Don’t worry this post will not be as dramatic as the photo above of two policemen taking cover. It is going to be about a musical post of Rock covers, which were nearly as good, and in some cases better, as the originals.
Cum On Feel The Noize-Original by Slade. Covered by Quiet Riot
You Really Got Me: Original by The Kinks-Covered by Van Halen
Diane: Original by Husker Du-Covered by Therapy?
I Love Rock And Roll: Original by The Arrows-Covered by Joan Jett And The Blackhearts
Renegades of Funk: Original by Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force-Covered by Rage against the Machine
Sometimes you hear a song on the radio and you may have actually heard this song for many years,always thinking it was an original. However it often happens that these “originals” are actually copies or covers.
In this blog I will be looking at the songs in the original language, sometimes performed by the same artist.
Below are some of these real originals. Starting off with the Germans. A nation not that known for it’s musical abilities,well at least in Pop music terms. In the 80s though they came up with this new wave of German music, called “die Neue Deutsche Welle” or New German wave in English.
One of the leading bands were Nena, fronted by the lead singer Nena.
They had a massive worldwide hit with 99 Red balloons, the original however was in German “99 Luftballons”
In 1988 the Munich band Münchener Freiheit, renamed for the English speaking countries to “Freiheit” had a massive  hit with the song”Keeping the dream alive” it actually became a Christmas hit even tough it had nothing to do with Christmas.
But the original is called “So lang’ man Träume noch leben kann”
“It’s now or never” was one of Elvis’s biggest hits and you may be forgiven that the original was in English.
However the original date back to the 19th century. “’O sole mio” is a globally known Neapolitan song written in 1898. Its lyrics were written by Giovanni Capurro and the music was composed by Eduardo di Capua and Alfredo Mazzucchi. Here performed by Pavarotti.
One of my favourite crooners is Bobby Darin.
His version of “beyond the sea” always puts me in a nostalgic mood. It was however a cover from the French chanson “la mer” a song written by French composer, lyricist, singer and showman Charles Trenet.
When Frank Sinatra sang ” I did it my way” he did it in more then one way.
“My way” is a cover of the French song “Comme d’habitude” French for “As usual”) is a French song composed in 1967 by Claude François and Jacques Revaux with lyrics by Claude François and Gilles Thibaut.
The Irish folk band the Fureys had a worldwide hit wit “the red rose cafe” .The original Dutch version  is called “het Kleine cafe aan de haven” which translates in the little pub at the harbour. It was written,performed and composed by Pierre Kartner under his artist name Vader Abraham(no it’s not a name of a Sith lord in Star Wars?.Who also composed and performed “the Smurf song”
As bonus I will also include the original Dutch version of the Smurf song by the aforementioned Vader Abraham
History of Sorts 
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