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

[VampireTheBuffetSlayer]

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?

@AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair

Being someone that prefers older music to contemporary, I think it is a bit of shame when new artists don’t state clearly that their song is a heavily sampled one or a cover. It actually does irritate me when people pass off someone else’s talent as their own...

I think we're alone now by Tiffany.

Much better original version from the 60s by Tommy James & the Shondells.

Love the Nirvana version - on the unplugged album, they introduce it as a Bowie song.

Try a little Tenderness - originally performed in 1932

I love these versions of Killing Me Softly

In sure Bowie covered a song that I thought was his own but I can't find which one now

He released a whole album of covers, called "Pin Ups"

I had no idea "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" we as a cover; or that Nirvana did a cover of "Breakfast in America". Off to have a listen of that one!

I didn't know that handbags and gladrags by the stereophonics was a Rod Stewart cover until I saw him sing it on Parkinsonism.
Also Kula Shakar - Hush.

If you want an example of a terrible cover listen to Robbie Williams 'Everybody wants to rule the world'.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Richard Carpenter heard an advert for a bank featuring this song

The version on the video is similar to the original (?)

He liked it and then he found the songwriters - and The Carpenters released it as their second major hit.

When I was a kid I had no idea "I think we're alone now" by Tiffany or "Mona" by Craig McLachlan were covers.

This might be the original We've only just begun

Apparently some band called Oasis did the original of this song

I wonder what happened to them?

@LagneyandCasey

If you want an example of a terrible cover listen to Robbie Williams 'Everybody wants to rule the world'.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Thankfully I have never heard Robbie's version. Assuming it's a cover of the Tears for Fears song, it's my least favourite song of theirs anyway.

The Adele version of ' make you feel my love, I was also very surprised to discover it was a Bob Dylan song.
She also did her own version of the Cure's ' love song' which I like.
A lot of 80s artists covered old fifties and sixties songs. I guess they were all raiding their parents record collections at the time and ' discovered' these singers and bands! People did buy more 7 inch singles back then.

Handbags and Glad rags was originally a hit for Chris Farlowe in the 60s. Rod's version was a cover.

Fat Boy Slim's Praise You is a cover. The original is very different

In the 70s Elton John had a hit with Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. It was a while before I found out he hadn't written it...

Bananarama's hits were mostly covers.
For example
Nathan Jones -- done much better by The Supremes, 1971.
He was really sayin' something - The Velvelettes, 1962
Na na na na hey hey kiss him goodbye - Steam , 1969
It aint what you do -- dates from the 1930s.
Venus - hit in 1969 by Shocking Blue.

[quote LittleLottieChaos]@AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair

Being someone that prefers older music to contemporary, I think it is a bit of shame when new artists don’t state clearly that their song is a heavily sampled one or a cover. It actually does irritate me when people pass off someone else’s talent as their own...[/quote]
I don't know whether samples and covers are acknowledged but there is a lot of it going on in what my children call “tiktoc songs”, like they are a special category of music that doesn't exist outside of that

@LittleLottieChaos

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

That Nirvana cover is so good.

I didnt know it had been covered by anyone. I have tickets for Roger Halsom (supertramp) in June which is postponed from last year

@MrsTerryPratchett

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

❤️❤️❤️

On The Serpent there was a 70s sounding "step on" which I had thought was an original Happy Mondays song. It's not. Mind blown!

I didn’t know Aretha Franklin’s version of Respect was a cover.

Step on you by The Happy Mondays is a cover

This is the original from 1971
m.youtube.com/watch?v=4N2Ul7ll-FM

@Mmmmdanone

On The Serpent there was a 70s sounding "step on" which I had thought was an original Happy Mondays song. It's not. Mind blown!

I don't know the original but that song is so 70s I'm surprised anyone would think it was from any other decade

@VampireTheBuffetSlayer

I also love Johnny Cash's Hurt but that's a cover of NIN right?

I love that cover version - and the video that goes with it is brilliant.

The biggest surprise for me here is that you thought Kurt Cobain sounded like David Bowie! Both brilliant, but sound very different.
I think I must be old, I know more of the original versions than covers listed here....