10 Covers You Keep Mistaking For The Original Song

More artists borrowed their way to success than you may think.

the clash
Wikipedia

There are many reasons why someone would want to cover another artist's song. It could be out of genuine love for the work and wanting to re-release it through your own voice, as a tribute of admiration to the original artist, as a way of using nostalgia for a song to bring it into a new era, or just to make a quick buck off of an established piece of music.

Whatever the case, covers are certainly a mainstay of the modern music industry.

However, there are some that have been released over the years that have actually surpassed the original in popularity. When released in the right place at the right time, a cover can eclipse its predecessor and come out on top when it comes to withstanding the test of time. So much so, that there are some popular, recognisable and attributable tracks out there you may have heard a million times without even realizing that they are, in fact, covers.

Here are just ten examples of various songs you may have just thought were the original version, yet there's someone else in need of crediting instead...

10. I Fought The Law - The Clash

Original Artist: The Crickets

There many versions of the song I Fought the Law in existence. It's been performed by Grateful Dead, Green Day, Dead Kennedys, Social Distortion and Johnny Cash to name but a fraction of the artists who have covered it.

However, the rendition of this track that is undeniably the most popular is the one by The Clash, as this version seems to have withstood the test of time better than all the others. This has led some to believe that the English punk rock group were the original artists. However, this is not the case.

The original version of I Fought the Law was actually released by rockabilly group The Crickets in 1960, a whole nineteen years before The Clash's version would be released, and just one year after the group's former guitarist, the great Buddy Holly, met his end in a plane crash.

As a side note, some also believe that the original version of the song was by The Bobby Fuller Four, when in reality, The Crickets still had them beat by five years.

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A film-loving wrestling fan from west Texas who will live and die by the statement that Return of the Jedi is the best Star Wars movie and unironically cherishes the brief moment and time when Deuce & Domino were WWE Tag Team Champions. Hates honey, but loves honey mustard.