posted
This is a little more specific than the remake thread. I'm thinking about songs which are originally recorded by another artist, but which are forever linked to another artist.
Cases where, when you name the song this is the version that comes to mind. List the definitive version, and the original artist. Feel free to protest if you disagree. My examples are:
You've Got A Friend - James Taylor (originally by Carole King)
Respect - Aretha Franklin (originally by Otis Redding)
Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis (originally by Carl Perkins)
How Sweet It Is - James Taylor (originally by Marvin Gaye)
You Make Me Feel (Like a Natural Woman) - Aretha Franklin (originally by Carole King)
Twist and Shout - The Beatles (originally by The Isley Brothers)
All Along the Watchtower - Hendrix (originally by Bob Dylan)
I know it seems that James Taylor, Aretha, and Carole King dominate my choices, but these are just off the top of my head. I'll be back with more.
Posts: 5462 | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
That would explain why I can't remember what his version sounds like. I'll look when I get home.
EDIT: From amazon.com's review, "Kris had his first own real big on-the-road hit with "Me and Bobby McGee," especially after it was covered by Cash, Janis Joplin and Roger Miller."
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posted
Walk This Way by Run DMC (originally by Aerosmith). -- It moved Rap to the mainstream and resurrected Aerosmith's careers.
Hard to Handle by The Black Crowes (originally by Otis Redding)
Mrs. Robinson by The Lemonheads (originally Simon and Garfunkel). -- Stupid band, but it's a great cover of a great song.
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I don't know Hard to Handle, but I really wouldn't call the other ones definitive versions of those songs by any means.
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"Green, Green Grass of Home," by Johnny Cash, but it was someone else's. (forget-must Google, too tired)
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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I hate to admit this, since I prefer the original version, but Ike and Tina's version of Proud Mary is much more well-known than the original Creedence version.
Quick story, while we're on the subject: When I was a DJ on a college radio station, my friend and I used to think up call-in contests to pass the time and screw with people. One day we announced that whoever could name the artist who performed the original version of a song would win a prize. Then we played Neil Diamond's original version of Red Red Wine from the '70s. We immediately got flooded with calls, and every single one of them guessed UB40. We laughed and laughed.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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"Everytime You Go Away" by Paul Young (Originally by Hall and Oates)
"You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling" by Hall and Oates (Originally by the Isley Brothers? Some Brothers. I can't remember which.)
Posts: 13680 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
It's the Righteous Brothers and I think the original is much more definitive than the Hall and Oates version (I'm not sure I've even heard their version).
As an aside, for those interested in covers, check out this podcast. . You can just download the mp3s from that link. You don't need any special podcasting software or anything.
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quote:Then we played Neil Diamond's original version of Red Red Wine from the '70s. We immediately got flooded with calls, and every single one of them guessed UB40. We laughed and laughed.
And nobody guessed Marley? That's sad.
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quote:Originally posted by Dagonee: Did Kris ever perform the song? I thought he wrote it for Janis to perform.
A friend of mine has a CD of Kris singing several songs he wrote for other people, including Bobby McGee. I'll have to see if I can borrow it from him.
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quote:It's the Righteous Brothers and I think the original is much more definitive than the Hall and Oates version (I'm not sure I've even heard their version).
I don't see how you can possibly not have heard this version. Were you alive during the eighties?
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Killing Me Softly, by the Fugees,original by Roberta Flack
Not exactally a cover, but I really like I'll Be Missing You, but it isn't a cover because it has Sting sampling Every Breath You Take in the background with them singing/rapping over it. Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Kwea, those were two that I thought of this morning, although the I'll Be Missing You I don't think would qualify.
I also thought of:
Wild Nights - John Mellencamp (by Van Morrison) With A Little Help From My Friends - Joe Cocker (by the Beatles)
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First of all, it was a trick question, because people were asked to name the "original" version of the original song. So what's a "wrong answer?"
But we're talking about definitive covers. UB40 did a cover of Marley's version, not their own version of Diamond's song. It was a cheap rip-off of a definitive cover, but no one was aware of how that cover came about in the first place. That's sad.
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posted
Hm. I don't think I've heard the Hall & Oates version of "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling" either, Joe. The Righteous Brothers own that track.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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Wild Nights - John Mellencamp (by Van Morrison)
It always bothers me that this song was a collaboration between Mellencamp and Me'Shell Ndegeocello, but nobody ever describes it that way. It was her bass line and the vocal duet that knocked everybody's socks off.
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posted
No no no... I think some are confusing a group doing a good cover with the cover actually outshining the original so much that it's vastly more popular--and not simply because nobody remembers the original. Some of this ya'll already said... but I'm going to say it anyway.
Walk This Way is clearly more associated with Aerosmith than Run DMC. Run DMC and Aerosmith did a neat duo video. That's all.
It might be a good cover, but Mrs. Robinson is definitely a Simon and Garfunkel song through and through. The Lemonheads, if I remember who they are correctly, just made it into a bubblegum pop song.
Guns and Roses did a great cover of Live and Let Die--but Paul McCartney's is THE version I think of when I hear the title.
I agree that the Righteous Brothers' version of You Lost that Loving Feeling is the definitive one, as well.
I do think that Guns and Roses totally took over Knockin' on Heaven's Door. But, I didn't even know it was a Dylan song.
The Fugees made a real nice cover of Killing Me Softly, but Roberta Flack still holds the definitive title. (I will admit that when I listen to Roberta Flack, I'm waiting for the singing improv the fugees do and the "one time" beat thing.)
I'll Be Missing You is a retarded remake of Every Breath You Take. They totally ignored the creepy stalking side of the song and made it fluffy. They suck. Whoever they are. And yeah... it was catchy... even had me singing along a little bit.
I can't think of my own example to add into the mix... so I declare that I suck for disagreeing with many but not offering anything of my own.
It's just that I think the original has to be virtually unknown or a lot less popular for the remake to achieve Definitive status.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote:The Fugees made a real nice cover of Killing Me Softly, but Roberta Flack still holds the definitive title. (I will admit that when I listen to Roberta Flack, I'm waiting for the singing improv the fugees do and the "one time" beat thing.)
I think the fact that you expect to hear Wyclef calling "One time!" tells you that the Fugees have the definitive version. I think it's just because it's a lot more recent than the Roberta Flack one. I personally love that one, but I don't think it was as popular, even in its time, as the Fugees version.
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posted
I guess I can't get over the memory of sitting in the car when I was a kid, listening to this song and my mom singing along...and wondering what in the world it was about...but loving it all the same. My mom had already told me by that time that Janis (sp?) Joplin had cut her face into ribbons when she committed suicide--so the line "strumming my pain with his fingers" became "strumming my face with his fingers" and I associated it with Janis Joplin, especially with the Killing Me Softly line.
So nothing, for me, can overshadow the Roberta Flack version...but maybe you're right. Maybe the Fugees really did take it over... I do like it better..
posted
Thank you Katarin... I can't believe anyone thinks that any version other then the Simon and Garfunkel Mrs Robinson could POSSIBLY be definitive. Not for another 40 years at least. Ditto on Walk This Way. That is CLEARLY an Aerosmith song. Run DMC just happened to get in on that bag of tricks.
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Dr. Evil, which group did the "You Really Got Me" in the commercial? I think it had barbies or something in it... with a toy car... or maybe it was a commercial with an operation in it...
wow... those are two totally different images... I'm lost.
Posts: 2880 | Registered: Jun 2004
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quote: I personally love that one, but I don't think it was as popular, even in its time, as the Fugees version.
*blink* You're living on another planet, right? Because I guarantee you that "Killing Me Softly" is, to the vast majority of people on this planet, a Roberta Flack song. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
As with everything, it has a lot to do with context. If the vast majority you're talking about are baby boomers who listen to classic rock all day, then yes, I'm sure they have no idea who the Fugees are.
But if by vast majority you mean people from the ages of 3-30, most of them don't even know that the song was a cover. The same argument could be made for most of the songs in this thread. For most, the definitive version is the one they first heard, or the one the grew up listening to.
But, since you guaranteed me....
The one grand slam on this list, I think, is All Along the Watchtower. But I'm sure that someone will swear that it's a travesty, and only the Dylan version will stand the test of time. Half the fun of threads like this is arguing about which is the definitive version.
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posted
"Lean on Me" is another song that was hugely popular the second time around. However, I can't remember either the remake artist or the original artist.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Katarain: Dr. Evil, which group did the "You Really Got Me" in the commercial? I think it had barbies or something in it... with a toy car... or maybe it was a commercial with an operation in it...
wow... those are two totally different images... I'm lost.
That was the Van Halen version. From their first album which was released in 1978.
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posted
For me the definitive version of Proud Mary is the Tina Turner one, I'm not sure if the recordings I've heard were her dueting with Ike or not. Even John Fogerty has said she's better than him.
On all the Otis Redding songs, yeah the cover is better, same with many Dylan, but I like Bob Dylan.
Only one cover of a Beatles song is better and that's the Joe Cocker, With A Little Help...
posted
Judas Priest did a couple of covers on the 1979 Live album - the first was Diamonds and Rust, originally done by Joan Baez and the second was "The Green Manalishi" which was done by the original Fleetwood Mac (when they were a hard rock group). I thought they did a great job re-making these songs.
Aerosmith re-did the Beatles "Come Together" circa 1978 and had some huge popularity with it too.
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quote:Originally posted by Katarain: Dr. Evil, which group did the "You Really Got Me" in the commercial? I think it had barbies or something in it... with a toy car... or maybe it was a commercial with an operation in it...
wow... those are two totally different images... I'm lost.
That was the Van Halen version. From their first album which was released in 1978.
There are so many covers of that song, I can't even count them. I know Eve 6 did one that was decent, but I like Van Halen's version best.
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quote: I personally love that one, but I don't think it was as popular, even in its time, as the Fugees version.
*blink* You're living on another planet, right? Because I guarantee you that "Killing Me Softly" is, to the vast majority of people on this planet, a Roberta Flack song.
I disagree, strongly. Most people under 35-40 don't know, or care, who she was, but everyone who listens to the radio knows the Fugee's version.
More people know Every Breath You Take from Sting, but the newer single still had Sting in it, and was wildly popular...it crossed all genre lines and because a worldwide hit yet again.
quote:Most people under 35-40 don't know, or care, who she was, but everyone who listens to the radio knows the Fugee's version.
You realize I'm 30, right, and still haven't heard the Fugees version because I have musical taste?
Edit: And having quickly looked it up online, I don't regret that decision.
quote: Strumming dub plates with our fingers, Eliminate sounds with our song, Killing a sound boy with this sound, Killing a sound boy with this sound, Taking sound boys’ lives with this dub, Killing him softly with this sound.
posted
Everyone has taste. Whether or not it's good, well, I guess that's not for me to judge. If you have good taste, you should throw out your preconceived notions and give the Fugees a listen. They made some really good music.
EDIT: Where's that quote supposed to be from? I don't think those lyrics appear anywhere in their version. The lyrics are the same.
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posted
I realize that taste is subjective, and that there will never be a definitive standard for art. But for what it's worth, I have a friend who has a Ph.D. in music and is currently a professor at a university who has, among many other things, taught a full semester class on the history of rap. And in his opinion the Fugees album The Score that "Killing Him Softly" was on is one of the five best hip-hop albums ever made.
So it's fine if, based upon what you've looked up on the internet, you don't think that version is worthy of the original. But don't pretend that it's due to superior taste. Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I like your friend. I don't have a Ph.D. in anything, but I definitely agree with him on the top five status.
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