Original Versions of Songs That Were Bigger Hits By Others

[craola]

i was expecting this to be the bob dylan thread. i'm sure there's an exhaustive list of songs he wrote that other artists made popular, but my go-to is jimi hendrix's cover of all along the watchtower.

the song hallelujah is another obvious one. leonard cohen wrote it, but john cale covered it, then jeff buckley and rufus wainwright each in turn made the song more popular. now it's one of those songs that crops up at almost every open mic night.
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[theblueboy]

Always on My Mind was first sung by Brenda Lee. Then it was a hit for Elvis, Willie Nelson and The Pet Shop Boys. I’ve always thought this makes it one of the best songs ever written.

Another classic example is Tainted Love, which was originally a Motown styled track recorded by Gloria Jones and was later made famous by Soft Cell.

[theblueboy]

Oh, and another huge one is Love is all around by Wet Wet Wet, originally by the Troggs. In the UK, people started to hate that song because it hung around for so long at number one!

[LTSings]

@craola @theblueboy Thanks for participating in my thread.

Here's the original version of a song that was later made more famous by Whitney Houston. Sister Sledge also released a version of this song before the Whitney Houston version was released.

All The Man I Need - Linda Clifford


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