The first version you heard...

Many people did not become familliar with a song by the original artist. Many times, people remember a different artist.

What song done by more than one artist did you become familiar with first?

I'll start:
Baby, I Love You-Andy Kim
The Locomotion-Grand Funk
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds-Elton John
Got To Get You Into My Life-Earth, Wind And Fire
Doctor My Eyes-Jackson 5
Little Bitty Pretty One-Jackson 5
Go Away Little Girl-Donny Osmond
Sookie Sookie-Steppenwolf
Respect-Aretha Franklin

 

Some off the top of my head.... funny that while I may learn a song from the cover, most of the time I end up preferring the original, which is the case for almost all of these...

War - Bruce Springsteen (Edwin Starr)
Tainted Love - Soft Cell (Gloria Jones)
You're No Good - Linda Ronstadt (Betty Everett)
Shakin' All Over - The Who (Johnny Kidd & The Pirates)
Soul Man - Blues Brothers (Sam & Dave) (embarrassing to admit)
Oh No Not My Baby - Linda Ronstadt (Maxine Brown)
Shake - Otis Redding (Sam Cooke, but still prefer Otis)
Going to a Go Go - Rolling Stones (Smokey Robinson)
Cool Jerk - Go-Go's (Capitols)
Take Me To The River - Talking Heads (Al Green)
Jealous Guy - Roxy Music (J. Lennon)
I Do - J. Geils Band (The Marvelows)
First I Look At The Purse - J. Geils Band (The Contours)
Brand New Cadillac - The Clash (Vince Taylor)
I Put A Spell On You - Creedence (Screamin' Jay Hawkins)
When You Were Mine - Cyndi Lauper (Prince)

 

I've never heard more than about three C.B. songs on the radio. Maybelline, My-Ding-A-Ling (ugh!) and Carol are about it. "The Great Twenty Eight" was my first real exposure to what he'd recorded.

 

Pack Fair And Square J.Geils Band. First done by Big Walter & His Thunderbirds,it rocks! Found it on Blues Masters Volume 6 (Rhino). Lots of other originals on it too.

 

Summertime Blues - The Who
All those Muddy Waters/ Willy Dixon songs Led Zep did and claimed for a while.
Stormy Monday - Allman Brothers
Crazy - Linda Ronstadt
All Along the Watchtower - Jimi
etc...

 

As a young kid in the early 70s, I'd hear songs on the radio (mostly by teen idols), never knowing until years later that they were covers:

Rockin' Robin--Michael Jackson
Puppy Love, Go Away Little Girl--Donny Osmond
Cherish--David Cassidy
Save the Last Dance for Me--DeFranco Family
The Lion Sleeps Tonight--Robert John
Another Saturday Night--Cat Stevens

and one that it really took me a long time to uncover:

Go Now--Moody Blues

Happily, my musical horizons have been expanded since then.

 

Back Door Man (Doors) - Howlin' Wolf
You Shook Me ( Led Zepplin) - Muddy Waters
Bring It On Home To Me (Led Zepplin) - Sonny Boy Williamson

 

Lotsa Top 40 cover versions fit this category.

Suzy Q - Creedence
Louie, Louie - Kingsmen
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down - Joan Baez
Both Sides Now - Judy Collins
59th Street Bridge Song - Harper's Bizarre
Ol' 55 - Eagles
Hey Joe - Jimi Hendrix
Land of 1,000 Dances - Wilson Pickett
(Remember) Walkin' In The Sand - Aerosmith
Without You - Harry Nilsson
Barbara Ann - Beach Boys
I Only Have Eyes For You - Flamingos
Blue Moon - Marcels
California Girls - David Lee Roth (and I can't even begin to tell you how embarrassed I am by that particular confession! What can I tell you, I was still a musically oblivious sixth-grader when Roth's version was all over the radio in '84 or '85)

Mr. Tambourine Man - Byrds (hell, all the Dylan songs I first heard
via cover versions could make a swell list unto itself)

Of course, countless blues standards first reached my attention through covers by the Stones, Clapton, Hendrix, the Allmans, etc.

 

Disco versions that I think still rock!

I was only nine, so I thought these disco versions were the originals until later, to my embarrassment:

Bang A Gong (Get It On) - Witch Queen
Have A Cigar - Rosebud
La Bamba - Antonia Rodriguez

 

Hey Jimbo, the funny thing about Robert John's "The Lion Sleeps Tonight is that he also sang on the original version as a member of the Tokens!

For the record, I have more memories of Robert John's version, and I like it better.

I recall that when my fourth grade class took a field trip to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in 1972 I had that damn song running through my head the whole time because when we left the school the song was playing on the radio station in the bus.

 

Here's a short list. I could probably come up with twenty more - What did I know? I thought the world started in 1953!

You Belong To Me - The Duprees
Anna - The Beatles
I Like It Like That - The Dave Clark 5
Who Do You Love - The Woolies
Don't Think Twice, It's Alright - The Wonder Who
More Than I Can Say - Leo Sayer

 

Fever - (Rita Coolidge) - Little Willie John

I heard a reference to Little Willie John when I was listening to Robbie Robertson - S/T - Somewhere Down The Crazy River .

...Take a picture of this, The fields are empty, abandoned '59 Chevy , Laying in the back seat listening to Little Willie John, Yea, that's when time stood still...

I found the Rhino CD, Best of Little Willie John - great energy!! and a rock'n roll tragedy.

Unaware of the Peggy Lee or Elvis covers until recently.

 

"You're Sixteen," Ringo Starr
"Abandoned Love," The Everly Brothers
"People Get Ready," Jeff Beck with Rod Stewart (I now know and love and much prefer the Impressions' recording, but this was my first exposure to the song)
"Without You," Nilsson
"War," Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
"Psycho," Elvis Costello & the Attractions

Often the first time you hear a song, that's the way you really remember it ... So even though these are all covers, they're the "definitive" versions for me.