Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Here's one, since Little Wing came up, that's really interesting. Both songs were apparently inspired by Little Wing. And are pretty much identical. Yet somehow neither artist has accused the other of copying it...

Pearl Jam: Yellow Ledbetter


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYtBMgLfqKQ

Kenny Wayne Shepherd - While We Cry (off the album Ledbetter Heights)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vATTSpDZIM

Maybe, but what about songwriters who specifically write songs with the intent that they will get bought and recorded by bigger artists?  I mean, they ALWAYS record a version of their own, but making it famous on their own, wasn't really ever the intent.

Willie effectively gave away so many great songs early on, because he was a songwriter first, and needed the money.  Crazy, Hello Walls, Three Days, Funny How Time Slips Away, Night Life, and a host of others.  All made famous by artists like Faron Young, Patsy Cline, Billy Walker, etc.

I could see that. I don't think this was the case with the song I'm talking about, because the original song was recorded by Prince, and he wasn't exactly some unknown writer at the time. 

Cover (most recent): Nothing Compares 2 U by Chris Cornell


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuUDRU9-HRk

Cover (most famous): Nothing Compares 2 U by cueball Sinead O'Conner


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-EF60neguk

Original: Nothing Compares 2 U by Prince


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpGA0azFdCs

I think both Sinead and Cornell's version is far superior to Prince's actually...

And via the YouTube rabbit hole, might as well throw P!nk in there--just cause I dig her and just bought tickets to see her in Sep 2024:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLHGc1lO7_A

Jerry Jeff Walker is one of my favorite all-time artists.  He's another singer/songwriter, lived in Austin most of his adult life, and hung out with Willie quite a bit.

He originally wrote this song, but Sammy Davis Junior recorded it and made it famous.  I like the Candyman's version, of course, but something about the emotion that Jerry Jeff puts into it, as the songwriter, really speaks to me.  Nitty Gritty Dirt Band also had a popular version of it.

Jerry Jeff Walker:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5u7ijJ4xfg

Sammy Davis Junior:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fju4UajL7g

JJW was great.  And he took Jimmy Buffett to Key West.  Spent a lot of time 'down in Belize' later in life (good song, too).

I was originally going to open the thread with that one (Cornell covering Sinead) which is when I realized that it wasn't original for Sinead.

My reasoning is that it's a truly phenomenal song, but I never really listened to it and realized how well-written that song is until I heard the Cornell version. Partly because when Sinead recorded it I was aware of it but too young to truly understand it, but also because I never really would have considered myself a Sinead O'Connor fan so I didn't really listen to the song until the Cornell cover.

It came out when I was a senior in high school, so smack dab in the middle of my teenage angsty years.  I don't think I'd consider myself a Sinead fan (because I don't think I can name another song she ever sang), but I absolutely loved that one.

And I like the Chris Cornell one as well--as already established on the other thread, I'm a pretty big fan of Soundgarden and most other grunge bands.  Except for Nirvana, of course.

Enjoy it. Love how they change "Grateful Dead" sticker to "Black Flag" sticker, but Cadillac is still the fuddy-duddy car...

Where an artist played the first commercially successful version, and the songwriter later re-recorded it (i.e., Aretha's Natural Woman, written, then recorded by Carol King, who is a fine singer, but ain't Aretha), I don't really consider the first one a cover. With that in mind...

Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You." I like Dolly better, but Whitney did that song better.

Presidents of the United States of America: Video Killed the Radio Star.

My Chemical Romance: Desolation Row

Van Halen: You Really Got Me

Joan Jett: I Love Rock-n-Roll (this one may not count--don't know that anyone had heard of this song before she did it)

Joe Cocker: I get By With a Little Help From My Friends

Jimmy Hendrix: All Along the Watchtower

Dirty Deeds Joan Jett



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sky1tt8vLA