Artists Who Covered Their Own Songs?

Mickey Newbury's discography is full of re-recordings of his songs

 

And Spanish Moon.

Tindersticks did three versions of Her, one for the first album, one on the Unwired EP (as She) and one version that came out on the Donkeys compilation.

Queen re-recorded Keep Yourself Alive in 1975.

The Monkees put a new version of Circle Sky (from Head) on their 1996 album Justus.

The Who have two different recordings of I'm A Boy, but I don't know the details.

XTC re-arranged This Is Pop from the album version to a new version (new recording) for the single. Also, Looking For Footprints was released as a flexi single, then re-recorded as Sleeyheads. They also have re-recorded versions of Are You Receiving Me, Helicopter, Towers Of London, Life Begins At The Hop, When You're Near Me I Have Difficulty and Reel By Reel.

Marianne Faithfull re-recorded Sister Morphine around the time of Broken English, plus The Witches Song (from Broken English) on Negative Capability from 2018. She's also recorded As Tears Go By in 1987 (on Strange Weather) and Negative Capability too.

Saint Etienne have three separate versions of their debut single Kiss And Make Up, each with a different singer (though the one with Sarah Cracknell singing might be the same backing track as the actual single which was sung by Donna Savage).

Pet Shop Boys re-recorded Paninaro ten years later as Paninaro '95.

 

The winner..

 

Except I didn’t win. Someone DID post Broad Street before me, so I can’t take any credit.

 

Deep Purple recorded Bloodsucker on Abandon.

 

gilberto gil: "eu vim da bahia" and other songs too.
many examples in brazilian music: edu lobo has done it. caetano too. etc

 

Maria McKee recorded "Life Is Sweet" for the album of the same name, then again on the follow up album High Dive
Paul Weller recorded "Solid Bond In Your Heart" with The Jam and The Style Council

 

There were no winners on that album.

 

The Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink

1981 version is tougher and more Post-Punk, while the 1986 version is a little smoother and more 80's sounding.

 

John Lennon - Child Of Nature, And Jealous Guy

 

It was pretty common in the late 70's and early 80's for Punk/New Wave/Alternative bands to release a track as a single and then re-record it for the debut album when they have a bit more money or to give the album a more uniform sound. There must be hundreds of examples of this which I guess do fit the OP's criteria.

Things like Dead Kennedys re-recorded California Uber Alles and Holiday In Cambodia for Fresh Fruit.

Gang of Four - the Fast Product tracks re-recorded for the debut album

Rezillos - Top Of The Pops

 

The Jam - Smithers-Jones

A b-side with normal instruments, they re-recorded it with strings for the Setting Sons album

 

UK Decay - Unexpected Guest

Great version on 7" then re-recorded for the debut album but lacked some bite, although it fit with the sound of the album.

 

Any version of ATYD by Bowie is a cover.
nazareth did Morning Dew twice as did Hot Chocolate with you could have been a lady.
Covering your own songs happened all the time in reggae and blues. I remember being disappointed by the 'wrong' version of Dust My Broom by Elmore James.

 

Orange Juice - Falling and Laughing/Moscow was the debut single.

The A-side got re-recorded for the debut album and the B-side got re-recorded as well to be included on the single L.O.V.E.

 

The Nice: Azrael and Azrael revisited


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyuG-g8Ee84

 

Nazareth also recorded their song "Woke Up This Morning" twice. First on their second album "Exercises". They then did a heavier version on their next album "Razamanaz".
Original:

Razamanaz version:
https://youtu.be/duuN2_Pf0HA

 

Cat Power - Metal Heart

 

John Cale re-recorded the whole Music For A New Society album in 2016 as M:FANS.
He’s also re-recorded in the 2000s a few individual songs from across his career such as Big White Cloud and Set Me Free.
And this might count too... Mercenaries was first issued on the Sabotage Live album in 1979. It was later recorded in the studio for a single release.

 

Cracker did this a couple of times, first rerecording 10 of their songs with Leftover Salmon in bluegrass versions for the O'Cracker Where Art Thou? album, then again 3 years later when they found out Virgin records was going to release a greatest hits album without their input (Get On With It), they rerecorded the songs and released Greatest Hits Redux the same day on their new label, Cooking Vinyl.

 

Someone else further down the thread pointed out that New Order re recorded several songs, but they re recorded lots more, they actually recorded most of their songs several times, doing different versions for 7", 12", and album versions. Touched By The Hand Of God was recorded once for the soundtrack to the movie Salvation, then done again for the single release.

 

Golden Earring(s) did it with Song of a Devil's Servant.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i03n60KNq40

 

And Focus made a US version of this brilliant piece of music


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq75LCE73mM

 

All a matter of opinions an tastes as it always is....I mean most of the album was great songs the Beatles themselves did,so there’s that...TLAWR and Eleanor Rigby BS versions are possibly technically better on BS and I personally liked the three new songs with Gilmore’s playing and the album had Paul’s last number one hit on it,.

Just because the movie bombed didn’t mean the album did as the album sold pretty well..and the album and even the movie turned a younger, not me as I was by then older, generation on to the Beatles and secondarily or even primarily to solo paul and several of them on this very forum say it’s their first album.

The orchestrion on the album was well done as George Martin produced it. Thus, I’d say the album won all around and put Beatles music and exposure into the eighties and the ears of a younger generation like the far inferior seventies sgt pepper movie music album did with their music in the seventies.

 

The Hidden Cameras: A Miracle and I Believe in the Good of Life, both off of their lo-fi first album, Ecce Homo, were later re-recorded on subsequent albums.

Jay Reatard: lots of his singles were re-recorded for Blood Visions and Watch Me Fall