(an updated post first published by Dave at A Sound Day)

It’s a discussion that comes up periodically so I thought I would update a post with my thoughts on the topic. And it’s a nice set-up for my next series dealing with Grammy-winning covers. If artists didn’t cover songs, then very often you would never have heard of it. I could give you hundreds of examples but here are just a couple easy ones, “Time is on My Side” by the Rolling Stones.

The original recording was in 1963 by the Kai Winding with Vocal Group, the vocals provided by Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick. Jerry Ragovoy wrote the song but there wasn’t much to the lyrics so Jimmy Norman fleshed them out and Irma Thomas was the first to record that one. Then covered by the Rolling Stones five months later in September of 1964. The Moody Blues, The O’Jays and Wilson Pickett covered it as well. The first instrumental recording was by George Martin in 1965. There 62 versions of the song.

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are the most successful and most covered Rock writing duo, yet The Rolling Stones as a band have covered 127 songs to date. Their first cover was Chuck Berry’s “Come On” in 1963.

Though it is more well known now, for the longest time most of us thought “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” by The Hollies was an original song. It was written by Bob Russell and Bobby Scott and first recorded by Kelly Gordon and released in April of 1969. Gordon was already successful for his arranging work with Bobby Gentry and shared in her Grammy Wins for “Ode to Billy Joe” in 1968. The Hollies version came out in September of 1969 and went to #3 in the UK and #7 and reemerged in 1988 to reach #1 in the UK.

We also have songs that are covered in earnest right out of the gate, ever heard of a tune called “Yesterday”? Released in the US on September 13, 1965, it was recorded over 70 times in 1966 alone, no other song had done that and very few have since. It has maintained its status as the most covered Pop song of all time with thousands of versions. So, who were these bandwagon-jumping wannabes who couldn’t come up with their own iconic ballad?

If we put aside the 13 covers from 1965 and focus on 1966, we have names such as Sarah Vaughn, The Supremes, Brenda Lee, Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson, John Denver, Andy Williams, Patti LaBelle, Perry Como, Count Basie and an up and comer named Freda Payne. These are instantly recognizable names from just one year alone. Here are more icons of the music world; Tom Jones, Joan Baez, Tammy Wynette, Smokey Robinson, and Gladys Knight take us to 1968. And, the first of 14 covers in 1969 was by Frank Sinatra. These are not your typical follow-the-leader kind of people.

Just what is the motivation behind the recording of a cover song? First, we need to understand a bit of the evolution of the term itself. I think we can all agree on the basic definition: the rerecording of an original song. In the early days of recording, a popular song was reproduced by a Record Label primarily to literally smother the original and any competing versions. After all, it was all about sales. The Label hoped that their performer would outsell the other guy. For the buying public if you had a favorite Orchestra/Big Band/singer then the chances are you could get their version of the popular songs of the day.

Despite it being profitable for most Labels, in the early days, few people could actually afford a phonograph and buy records, so it was the still Radio or the Jukebox at the local Jazz Club. Regionality played a big part as well, not only for the popularity of the song be it the original or cover. The availability of the actual records was part of the dynamic as well. They were not manufactured just anywhere due to the lack of today’s sophisticated distribution methods so sometimes a hit song from Chicago was a hit song by a different artist on the West Coast. It was also not usual for both or several versions to make the charts at the same time.

As the business flourished a cover song often meant another single. Making records also included the ‘making’ of the physical thing. These records were “pressed” in manufacturing plants in places you may not expect. For example, I just picked up a Ray Charles Album Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music from 1962. It’s an album of cover songs. It was manufactured in my hometown of London Ontario by a company called Sparton Records founded in 1930. One of about six or seven record-pressing plants for ABC Records in North America. Unfortunately for Sparton, ABC switched to Polydor Records which were made by Musimart, Ltd. in Montreal and effectively put them out of the record pressing business in 1968 but they carried on in some form finishing as a digital company which closed in 2009.

No matter where they were made, into the 1960’s these cover versions would most often be almost identical to the original, whether instrumental or with vocals, the music, arrangement the whole thing was a copy. Ok maybe your vocalist was female, and the others were male, but the premise was to mimic. This was the way of the cover song for many years.

I shan’t bore you with the whole life cycle of the cover song and indeed every song has its story. Some are like the Cicada and only come out every 17 years or so, some are of the more perennial variety. Let’s get back to “Yesterday” as we can surmise many motivations. First, if I am a Record Label, I want a piece of the sales action on a massively popular song. If I am a recording artist, I want to keep both my Label and my fans happy and loyal to me. Sometimes my contract made me do it.

Oh, sure many covers were done as a tribute, some were heartfelt and full of emotion. Some had a different take on the song but most I have to say, stick close to the original. The year 1965 was a pivotal point in cover song history as there was no other song that captured the attention and the vast number of covers like “Yesterday” and there has not been another song to rival it since.

This is of course excluding Christmas Songs and a few select ‘Standards’ such as the show tune “Summertime” from Porgy and Bess or the ditty known as “Greensleeves” circa 1580, adding in the various adaptations it has 1950 versions. So some have more total versions yet none of these match the same number of covers in one year. And no other ‘Pop’ song has come close, and as I showed on the 2024 Update of the Most Covered Pop Songs of all Time, “Yesterday” is followed by “Eleanor Rigby” on that list.

Just a little point of interest, Secondhandsongs.com lists the most covered songs by year and the database starts at the year 1711 with “Lascia ch’io pianga” having 16 covers.

Seasonal songs are a bit easier to explain, and no we don’t need another rendition of “Silent Night”, but new ones will appear on your favorite artists Christmas Album and Orchestras and Choirs issue recordings annually. As to the non-traditional or ‘Pop’ song, why do we have anywhere from a dozen to hundreds and even thousands of versions? I am all for an artist putting their own ‘spin’ on a song, often we see this when the song switches genre such as Johnny Cash and “Hurt” or Disturbed with “The Sound of Silence”.

One of the greatest songs ever, and not just my opinion is the cover of Otis Redding’s “Respect” by Aretha Franklin who, as we all know turned the song on its head to create a new work of art. But a different voice to a song is sometimes all it takes. An amazing and beautiful song is sometimes just that, and we enjoy hearing it again and again by the same or different performers.

Most often, it’s a cover of a legendary artist like Bob Dylan who has been out charted on his original songs more than any other performer. Case in point “All Along the Watchtower” by Jimi Hendrix, “Mr. Tambourine Man” by The Byrds, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” by Guns and Roses or “Quinn the Eskimo” by Manfred Mann (“Mighty Quinn”) to name just a few. For over 50 years Billboards most successful single was Chubby Checkers “The Twist” which was a deliberate note for note cover of Hank Ballard’s original.

The motivation to ‘smother’ the original had less and less to do with it as time went on. A cover may come from something more obscure such as Tony Bennett’s signature song “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”. First performed by Claramae Turner in 1954 and for several years live on stage but never put to vinyl, the first record release was by Ceil Clayton in 1960 and she did not chart. By happenstance, it made its way to Bennett and needing a song, he recorded it and it was casually released as a “B” side in 1962.

DJs however (as they often do) had minds of their own and ignored the “A” side and went straight to San Francisco. Bennett had a Gold Record, it won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year, and he won for Best Male Solo Performance. Now that’s some motivation to cover a song!

In fact, many a Grammy has been won with a cover song. How many you ask? Since the first Grammy Awards in 1959 for Song of the Year, 19 of the winners were cover songs. And for Record of the Year 17 winners. Perhaps a thing of the past as the last cover to win was in 2003. Find out which songs were the winners in my upcoming series.

Sources; Secondhandsongs.com, Grammy Winners