Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Original poster

The Man Who Sold The World - covers you didn't know were covers

144 replies

VampireTheBuffetSlayer · 21/02/2021 01:04

I love this. It's my favourite Bowie song. Or so I thought.

It was on the radio yesterday and I was only half listening when they were talking about whether Nirvana's version was better than the original. I didn't really pay too much attention. But on Pointless Celebrities tonight they had The Man Who Sold The World as an answer as a Lulu/David Bowie collaboration. I've just googled it and it turns out that I love The Man Who Sold The World by Nirvana! My mind is blown!

Any covers that you love that you didn't know were covers?

OP posts:
MechantGourmet · 21/02/2021 02:56

@MrsTerryPratchett

Prince Nothing Compares to You

I also thought Wild Horses was the Sundays not Rolling Stones. I normally hate the RS.

I am confused, because Prince wrote Nothing Compares 2U.
MrsTerryPratchett · 21/02/2021 02:57

Prince did. I thought it was Sinead.

MechantGourmet · 21/02/2021 02:58

But I was surprised to discover last year that he had written Manic Monday!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Music
MechantGourmet · 21/02/2021 02:58

Ah, I see Smile

MrsTerryPratchett · 21/02/2021 03:01

Prince has basically written everything. Supposedly he had a vault with thousand of songs he didn't think were good enough. To be destroyed on his death. I'm sure every single one was better than anything in the radio.

MechantGourmet · 21/02/2021 03:02
Grin
feelingverylazytoday · 21/02/2021 03:03

I was surprised to find out recently that Red red wine was written and originally recorded by Neil Diamond, not UB40.
Also The first cut is the deepest by PP Arnold is a cover of a Cat Stevens song.

BlueThistles · 21/02/2021 03:04

Dolly Parton Wrote and Sang..

I Will Always Love You.,.

famously covered by Whitney Houston 🌺

MrsTerryPratchett · 21/02/2021 03:06

Dolly is the best.

MrsTerryPratchett · 21/02/2021 03:06

And her version is much better.

BlueThistles · 21/02/2021 03:08

@MrsTerryPratchett

Dolly is the best.

Queen of Country 🎉

MrsTerryPratchett · 21/02/2021 03:13

No showboating, no vocal gymnastics, just incredible singing and lyrics. Dolly is very underrated. And an all round wonderful, funny, kind, good person.

LittleRa · 21/02/2021 03:23

This came up on a quiz I was doing just today when I discovered that the Nancy Sinatra version of Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) isn’t the original- and that it was written by Sonny Bono and first released by Cher.

EmmaGrundyForPM · 21/02/2021 03:24

@feelingverylazytoday

I was surprised to find out recently that Red red wine was written and originally recorded by Neil Diamond, not UB40. Also The first cut is the deepest by PP Arnold is a cover of a Cat Stevens song.
I thought The first cut is the deepest was Rod Stuart!

One of my friends didn't realise that Adele's "Make You Feel My Love' was a cover of s Bob Dylan song and I was gobsmacked. But then I love Dylan.

feelingverylazytoday · 21/02/2021 03:28

EmmaGrundy Rod did cover it as well.

EmmaGrundyForPM · 21/02/2021 03:32

@feelingverylazytoday

EmmaGrundy Rod did cover it as well.
Yes but I thought his was the original.

I'll listen to the Cat Stevens version. when its a reasonable time!

LittleLottieChaos · 21/02/2021 06:17

I didn’t know Breakfast in America was in fact by Supertramp until yesterday...

That Nirvana cover is so good.

kwisatzhaderach · 21/02/2021 06:42

The most surprising cover that I know is Toni Basil's Micky. Originally recorded by Racey as Kitty two years earlier.

AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair · 21/02/2021 08:43

@LittleLottieChaos

I didn’t know Breakfast in America was in fact by Supertramp until yesterday...

That Nirvana cover is so good.

I didn't even know that Nirvana had covered that or The Man who Sold the World Grin

But unless you Google the history of every song you hear I don't think it's surprising that anyone doesn't know the songs are covers.

Why would you know?

Mu children listen to all kinds of music' that has samples from 70s and 80s songs, they have no idea until I point it out, how they know and a cover version is the same imo.

HarlanWillYouStopNamingNuts · 21/02/2021 08:53

Dolly is ace, as is Willie Nelson, who wrote Always on My Mind. Elvis covered it but WN's version is heartbreaking.

Madonna's Ray of Light is a cover. I have no idea how she got to her version from this:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ5OtnBdcWw

Standrewsschool · 21/02/2021 08:57

Phil Collins - ‘You can’t hurry love’

This was a huge hit and I was surprised to find out years later that it was a cover.

Not quite the same, but learnt on the radio yesterday that Shania Twain is actually called Eileen, and Shania is actually a made up name.

PuppyMonkey · 21/02/2021 09:06

The one I was surprised about is Dancing in the Moonlight by Toploader - it was apparently a cover of a 1970 song. Shock

MrsScrubbingbrush · 21/02/2021 09:06

@Fumnudge are you thinking of Bowie's cover version of 'Sorrow' from his album Pinups?

CourtAndSpark2 · 21/02/2021 09:11

This is a very interesting read on “Ain’t no love in the heart of the city”
ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/heart-of-the-city.html

Great song, and such different versions!

CourtAndSpark2 · 21/02/2021 09:12

... and “Hanging on the telephone” by Blondie, only learned that was a cover a few years ago