Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin wrote this for a movie, then reworked it for the Young And The Restless soap opera, but it became a hit after the Olympics in '76. Full disclosure: I'm not a fan of this song in any of its forms.
There have been lots of versions of Jim Pepper's tune (including several remakes of his own) but this 45 with his group "Everything is Everything" was the first.
Thanks. I just spent about 3 hours going through this thread. Didn't play everything, but I sure played a lot. I never knew some of the originals (or that the covers weren't originals.) I liked many of the originals as well as or better than the covers. Thanks to all who've contributed.
Dave Bartholomew-My Ding-A Ling (1952). Later a reworked version became Chuck Berry's only #1 U.S. hit.
I think the song that was a hit was called "Nadia's Theme" and that was the song that was later used as the theme song for "The Young And The Restless." It's not the same song as "Bless The Beasts And The Children," which was a hit for the Carpenters, but both songs were written by Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin. According to Wikipedia, both songs appeared on the soundtrack album for the movie "Bless The Beasts And The Children" and featured "Nadia's Theme" under it's original name: Cotton's Theme.
This seems to have been the first released version -- maybe: This is by the song's writer and apparently was recorded first, but when it was released in unclear: https://youtu.be/eqFBE6vZ1i4
I've been trying to keep track here, but I don't recall seeing this -- surely it must have been posted...
Annie Lennox's cover of "No More I Love Yous". Don't remember who did the original but never heard it till Annie and she had a pretty big hit with it.
Although it had already been covered by many artists since Dallas Frazier had first done this (including Kenny Rogers and The First Edition), the Oak Ridge Boys had the hit with it in 1981:
You can get the Burl Ives version on "The Return of The Wayfaring Stranger" which has been reissued on CD by Collectables.
Open The Door Richard a hit for Count Basie, Louis Jordan and many others originally started as a vauldville routine at theatres like the Apollo
From a Walt Disney movie, the song won an Academy award for best song, Johny Mercer had a #8 hit with it in 1947 and almost 20 years later Bob B Soxx and the Blue Jeans had a hit in America and England