Cover versions you didn't realise were..

[Redmires]

In a similar vein
Ball & Chain -Janis Joplin/Big Brother and the Holding Company: https://youtu.be/X1zFnyEe3nE

Original - Big Mama Thornton https://youtu.be/IJlBo5KJ3b4

Did Janis actually write anything?

Here's another one she made her own, but it wasn't

To Love Somebody

Written by The Bee Gees ....... yes, really

[servodude]

Killing me softly by The Fugees was a hit 20 years previously by Roberta Flack, who I've just discovered, also didn't write it!

I've just remembered she didn't write that Ewan McColl song "First time ever I saw your face" either
and on a similarly soppy note "Song to the Siren" by This Mortal Coil was the first version I heard of it... and it wasn't until YouTube that I saw Tim Buckley on the Monkees

-sd

[servodude]

In a similar vein
Ball & Chain -Janis Joplin/Big Brother and the Holding Company: https://youtu.be/X1zFnyEe3nE

Original - Big Mama Thornton https://youtu.be/IJlBo5KJ3b4

Did Janis actually write anything?

Here's another one she made her own, but it wasn't

To Love Somebody

Written by The Bee Gees ....... yes, really

Songs you didn't realise the Bee Gees wrote would probably be a whole other thread...
"Islands in the stream"
"Heartbreaker" (the Dionne Warwick one)
"Chain Reaction"
- I'm sure there's plenty more that I can't think of

-sd

[servodude]

John Kongos! Great song. I'd forgotten that one - thanks for the memory.

There are probably thousands of songs that are basically simple chord progressions, but with different rhythms that make them seem like different songs. (And that's leaving aside all the boogies which were only ever one chord to start with.....) Norman Greenbaum's religious mega-hit Spirit in the Sky (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZQxH_8raCI) was a straight steal from just about everything that Canned Heat (that bunch of old druggies) ever recorded. As the first ten seconds will confirm - don't worry, you're not obliged to put up with the rest of it.

If we're going as far back as John Kongos, or Canned Heat for that matter, Mungo Jerry's In the Summertime (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvUQcnfwUUM) was a straight chord-lift from the old Juke Box Jury theme (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA-rKWM0IIc), but you weren't supposed to notice that because of the reggae beat.

Getting more obscure, 1970s jazz pianist Chick Corea once tried to sue the Martini people over their catchy "Any time, any place, anywhere" advert, because he insisted that they'd lifted his tune from a rather good piece called Tones for Joan's Bones. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uALWPswGJeE - good stuff if you're into that sort of thing.) Until, that is, somebody pointed out that Corea had lifted the tune himself from Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin. Collapse of plaintiff's party, and much derision all round.

BJ

There's probably a few new threads for the music board in what you've posted!
There are a few performances on YouTube of just how often a I vi IV V progression is used in pop songs
- and before that the "play all these songs with 3 chords" books
- so it's often perplexing when I see how the lawyers are spinning things - you could say there's some "blurred lines"

And if we're venturing in to jazz territory (nice!) I used to mash up Autumn Leaves, Suicide is Painless and I will Survive - which becomes lyrically quite interesting

-sd

[servodude]

A couple spring to mind. friend in her 40s firmly believed I was making it up when I insisted Man who sold the World by Nirvana was a Bowie original

I've heard this happens alot which is weird because I'm pretty sure Cobain says it's a Bowie song either right before or after on the recording. I guess that bit doesn't get played on the radio etc though.

Probably the same for The Vaselines - but is their Sunbeam a rendition of a traditional hymn? And would that make it a cover also?
- sd

[gvonge]

Not so much a cover as a repurposing.

The Staples - I'll Take You There
https://youtu.be/uY3vgBzgYn4

vs the original

The Harry J All Stars - Liquidator
https://youtu.be/OTn01jjEFfY

[PinkDalek]

Fortunately I don't remember anyone thinking that Lulu's was the original version!

I was aware that Lu (as she likes to be called) and Bowie were friends but not quite as professionally linked as shown in the article below.

It includes:

Now, we will admit, as we continue, there will be a slight blurring of the lines of what defines a ‘cover’. Bowie not only produced the song but he was there for backing vocal duty, he employed Mick Ronson on guitar as well as behind the mixing desk, he even played sultry Saxophone ...

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/lulu-david ... orld-1974/

So you may well be mocking Lulu but also the man himself. (;-

[mc2fool]

In a similar vein
Ball & Chain -Janis Joplin/Big Brother and the Holding Company: https://youtu.be/X1zFnyEe3nE

Original - Big Mama Thornton https://youtu.be/IJlBo5KJ3b4

Did Janis actually write anything?

And not to forget Me and Bobby McGee, written by Kris Kristofferson & Fred Foster and originally performed by Roger Miller.

Roger Miller: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZvsxe1CD-c
Kris Kristofferson (live): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahpIirW0svY
Janis Joplin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cg-j0X09Ag

[bungeejumper]

Bowie not only produced the song but he was there for backing vocal duty, he employed Mick Ronson on guitar as well as behind the mixing desk, he even played sultry Saxophone ...[/i]

Naaah, that was Bob Holness.

Bowie certainly did throw some curious taste-wobbles during his long career. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SQdBxVjZx4

BJ

[servodude]

Bowie not only produced the song but he was there for backing vocal duty, he employed Mick Ronson on guitar as well as behind the mixing desk, he even played sultry Saxophone ...[/i]

Naaah, that was Bob Holness.

Bowie certainly did throw some curious taste-wobbles during his long career. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SQdBxVjZx4

BJ

It's either the Gnome or Bing Crosby!

[PinkDalek]

Bowie not only produced the song but he was there for backing vocal duty, he employed Mick Ronson on guitar as well as behind the mixing desk, he even played sultry Saxophone ...[/i]

Naaah, that was Bob Holness.

BJ

Those were not my words!

Anyway and noting the wink, wasn’t Holness on Baker Street?:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/bring-the-n ... hs/z68w92p