Songwriting
Covers that buried the original
Ten songs where the famous version is not the first one: who had it first, who took it over, and what changed in between. Both recordings on every card, so you can hear what the cover did.
Updated 27 September 2026Stage KeyboardsOrgansSynthesizers
How to use this
Ten songs that somebody else had first. In most cases the original was a modest hit or no hit at all, the cover arrived years later, and now hardly anyone knows there was an earlier one. A few of the writers are famous; more of them are not.
Every card carries both recordings, because the comparison is the whole point — the arrangement, the key, the tempo and sometimes the gender of the narrator are what turned a b-side into a standard. Open 'Who wrote it' for the writer's story.
Songs written for the singer in the first place, by writers nobody can name, are in 10 songs you might not know who wrote.
The cover that buried the original
1964
'Tainted Love'
Soft Cell · Written by Ed Cobb
- Original: Gloria Jones, 1964
- Best known: Soft Cell, 1981
- UK No. 1
What happened: Gloria Jones recorded it as a soul stomper in 1964 and it went nowhere. A decade later the Northern Soul clubs made it a floor-filler, which is where Marc Almond knew it from. Their 1981 version slowed it down, stripped it back to synths and a drum machine and added the two famous 'bink bink' notes. It went to No. 1 in the UK and spent 43 weeks on the US Hot 100, a record at the time.
Official upload from SoftCellVEVO. Loads from YouTube when you press play, or watch it there ↗
Written by: Ed Cobb
Hear the versions
Gloria Jones, 1964
Soft Cell, 1981
In the catalogue: Yamaha reface CS, Nord Lead A1
1965
'Respect'
Aretha Franklin · Written by Otis Redding
- Original: Otis Redding, 1965
- Best known: Aretha Franklin, 1967
- R-E-S-P-E-C-T is hers
What happened: Otis Redding wrote it and had a modest hit with it: a man asking his wife for respect when he gets home with the money. Aretha Franklin turned the song round so the woman is doing the demanding, added the spelled-out chorus and the 'sock it to me' backing vocals with her sisters, and it became an anthem. Redding said afterwards that she had taken the song from him.
Written by: Otis Redding
Hear the versions
Otis Redding, 1965
Aretha Franklin, 1967
1970
'Without You'
Harry Nilsson, then Mariah Carey · Written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger
- Original: Badfinger, 1970
- Nilsson: US and UK No. 1, 1972
- Mariah Carey: UK No. 1, 1994
What happened: Badfinger put it on their 1970 album 'No Dice' as a deep cut. Harry Nilsson heard it at a party, assumed it was a Beatles song he didn't know, and recorded the huge piano-and-strings version that went to No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic. Mariah Carey took it to No. 1 in the UK again in 1994.
Official upload from HarryNilssonVEVO. Loads from YouTube when you press play, or watch it there ↗
Written by: Pete Ham and Tom Evans of Badfinger
Hear the versions
Badfinger, 1970
Harry Nilsson, 1971
In the catalogue: Nord Grand 2, Yamaha CP88
1973
'Blinded by the Light'
Manfred Mann's Earth Band · Written by Bruce Springsteen
- Original: Bruce Springsteen, 1973
- Best known: Manfred Mann's Earth Band, 1976
- US No. 1
What happened: The opening track on Springsteen's first album, a tumble of rhyming-dictionary wordplay that didn't sell. Manfred Mann's Earth Band slowed it down, reshaped it around keyboards and took it to No. 1 in the US in early 1977. It is still the only Springsteen song to top the Hot 100, and it isn't sung by Springsteen.
Official upload from Manfred Manns Earth Band (MMEB). Loads from YouTube when you press play, or watch it there ↗
Written by: Bruce Springsteen
Hear the versions
Bruce Springsteen, 1973
Manfred Mann's Earth Band, 1976
In the catalogue: Nord Lead A1, Yamaha reface CS
1973
'God Gave Rock and Roll to You'
KISS · Written by Russ Ballard
- Original: Argent, 1973
- Best known: KISS, 1991
- Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey
What happened: Most people know it as a KISS anthem, 'God Gave Rock 'n' Roll to You II', recorded for the soundtrack of 'Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey' in 1991, where it sits perfectly with a film about two slackers whose band is destined to save the world. It went to No. 4 in the UK. But it's an Argent song from 1973, from the album 'In Deep', and a UK top 20 single then. KISS rewrote some of the words (Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons and producer Bob Ezrin share the credit on their version) and kept the chorus. It was the last KISS record drummer Eric Carr sang on before he died.
Official upload from The Midnight Special. Loads from YouTube when you press play, or watch it there ↗
Written by: Russ Ballard
Hear the versions
Argent, 1973
KISS, 1991
In the catalogue: Hammond XK-5, Nord Electro 7 61
1974
'I Will Always Love You'
Whitney Houston · Written by Dolly Parton
- Original: Dolly Parton, 1974
- Best known: Whitney Houston, 1992
- No. 1 three times
What happened: Plenty of people know Dolly Parton sang it first. Fewer know she wrote it, in 1973, as a goodbye to Porter Wagoner, the TV star and duet partner she was leaving to go solo. Her record was a country No. 1 in 1974, and a re-recording was a country No. 1 again in 1982. Whitney Houston's version for 'The Bodyguard' spent 14 weeks at No. 1 in the US.
Official upload from DollyPartonVEVO. Loads from YouTube when you press play, or watch it there ↗
Written by: Dolly Parton
Hear the versions
Dolly Parton, 1974
Whitney Houston, 1992
1975
'I Love Rock 'n' Roll'
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts · Written by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of the Arrows
- Original: the Arrows, 1975
- Best known: Joan Jett, 1981
- US No. 1 for 7 weeks
What happened: The Arrows were a London glam band with a Mickie Most record deal. They wrote 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' as an answer to the Rolling Stones' 'It's Only Rock 'n Roll', and it was first released as a B-side. Joan Jett saw them play it on their own ITV show while touring Britain with the Runaways in 1976, and never forgot it. Her version with the Blackhearts was No. 1 in the US for seven weeks in 1982.
Official upload from Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Loads from YouTube when you press play, or watch it there ↗
Written by: Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of the Arrows
Hear the versions
The Arrows, 1975
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, 1981
1985
'Nothing Compares 2 U'
Sinéad O'Connor · Written by Prince
- Original: The Family, 1985
- Best known: Sinéad O'Connor, 1990
- US and UK No. 1
What happened: Prince wrote it in 1984 and gave it to The Family, one of the side projects he ran out of Minneapolis, who put it on their only album. Almost nobody heard it. Sinéad O'Connor's version, and its video of little more than her face in close-up, went to No. 1 across the world in 1990.
Official upload from Prince. Loads from YouTube when you press play, or watch it there ↗
Written by: Prince
Hear the versions
Prince, recorded 1984
Sinéad O'Connor, 1990
1994
'Hurt'
Johnny Cash · Written by Trent Reznor
- Original: Nine Inch Nails, 1994
- Best known: Johnny Cash, 2002
- Reznor: 'that song isn't mine any more'
What happened: An industrial record about heroin, closing an album called The Downward Spiral, rewritten at 71 as a hymn about a whole life. Cash changed almost nothing but a single word and the instrument. Trent Reznor said watching the video felt like someone kissing his girlfriend, and then that the song was no longer his.
Written by: Trent Reznor
Hear the versions
Nine Inch Nails, 1994
Johnny Cash, 2002
1995
'Torn'
Natalie Imbruglia · Written by Anne Preven, Scott Cutler and Phil Thornalley
- Original: Ednaswap, 1995
- Also cut in Danish, 1993
- Most-played song on UK radio, 1998
What happened: Almost everyone assumes Natalie Imbruglia wrote it, and a fair number assume it is an original. It had already been recorded twice: by the Danish singer Lis Sørensen in 1993, in Danish, and by the writers' own Los Angeles band Ednaswap in 1995. Imbruglia's version was the most-played song on British radio in 1998.
Written by: Anne Preven, Scott Cutler and Phil Thornalley
Hear the versions
Ednaswap, 1995
Natalie Imbruglia, 1997