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Forgotten original songs


Post a song that was popularized by another group but was actually written and performed by someone else. No Carole King songs please because she only performed after the fact.

I'll start. Richard Berry's version of "Louie Louie"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-2CKsaq5r8

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Alabama Song - Written by Kurt Weill and sung by Lotte Lenya in 1930.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EGUjGPrfA6U

The Doors - Alabama Song (1967)
Live footage from Hollywood Bowl (1968)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T_d_VJbYAfc

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"I Heard It Through the Grapevine"
First recorded by The Miracles (Smokey Robinson) August 16, 1966, but not released until 1968. Sorry, not first release.

First released by Gladys Knight & the Pips and released as a single in September 1967; it went to number two in the Billboard chart. At the time, it was the biggest hit in the history of Motown Records. This is more upbeat than the Marvin Gaye version. It's more of a dance version. Gladys Knight, now 76, had a popular new tour after recently finishing #3 in the first TV season of The Masked Singer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqmS961An4c

The Marvin Gaye version was on his 1968 album In the Groove, where it gained the attention of radio disc jockeys. Motown founder Berry Gordy released as a single in October 1968, when it went to the top of the Billboard Pop Singles chart for seven weeks from December 1968 to January 1969 and became at the time the biggest Motown hit single. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hajBdDM2qdg

Creedence Clearwater Revival made an 11-minute interpretation for their 1970 album, Cosmo's Factory.

The lyrics tell the story of the singer's feelings of betrayal and disbelief when hearing of their significant other's infidelity, only indirectly "through the 'grapevine'". The phrase is associated with black slaves during the USA's Civil War, who had their form of telegraph: the human grapevine.


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"Self Control" - Laura Branigan

Originally by a singer called Raf but the Laura Branigan version is the one everyone knows.

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Armand Van Helden-My My My
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilbQjOZlNe4

Original

Gary Wright- Comin’ Apart
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVNz_VYIx90

My-My-My was a popular dance record back in the day, but the original song it’s based on I think went by largely unnoticed and forgotten about.

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Eric Clapton - Cocaine. Originally by JJ Cale.

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Johnny B Goode - Sex Pistols...chuck berry definitely not forgotten, but the cover is fun....


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=O_D3KD3CyqY

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"Both Sides Now" by Joni Mitchell but taken to #8 on the U.S. pop singles chart by Judy Collins.

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