‘My Way, ‘Hallelujah’ Among the Most Covered Songs in Rock Era

The Beatles lead the way with most covered rock songs. ‘All Along the Watchtower’ tops the playlist of cover songs better than the original.

Prologue

To determine the most covered songs in popular music history, the website Stacker collaborated with WhoSampled.com to develop a comprehensive database of this sincerest form of flattery. As expected, Christmas music is by far the top category and won’t be included here.

Not surprising either is the strong presence of Beatles songs. The Fab Four have prospered from over 4,000 cover versions of their catalog. Conversely, the Beatles’ cover version of “Twist and Shout,” in which John Lennon shreds his voice, is more robust than the Isley Brothers original.

Here are four songs with an extensive cover history. A playlist of 12 cover songs better than the original version follows.

“My Way”

In the late ’60s, an American icon was contemplating retirement. Like others of his generation, Frank Sinatra–“The Voice”–could feel a seismic culture shift as rock ‘n’ roll became the preferred form of music. “I’m getting the hell out,” Sinatra said in an interview.

Meanwhile, former teen idol Paul Anka was spending time in France when he heard “Comme D’Habitude” (translation: As Usual) sung by French pop artist Claude Francois. When he returned to New York, Anka rewrote some lyrics and realized the song was tailor-made for Frank Sinatra, Anka’s good friend. Anka:

[Frank] would always tease me, ‘Hey kid, when are you going to write me a song?’ But I couldn’t. I was scared. I was writing all this teen stuff…[Once Anka finished,] I called up Frank in Nevada–he was at Caesar’s Palace–and said, ‘I’ve got something really special for you.’

So special was Anka’s creation that it revived Sinatra’s career and gave him a signature song (until “New York, New York” in 1980). “My Way” is a staple at karaoke bars around the world. There are a reported 137 covers of “My Way,” by artists like Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Tom Jones, Dionne Warwick, and Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols (that’s Vicious on the closing credits of Goodfellas).

Here is Frank performing “My Way” live at Madison Square Garden in 1974, published by Frank Sinatra via YouTube:

“Something”

Speaking of Sinatra, he famously called this Beatles’ essential “the greatest love song of the last 50 or 100 years.” “Something”  remains the only George Harrison-penned song that the Beatles released as a single. Harrison wrote it for his wife Patti Boyd, who would go on to inspire future husband Eric Clapton to write “Layla” and Wonderful Tonight” for her.

Harrison worked on “Something” during the White Album sessions though it ended up on Abbey Road. George admitted the first line was lifted from James Taylor’s “Something in the Way She Moves.” Taylor was then signed to Apple Records and shared recording space with the Beatles.

With a reported 171 cover versions (only “Yesterday” has more in the Beatles tally), “Something” has a distinguished cover roster: Ray Charles, James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Norah Jones, and Joe Cocker. And of course Frank.

“Hallelujah”

The story of “Hallelujah,” heralded as “music’s greatest work in progress,” is about the unsung musicians who pounced on Leonard Cohen’s unlikely gem and became prominent in their own right. There are 300 known versions of the song, sung by the likes of John Cale, Jeff Buckley, k.d. lang, Rufus Wainwright, Alexandra Burke, Brandi Carlile, and Regina Spektor. Each added his or her own wrinkle to the song, enriching its legacy.

The lyrics are shrouded in mystery–the chorus consists of one word, “Hallelujah”–and Cohen revealed little when he said the song came from “a desire to confirm my faith in life, not in some formal religious way, but with enthusiasm, with emotion.”

Here is probably the most famous cover of Leonard Cohen’s 1984 recording, performed by Jeff Buckley with lyrics included, published by Jeff Buckley Music and Vevo via YouTube:

“Ain’t No Sunshine”

Bill Withers was working in a factory making toilet seats for airplanes when “Ain’t No Sunshine” came to him. A demo tape of the song was given to Booker T. Jones, the Stax Records stalwart who led Booker T. and the MGs.

“Ain’t No Sunshine” was recorded with an all-star cast of session players: Booker T. on keyboards, Stephen Stills on guitar, and drummer Jim Keltner. The song won a Grammy for Best R&B Song in 1972.

There are a reported 148 cover versions of “Ain’t No Sunshine.” The artists include Paul McCartney, Joe Cocker, Sting, Stevie Wonder, the Temptations, Al Jarreau, and Tom Jones.

Here’s Bill Withers performing “Ain’t No Sunshine” live at BBC in Concert on May 11, 1974, two minutes in length, published by Bill Withers via YouTube:

Better Than the Original:
“All Along the Watchtower”

Bob Dylan version: Dylan’s cryptic lyrical imagery has a joker and a thief conversing about, well, corruption and privilege? An allegory of the cutthroat music business? There are dozens of interpretations. “Watchtower” is the best track from Dylan’s 1967 John Wesley Harding and is included in every greatest hits package.

Jimi Hendrix version: Hendrix had a fanatical devotion to Bob Dylan’s music. He once cleared everyone off a New York City dancefloor and then insisted the DJ play “Blowing In the Wind.” He decorated his cover version of “Watchtower” by punctuating his Gibson Flying V guitar with “wah-soaked flourishes, haunted Hawaiian swoons, and trilling the single note outro.”

The feeling was mutual. Bob Dylan has performed “Watchtower” more than 2,250 times, and his live version was strikingly similar to the Hendrix cover version.

In his liner notes to his Biograph Collection, Dylan wrote: “Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it’s a tribute to him in some kind of way. I like Hendrix’s record, and ever since he died, I’ve been doing it that way.”

 

Playlist:
12 Cover Songs Better Than the Original

All Along the Watchtower – The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Bob Dylan)
Without You – Harry Nilsson (Badfinger)
Blinded by the Light – Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (Bruce Springsteen)
Black Magic Woman – Santana (Fleetwood Mac)
Nothing Compares 2 U – Sinead O’Connor (Prince)
Because the Night – Patti Smith (Bruce Springsteen)
Twist and Shout – The Beatles (The Isley Brothers)
I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll – Joan Jett & the Blackhearts (The Arrows)
Respect – Aretha Franklin (Otis Redding)
Me and Bobby McGee – Janis Joplin (Kris Kristofferson)
Woodstock – Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (Joni Mitchell)
I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston (Dolly Parton)