Songs older than you think

[pope04]

I alway thought Nazareth's tune Love Hurts was an original. I was surprised when I found out it was initially recorded by the Everly Brothers in the 50's.

[pope04]

Originally Posted by Montana Moe

Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog" was an old blues tune as well. (Big Mama Thornton)

As I recall, Big Mama recorded Hound Dog only a couple of years before Elvis cut it.

[ken0042]

Here's one for those of you who love to hate it..... "Cotton Eyed Joe" by the Rednecks is actually a cover of an old country tune. The original is very twangy and runs at about 1/4 the speed of the Rednecks cover.

[pope04]

I loved Molly Hatchet's version of It's All Over Now, but I was delighted when I discovered the Stones had recorded it years earlier.

[gottabekd]

Originally Posted by Montana Moe

Tons of Led Zeppelin tunes are based on, or covers of old blues tracks.

Not helping things along is they claimed writing credits for some of these...
Dazed and Confused
Whole Lotta Love
Since I've Been Lovin' You

BUT, their versions are much more than mere "covers"; they completely restructured the songs in their own way.

I'll throw one out there that everyone SHOULD know is a cover: Crossroads (as made famous by Cream) is an old Robert Johnson blues song from the 30s. We all knew that, right?

[octothorp]

I remember hearing David Bowie saying how he gets young fans who tell him that they think it's great that he plays the Nirvana song Man Who Sold the World at some of his concerts, not realizing that he had originally recorded it back in about 1969. Similarly, I've heard people complain that "Under Pressure" copies a beat from Vanilla Ice.

One that surprised me was to learn that Nick Cave's Stagger Lee wasn't an original. I knew that he had a big interest in American roots music and occasionally reworked traditional pieces, but Stagger Lee is just so repulsive a character that I just assumed that he was a creation of Nick Cave's mind. And then I found that literally dozens of artists have recorded the original, which is far more sympathetic than Cave's version.

[habernac]

Originally Posted by gottabekd

Not helping things along is they claimed writing credits for some of these...
Dazed and Confused
Whole Lotta Love
Since I've Been Lovin' You

BUT, their versions are much more than mere "covers"; they completely restructured the songs in their own way.

I'll throw one out there that everyone SHOULD know is a cover: Crossroads (as made famous by Cream) is an old Robert Johnson blues song from the 30s. We all knew that, right?

Zeppelin's best cover is Travelling Riverside Blues, also an old Robert Johnson track.

[RougeUnderoos]

Hotel California by William Hung is a cover of an old Eagles song.

Did anyone else know this?

[troutman]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

Hotel California by William Hung is a cover of an old Eagles song.

Did anyone else know this?

Next, you are going to tell me he didn't write She Bangs.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by troutman

Next, you are going to tell me he didn't write She Bangs.

Oh I hope he did.

Interesting/Idiotic/Proof-That-I'm-Doing-Nothing Information Related To Cover Songs: Michael Nesmith's(The Monkees) mom invented Liquid Paper. It's true.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by pope04

As I recall, Big Mama recorded Hound Dog only a couple of years before Elvis cut it.

And she was never a happy camper about that fact either, Elvis got all the royalites from that hit.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by habernac

Zeppelin's best cover is Travelling Riverside Blues, also an old Robert Johnson track.

Eric Clapton recorded a whole CD of Robert Johnson songs, CD is Me and Mr. Johnson

Great CD by the way

[redforever]

Minnie the Moocher has been recorded by many artists too, is just an old Cab Calloway song

[Montana Moe]

Originally Posted by pope04

As I recall, Big Mama recorded Hound Dog only a couple of years before Elvis cut it.

True, Thornton recorded it in 1953, Freddie Bell and the Bellboys in 55, and Elvis in 56.

It was written by those hard livin' bluesmen Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller...

[troutman]

I have a feeling Jimi Hendrix did not write The Star Spangled Banner.

[Burninator]

I lost it on this girl when she called Led Zeppelin's Kashmir a rip off of Puff Daddy.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

i was going to say that i'm surprised so many people don't realize that Metallica's Whiskey in The Jar is a cover, but trying to find the original composer (i thought The Highwaymen did it first) the song is actually a traditional Irish folk song that dates back to the 17th century. so a 400 year gap from when i thought the song was first done is quite the difference

Didn't Thin Lizzy do a cover of it too?

[Sylvanfan]

Willie Dixon is a guy who I believe Led Zeppelin got a few of their songs from. Dixon himself may have come accross a lot of those tunes from someone before him too.

[KevanGuy]

Plenty of White Stripes songs are covers, or versions of old standards. Oh, and I Go Blind was 54-40 but Hootie and the Blowfish made it popular.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by troutman

I have a feeling Jimi Hendrix did not write The Star Spangled Banner.

I don't think he wrote this either but if you look closely he's playing in the background.
Hey, a guy has to mahttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2wBP...eature=relatedke a living.