Top 10 Songs You May Not Know Are Remakes
So many songs are remakes, and you know it. But sometimes a song does so well and you might not know that it’s not the first time around. Here are some songs you may not know are remakes.
- “Black Magic Woman” – The best-known version is, of course, by Santana, but it had already been recorded by Fleetwood Mac
- “I Love Rock & Roll” – Six weeks at number one made this the song for which Joan Jett & The Blackhearts are known, but it was originally by a band named The Arrows
- “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” – Who doesn’t know this staple of the 80’s from Cyndi Lauper? The same people who might not know it was originally written and sung by a guy named Robert Hazard.
- “Hazy Shade Of Winter” – The Bangles had a fun hit with this song that was featured on the soundtrack of the 1987 movie Less Than Zero. However, it was originally by Simon & Garfunkel.
- “I Feel For You” – Chaka Khan’s big hit from 1984. Originally on Prince’s self-titled album in 1979.
- “Red Red Wine” – A hit for UB40 that brought reggae into mainstream, but written and sung by Neil Diamond.
- “Blinded By The Light” – Bruce Springsteen’s original song sounds like it’s about nonsensical ideas. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band’s remake sounds like it’s about female hygiene products. The lyric is actually ‘revved up like a deuce’ which is a reference to a ‘deuce coupe’.
- “(There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me” – The Naked Eyes version came out in 1983, but it wasn’t the only remake of this song. There were plenty of other versions since the original demo by Dionne Warwick in 1963. The first release was by Lou Johnson who got modest results from this song in 1964.
- “Respect” – Aretha Franklin’s biggest hit came out two years earlier by Otis Redding.
- “Cum On Feel The Noize” – Hard rock hit by Quiet Riot in 1983. Lead singer Kevin DuBrow wasn’t a fan of the song so he tried to sing it as poorly as he could. The original was by a British band named Slade in 1973. Slade had a more refined song in the 1980’s, “Run Runaway,” which did better for them anyway.
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