Today I Learned

More than a few popular songs are covers — especially back in the 60s and earlier, when it was customary to sell a song to multiple artists, often just months apart.

Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball's ‘Cuban Pete’ is originally by Mantovani & His Tipica Orchestra.

The Tokens' ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight (Wimoweh)’ is derived from Solomon Linda and The Evening Birds' ‘Mbube’.

Pat Boone's ‘Speedy Gonzales’ is by David Hess under the name David Dante.

Dick Dale's ‘Misirlou’ is a traditional Mediterranean melody, recorded e.g. by Τέτος Δημητριάδης.

Marlene Dietrich's ‘Where Have All The Flowers Gone?’ is written by Pete Seeger in 1955 and recorded in 1960.

Shirley Bassey's ‘Big Spender’ was written by Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields for the musical Sweet Charity, first performed in 1966. Peggy Lee was the first artist to record the song for her album of the same name.

Blue Swede's ‘Hooked on a Feeling’ is originally by B. J. Thomas.

The Trashmen's ‘Surfing Bird’ is an amalgamation of The Rivingtons' ‘Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow’ and ‘The Bird's The Word’.

The Mamas & The Papas' ‘California Dreamin'’ was written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips in 1963 and first recorded by Barry McGuire. The Mamas & the Papas sang backup on the original version.

Robert Knight's ‘Everlasting Love’ was covered by Love Affair the same year 1967, and by Sandra in 1987.

Righteous Brothers' ‘Unchained Melody’ is originally by Todd Duncan, from the film ‘Unchained’.

Elvis Presley's ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ is a cover of Carl Perkins, recorded iirc the same month when Perkins' version came out, though released half a year later. I've vaguely heard that Presley probably recorded a whole bunch of covers, but I'm not that into his music as to investigate deeper.

Marilyn Monroe's ‘I Wanna Be Loved By You’ was written by Herbert Stothart and Harry Ruby, with lyrics by Bert Kalmar, for the 1928 musical Good Boy, and performed by Helen Kane.

The Blues Brothers' ‘Everybody Needs Somebody’ is unsurprisingly a cover, of Solomon Burke.

The Beach Boys' ‘Surfin' U.S.A.’ is a half-cover: it's a rewritten version of Chuck Berry's ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’ with new lyrics.

Nancy Sinatra's ‘Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)’ is originally by Sonny Bono and Cher.

Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's ‘Summer Wine’ was originally sung by Hazlewood and Suzi Jane Hokom.

Edwin Starr's ‘War’ is by The Temptations.

while The Temptations' ‘Papa Was A Rolling Stone’ is originally by The Undisputed Truth.

‘Apache’ was written by Jerry Lordan and recorded by Bert Weedon, then covered by The Shadows, Incredible Bongo Band, and others.

Eruption's ‘One Way Ticket’ was originally performed by American singer Neil Sedaka in 1959.

Shirley Bassey's ‘Where Do I Begin (Love Story)’ is a cover of Andy Williams.

Los Lobos' ‘La Bamba’ is a cover of Ritchie Valens.

Soft Cell's ‘Tainted Love’ is originally by Gloria Jones.

Status Quo's ‘In The Army Now’ is by Dutch duo Bolland & Bolland.

Grace Jones' ‘I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)’ is rather explicitly a reworking of Astor Piazzolla's ‘Libertango’.

Blondie's ‘The Tide Is High’ is by The Paragons.

Cyndi Lauper's ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ is by Robert Hazard.

Geri Halliwell's ‘It's Raining Men’ is a well-known cover of The Weather Girls.

George Harrison's ‘Got My Mind Set On You’ is a cover of James Ray.

Leonard Cohen's ‘Hallelujah’ is well-known, but is typically performed like John Cale's piano version.

Opus III's ‘It's A Fine Day’ is an odd case using the song by Jane, which isn't quite so happy.

Cher's ‘The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)’ was written by Rudy Clark and recorded by Merry Clayton in 1963.

Cher's ‘Walking In Memphis’ is originally by Marc Cohn.

Urge Overkill's ‘Girl, You'll Be a Woman Soon’ is originally by Neil Diamond.

Boney M.'s ‘Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday’ is an adaptation of children's song 'Polly Wolly Doodle'.

Coolio and L.V.'s ‘Gangsta's Paradise’ lifted the entire backing track from Stevie Wonder's ‘Pastime Paradise’.

Joe Cocker's ‘Unchain My Heart’ was written by Bobby Sharp and recorded first in 1961 by Ray Charles and in 1963 by Trini Lopez.

Gigi D'Agostino's ‘The Riddle’ is a cover of Nik Kershaw's song from 1984.

Bloodhound Gang's ‘Along Comes Mary’ was composed by Tandyn Almer, and recorded by The Association in 1966.

Lenny Kravitz's ‘American Woman’ is originally by The Guess Who, from 1970.

The White Stripes' ‘I Just Don't Know What to Do With Myself’ was written by Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David, performed by Dusty Springfield in 1964.

Kylie Minogue's ‘The Loco-motion’ was originally recorded by Little Eva in 1962, also covered by Grand Funk Railroad in 1974.

Shaft's ‘Mambo Italiano’ is originally by Rosemary Clooney, from 1954, covered by Sophia Loren in 1955.

A Touch of Class' ‘Around the World (La La La La La)’ is a cover of Russian band Ruki Vverkh (‘Hands Up’).

Westlife's ‘Uptown Girl’ is a cover of Billy Joel.

Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya, and P!nk's ‘Lady Marmalade’ was written by Bob Crewe and Kenny Nolan for The Eleventh Hour, and charted in 1974 as recorded by Labelle. Also covered by All Saints in 1998.

Cascada's ‘Everytime We Touch’ is a cover of Maggie Reilly.

The Doors' ‘Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)’ was written by Bertolt Brecht, translated to English by Elisabeth Hauptmann in 1925, set to music by Kurt Weill for the 1927 play Little Mahagonny.

Joan Jett's ‘I Love Rock 'N Roll’ was written by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker and recorded by the Arrows in 1975.

Deep Purple's ‘River Deep, Mountain High’ is a cover of Ike & Tina Turner.

Deep Purple's ‘Hush’ was originally recorded by Billy Joe Royal in 1967.

The Youngbloods' ‘Get Together’ was originally written by Chet Powers circa 1963, under the stage name Dino Valenti.

Nirvana's ‘Love Buzz’ is a cover of Shocking Blue.

(To be continued.)