a 1979 song by Robert Hazard.
So all of the indie male artists covering this and thinking they're super original...aren't.