Dionne Warwick recorded her demo of Always Something There To Remind Me by Burt Bacharach in 1963, but rerecorded and released it in the late 60s. Since most of us are already familiar with her singing it, here is the first official release of the song by Lou Johnson in early 1964.
Has this been mentioned? I went through all 21 pages and didn't see it, so I apologize if I missed it.
One more...actually the first one I thought of and I'm a little surprised nobody else mentioned it (unless I missed it). As far as I can tell, this was the original, recorded in 1950 and eventually became Commander Cody's Hot Rod Lincoln.
"Yesterday, When I Was Young" by Roy Clark, was first in French, "Heir Encore" and first recorded by Charles Azvanour.
I think 'Hot Rod Lincoln' is an answer song to 'Hot Rod Race' (the first line mentions the hot rod race). Here's Charley Ryan's version from '55:
I'm AMAZED that there are no copies of the Sun Valley Trio's original 1949 recording of "The Hokey Pokey" on YouTube. But here's the sleeve.
I'm enjoying this entire thread, but this posting was a personal highlight for me for a couple reasons: 1) Huge Nyro fan 2) I keep forgetting what a great singer Mary Travers was - and she's great here 3) Complete surprise - I had no idea that this version existed. Thanks!
http://rodia.podomatic.com/entry/2011-02-15T09_20_22-08_00 starts at 11:50 Liste: 01. THE PRUNE SONG Six Jumping Jacks 02. THROWING PEBBLES IN THE MILLSTREAM Sonny Dunham 03. THE PROPOSAL Shirley and Lee 04. THE HOP Slim Gaillard 05. THE HOKEY POKEY Sun Valley Trio 06. THE HIP COWBOY Slim Gaillard 07. THE DIPSY DOODLE Sammy Kaye 08. THE BLACKSMITH BLUES Sy Oliver 09. THE ATOM LEAPS Saunders King Rythym 10. THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC Sammy Davis Jr 11. TEXAS STEEL GUITAR Spade Cooley 12. TELL ME A STORY Sammy Kaye 13. SWS4 WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK Snow White 14. SWS3 IM WISHING-ONE SONG Snow White-Prince Charming 15. SWS4 WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK Snow White 16. SWS2 HI HO Seven Dwarves 17. SWING IS HERE TO SWAY Sammy Kaye 18. SUGAR MAMMA Sherman 'Blues' Johnson
Big Sambo & The Housewreckers "The Rains Came" from 1962; a reworked version would be a hit for The Sir Douglas Quintet in 1966:
The Arrows (featuring Alan Merrill) originally wrote and recorded 'I Love Rock N Roll' during the 1970s. Joan Jett would take this song to the top during the 1980s. New York-based Alan Merrill continues to tour and record.
The mention of Linda Ronstadt brought this to mind: This is actually an unreleased version of NY's song; I like it better than the official version. LR's is of course more lushly produced and she does a nice job with it. Kind of like Nicolette Larson and "Lotta Love".
Another group that covered their own song, here's the original version of "It Must Have Been Love" by Roxette, from 1987. It was originally subtitled "Christmas for the Broken Hearted."
The first version of 'Ragg Mopp' was a western swing number, then the Ames Brothers had their hit with it but it all started with Henry 'Red Allen:
I actually never heard another version (other than the Beatles) until I was watching the play a couple years ago. That song sounds familiar. I never saw the movie.
I have only gone through about half the pages but I wanted to get this in while I was thinking of it: Brand New Cadillac - I have this on two albums. Neither is Vince Taylor. Who is the well known version? I would say The Clash. But maybe it was the original. Similarly someone posted Stranded in the Jungle. Wasn't the original the best known version? (though I knew it because of the Dolls)
