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{{trope}}
{{cleanup|Examples are sorted three different ways on this page. Should we pick one and stick to it?}}
{{quote|''Kids [...] come up afterwards and say, "It's cool you're doing a [[Nirvana]] song." And I think, "Fuck you, you little tosser!"''
|'''[[David Bowie]]''', on performing "The Man Who Sold The World"}}
{{quote|'' [I felt like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn't mine anymore''
|'''[[Nine Inch Nails|Trent Reznor]]''', on talking about how [[Johnny Cash]] had transformed his song "Hurt"}}
A specific form of [[Older Than They Think]] where 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 [[Translated Cover Version|a different language.]])
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* The Specials didn't write "A Message to You Rudy" or "Monkey Man". That was Dandy Livingstone and Toots & the Maytals, respectively.
** Some people think that "Pressure Drop" is a Specials original. Slightly better informed people think that they were covering The Clash. In fact, the original is by Toots and the Maytalls.
* [[Sweeet|The Sweet]]'s "AC/DC," by [[Joan Jett]]. At the very least, it sounds less brazenly offensive coming from her.
** The Sweet version seems to be on the radio a lot more, at least on [[Alice Cooper|Alice Cooper's]] radio show.
* Another big one. Billy Ray Cyrus' debut single "Achy Breaky Heart" was first recorded by an obscure act called the Marcy Brothers. Their version was called "Don't Tell My Heart."
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* The Blake Babies' version of "Baby Gets High" is probably better known than the original by Madder Rose.
* [[McFly]], "Baby's Coming Back", covering Jellyfish. This mainly has Covered Up status in the UK - In America neither version is too well known.
** "Joining A Fan Club", an album track from Jellyfish's ''Spilt Milk'' album, was later covered by [[J Pop]] band [[Puffy AmiYumi]]. Interestingly enough, Jellyfish's vocalist/drummer Andy Sturmer is one of
* A rather strange example is "Back Where I Come From," first released by Mac McAnally in 1990. A 1996 cover by [[Kenny Chesney]] (though never a single) seems to be far more well-known, as Chesney regularly performs the song in concert and some stations play Chesney's version anyway.
** Similarly, Chesney took a cover of McAnally's 1990 single "Down the Road" to #1 in 2009, although McAnally sang duet vocals on it? a rare example of an artist helping to cover up his ''own'' work.
* In a particularly odd aversion, a number of songs which [[Jim Steinman]] wrote for [[Meat Loaf]] were initially declined by him, and instead recorded on his solo album ''Bad For Good'' or by a pet project band of Steinman's called Pandora's Box. Meat Loaf himself eventually recorded a number of these songs, including the title track of "Bad For Good". Guess whose version is more widely known?
** Taking it to an even further degree, Steinman's "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" was written for Meat Loaf, first recorded by Pandora's Box, was later covered by Celine Dion (whose version hit #1 on the US charts), and was eventually covered in turn by Meat Loaf on ''Bat Out
* George Thorogood ended up covering ''himself'' with "Bad To The Bone". He wrote the song for Bo Diddley, but Bo decided not to record it. George then tried to have Muddy Waters record it, but Waters was in-between recording labels at the time.
{{quote|'''Thorogood:''' I literally could not peddle it, so I was my own third option. And it became the song I'm probably best known for.}}
* Some younger viewers of ''[[Wayne's World]]'' may think that the last song that Cassandra's band plays, "Ballroom Blitz", was written for the movie. It's actually a cover of a song from the band [[Sweet]]. (Far fewer think that Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" was made for the movie.)
* "Barbara Ann" was first performed not by the [[Beach Boys]], nor even by fTheWho, but by The Regents.
* The Moody Blues loves "Bessie Banks".
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* "Blinded by the Light" was written and sung by Bruce Springsteen. Manfred Mann's Earth Band made it famous—they also added one of the most infamous [[mondegreen]]s in music, "wrapped up like a douche". (The real lyric is "revved up like a deuce [coupe]", and they could have avoided it if they kept Springsteen's original, "cut loose like a deuce".)
** Manfred Mann also stole "For You" from Springsteen. And "Spirit in the Night" as well. Manfred Mann really liked covering Bruce's songs.
** Also, Springsteen wrote "Because the Night", which singer/poet Patti Smith made into a hit after [[The Cover Changes the Gender|gender-flipping]] his lyrics. It was most famously covered in the early
** Springsteen [[Averted Trope|got smart to this trope the third time around,]] and recorded "Hungry Heart" himself instead of giving it to [[The Ramones]] like he originally planned.
* "Blood on Fire", better known from the Eurobeat version by Go2 & Christine, was originally by the Japanese rock group AAA, used as the opening for the Japanese dub of the [[Live Action Adaptation]] for [[Initial D]]. Similarly, John Desire's version of "Hot Limit" is more famous than the TM Revolution original, particularly due to appearing in ''[[Dance Dance Revolution]]'' and the animutation "We Drink Ritalin".
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* Most people don't even realize "[[Gender Blender Name|Bobby]] McGee" was originally ''female'', in the song by Kris Kristofferson. Joplin, [[Bi the Way|her personal life notwithstanding]], [[The Cover Changes the Gender|made him a man]].
** It's generally accepted that Kristofferson, who was Joplin's lover for a time, wrote the song about her; that is, when Joplin sings about "Bobby McGee," she's singing about herself!
* Bolivian group Azul Azul became [[One
* The Ataris' cover of "The Boys Of Summer" (by Don Henley) was thought by so many Ataris fans to be an original that their lead singer started wearing a "Who The Fuck is Don Henley" shirt to shows.
* "Break My Stride" by Matthew Wilder, covered by Unique II, Max-a-Million, and more recently Blue Lagoon, and interpolated in P Diddy's "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down"
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* "The Candy Man" was originally performed by Aubrey Woods in the film ''[[Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory]]''. Most people know the song from Sammy Davis Jr.'s cover. Davis actually [[What Could Have Been|could have]] sung the song in the film though - he expressed interest in the role of the candy store owner, but was turned down.
* "Can't Get Enough Of You Baby" was not originally by [[Smash Mouth]]. The Toys were the first to record it way back in 1965, and the 4 Seasons and ? and the Mysterians (whose better-known hit, "96 Tears," has a similar opening stinger) soon after that.
** Those who came of age in the
** [[Smash Mouth]] covers ''lots'' of 1960s rock music, to the point that it's hard to get mad at them for it, since they obviously love the source material.
* Seether's cover of George Michael's "Careless Whisper".
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* "Close to You" was first done by Richard Chamberlain. The only version that ''matters,'' apparently, was performed by The Carpenters.
** And written by neither, but by Burt Bacharach/Hal David.
* "Common People" was written and first performed by the indie band [[Pulp (band)|Pulp]] but it was popularized in the USA by a cover version done by [[William Shatner]]. This is only in the USA however, as in the the UK and Ireland the original is still one of the most beloved [[Alternative Rock]] songs of the
* Patsy Cline's signature song, "Crazy", was in fact written by Willie Nelson, and later covered by him.
* "Crimson and Clover", by Tommy James and the Shondells. Joan Jett covered it, keeping the gender lyrics (because 'clover' doesn't rhyme with 'know him'), so now you have a punk goddess singing a love song to another woman, added killer guitar riffs, and removed that annoying warbly vocal thing. Unsurprisingly, her version is now the more famous (despite only reaching #7 instead of #1 like the original).
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* Some people don't know that "Family Man" by Hall & Oates is a cover of Mike Oldfield. May be a bit justified since Oldfield isn't well known in the U.S. aside from "[[The Exorcist|Tubular]] [[One-Hit Wonder|Bells]]."
* "Fancy" was written and recorded by Bobbie Gentry in 1969; then covered by [[Reba McEntire]] in 1990, accompanied by a popular music video.
** Come to think of it, McEntire seemed to love covers in the early
*** Ironically, when Bobby Russell was finally convinced of the song's potential, the artist he first pitched it to was Cher. However, Cher's then husband and manager, Sonny Bono, convinced her to turn the song down, fearing that the song would offend her southern fans.
* "Father and Son" is by Cat Stevens, not by Ronan Keating or Boyzone.
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* ''"How Am I Supposed To Live Without You"'', from 1989, one of [[Michael Bolton]]'s most well-known songs, was a cover of the 1983 Laura Branigan song of the same name.
* "Hurdy Gurdy Man": while most of the people who know this song are aware that it was first written and performed by Donovan (Leitch), Steve Hillage's cover version has reached a larger audience and enjoyed a greater popularity since the mid-70s.
* Many fans of the early goth band Alien Sex Fiend will rave about how great the song "Hurricane Fighter Plane" is, unaware that it's a cover of a song by Red Krayola, a
* Younger audiences are often more familiar with [[Johnny Cash]]'s version of "Hurt," released in 2002, than the original [[Nine Inch Nails]] song released in 1994, though the Nine Inch Nails song still receives frequent radio play. Because of Cash's long career, some journalists also assume that Cash's version is much older than it really is, and that the Nine Inch Nails version is the cover.
* "Hush", written by Joe South and first recorded by Billy Joe Royal, is probably most famous as covered by [[Deep Purple]] (1968) or by Kula Shaker (1997).
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* [[The Clash]]'s version of "I Fought the Law". Even Bobby Fuller's 1964 version isn't the original. The song was written by Sonny Curtis, the same man who performed "Love Is All Around" from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", in 1959.
** For younger listeners, it's likely to be the Dead Kennedys cover they remember best.
* "I Go Blind" by Hootie and the Blowfish is a cover of a song by
* How many people can tell you that Paul Davis was the first singer to do "I Go Crazy"?
* Most people remember "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" as sung by [[Marvin Gaye]] and later covered by [[Creedence Clearwater Revival]]. Fewer people remember the original hit by Gladys Knight & the Pips.
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* Josh Turner defied this with his cover of Don Williams' "I Wouldn't Be a Man". Nearly every piece of media related to the album went out of its way to mention that it was a cover. (However, most people are unaware that Billy Dean also put out a cover in 1997.)
* Mark Chesnutt's #1 hit "I'll Think of Something" was a top ten hit for Hank Williams, Jr. in his earlier days (you know, before all the chest-beating "party" songs).
* [[Smash Mouth]]'s cover of "I'm A Believer," thanks to the ''[[Shrek]]'' movies, is now more well-known than the original, by [[The Monkees (band)|The Monkees]].
* "I'm
* The hit version of "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" is by [[The Monkees (band)|The Monkees]], but the song was first recorded by Paul Revere And The Raiders. To be fair, both of those versions came out in the same year, The Monkees' version was just the one that became a hit. Punk fans are more likely to associate the song with either [[The Sex Pistols]] or [[Minor Threat]]. In fact, Ian MacKaye admitted that when Minor Threat started doing their version of the song, ''they'' thought it originated with The Sex Pistols.
* You may recall "I've Told Every Little Star" in Linda Scott's 1961 hit version, especially if you're of a certain generation or have seen ''[[Mulholland Drive]]''. This cover version is very different from its original use as the theme song of the Kern & Hammerstein musical ''Music in the Air''.
* [[Van Halen]]'s "Ice Cream Man" was first performed by blues musician John Brim.
** David Lee Roth's 1985 solo single "Just a Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody" was medley of two songs written in 1928 and 1915 respectively. Both had been recorded by numerous artists before him, and the medley version was first performed in 1956 by [[Louis Prima]].
* "If You Leave Me Now" (not to be confused with the [[Chicago band)|Chicago]] ballad), recorded in the late
* "Ievan Polkka" is mix of Covered Up and [[Memetic Mutation]]. The song was written in the
* Most people are familiar with "If You Asked Me To", written by veteran songwriter Diane Warren, as one of Celine Dion's first English-language hits. Few are aware that it was first recorded by Patti [[La Belle]], and even played over the end credits of the [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] movie ''[[Licence to Kill]]''.
* It appears that "If You Knew Susie" was written for Al Jolson to sing in the Broadway musical ''Big Boy'', but the song didn't go over well for him and the show. It then became one of the songs most associated with Eddie Cantor, his [[Fandom Rivalry|popular rival]].
* Think of the song "Iko Iko". You're probably thinking either of the version used in ''[[Rain Man]]'', of Dr. John's version, or the [[Grateful Dead]]'s. Or [[Cyndi Lauper]]'s. Or maybe even the 1965 version recorded by The Dixie Cups which most people believe was "the original." They are all
* After hearing Vitas's performance of "Il Dulce Suono", a listener declared that she didn't like his rendition of the opera from ''[[The Fifth Element]]'' and that you can't perform Sarah Brightman's music without screwing it up. (A common fan mistake: Brightman was not in ''[[The Fifth Element]].'') The music piece comes from the opera ''Lucia de Lammermoor'', which debuted in 1835.
* dc Talk's hit worship song "In The Light" from ''Jesus Freak'' was originally by [[Charlie Peacock]], who even provides guest vocals at the end of the more well-known version.
* Most people are familiar with "In The Street" as the theme song for ''[[That
* Madness' "It Must Be Love" is a cover of a Labi Siffre song recorded ten years previously. Interestingly, he makes a cameo in the music video for the Madness version. Madness' "One Step Beyond" is also a cover. Prince Buster did it first.
* A different "It Must Be Love" was a hit for Alan Jackson in 2000, but first it was a hit for Don Williams in 1979.
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* "Landslide" has been covered at least twice. Written by Stevie Nicks and first performed by Fleetwood Mac, it has been covered by Smashing Pumpkins, and most recently, the Dixie Chicks, [[Miley Cyrus]] also performed it live.
* "Last Kiss" was first recorded in 1962 by its author, Wayne Cochran. The first hit version was released in 1964 by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers. Then [[Pearl Jam]] covered it after Eddie Vedder found a copy of the 45 single at a flea market.
** Although, really, is it not obvious that it's a
* "Leaving on a Jet Plane" was written and performed by John Denver, but it didn't become famous until it was covered by Peter, Paul and Mary.
** Most people also probably want to [[Funny Aneurysm Moment|avoid associating]] John Denver with planes...
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* Framing Hanley's cover of Lil' Wayne's "Lollipop" can fall into this category.
* "Lonely Women Make Good Lovers" was released by an obscure country singer named Bob Luman in 1972, and later covered up by Steve Wariner in 1983. In an odd aversion of this trope, both Luman's original and Wariner's cover went to #4 on the country charts.
* Bananarama's "Look on The Floor" covers the chorus of the
* "Lotta Love" was originally written and performed by Neil Young. Young's backup singer Nicolette Larson turned it into a huge hit.
* "Louie Louie" was not written by the Kingsmen. Nor was it improved or rescued from obscurity by them. It was written and recorded in 1956 by Rick Berry and the Pharaohs, and was very popular in the rock and roll community around Seattle and Tacoma (and in those communities, the Kingsmen's version wasn't even the most popular - it was the one by the soon-to-be-famous Paul Revere and the Raiders). All the Kingsmen did was to make it visible to the white youth market across the US, and slur the vocals so much that the lyrics could not be understood, making it sound naughty and subversive.
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* The original theme for Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, "Moonlight Densetsu," is a cover of "Sayonara ha Dance no Ato ni" from the '60s. The second theme avoided this trope by being written by Naoko Takeuchi herself.
* Cat Stevens covered "Morning Has Broken" which had English lyrics added to it by Eleanor Farjeon from a much older song (see most modern hymnals).
* "Move It On Over" was written and recorded by Hank Williams Sr. before being covered in the
* "Mr. Bojangles", originally by Jerry Jeff Walker, became a massive hit for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
* "My Island Home" was not originally by Torres Strait Islander Christine Anu, but by Warupmi Band, an Aboriginal group from the Northern Territory, penned by member Neil Murray. Anu started out as their backing singer, and was encouraged by Murray to sing it.
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* "Not Fade Away" was originally performed by [[Buddy Holly]], but it's far better known from [[The Grateful Dead]].
** It was also covered by Steve Hillage as "Not Fade Away (Glide Forever)" in [[The Seventies]], and was the debut single of [[The Rolling Stones]] in 1963.
* "Not In Love" was originally performed by obscure
* "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I" has been around the block. It was first released in 1952 by Hank Snow, but [[Elvis Presley]]'s 1959 cover was a big pop hit in the US and UK. And on top of that, there's another cover by Baillie & the Boys in 1990 that got almost as high on the country charts as did Hank Snow's version.
* The [http://nyan.cat/ "Nyan Cat"] song, known officially as "Nyanyanyanya". The most popular version of it is sung by [[UTAU|Momo Momone]]. But how many people known that the original version was sung by [[Vocaloid|Miku Hatsune]]?
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* [[Keith Urban]]'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, [[A Good Name for a Rock 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.
* Weird version: in Brazil, the success of ''[[The Elite Squad]]'' brought much attention to the opening theme, a
* No, "Reason to Believe" was not written by Wilson Phillips. Rod Stewart released that one in 1971, before any of the members of Wilson Phillips even started school (two were born in 1968, the other in 1969). The Carpenters recorded it as an album track in 1970; it was written by Tim Hardin.
* "Rest Your Love on Me", written by Barry Gibb, was an obscure B-side for [[The Bee Gees]]. Conway Twitty covered it and took it to #1 on the country charts.
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* [[The Isley Brothers]] cover of "Summer Breeze" probably counts. Ernie Isley adding a [[Epic Riff]] and ending on a [[Badass]] three minute guitar solo. It went from a folk type tune by Seals and Crofts and turned into psychedelic funk/rock/soul track. Most people think this is the original version... which is ironic as the cover version didn't chart as big as the original.
* [[REM]] covered an obscure song by The Clique, "Superman", on one of their albums, and many people think it's by them, to the point where people yelled at them for selling out... when someone else covered it again and it was used in a commercial.
** [[Blue Öyster
* [[Luther Vandross]]' "Superstar" wasn't the first version, nor was the Carpenters' -- Richard decided to cover it after hearing Bette Midler sing it on The Tonight Show; it was written by Leon Russell.
* "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen is a combination of two songs by The Rivingtons: "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" and "The Bird's the Word".
* Though Al Jolson recorded the definitive version of "Swanee" and performed the song in one of his touring productions, it had been introduced before in an obscure Broadway show by a female singer. Many decades later, musical arrangements from that show were exhumed and recorded for the CD ''Broadway Showstoppers''.
* "Sweet Dreams" wasn't originated by Marilyn Manson; Eurythmics get that particular credit.
* Fans of late sixties/early seventies music will ''certainly'' be more familiar with the [[Velvet Underground]] and Lou Reed solo versions of "[[Signature Song|Sweet Jane]]," with or without the [[Executive Meddling|excised half-minute]], but others today would probably be quicker to recognize the very, ''very'' different Cowboy Junkies version, based on a slow, mostly ad-lib live version from before the album was out, [[Revival by Commercialization|thanks to it being used in]] ''[[Natural Born Killers]]'', a [[Wham! Episode]] of ''[[Law &
* "Tainted Love", often thought of as a song about AIDS, first came out in 1964. Ed Cobb wrote and Gloria Jones sang the original version. (Thank you, [[The Other Wiki]]!) Soft Cell, of course, immortalized the song, with Marilyn Manson's cover likely the second best known.
* [[Talking Heads]]' cover of "Take Me To The River", by Al Green and Mabon Hodges. Also covered by The Woodshed, The Radiators, Ratdog, Grateful Dead, God Johnson, Escape Goat, Diesel Dog, Day By The River, Bockmans Euphio, Annie Lennox, Max on the Rox, Dave Matthews Band, Bryan Ferry, Mana, that funny singing fish that also does "Don't Worry, Be Happy", and others. It's a popular song.
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* For some, Cake's "The Guitar Man" (by Bread).
* "The Lady is a Tramp," from the musical ''Babes in Arms'', is most famous as a [[Frank Sinatra]] song. It doesn't help that the well-known movie version didn't include the song. Also, the licensed version of the show changed one line in the song to say, "For Frank Sinatra I holler and stamp."
* "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" did not originate with Tight Fit, nor with The Tokens. It started out as a song named "Mbube" by South African singer Solomon Linda and his group, The Evening Birds, in 1939. In 1951, Pete Seeger and his band, The Weavers, released their own version, renamed "Wimoweh" (based on misheard lyrics)
** And only recently did poor Solomon Linda's family receive proper credit for the song. Linda himself died penniless. Ironically, when Seeger found out that Linda actually wrote the song, he sent him a donation of $1,000 and instructed his publisher, TRO/Folkways, to henceforth donate his share of songwriter's royalties to Linda. Unfortunately, Seeger's instructions were not properly carried out, and, instead TRO/Folkways crafted an agreement with Gallo Records, Linda's record label, giving Gallo distribution rights to the song in South Africa and Rhodesia while TRO reserved the rights to royalties earned elsewhere. Seeger has since openly expressed regret that he did not have TRO and Linda personally sign a contract to ensure that Linda would receive royalties. TRO did eventually begin sending $3,000 annually into Linda's estate, but this was only because Seeger publicly criticized them over their dishonesty in an interview in François Verster's 2002 documentary "A Lion's Trail."
* [[Blondie (band)|Blondie]]'s "The Tide Is High" is a gender-flipped cover of a Paragons song from 1967. Apparently it's been covered since and accredited to Debbie Harry in one of the newer versions.
* Most people think of "The Power of Love" as a Celine Dion tune, but it was written by Jennifer Rush and recorded by her as well as by Air Supply and Laura Branigan.
** Jennifer Rush's original was massive in the UK; it topped the charts for several weeks in 1985.
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* And then there's "There She Goes" by the La's. A peculiar case as the La's version and the version by the Boo Radleys appear in ''[[So I Married an Axe Murderer]]''... yet the main one anyone knows is the Sixpence None the Richer version, which was included in every single Freddie Prinze Jr. movie ever made.
* "They Don't Know" by Tracey Ullman, covering Kirsty MacColl.
** Another little factoid that most people don't know is the "Baby!" after the musical interlude in Ullman's version is actually Kirsty
* "Think Twice", covered by Alana Dante and M.G., and performed live by Kelly Clarkson, was originally by Celine Dion.
* Billy Joel's "This Night" from ''An Innocent Man'' is better known to Classical artists as Movement 2 of Beethoven's "Sonata Pathetique".
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* Travis Tritt hit the charts with the bar tune "T-R-O-U-B-L-E", which he also named his third album. The song was originally sung by [[Elvis Presley|Elvis]].
* This is a pretty obscure example, but the 4 Strings song "Turn It Around" is a cover of an earlier song also called "Turn It Around" and also produced by Carlo Resoort, performed by Alena.
* "Tsubasa wo Kudasai", the insert song played at the end of ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion|Evangelion 2.0]]'', is a Japanese folks' song from the 70s. A lot of people mistakenly assume it was taken from ''[[K-On!]]''.
* "Turn The Beat Around"
* There are quite a few people who don't know that [[The Byrds]]' enormous hit "Turn! Turn! Turn!" was written and first performed by Pete Seeger. Seeger liked what The Byrds did with the song, and began performing it in their style. Now, its a little jarring to hear any recording Seeger made before The Byrds' cover.
** And far too few people realize that its lyrics are lifted almost word-for-word from [[Ecclesiastes#3|Chapter 3 of the book of Ecclesiastes]] in [[The Bible]].
* "Two Little Boys" is subject to multiple levels of this. People who only know it casually (British people, at least) think it's a [[Rolf Harris]] song. People who listen to the lyrics tend to think it dates from (and is about) [[World War I]]. In fact the modern version of the song was published in 1903, is probably about the [[American Civil War]], and there are still earlier versions that probably date from the Napoleonic Wars.
=== U - Z ===
* The most instantly recognizable version of "Unchained Melody" today is the Phil Spector-produced one by the [[Righteous Brothers]] (helped along by oldies radio and the film ''[[Ghost (film)|Ghost]]''), but not only was it ''not'' the original, it was not even the first version of the song to become a hit—Les Baxter, Al Hibbler, and Roy Hamilton had all recorded top-ten hit versions of "Unchained Melody" in the US, and a British singer named Jimmy Young had a #1 cover of it in the UK. Also, the original version (for the movie ''[[Unchained]]'') was Oscar-nominated for Best Song a full ten years before the Righteous Brothers recorded it.
* [[Buffy Sainte-Marie]] recorded the first version of the [[Protest Song]] "Universal Soldier", which most people identify with the cover by Donovan.
* "Valerie" was a Top 10 UK hit for indie rockers The Zutons in 2006. A cover by [[Amy Winehouse]] the next year reached #2 on the UK Chart and became an international smash hit.
* "Venus" was the first song by a Dutch band to make number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. But nobody remembers [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPEhQugz-Ew the original by Shocking Blue]; the famous version was released by [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4-1ASpdT1Y Bananarama sixteen years later] and has become that band's signature song.
*
* [[Elvis Costello]]'s "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" was written and first performed by Costello's producer, [[Nick Lowe]].
** And, ironically, most of the money that Nick's made from music came neither from his solo career, nor from Elvis' hit, but from a lesser-known cover of the song by Curtis Stigers... because it happened to be on the soundtrack to ''[[The Bodyguard]]''.
* "Waiting For Tonight", better known as a [[Jennifer Lopez]] song, was originally by 3rd Party.
* Very few people know that two songs on [[Black Sabbath]]'s first album, "Warning" and "Evil Woman", are covers of respectively The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation and Crow.
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* "Whenever You Need Somebody" is best known as a Rick Astley song. Most people don't know that it was first performed by O'Chi Brown.
* "Where Do You Go", No Mercy's [[One-Hit Wonder|sole song of note]], is actually a partial cover of an obscure La Bouche song (it uses the same chorus, but adds new verse lyrics).
* A large mass of [[Fan Dumb]] on [[YouTube]] are all quite surprised that Russell Watson's performance of "Where My Heart Will Take Me" (used as ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'
* "Whiskey in the Jar" wasn't written by [[Thin Lizzy]], nor the Pogues, nor Pulp, nor [[Metallica]]. It's an old Irish folk song.
** Though the [[Metallica]] version is certainly a cover of the [[Thin Lizzy]] version and by far the better known of the two, neither of which sound all that much like the more traditionally Irish sounding covers.
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* "Wild Thing" was written by Chip Taylor (brother of Jon Voight) and first recorded by the Wild Ones in 1965. A year later, the Troggs covered the song, it stormed to #1 on the charts, and the rest is history.
* "Wild in the Streets" is known by many younger people today as a song by Circle Jerks, but it was previously a small Seventies hit by Garland Jeffreys.
* "Wind Beneath My Wings" is most commonly associated with [[Bette Midler]], who recorded it in 1989. The song, however, was written in 1982 by Jeff Silbar and Larry Henley and recorded by many artists before Midler including [[Lou Rawls]], [[Gladys Knight and the Pips]], and Gary Morris.
* "Without You" is possibly Harry Nilsson's greatest hit. Mariah Carey also famously performed it. Most people have probably never heard the original version by Badfinger.
** Of course, Nilsson dramatically re-arranged the song (the original is barely recognisable as the same tune). Mariah's version shamelessly rips the Nilsson arrangement and, since he doesn't have songwriting credit, he (or his estate, strictly speaking) doesn't get paid. Which always seemed unfair to me.
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* "Year 3000", made famous by Jonas Brothers in the US is a cover of a song by the defunct English boy band [[Busted]].
** [[Intercourse with You|A rather watered-down version]], at that.
* "You Better Run" is a song from The Rascals but is better known as its cover which was done by [[Pat Benatar]].
* Debby Boone's huge hit "You Light Up My Life" was originally performed by Kasey Cisyk for the film of the same name.
* Everybody and their uncle have probably heard Josh Groban singing "You Raise Me Up" (or if you're from Britain or Ireland, Westlife). Probably far fewer know that it was composed and performed by the Irish-Norwegian duo Secret Garden.
** And the tune is a reworking of the Irish classic "Danny Boy" (or the Londonderry Air, for those Irish who don't care for those lyrics.)
* Steve Goodman wrote "You Never Even Call Me By My Name" as a ''parody'' of country songs, though everyone today remembers the [[Misaimed Fandom|hit country version]] by David Allan Coe. In Coe's defense, he explicitly says that Goodman wrote the song in the spoken bit before the last verse, which breaks out all of the stops.
* [[The Kinks]] have been known to introduce "You Really Got Me" as a [[Van Halen]] song when performing it live.
* This contributor remembers a radio show asking for "good hangover tunes". One request was for [[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.
* Five of the songs on the ''[[Queen of the Damned]]'' soundtrack were written and recorded by Jonathan Davis of [[Korn]]. Due to contract troubles, all five songs were covered for the official soundtrack, by the likes of Wayne Static, [[Disturbed|David Draiman]], [[Marilyn Manson]], [[Linkin Park|Chester Bennington]] and Jay Gordon. Unless you've seen the movie (especially the music videos included as extras), most people think that the covers are in fact the original versions of the songs. And considering how hard it is to get a hold of the original versions, since they were never officially released, this doesn't look like it will change any time soon.
* In the days of early rock and roll, R&B songs by black performers were not played on mainstream pop stations unless they were covered by white artists. However, this all changed in 1957, when a New York City disc jockey named Alan Freed invented a new type of music format called Top 40, which played all types and genres of music, as long as it was selling well.
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** A more recent example would be "Bad Apple!!" - odds to evens you were thinking more of the Alstroemeria Records remix.
* This trope has a life of its own in Asia. Many Mando-pop artists will take a hit foreign song (like Britney Spears's "Everytime," or Wild Cherry's "Play that Funky Music"), give it Mandarin lyrics and put it out.
* A high percentage of hits by Dominican "Merengue-hip-hop" bands from early to mid 90s (like Proyecto Uno, Ilegales, and Sandy y Papo) were in fact covers from hip-hop Anglo artists. This was made worse because many of the songs they covered were [[One-Hit Wonder
* There was an all-covers album called "Punk Goes Crunk," which featured various alternative music artists doing their own takes on various hip-hop and R songs. [[All Time Low]] did a cover version of [[Rihanna]]'s "Umbrella." Now, it's debateable whether All Time Low's or Rihanna's version is better known, though there are a sizable number of people who seem to think All Time Low's version was the original.
* This has occasionally happened in the trance genre. Ayla's "Liebe" and "Singularity" were remakes of Cosmic Baby's "Liebe" and Brainchild's "Symmetry", respectively. Kay Cee's "Escape" was based on 4 Voices' "Eternal Spirit".
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* [[Neil Diamond]] is a bit of a special case, as he started out as a songwriter, and then had to record his own material when rock'n'roll stopped needing songwriters so much:
** "Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" by Urge Overkill on the [[Pulp Fiction]] soundtrack.
** "I'm A Believer", first made famous by [[The Monkees (band)|The Monkees]] (Diamond recorded his version a few months after The Monkees), and then much later, brought back into the mainstream by [[Smash Mouth]] and later by [[Weezer]].
** "Red Red Wine" covered by Tony Tribe, in turn covered by UB40. Neil Diamond later wrote and recorded a new version inspired by UB40'
** "Solitary Man" by Chris Isaak, [[Johnny Cash]], and H.I.M.
* Fefe Dobson wrote songs for an unreleased second album in 2007. Two of the songs from the project were made famous by [[Disney Channel]] [[Idol Singer|alumni]]: "As A Blonde", by [[Selena Gomez]] + The Scene, and "Start All Over", by [[Miley Cyrus]].
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** "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", which some thought was originally by [[Guns N' Roses]].
*** Or [[Eric Clapton]].
** And now "Make You Feel My Love," which has become something of a hit for Adele—and proved that Dylan's
* Ian Hunter:
** "Cleveland Rocks" by the Presidents of the United States of America (for [[The Drew Carey Show]]).
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