Listening guide
10 songs you might not know who wrote
From 'Thriller' to 'God Gave Rock and Roll to You': the songwriters behind records you know by heart, the originals the famous versions buried, and the keyboard players hiding in the credits.
Updated 27 September 2026Stage KeyboardsOrgansSynthesizers
How to use this
Ten songs where the name on the record isn't the name on the songwriting credit. Some are covers that buried the original so thoroughly that most people have never heard it. Others were written for one singer by somebody who stayed out of the photographs. A surprising number of those somebodies were keyboard players.
Each card says who most people know the song by, who wrote it and what happened in between. Open 'Who wrote it' for the writer's story and the other hits they're behind, which is usually where the real surprises are.
The Listen buttons play official uploads only, from the artist's, label's or broadcaster's own YouTube channel, and nothing loads from YouTube until you press one. Where the original has an official upload we play that; where it doesn't, we play the famous version and the card says so. The channel name under each button tells you which you're getting.
The cover that buried the original
Seven songs that somebody else had first. In most cases the original was a modest hit or no hit at all, and the cover arrived years later and took over.
1964
'Tainted Love'
Soft Cell · Written by Ed Cobb
- Original: Gloria Jones, 1964
- Best known: Soft Cell, 1981
- UK No. 1
The story: 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 ↗
In the catalogue: Yamaha reface CS, Nord Lead A1
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
The story: 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 ↗
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
The story: 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 ↗
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
The story: 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 ↗
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
The story: 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 ↗
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
The story: 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 ↗
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
The story: 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 ↗
The writer nobody sees
Three songs that were never anyone else's first. They were written for the singer who made them famous, by people most listeners couldn't name.
1979
'Girls Just Want to Have Fun'
Cyndi Lauper · Written by Robert Hazard
- Written: 1979
- Cyndi Lauper, 1983
- US and UK No. 2
The story: Robert Hazard, a Philadelphia new-wave singer, wrote it in 1979 from a man's point of view and demoed it. Cyndi Lauper didn't like the lyric. She rewrote it into the song everyone knows, a declaration rather than a boast, and it became the breakout single from 'She's So Unusual'. It is one of the best examples of a song being more hers than its writer's, and the credit still says Robert Hazard.
Official upload from CyndiLauperVEVO. Loads from YouTube when you press play, or watch it there ↗
In the catalogue: Yamaha reface CS, Nord Lead A1
1982
'Thriller'
Michael Jackson · Written by Rod Temperton
- British writer
- Vincent Price's rap
- Title track, 1982
The story: The biggest Halloween song ever made was written by a quiet keyboard player from Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire. Rod Temperton wrote 'Thriller' for Michael Jackson's album of the same name, including the spoken-word section at the end. That part is performed by Vincent Price, the actor from dozens of horror films, and Temperton wrote it in the back of a taxi on the way to the studio on the day Price came in to record it. Price did it in two takes.
Official upload from michaeljacksonVEVO. Loads from YouTube when you press play, or watch it there ↗
In the catalogue: Yamaha reface CS, Nord Lead A1
1983
'Total Eclipse of the Heart'
Bonnie Tyler · Written by Jim Steinman
- Written for Bonnie Tyler
- US and UK No. 1
- Roy Bittan on piano
The story: Bonnie Tyler's biggest record, and the one with the 'turn around, bright eyes' that half of any pub can sing. Jim Steinman wrote and produced it, and said it had started life as a vampire love song. It went to No. 1 in the UK and the US in 1983, and on the week it reached the top in America, the No. 2 was Air Supply's 'Making Love Out of Nothing at All', which Steinman had also written.
Official upload from bonnietylerVEVO. Loads from YouTube when you press play, or watch it there ↗
In the catalogue: Nord Grand 2, Yamaha CP88