More familiar with the cover than the original

My daughter (7 year old) is in love with Great Big Sea's cover of REM's "It's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)" but of course she knows nothing about the original artist... What song(s) do you better identify with the cover versus the original?

 

Magnolia - JJ Cale. This will forever be a Pat Travers song for me.

 

Songs by original blues cats. Do you want A-K first, or L-Z?

 

Robert Wyatt's 1980 cover of Chic's "At Last I Am Free". He re-recorded it for Wyatt/Atzmon/Stephen in 2010. I don't have the original.
Paul McCartney's cover of The Vipers 1958 cover (originally recorded in 1957 by Dickie Bishop and The Sidekicks) of "No Other Baby" on "Run Devil Run". Again, I don't have the original(s) in my record collection.

 

Beatles-Twist and Shout
Van Halen-Where Have All the Good Times Gone
Huey Lewis and the News-Heart and Soul

 

A lot of people I know think "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" is Beck's song, and they don't know "The Korgis".
Also, for a long time I wasn't aware that "Criminal World" was a cover.

 

Wang Dang Doodle, Savoy Brown, "Street Corner Talking"
Spoonful, Cream, "Fresh Cream"
I'm So Glad, Cream, "Fresh Cream"

 

Check this one if you have Spotify: Originals that are less Famous than the Cover Versions, a playlist by Auke Riemersma on Spotify »

 

Pretty much every song The Cramps covered, with the exception of "Surfin' Bird" and "Fever."

 

Eric Clapton - Cocaine (original version by JJ Cale)
Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire (original version by Anita Carter)
Santana - Black Magic Woman (original version by Fleetwood Mac)
Bette Middler - Beast of Burden (original by The Rolling Stones)
Ringo Starr - You're Sixteen (original by Johnny Burnette)

These songs all fit in this category I believe.

 

deep purple - hush
glenn miller - in the mood
rolling stones - down the road a piece

 

If I'm enamored with a cover, I'll often chase down the original. But, since you brought up REM, their cover of "I Am Superman" was a lot bigger than The Clique's original.

 

Most anything covered by Linda Ronstadt or Three Dog Night. As well as 'Blinded By the Light'.

 

That's a great list. I didn't even know some of those songs had original versions. A good lecture.
Edit: What's the story behind "Video killed the Radio Star"? Wasn't that song written and originally recorded by the Buggles?

 

Mad World

Blinded By The Light

 

David Bowie - Sorrow

 

I see what you did there.

 

Dang ... didn't take you very long either!

 

The king of them all: "All Along the Watchtower" - Jimi Hendrix (originally by Bob Dylan)

 

"Tainted Love" by Soft Cell. I've only heard the original Gloria Jones version once or twice.

 

Annie Lennox's cover of 'No More I Love You's' was all over the radio here, not once did I hear the 1986 (Much better in my opinion) original played locally
*The band name is in the lyrics

 

The artist who previously released the song is listed in parenthesis after the song's artist. It is possible that was a cover too, but it still preceded the song listed.

• "The Angels Cry" by Annie Haslam (Agnetha Fältskog)
• "Axel F" by Crazy Frog (Harold Faltermeyer)
• "Bright Eyes" by The Nolans (Art Garfunkel)
• "Baby I Lied" by Tracey Ullman (Deborah Allen)
• "Busted" by John Conlee (Ray Charles)
• "Fools Rush In" by Rick Nelson (by others)
• "Gentle On My Mind" by Roger Miller (Glen Campbell in the same year)
• "Gonna Get Along Without You Now" by Skeeter Davis (Brenda Lee and others)*
• "Gotta Pull Myself Together" by The Yearning (The Nolans, although both versions are favorites)
• "Hello, It's Me" by Todd Woods (Paul Giamatti) (Todd Rundgren)
• "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" by Wink Martindale And Robin Ward (Louie Prima and Keely Smith)*
• "I Can Hear Music" by The Beach Boys (The Ronettes)
• "I Can't Say Goodbye To You" by Helen Reddy (Becky Hobbs)
• "I Don't Want To Talk About It" by Everything But The Girl (Rod Stewart)*
• "I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock 'n' Roll)" by Nick Lowe (Dave Edmunds)*
• "I Never Dreamed Someone Like You Could Love Someone Like Me" by Regine Velasquez (Katie Irving)*
• "If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind" by Agnetha Fältskog (Cilla Black)*
• "In The Jailhouse Now" by The Soggy Mountain Boys (Jimmie Rodgers)*
• "Like Strangers" by Gale Davies (The Everly Brothers)
• "Never Met A Man I Didn't Like" by Barry Manilow (The Will Rogers Follies)*
• "They Don't Know" by Tracey Ullman (Kirsty MacColl)
• "This Diamond Ring" by Gary Lewis & The Playboys (Sammy Ambrose)*
• "When You Walk In The Room" by Paul Carrack (Jackie DeShannon)

* Checked with Wikipedia.

 

Well, the original wasn't played on Cleveland radio either, and Annie's cover is fine, but I much prefer the original! The excellent Cherry Red reissue of their album is essential!

My list:

Pat Benatar - "You Better Run" (Young Rascals), "Precious Time" and "I'm Gonna Follow You" (Billy Thermal)
Tina Turner - "Better Be Good To Me" (Spider)
John Waite - "Change" (Spider)
Bangles - "Going Down To Liverpool" (Katrina & The Waves, or rather, just "The Waves" at the time)
Daryl Hall John Oates - "Family Man" (Mike Oldfield)
Natalie Imbruglia - "Torn" (Ednaswap)
Bangles - "If She Knew What She Wants" (Jules Shear)
Alison Moyet - "Whispering Your Name" (Jules Shear)
Cyndi Lauper - "All Through The Night" (Jules Shear)
Heart - "Alone" (i-Ten)

 

I still need to track down the remaster for the extras