History Main / CoveredUp

* This contributor remembers a radio show asking for "good hangover tunes". One request was for Music/{{Nirvana}}'s "Where Did You Sleep Last Night". "A Lead Belly song, of course", interjected the DJ... presumably, this was news to the person who requested it.
** Lead Belly did not write the song "Black Girl / In The Pines / Where Did You Sleep Last Night" and wasn't the first to record it. There are surviving recordings of the song from 1929 (Lead Belly's first recording of the song was in 1942) and there are references to the lyrics in writing dating from 1917. Calling the song a Lead Belly song is as much an example of the trope as calling it a Nirvana song.

** His song "He's Gonna Step On You Again" was covered up (and made famous by) the Happy Mondays who retitled their version as "Step On". Years later, Def Leppard made their own cover in an arrangement more like the original, which certainly surprised this troper who had until then thought the Mondays version was the original. Possibly a case of a Covered Up being UnCovered by another cover.

** It was interpolated by JanetJackson in "Got 'Til It's Gone", from 1997.

* "BigInJapan" was ''not'' originally performed by the Guano Apes (it's an Music/{{Alphaville}} song). In addition, both Tom Waits and a punk-era band ''named'' Big in Japan have done completely different songs with the same name.

* "The Candy Man" was originally performed by Aubrey Woods in the film ''WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory''. Most people know the song from Sammy Davis Jr.'s cover. Davis actually [[WhatCouldHaveBeen could have]] sung the song in the film though - he expressed interest in the role of the candy store owner, but was turned down. The original version has become better known than the Davis cover as time went on.

* Eric Clapton's famous little acoustic tune "Change the World" is awesome. It's also a Wynonna Judd cover.

** "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", which some thought was originally by Music/GunsNRoses. Or EricClapton.

** Ewen MacColl is not the only victim of this trope in folk; A great many modern folksongs are thought to be traditional even though they are original compositions. Another well-known one is Jim McLean's "Glencoe Massacre."

* "Black Betty" has been covered up to the point where it's barely visible. Many Australians think Spiderbait wrote it. Others think Ram Jam wrote it in 1990, but that version was a remix of that band's hit version of the song from 1977. Most people will associate it with the original Ram Jam version. It was associated with Leadbelly in the early 20th Century, but, like much of his repertoire, it predates even him. It may have existed in some form as far back as the 18th Century.

* This contributor remembers a radio show asking for "good hangover tunes". One request was for Music/{{Nirvana}}'s "Where Did You Sleep Last Night". "A Leadbelly song, of course", interjected the DJ... presumably, this was news to the person who requested it.
** Leadbelly did not write the song "Black Girl / In The Pines / Where Did You Sleep Last Night" and wasn't the first to record it. There are surviving recordings of the song from 1929 (Leadbelly's first recording of the song was in 1942) and there are references to the lyrics in writing dating from 1917. Calling the song a Leadbelly song is as much an example of the trope as calling it a Nirvana song.

* This contributor remembers a radio show asking for "good hangover tunes". One request was for Music/{{Nirvana}}'s "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"?. "A Leadbelly song, of course", interjected the DJ... presumably, this was news to the person who requested it.

* This contributor remembers a radio show asking for "good hangover tunes". One request was for Music/{{Nirvana}}'s "Where Did You Sleep Last Night"?. "A Lead Belly song, of course", interjected the DJ... presumably, this was news to the person who requested it.
** Leadbelly did not write the song"Black Girl/ In The Pines/ Where Did You Sleep Last Night" and wasn't the first to record it. there are surviving recordings of the song from 1929 (Leadbelly's first recording of the song was in 1942) and there are references to the lyrics in writing dating from 1917. Calling the song a Leadbelly Song is as much an example of the trope as calling it a Nirvana song.

** Another little factoid that most people don't know is the "Baby!" after the musical interlude in Ullman's version is actually Kirsty MacColl, as Ullman couldn't reach the note. MacColl also performed backing vocals on the Ullman version.

* Harris's version is still fairly well remembered, however. It's usually one of the first songs mentioned whenever the topic of musical {{Narm}} is discussed. Made better by the fact that, when asked what it was about, he basically said that he had no idea and in fact didn't care, [[MoneyDearBoy since it was just a job to him]].

* Perry Como had a big hit with his cover of "And I Love You So," which was written and first performed by DonMcLean. =McLean=] himself had a hit with "Crying" by Roy Orbison.

* Remember the song "Love Hurts" by Nazareth? How about the original version by Music/TheEverlyBrothers, or the subsequent cover by Music/RoyOrbison which also predated Nazareth's? Didn't think so.

* "Shivers" is quite probably the biggest single the Australian band Screaming Jets ever produced. It's probably best known as a Nick Cave song, which, just to add insult to injury, also gets the lyrics wrong ("All alcohol and cigarettes" becomes the totally inexplicable "Our love could hold on cigarettes"). In fact the song was written and first performed by Rowland S. Howard and The Young Charlatans.

* In the USA, "Flying Without Wings", arguably mostly made famous by its use on ''AmericanIdol'' by Ruben Studdard, was by Westlife, and featured in the film ''Pokémon: The Movie 2000''.

* Danielle Brisebois co-wrote and performed "Just Missed The Train" for her 1994 debut album, but the song is usually associated with ''AmericanIdol'' winner KellyClarkson.

** Another cut from ''See What You Want to See'', had been covered up by The Kinleys (coincidentally, with Radney Foster producing) before Urban got to it in 2010.

* KeithUrban's "Raining on Sunday" was previously recorded by Radney Foster, and "Making Memories of Us" was first recorded by Tracy Byrd (and by its writer, Rodney Crowell, as a side project involving his backing band, The Notorious Cherry Bombs).
** Another Foster cut, "I'm In" (also from the same album that includes Foster's version of "Raining on Sunday"), had been covered up by The Kinleys (coincidentally, with Radney Foster producing) before Urban got to it in 2010.

** "Dirt Road Anthem" is somewhat unusual in that both of its writers (CountryRap artist Colt Ford and Southern rocker Brantley Gilbert) cut it first.

* Neil Diamond first wrote and released the acoustic ballad "Red Red Wine" in 1968. Fifteen years later, UB40 took it, gave it a reggae spin, added a toasted "rap" section, and turned it into the megahit you know today.
** In Fact UB40 was unaware of the Neil Diamond version and were covering a cover. The band stated they were only familiar with Tony Tribe's reggae cover from 1969.
* "Rest Your Love on Me", written by Barry Gibb, was an obscure B-side for TheBeeGees. Conway Twitty covered it and took it to #1 on the country charts.
** Likewise, Yvonne Elliman's smash "If I Can't Have You" was another obscure B-side for TheBeeGees.

* "Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You" is one of the rare variants where the DollyParton cover is the better known. Joe Sun cut the original.

[[folder: 0 - 9]]

[[folder: A - D]]

[[folder: E - H]]

[[folder: I - L]]

[[folder: M - P]]

[[folder: Q - T]]

[[folder: U - Z]]

[[folder:Other]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: By Covered Musician]]

[[/folder]]

* In 1982, just after he left The Babys, John Waite reached #16 on the US chart with "Change," originally written and performed by Spider, a band that few remember.

A specific form of OlderThanTheyThink, in which [[AdaptationDisplacement the cover version of a song becomes so iconic that people forget it was a cover at all.]] The cover becomes the definitive version of the song. To a certain extent, this is generational -- if you hear a song before the cover is even recorded, you're less likely to be confused. (It doesn't count if the new version is in [[TranslatedCoverVersion a different language.]])