Posted in: Musicouching by Alistair Briggs on January 25th, 2009 | 52 Comments
A look at 10 cover versions that managed to reach a higher chart position in the UK than the original songs.
It is surprisingly quite common for a cover version to chart higher than the original ever did. Here we will look at 25 of those such songs that not only charted higher but managed to work their way to the top of the charts in the UK. Some of these covers you will be familiar with and others you won’t be and no matter if you think that the original was so much better, the fact remains that these cover songs did chart higher than the original.
Originally a number two hit for Phil Collins in 1984, it was taken to number one in 2004 by Steve Brookstein, who was the winner of the X Factor that year.
A song written by Willie Nelson (who managed to chart at number 49 with it) it is the Elvis Presley version that everyone knows, taking it to number 9 in the charts way back in 1972. However, in 1987, the Pet Shop Boys covered the song and took it to the top of the charts.
Made famous by Don McLean it only reached number two but Madonna’s cover went one place higher and hit the top in the year 2000.
A number 19 hit for Steve Winwood in 1987 it was resurrected in 2004 as a dance song called Call On Me and taken to number one by Eric Prydz.
A number one hit for The Communards in 1986, nine years after the original, by Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes managed to take it to number five.
One of Queen’s most well known songs, it only hit number nine in 1979. Boy-band McFly covered it in 2006 and hit the top of the charts.
A song written by Leonard Cohen and covered by Jeff Buckley on one of his albums, it wasn’t until 2008 that this song hit the number one spot. Alexander Burke, the winner of the X Factor in 2008, had the Christmas number one, with Jeff Buckley’s version right behind it at number two.
A Bryan Adams song that crept into the top forty at number 38, it was taken to the top in 2002, as a dance song, by DJ Sammy.
One of the Bee Gee’s most loved songs they reached number three in 1977. Take That covered it in 1996 and hit the top.
It is quite common for ABBA songs to be covered but not many place higher in the charts but this number two hit in 1979 was taken to number one by westlife 20 years later.
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ML Sheldon January 25th, 2009 at 10:01 am
It’s really interesting how that works, but I can’t say that I’m surprised. Sometimes it’s easier to hear someone’s work and be able to think of ways to make it ‘better’.
Good article.
cardy January 25th, 2009 at 11:53 am
funny how things work out good stuff.
Glynis Smy January 25th, 2009 at 11:56 am
I still liked the Leonard Cohen version better
good article. Memories there too.
Darla Smith January 25th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Great article and very interesting.
payge January 25th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
I was a teenager when some of those songs came out,Thank you for taking me down memory lane again..A great article!
Joie Schmidt January 25th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Interesting article – - I didn’t realize that some of the songs were not the originals from the songs I had listened to!
Blessings.
Sincerely,
-Liane Schmidt.
Lauren Axelrod January 25th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Wonderful piece and a trip down the lane.
Guffin Mopes January 25th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Clearly some solid research put into this — great work!
Bo Russo January 25th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
I have to admit,I didn’t know any of this.I knew about Elvis and Willie,but didn’t know the Pet Shop Boys re-did it
Teresa Rose January 25th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Intersting article. Brought back some old memories
Inna Tysoe January 25th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Thanks for that. I like quite a few of those songs…
Inna
monica55 January 25th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Great piece of information. Thanks 4 sharing.
Monica
Debra. January 26th, 2009 at 3:36 am
You’ve done your research here! A fascinating piece!
Katien January 26th, 2009 at 4:31 am
Good article. I think a lot of the time, it’s not whether the cover song is better, but that it’s appealing to a different audience.
postpunkpixie January 27th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Yeah pop bands have a habit of turning good songs into less good but more profitable ones, heehee. It’s strange with Leonard Cohen though, he writes beautiful songs but I can’t stand his performances of them, Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah was so much more powerful than Cohen’s. Also, the Pet Shop Boy’s version of Always On My Mind is amazing, damn I want to go listen to it now.
Joni Keith January 27th, 2009 at 11:09 am
I always enjoy your articles. You are a wealth of music trivia.
Majic January 27th, 2009 at 11:38 am
I know and I can sing everyone of these songs. I know covers tend to go on top of the charts but after a year or so, radio stations tend to play the original versions more often anyhow. And I like it that way!
mizdi January 27th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
i liked d the originals of these songs.. didnt know there were other versions except one ..i’ll stick to Don Mclean (ive heard madonna’s version, didnt like it) Queen, Bee Gees, Bryan Adams and ABBA. But thanks for the info.. this is interesting.
Juancav January 27th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
What a lovely job you have done,in fact these are classical,and never die.
R J Evans January 27th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Great stuff… some new fact to me, which I always like!
It would have been nice to see some pics or links to the songs! In this medium that’s not so hard and would have made your article much more immediate. Now, myself and others are gonna have to go and YouTube them ourselves!
)
denus January 27th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Excellent, I knew call on me was a cover but not that it made number 1!
nutuba January 27th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Informative, interesting, and very well written. Great job! I can think of some other covers that were almost or equally as good as the originals … SRV did some Hendrix stuff, Aerosmith did the Yardbirds, etc. This brings back memories!
Alexsauce January 27th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Oh man, this list just goes to show what clowns run the charts. These songs except for the Elvis one all suck. But some covers that were better than the originals include
Live and Let Die Originally by Paul Mccartney and Winx, covered by Guns N Roses.
Sympathy For the Devil originally by Th Rolling Stones, covered By GnR (again)
Knocking on Heaven’s Door originally by Dylan, covered by GnR
All Along the Watchtower originally by Dylan, covered by Hendrix.
Crossroads originally by Robert Johnson, covered by Cream
I could go on…
Alistair Briggs January 28th, 2009 at 12:42 am
Thanks for all the comments.
I do have plans to write some more about cover versions.
Alexsauce I am aware of the guns and roses covers and the dylan ones. (The ones on this were ones that all got to numbe one when the original didn’t)
I have others in the pipeline about other covers coming up.
Cheers
Kate Smedley January 28th, 2009 at 1:19 am
Enjoyed your article thank you, agree with Alexsauce about the originals though.
Johanan Rakkav January 28th, 2009 at 1:48 am
Pursuant to your article, I may be the only one on the planet who has heard Willie Nelson’s version of “(You Were) Always On My Mind” and that ONLY. And I’d be amazed if anybody could do it better, even Elvis Presley (let alone the Pet Shop Boys, whoever *they* are).
Thanks for the article!
Maria Blazz January 28th, 2009 at 6:46 am
I’ve never read your articles before and I just came up with this, that I found very interesting.
I love covers, sometimes they can be a completely different work, crossing genres and styles. Have you heard the Travis version of “One more time” of Britney Spears, for example? Or Johnny Cash singing “Personal Jesus” from Depeche Mode?
Lorna Dykstra January 28th, 2009 at 7:52 am
Very interesting. Some covers were better; others were not but the point is that they managed to appeal to the audience of the time.
Gon pincha January 28th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
Wow. It was very interesting xD
Great article
Angie0000023 January 28th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
I loved this it was great. and the idea is fantastic. nice job!
check out my stuff?
C Jordan January 28th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Not only an interesting article, but one of those articles that generates interesting comments. I was intersted in Alexsauce’s comments about Robert Johnson because I wrote about him in one of my recent articles. It’s not mentioned there, but most of his 29 songs have been covered by people like the Rolling Stones.
Also, Halleluja was sung by someone on Simon Cowells American X Factor, and people went out after the show to buy Jeff Buckley’s version. This year in the Uk version of the show Cowell made sure it was in the final and released on the same night!
Betty Carew January 28th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Lots of info here I didn’t know like Willie Nelson wrote “Always on my Mind” thought it was Elvis. Great articles and very informative Alistair
Sam Down January 28th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Oohh..some of my most favorite songs – though I won’t say if the original or the cover
) Thanks for sharing the memories!
x
S.
Carolyn Cordon January 28th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Did someone just write that Hallelujah sucked? I adore that song – Leonard Cohen is a bloody genius, and covers of the song work well too. I’m astounded!
Opinions differ, that’s what life so interesting.
Alistair Briggs January 28th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
Yeah re: Robert Johnson, for those of you who do not know about him, his story is well worth reading in to.
Hein Marais January 28th, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Great Collection. I love all the Bee Gee songs.
GrannaSue January 28th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
I knew most of these songs had previously been released
but I didn’t realize the newer versions had topped the
charts higher than the originals. Great Article!
IreniaPehuajo January 29th, 2009 at 8:09 am
Thanks for sharing good information.
Siti Zaida Mikaila aka SZM January 29th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Jammalakallaah interesting.
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About How Rock Music …
UndertheOath January 29th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
All Along the Watchtower originally by Dylan, covered by Hendrix.
Best Cover Ever.
However good composition and I hope to see more from you.
Real Ale Man January 29th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Although I like Madonna, I much prefer Don Mc’Lean’s original version of his own composition “American Pie”.
I agree with the last comment, Hendrix’s version of “All Along the Watchtower” must rank as one of the best covers ever.
Brian Daniel Stankich January 29th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Lots of memories from back in the day represented in this list.
Monica Sappleton January 30th, 2009 at 12:42 am
A great piece. Stumbled upon it this time.
Monica
Hairy Bob January 30th, 2009 at 8:32 am
I question the assumption that a song placing higher in the chart of a completely different time period somehow makes it ‘better’ than the original. You have only to listen to McFly’s abominable version of Queen’s classic to realise that this is not the case.
Alistair Briggs January 30th, 2009 at 8:47 am
I never claimed that any of the songs were better, merely that they did better (ie they placed higher in the charts). Personally, I would say that the original of all those songs were by far better than the covers but the fact remains the covers got to number one, the originals (although released) didn’t, thus they ‘did’ better.
Thanks
Juhls January 30th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Very interesting…I learned a lot and am now ready to check out all these various versions, because I wasn’t aware of many of them… ironically, though, I didn’t realize Madonna remade American Pie. I must be living in another dimension, hehe.
Peace,
Julesita
writing4angels January 31st, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Simply awesome…!
Denise Kawaii February 1st, 2009 at 1:49 am
There are a couple of these that i am not familiar with. I will have to check them out!
arabbassist May 12th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
All along the watchtower by jimi hendrix was pretty good also
tc September 25th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
there are definately a good ones i could be suggesting for that topic… great job on the aritcle..
Sam ellis January 26th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Actually, Willie Nelson didn’t write “Always on my Mind”. it was written by Johnny Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson Thompson and originally performed by Brenda Lee.
Daniel September 7th, 2011 at 1:37 pm
And Willie Nelson performed it after Elvis Presley.
Brenda Lee then Elvis Presley then Willie Nelson and then Pet Shop Boys.
Pet Shop Boys version is simply outstanding. I always thought that synth-music would be a soulless one. How wrong I was.