Cover versions you didnt know were covers....

Hank Williams Lost Highway--always thought it was his. Written by Leon Payne.

 

I didn’t know that Black Sabbath’s Warning was a cover (Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation) for a good 10 years.

 

Probably common knowledge for some but i never knew the McCoys Hang On Sloopy was a cover

 

I was surprised to find out Soft Cell’s tainted love was a cover...

 

Tina Turner's 'Better Be Good To Me' was originally done by a group called Spider.

 

George Harrison - Got My Mind Set On You

For a few weeks anyway.

 

It's not exactly a "cover" version, but 'Rock Around the Clock' was first recorded and released by the obscure Sunny Dae and the Knights. I only learned this a couple of years ago, and was quite surprised because 'Rock Around the Clock' is the first "rock" song I ever knew, and I'd been listening to the song for 35+ years...

 

That's funny, because I only learned recently that a hard-rock band had covered Joan Baez's best song...

 

Leaving On A Jet Plane...back then I thought it was a PP&M song...

 

absolutely!

 

beasts of bourbon "psycho" --- also by leon payne

 

they made it their own and the original was good too...

 

Speaking of Judas Priest, I was surprised to find out that The Green Manalishi (With the Two Pronged Crown) was a cover of a Fleetwood Mac song.

 

I learned recently that black diamond is a kiss song, not the replacements.

 

I love this version.

 

I believe you mean Crosby Stills Nash and Young's version of Woodstock was the cover... Joni wrote and recorded it first!

 

My favourite example of that is "I don't want to talk about it", sung by Rod Stewart, which not only is a cover, but, doubly surprising for me, of a song recorded by Crazy Horse without Neil Young being at all involved!

 

Stairway to Heaven

 

good call!

 

He knows, it was a typo. Poor guy has been taken to school about 9 times now over it...

 

when I first heard Hanky Panky back in the 60's I thought it was a song Tommy James penned...it blows away the original!

 

Same "hard rock" band took their name from a song from an album of acoustic music by a fellow named Bob Dylan

 

Manic Monday was written by Prince for the Bangles. It was NOT a cover.
Songs written by artists for another artist is another thread.

 

YEAH!

 

I had known and loved "The Tide is High" as a Blondie song from childhood. Once I heard the original version by the Paragons -- only about five or six years ago -- it instantly made Blondie's obsolete to me.