Have you ever discovered that a song you love by a particular band or singer is actually the cover of a much more famous (and better) version of the song?
I hate that.
I’m not talking about the covers that few people know about. Like Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock n’ Roll,” which is actually the cover of a song by The Arrows.
Or Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love,” which is the cover of a Gloria Jones song.
Or The Clash’s “I Fought the Law,” which is a cover of a Bobby Fuller Four song.
These are obscure and understandably missed. Also, the covers are much better than the originals.
I’m talking about the embarrassing mistakes. The glaring errors. The classic songs that you simply didn’t know existed.
For me, the most embarrassing song is The Drifters’ “Under the Boardwalk,” which I once thought was a Bruce Willis original from his 1987 album “The Return of Bruno.”
Almost as bad was once thinking that “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” was a Michael Bolton original.
Forgive me, Otis Redding. I was young and foolish.
These are not the only two. The following examples are not quite as egregious but still fairly stupid. In some cases, one could argue that the covers of some of these songs are better than the originals, but the originals are certainly good enough to be known:
- Mistaking “Hazy Shade of Winter” as a Bangles’ original
- Mistaking “Killing Me Softly” as a Fugees’ original
- Mistaking “Do You Want to Dance” as a Ramones original (it’s actually a cover of a Beach Boys song, which itself is a cover of a Bobby Freeman song)
- Mistaking “Respect” as an Aretha Franklin original
- Mistaking “Twist and Shout” as a Beatles original
Here’s one that feels especially relevant today:
Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” is a cover of a Dolly Parton original.
I knew this one, but many people do not. Dolly actially wrote the song on the same day she wrote “Jolene.”
Productivity epitomized.
