Track #1
When I was a kid, I envied writers who turned out dazzling prose. Occasionally, I’d whip out my journal and begin my All-American novel and get incredibly frustrated that it was nowhere as good as my heroes. Years later I discovered that most good art is born from countless drafts, tons of revisions, and years and years of practice. The Beatles performed thousands of hours during their 292 performances at The Cavern Club refining their sound and improving as a band, a crucial humbling step towards their stardom. This is a playlist of first versions of songs that became a lot better known when someone else picked them up, covered them, and saw them catch on fire. The first song is Tainted Love by Gloria Jones, she introduced this Motown hit to the world in 1964, it was a B-Side to her single “My Bad Boy’s Comin’” which was a massive flop at the time. Soft Cell released their version 17 years late in 1981 which reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart and spent 43 weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100. Gloria’s version deserves more credit, catchy, catchy tune!
Track #2
Did you know Aretha Franklin had an older sister, Erma? Erma actually sang backup vocals on another song from this playlist, “Respect” supporting her sister Aretha as she covered Otis Redding. Erma had a top ten hit on Billboard’s R&B playlist in 1967, but the song “Piece of My Heart” never caught on with the masses until Janis Joplin covered it the following year and it went platinum. Erma and Aretha grew up singing in their church, I can’t imagine how amazing it was to hear them perform.
Track #3
As a Caucasian teenager, Linda Lyndell grew up singing gospel, even performed in support of James Brown and Ike & Tina Turner. Linda met with a couple record producers from Stax Records and recorded “What A Man” in 1968. The song reached #50 on Billboard’s R&B chart, never crossing over as a mainstream hit. Unfortunately, Linda began receiving threats from the Ku Klux Klan for recording R&B music with black musicians and the threats worried so much she retired from singing. 25 years later the song was covered by Salt-N-Pepper where it made it to #3 on Billboard’s Top 100 and often highly ranked on best songs of the 1990s.
Track #4
How about this, my friend Prince making the list. Hard to imagine someone with his prolific talent getting outshined, but it did happen when Sinead O’Conner took his song Nothing Compares 2 U and made it a #1 hit all around the world. There’s a lot to unpack here. First off, Prince initially recorded this with a band on his label, the band was called The Family and it was a total dud, the entire album got no traction whatsoever. After Sinead O’Connor made the song a huge success, The Family’s album was rereleased in Germany on CD and now those CDs sell for about $200 because Prince fans cannot purchase it elsewhere. The second thing is that Prince and Sinead O’Connor seemed to be very eccentric people and the one time they met (according to Sinead), Prince asked her to come to his house, he put something hard in a pillow case and tried to beat her with it. Sinead ran out of the house and rang the doorbell at a neighbors house seeking protection.
Track #5
Otis Redding is an absolute powerhouse. Someday take a listen to his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival or even better, give it a watch on YouTube, freaking amazing. Like Prince, Otis Redding has a ton of great songs despite a life cut short (airplane crash in Lake Monona in Wisconsin and he was only 26). Otis recorded Respect in 1965 but Aretha (supported by her sister Erma) made it one of the best songs ever recorded 2 years later in 1967.
Track #6
Another legend outdone on one of their songs, Dolly Parton. Dolly wrote I Will Always Love You for her musical partner and mentor, Porter Wagoner in 1973. The song did tremendously well on Billboard’s Country Charts but did not have much appeal outside that genre. Whitney Houston then recorded the song nearly 20 years later in 1992 where it stayed on the top of the charts for a record breaking 14 weeks. Whitney could hit the notes on a whole other level, first time Dolly heard it while driving home she was so overcome she had to pull over.
Track #7
Another song on this list scooped up by Janis Joplin, she knew how to turn coal into diamonds. Roger Miller who has a real sense of humor and a quirky catalog of awesome hits first recorded Me & Bobby McGee which was written by Kris Kristofferson. Immediately after Roger Miller released it, Kenny Rogers, then Gordon Lightfoot, and Kris Kristofferson all released their versions within a year of Roger’s first recording. All of these did pretty well on the country charts, but it wasn’t until it was released posthumously, and it ended up being her only #1 single.
Track #8
Leonard Cohen was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet, and novelist, not surprising he was a huge hit on America’s Billboards. He started recording albums in the 1960’s but his most famous song didn’t come until his seventh album released in 1984. That song is Hallelujah and it barely was heard by anyone until John Cale (founding member of The Velvet Underground) recorded it in 1991 where a couple more people heard it. One of those people was Jeff Buckley in 1994. Jeff’s version is stunningly beautiful, feel like his guitar playing is underrated. Jeff drowned in 1997 at the age of 30, completely sober, singing Led Zeppelin in the Mississippi River. Leonard’s voice got raspier and enchanting as he got older, here’s a version of him singing it live as an older man, I like this version better than his original…you could say this is a cover of a cover of a cover sung by the original artist.
Track #9
Dazed & Confused is a stampede of rock n’ roll performed by Led Zeppelin, but they didn’t sing the original version, that was by Jake Holmes. Jake’s version came out in 1967 and Led Zeppelin got a hold of it and transformed it one year later on their debut album. Led Zeppelin did not acknowledge that Jake was the original songwriter, but Jake was able to sue Led Zeppelin in 2010 and proved that he opened for The Yardbirds and performed the song in 1967 (which featured Jimmy Page who later created Led Zeppelin). That lawsuit was dismissed but there was an out of court settlement…Dazed and Confused for sure.
Track #10
Bob Dylan has been covered a lot which makes sense because Bob Dylan borrowed a ton from musicians and molded them into his own songs. He is imaginative and a craftsman, his songs stand up incredibly well plugged into other performers. I could have easily put Wagon Wheel in here as a song he first sang that became more famous when Old Crow Medicine Show performed it and later became more famous when Darius Rucker performed it, but I think All Along the Watchtower is the way to go. Jimi Hendrix exploded it and put it back as his own, but I think you can appreciate the Hendrix version more if you are intimate with Dylan’s original.
Track #11
Not everyone knows the original or the cover, but Amy Winehouse did an absolutely marvelous version of the song that’s wildly catchy. The song is Valerie, first performed by The Zutons. The Zutons were formed in Liverpool in the early 2000s and the song was an ode to an American make-up artist named Valerie Star who was in trouble for driving under the influence with a suspended license, the song was a postcard to cheer her up. I bet it did.
Track #12
I love rock n’ roll put another dime in the jukebox baby! Who pops up in your head? I’m guessing Joan Jett, but Joan covered this song by The Arrows. The Arrows were formed in London and only lasted for 3 years (1974 to 1977). The Arrows were the originators of I Love Rock N’ Roll, but Joan Jett definitely does it better. Here’s the original so you can decide for yourself!
Track #13
We’ll wrap this up on a song that Johnny Cash gave new life and exposed to a much wider audience. The song is Hurt, originally performed by Nine Inch Nails. Johnny Cash’s song was really good, but in my opinion, the video is what made it epic. Here’s the original, which may be the better song for my money.