Source link : https://las-vegas-news.com/11-songs-you-didnt-realize-were-covers-of-much-older-tracks/
There’s a particular kind of surprise that comes from learning your favorite song wasn’t the first version at all. Radio history is full of these quiet swaps, where a hit single actually started life as someone else’s demo, B-side, or overlooked single years earlier. Some of these original versions vanished almost entirely, while others simply got outshined by a louder, better-timed remake.
1. Twist and Shout by The Beatles
The Beatles’ raucous closing track on their debut album feels like pure Liverpool energy, but the song began life with a New York vocal group called the Top Notes in 1961. Songwriters Phil Medley and Bert Berns weren’t happy with that original production, and Berns later reworked it himself with the Isley Brothers, whose 1962 version became the template most people actually recognize.
The Beatles leaned on the Isley Brothers arrangement rather than the Top Notes original when they recorded their take in 1963. John Lennon reportedly tore his voice apart cutting the vocal in a single take at the end of a long studio session, which is part of why the recording still sounds so raw decades later.
2. Respect by Aretha Franklin
Aretha Franklin’s 1967 recording turned “Respect” into an anthem, but the song was written and first recorded by Otis Redding two years earlier. Redding’s version was a modest R&B hit with a…
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Author : Matthias Binder
Publish date : 2026-08-26 06:02:00
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