Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - August 13, 2025 [DJ Rex]

Good evening Horde. The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the overnight variety.

Welcome to the Wednesday night ONT. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Be nice to your fellow commenters and AoS contributors.

TRex appreciates good music but has no musical ability and has modest knowledge of music theory and history. My musical tastes are wide and varied, but not sophisticated or informed. When in doubt, I tend to favor big and loud music, much like a child likes banging on empty coffee cans. What can I say? Small brain, short arms.

Recently, I went down a musical rabbit hole on cover songs. Because I did, you will be dragged into the hole along with me. Given the comments in last night's ONT that unknowingly strayed into Wed ONT space, I think we'll be fine. Hopefully, you enjoy this musical ONT. The breadth and depth of sonic entertainment will serve the usual ONT appetite for random content variety.

Covers walk a tightrope. Is the goal to stay faithful to the original? If so, why do a cover unless you can add something new? If not, then why bother? Playing a song you like at a concert is one thing, but taking the next step to record and release it as something "new" is another. How much can an artist pay homage or "make it their own" and still preserve the bones of the original? It is a difficult balance and (in my opinion) most fall into the category of "just because you can, does not mean you should." But what do I know?

We're just doing covers. We're not doing parodies (sorry, Weird Al) or modern songs that sample from older songs. Seems like everyone has recorded and re-recorded Christmas classics, so let's leave those aside for now too.

What songs did you not realize were covers until later in life?

What songs were done better by the original than any that came after?

What songs were done better by the subsequent cover artist?

What songs have been covered and recorded by the most different artists?

What covers completely transformed the original into something new?

Does anyone know how original artists get paid when their songs are covered with success later?

Dolly wrote and recorded the original "I Will Always Love You" in 1974:

Whitney did it in 1992 for the movie The Bodyguard:

Many others have recorded the song.

Otis Redding originally recorded and released "Respect" in 1965.

Aretha Franklin re-arranged it and recorded it and made it hers two years later.

Roy Orbison recorded "Oh, Pretty Woman" in 1964:

Van Halen followed in 1982 (with one of the oddest music videos, but it was the 80s):

Nine Inch Nails did "Hurt" in 1994.

Trent Renzor acknowledged that Johnny Cash made it his in 2002 with his cover version. Cash did the same thing with "Ring of Fire" several decades earlier.

It isn't a secret, but most don't know that "I Love Rock n Roll" was originally done by The Arrows in 1975.

Joan Jett and The Blackhearts released their version in 1982.

Likewise for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." Robert Hazard first recorded it in 1979.

Cindy Lauper overhauled it with an 80's syth sound and made it famous. The advent of MTV helped.

For some reason, Miley Cyrus did her own version in 2008:

"Tainted Love" was written by Ed Cobb, formerly of American group the Four Preps, and originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964.

The version by Soft Cell in 1981 is the more well-known version.

The Soft Cell version is actually a cover two-fer. The second part of the song blends into "Where did our love go" which is a Supremes song.

Many on the interwebs apparently mistakenly think that Depeche Mode recorded it rather than Soft Cell. I'm not familiar with Soft Cell, but the interwebs say they released original music such as "Sex Dwarf" and "Say Hello, Goodbye" on their album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret."

Marilyn Manson recorded "Tainted Love" in 2001 for the soundtrack of "Not Another Teen Movie." If you're into that sort of thing, you can find it on YT. Manson also did a cover of "Sweet Dreams" which was dreadful and we should never speak of it again.

Other random well known covers:

Metallica covered "Whiskey in the Jar" in 1998. The traditional Irish Folk song was recorded by the Dubliners in 1968 and Thin Lizzy in 1972.

Metallica also memorably did "Turn the Page" by Bob Seger. Metallica recorded covers songs from their early inspirations that I won't link to here, but the royalties have been a unexpected but welcome source of income for those bands.

Jimmy Hendrix - "All along the Watchtower". Original: Bob Dylan

The Isley Brothers "Twist and Shout" was covered by The Beatles.

If you listen to nothing else on this thread, listen to the oldest known existing recording of "The House of the Rising Sun." It is an old Appalachian folk song recorded by Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster in 1933. Ashley said he learned it from his grandfather, Enoch Ashley. You'll appreciate the version recorded by The Animals in 1964 even more. Many others recorded it subsequently.

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" had to be in here somewhere. Of all the songs on this list, this one comes to mind most for widespread recognition of both the original by Bob Dylan from 1973 and the remake from Guns N' Roses in 1990.

"Red red wine" by UB40 is a 1983 reggae cover of Neil Diamond's song recorded in 1967.

Scampydog included the Bangles in the ONT last night, so let's add them to the list. "Hazy Shade of Winter" was done by Simon and Garfunkel in 1966 before the Bangles recorded it in 1987.

Does "Walk this Way" fit in here somewhere? Aerosmith recorded the original in 1975 and then Run DMC gave it new life by collaborating with Aerosmith in 1986.

This section was supposed to be filled with simple and clearly explained knowledge on how original artists are compensated when others record and sell covers of their work. After doing some research, the answers get into licenses, rights, and other legal and business stuff. I have a small brain and short arms, so I decided to skip that and get to the Pittsburgh Scanner. Feel free to explain or post links to resources you think are credible.

The Pittsburgh Police Scanner: The Pittsburgh police scanner keeps giving. Thank you people of Pittsburgh!

And for the grand finale...

This day in 1982...

Ironically, the best known song from the movie wasn't included in the official soundtrack album/CD.

Late breaking crime blotter food news: DC man charged with felony assault after hitting federal agent with Subway sandwich

[Sean Charles] Dunn was allegedly captured on video Sunday night shouting that a group of federal officers were "fascists" before whipping his deli sandwich at them and striking a US Customs and Border Protection agent in the chest.

The criminal complaint says Dunn confessed to a DC police officer, "I did it. I threw a sandwich."

Picture the jailhouse dialogue with his fellow inmates:

"What are you in for?"

"I attacked a cop at Subway."

"Wow! You tried to take out a cop in the subway?"

"No. I threw my ham and cheese at a guy wearing body armor."

"Oh."

Lots of unacceptable versions out there, but here is an acceptable Thunderstruck cover for the big ONT finish:

TRex is an original. Not a copy. Written correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Are you lurking ?? Thank you for your attention to this matter.

posted by Open Blogger at 09:59 PM

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