Tag: One Hit Wonders

The Top 10 Most Covered One Hit Wonders

randydafoe26 Comments

The list.

I had the very good fortune to see Cohen perform on his last tour. In the ‘other’ London, Ontario, Canada.
  1. “Hallelujah” was written by Leonard Cohen and released as a single in 1984. There are over 540 versions of this song. It is his only song to have charted on these three major charts; Canada RPM, the Hot 100 in the US and the UK Top singles. In the first year of release it charted #17, but in Canada only. In 2016 there was a re-issue and it reached #36 in the UK and #59 in the US. This is the only time Cohen had a single on the Hot 100 in the US and the UK Singles chart. In Canada, he charted just two other songs and they were outside of the top 40, “Closing Time” reached #70 in 1992 and “You Want it Darker” hit #73 in 2016, the year of his death. I know we don’t think of Cohen as a One Hit Wonder because some of his albums charted highly and he did so well internationally. Not to mention there are thousands of versions of the 30 plus songs he wrote for other artists and 101 of his original songs. Several of those reached the charts. For example, in 2018 Jeff Buckley and The X Factor TV show winner Alexandra Burke charted in the UK with “Hallelujah”. Jennifer Warnes charted with “First We Take Manhattan”, both she and Aaron Neville charted with “Bird on the Wire”. As a ‘singles’ singer however, he’s not been a chart buster and this song fits the definition.
  2. “MacArthur Park” by Richard Harris was released in 1968. There are 189 versions of this song. Written by the legendary Jimmy Webb (“By The Time I Get To Phoenix”). The song reached #1 in Canada, #2 in the US and #4 in the UK. Harris did record other songs and some appeared as minor hits but this would be his one moment in the sun, despite the fact that “someone left the cake out in the rain”.
  3. “Feelings” was written by Morris Albert and released in 1974 and there are 184 versions of this song. It was based on “Pour toi” written by Louis Gasté with original lyrics by Albert Simonin and Marie-Hélène Bourquin. The song reached #4 in the UK and #6 in the US. He would have one other minor hit reach charts in some markets but don’t feel bad, I think he did alright with this one song.
  4. “Money (That’s What I Want)” by Barrett Strong was released in 1959. There are 182 versions of this song written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford. The song reached #2 on the R&B Chart and #23 on the Hot 100. Strong would move to writing and this would be his one and only charted song. His contribution includes writing “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” with Norman Whitfield and so many more memorable hits. An impressive 48 of the songs he wrote have been covered, and publishing royalties means money, hey “That’s What I Want!”.
  5. “Sea Cruise” was first released by Frankie Ford in December of 1958. In 1959 it reached #11 on the R&B chart and #14 on the Hot 100. There are 180 versions of this song. It was written by Huey “Piano” Smith (“Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu) and he recorded it in 1958 as well, in fact it was Frankie Fords voice but Smiths music on the single. We won’t get into the reasons for all this but Smith’s version was not released until 1971. Thus giving Ford the original launch of the song and his only major hit.
  6. “Please Send Me Someone to Love” was written and released by Percy Mayfield in 1950. There are 172 versions of this song. It reached #1 on the R&B chart but perhaps more importantly (at the time) it was #26 on Hot 100, which comparably meant a lot more in record sales. That was his only Hot 100 hit song, thought he would chart five more songs in the R&B top 10 and three more in the top 100. I was a bit surprised to discover Mayfield qualitied for this one hit list. However Percy would have the last word for the Hot 100, “Hit the Road Jack“. He was the writer of the song taken to #1 by Ray Charles in 1961.
  7. “Crying in the Chapel” by Darrell Glenn peaked at #9 in 1953 on the Billboard Weekly Singles Chart. There are 159 versions of this song, it was written by his father, Artie Glenn. While it was the only charted song for Darrell, the tune itself had covers by June Valli, Rex Allen, Sonny Til & The Orioles that all entered the top 20 at the same time, at least one version was on the chart for 46 weeks. Lee Lawrence hit #7 in the UK in November of 1953. Elvis was unhappy with his 1960 recording and it was not released until 1965 when it became a million seller. No weeping for Artie Glenn and his royalty cheques I am sure.
  8. “Hi-Heel Sneakers” was written and recorded by Tommy Tucker in 1963. There are 156 versions of this song that reached #11 on Billboard in 1964. In 2022 there was a release from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers on Live at the Fillmore in 1997.
  9. “Just When I Needed You Most” was written and performed by Randy VanWarmer and it peaked at #4 on the Hot 100 in 1979. There are 91 versions of this song.
  10. “Walking in Memphis” was written and recorded by Marc Cohn and released in 1991. There are 83 versions of this song. The song peaked at #13 on the Hot 100 and garnered Cohn a Grammy for Best New Artist.
  11. An honorable mention for the next most covered song “You Better Move On” that was written and recorded by Arthur Alexander in 196. It reached #24 on the Hot 100 in March of 1962. There are 58 versions of this song. The Rolling Stones would cover this in 1964. It was Alexander’s only top 40 hit. However, I have to point out that he was a very influential artist and proof positive that there is often more to the “one hit wonder” label. Alexander is the only individual who’s original songs have been covered by all four of these artists; Elvis (Burning Love) the only one he did not write as well, The Beatles (Anna Go to Him),(A Shot of Rhythm and Blues),(Soldier of Love), (Where Have You Been All My Life), Bob Dylan (Sally Sue Brown) and as already noted The Rolling Stones. Tina Turner, Pearl Jam and many more notable names have covered his songs. Paul McCartney said the R&B sound they were looking for “…that was basically it. Arthur Alexander”, high praise indeed for a one hit wonder.
Spinal Tap goes to 11. So hey, why can’t my list!

Happy One Hit Wonder Day!

Sources: 1, 2,3

National One Hit Wonder Day

randydafoe12 Comments

September 25 in the US and adopted by anyone, anywhere, like Canada Eh!

As a music blogger this comes as close to an official holiday that I will get. I have decorated the album tree and we’ll be singing a rousing round of the sugar plum song, “You’re My Honey Bunch” and tunes by the great Father Wonder, Tony Burrows. Sent down the chimney by Tony’s mighty Kestrel, the kids will be very excited to unwrap their gifts of 45 rpm records by the likes of Buddy Knox, The Kalin Twins, Dodie Stevens and if we are lucky, some Edison Lighthouse!

I have written on this topic a couple times, but today I wanted to look at things from a different angle. Some of these “one and done” songs as they say, that appeared on the singles chart are actually pretty great songs. Many of the singers had, or would still go on to successful careers. They would make more music, release albums, they (with the rare exceptions like Tony Burrows) just wouldn’t have another hit single. To explain Tony Burrows, he was in several bands, such as Edison Lighthouse with songs that were one-hit wonders. His first band was named Kestrel, like the bird.

Some singers may have got out of the business altogether, some still dabble or like Tony, joined another group. Some can live off the success of that one song.

Definition

The origin is American. My understanding is that the concept was first defined by music journalist Wayne Jancik (The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders) as “an act that has won a position on The Billboard (Hot 100) Top 40 record chart just once”. Since that time others have chimed in and the definition has broadened somewhat.

Here is what I included as my criteria for the list of the most covered one hit wonders.

  1. The HOT 100 in the US began in 1958, but there were, as we know, many precursor charts including one called The Top 100. For my song search I set a more or less arbitrary start of 1950, but it should be noted that it was a significant year in the life of the ‘single’ as it was the first full year of the 45 rpm record.
  2. I will consider the singles chart in the UK and Canada as well (Top 40). The US has always been the largest record market, and these three are also the major Music charts for English speaking Countries . Apologies to Australia, that would be #4 on that list.
  3. In order to qualify for my list of one hit wonder covers, it must also have been an original song. As it is for any tune, it may or may not have been written by the singer.
  4. Cover song tallies also include instrumental renditions, but for todays totals I only counted the vocal versions. All due respect to Mr. Acker Bilk but for one-hit wonders, it’s the singing that counts.

To see which one wonder-ful hitters got re-recorded the most, check out the next post.

One Hit Wonders (for real)

randydafoe5 Comments

Real One Hit Wonders

Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton doing the Hucklebuck

A while back I sort of debunked “One Hit Wonders” lists in my “One Hit Wonders (Not!)” post as there were so many songs that just don’t qualify. So I thought I’d share a list of songs that are truly “one and done” hit songs. Once again following the definition laid out by music journalist Wayne Jancik “an act that has won a position on The Billboard (Hot 100) Top 40 record chart just once.” This from the ‘The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders’ (1998).Read More »