Beaten To The Punch: 15 Covers Released Before The Original

Aretha Franklin

The word of songwriting can be a funny business. For many artists, writing a hit song can be an elusive goal that takes decades, if it ever happens at all. For others, they can find success covering a classic track without their own originals ever making it big.

Artists such as Elvis Presley made entire careers out of either covering songs or singing tunes written for them, and then there are songwriters whose job it is to simply pen the tracks made famous by big names.

Sometimes, too, there are rare instances where an artist can write a song, but by the time they release their own version, another artist has beaten them to the punch.

In the 2010s, this became a somewhat common occurrence, with these tracks known as prerelease cover versions. Effectively, due to some songs receiving widespread airplay before an official release date or the ability to be purchased physically and/or digitally, a handful of artists were able to craft their own take on the tunes and achieve chart success before the original artists.

Decades earlier, however, this was an occurrence that was less common, but still took place with noted regularity. As a result, we've collected a handful of tracks whose original recordings were officially unleashed into the world well after another artist had already shared their take on the tunes.

It's worth noting, this list doesn't include songs that were written by one artist with the specific intention of being given to another before they too recorded their own version. Rather, this is for the songs that were organically covered – one way or another – before the original songwriters got a chance to share their own rendition.

Aretha Franklin & The Beatles – Let It Be

Cover Released: January 1970

Original Released: March 1970

The title track to their last album, and the final single released by The Beatles before they announced their split in April 1970, Let It Be remains a poignant cut, written by Paul McCartney following a dream about his late mother.

Originally recorded in early 1969, McCartney handed a demo of the song to Atlantic Records' Jerry Wexler who in turn passed it over to soul legend Aretha Franklin. The Queen Of Soul was reportedly so taken with the song that she recorded her own version in December 1969 for her 16th album, This Girl's In Love With You, which arrived the very next month.

Franklin also covered The Fab Four's Eleanor Rigby as the very next song on the album, but she missed the boat in pioneering the cut, which had been out for three-and-a-half years by that point.

Three Dog Night & Elton John – Your Song

Cover Released: March 1970

Original Released: April 1970

When Elton John released his self-titled second album in April 1970, few could have expected just how big he would be within just a matter of years. However, for most casual fans, the record is best remembered for including Your Song, the opening track which became John’s first internationally-charting single.

The Bernie Taupin-penned lyric remains one of the most memorable in John’s catalogue, and has impressed countless musicians for decades. One of the acts it inspired was Three Dog Night, the Los Angeles rock outfit who took John on the road as an opening act for a recent tour, and had heard the song.

They recorded the track for their 1970 album It Ain't Easy, but decided to not release it as a single to let the then-upcoming John take the glory. John’s album arrived the next month, he released the track as a single later that year, and these days, it’s considered one of the most iconic and influential songs in rock history.

Concrete Blonde & Andy Prieboy – Tomorrow, Wendy

Cover Released: May 1990

Original Released: July 1990

There's a good chance you may be unaware of the name Andy Prieboy these days, but in the '80s, he was best known as the vocalist for Wall Of Voodoo, taking over from Stan Ridgway and finding fame with their Australian top 40 single Far Side Of Crazy.

After his own departure from the band, he turned his attention to a solo record, releasing …Upon My Wicked Son in 1990. One song on the record, Tomorrow, Wendy, was a touching lyric about a friend of Prieboy who had taken her own life instead of passing from an AIDS-related disease.

Needing a female vocalist, Prieboy recruited Johnette Napolitano of gothic rockers Concrete Blonde, who also recorded their own version of the song, which pre-dated Prieboy's own when it was issued on their Bloodletting album in May 1990.

Later that same year, Prieboy toured Australia with Concrete Blonde, and a stunning live rendition of Tomorrow, Wendy was so well-received that it made it into triple j's third Hottest 100 countdown in 1992, hitting No. 5.

Steve Miller Band & Paul Pena – Jet Airliner 

Cover Released: April 1977

Original Released: September 2000

A staple of classic rock radio, this entry might better be suited for a list of 'songs you didn't know were covers', if anything. However, when Steve Miller was writing his Fly Like An Eagle album in 1975, he was handed New Train, an as-yet-unreleased album by blind singer and songwriter Paul Pena.

Originally planned for release in 1973, New Train was to be Pena's second album, but ultimately – despite the appearance of greats such as the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia – went unreleased until 2000. Those who heard it, however, were lucky enough to hear the original version of Jet Airliner as track No. 3.

Ultimately, it took a total of 27 years for Pena's second album to arrive. In the meantime, however, he received well-deserved royalties for his role as songwriter for Jet Airliner, which would be issued on Steve Miller Band's Book Of Dreams album in 1977, where it hit the US top 10, and remains one of their most memorable songs. 

John Cale & The Modern Lovers – Pablo Picasso

Cover Released: November 1975

Original Released: August 1976

Arguably one of the world's best, and often underrated songwriters, Jonathan Richman's way with words was at its formative best on Pablo Picasso, the closing track on the first side of The Modern Lovers' self-titled debut album.

Rhyming the titular subject's name with 'El Dorado', 'avocado', and ‘asshole’, the track was recorded just as John Cale was nearing the end of a decade spent as a founding member of The Velvet Underground. Releasing his sixth studio album, Helen Of Troy, in November 1975, Cale also included his own version of Pablo Picasso, which he'd overseen the recording of back in 1972. 

By this time, The Modern Lovers had initially split and their version of the track looked set to languish in the vaults. Thankfully, their full debut album would be officially released in August 1976, and the world was blessed with one of the finest – and most influential – records of all time.

Manfred Mann & Bob Dylan – Quinn The Eskimo (Mighty Quinn)

Cover Released: January 1968

Original Released: June 1970

Bob Dylan has had so many covers of his songs recorded that the topic has warranted its own Wikipedia page. In 1968, the latest act to do so was Manfred Mann, who issued their own rendition of Dylan's Quinn The Eskimo (Mighty Quinn) as the second single from their fifth and final album, Mighty Garvey!.

At the time of its release, Dylan was yet to officially record his own studio version of the track. In fact, there had been no real plans for it to be recorded professionally when it was first demoed in 1967, but Dylan had his applecart upset somewhat when that demo was issued on one of the first rock bootleg albums, Great White Wonder, in July 1969.

The next month, Dylan appeared at the Isle Of Wight Festival, where the song's debut performance was recorded and later issued on his 1970 album, Self Portrait.

Billy Joel & Bob Dylan – Make You Feel My Love 

Cover Released: August 1997

Original Released: September 1997

These days, there’s a good chance most folks know Make You Feel My Love because of the performance Adele shared of it on her debut album, 19. Years before it became a 21st century standard, it was written by Bob Dylan for his 30th album, Time Out Of Mind, in September 1997.

One months earlier, however, Billy Joel had issued the third volume of his Greatest Hits compilation series. Arguably the weakest of his Greatest Hits albums, the record closes with three cover songs, including Gerry Goffin and Carole King's Hey Girl, and Leonard Cohen's Light As The Breeze. The last of these was Dylan's then-unreleased song, then titled To Make You Feel My Love by Joel.

While Dylan’s version wasn’t released as a single, Joel’s hit No. 50 on the US charts, and when Garth Brooks covered the song for the Hope Floats soundtrack (which also featured a version by his future wife, Trisha Yearwood) the following year, the track topped the US Hot Country Songs chart.

Boz Burrell, The Band & Bob Dylan – I Shall Be Released

Cover Released: May 1968

Original Released: July 1968

A threepeat for Bob Dylan here, trainspotters might be calling foul with mention of The Band in the the heading above, but hear us out. While I Shall Be Released was written in 1967 and recorded by Dylan with his Canadian backing outfit The Band, their version would go unreleased for decades, until it emerged on the ongoing Bootleg Series compilations.

The Band would indeed release their own version of the song in July 1968 on Music From The Big Pink, but even then, they weren't the first ones to share the song. That honour goes to Boz Burrell, who would release his version in May, with founding Deep Purple members Ritchie Blackmore and Jon Lord as uncredited backing musicians.

By 1971, Burrell had joined King Crimson as their vocalist, and Dylan released his Greatest Hits Vol. II album, featuring his own version of I Shall Be Released. Showing just how easy it is for Dylan to feature on this list, the compilation also featured the unreleased song Down In The Flood – though fans would’ve heard that one years earlier had they flipped Burrell’s 1968 single over and listened to the B-side.

The Flying Burrito Brothers & The Rolling Stones – Wild Horses

Cover Released: April 1970

Original Released: April 1971

On December 6th, 1969, The Rolling Stones took part in the infamous Altamont Free Concert, which – alongside resulting in the death of 18-year-old Meredith Hunter – boasted a line-up that included Santana; Jefferson Airplane; Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young; and The Flying Burrito Brothers.

That same month, the Stones were in the process of recording Wild Horses, the second single from 1971's Sticky Fingers album. The Flying Burrito Brothers' Gram Parsons managed to hear a demo of the song and swiftly requested to share the band's take on the song themselves. 

The Stones agreed, but only under the condition it wasn't issued as a single. They agreed, and instead, the song was included as the closer to Burrito Deluxe in April 1970. It would prove to be something of a footnote for Parsons, who was dismissed from the group just one month later.

Johnny Winter & The Rolling Stones – Silver Train

Cover Released: March 1973

Original Released: August 1973

Much like Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones were no strangers to letting other acts at their catalogue early. In August of 1973, the group released their 11th album, Goat’s Head Soup, which has retrospectively been viewed as the record at which their commercial popularity began to decline.

Still full of stellar tracks, side B of the record opened with the track Silver Train, which fans would have heard days earlier had they flipped to the B-side of Angie, which had just been issued as a single. A fitting place for the track, it had months earlier also appeared as the opener to side B of Johnny Winter’s 1973 solo album, Still Alive And Well.

The story goes that Winter had heard a demo of the song during the Stones’ recording sessions and had expressed a fondness for it. As a result, his version went out only a few months before the Stones got to share their own original. Fittingly, Winter’s record also closes with another cover of the band, 1969’s Let It Bleed.

The Dixie Cups & Darlene Love – Chapel Of Love

Cover Released: April 1964

Original Released: September 1992

In the '60s, it was not just common, but standard business practice for songwriters to pen tracks before shopping them to labels, if they weren't already working with a label. This practice would also result in countless artists releasing songs which had themselves been recorded by another artist just months or weeks prior.

In 1963, however, Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector wrote the enduring Chapel Of Love, which was specifically penned for Darlene Love, who had previously recorded Spector's hits with both The Blossoms and The Crystals. 

However, Spector wasn't a fan of Love's April 1963 version of the song, and instead passed it onto nascent New Orleans trio The Dixie Cups, whose February 1964 version was their debut single, and went on to top the US charts.

Love's version would go unreleased for decades, and in fact wouldn't appear as a single or on any of her albums, instead being relegated to a position on her 1992 compilation, The Best Of Darlene Love. Starkly different to the more famous version by The Dixie Cups, it makes one wonder how things would have gone for Love had her version made it into the world first.

Jackie Ross & Evie Sands – Take Me For A Little While

Cover Released: July 1965

Original Released: July 1965

While many of these early cover versions have been done in good faith, Evie Sands is an example of an artist having their career almost derailed by such a situation.

In 1965, Sands had been working with Blue Cat's Red Bird label, which had issued its first single the year prior with The Dixie Cups' Chapel Of Love. Eager to kickstart her career as a solo act, Sands recorded the Trade Martin-penned Take Me For A Little While, which was pressed up and prepared for release.

Someone with access to the test pressing of the song heard the track, took it over to Chess Records, and subsequently gave it to Jackie Ross, whose team helped her record and press her version in around 48 hours. Beating Sands to sale by a week, this head start (and backing of a team at a label such as Chess) led to Ross scoring most of the publicity, who – unaware of what had gone on behind the scenes – parted ways with the label soon after.

Sands’ career stumbled slightly as a result, and while the song received moderate airplay and minor chart success (reaching No. 114), she wasn’t disheartened. She continued her musical career, receiving further chart success in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, eventually largely retiring from performing by the end of the decade.

Pat Boone & Tim Buckley – Song To The Siren

Cover Released: May 1969

Original Released: November 1970

Arguably, one of the best known versions of Song To The Siren is credited to This Mortal Coil, which featured Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser taking on lead vocals. As a result, some are often surprised to learn that it was Tim Buckley – also known as Jeff Buckley's father – that originally wrote the song in the late 1960s.

Penning the song with Larry Beckett in 1967, Buckley had trouble recording the song, despite a 1968 performance on The Monkees' eponymous TV show offering great promise. While it was later released on his 1970 album Starsailor, it was none other than conservative Christian pop icon Pat Boone that gave the track its debut.

Boone's recording – released on his Departures album – is a little jarring to those who know other, more famous versions. For one thing, the oompah music that accompanies him (and the addition of the words "Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" in the opening) feels a tad out of place, and it seems he doesn't embody the same sense of foreboding and emotion that This Mortal Coil would later add to the track.

Judy Collins, Dave Van Ronk And The Hudson Dusters, Frank Sinatra & Joni Mitchell – Both Sides, Now

Cover Released: June 1967

Original Released: May 1969

By the time that Canadian music icon Joni Mitchell released her debut album in 1968, the singer had been enchanting crowds with her voice for years. Likewise, she had been enchanting fellow artists with her musical capabilities. 

Case in point is the song Both Sides, Now, which Mitchell had been performing live since at least 1966, but didn't see a release under her own name until her 1969 album, Clouds. By June 1967, Dave Van Ronk And The Hudson Dusters had released their own version under the name Clouds, and by 1968 Judy Collins had also released her own version of the track, giving her her only top ten hit when it reached No. 8 in the US.

Just seven months after Mitchell released her debut album, Frank Sinatra had even shared his take on the track. To date, it's a little unclear whether Mitchell had actually shopped this song around or if the power of her own songwriting had simply inspired plenty of attention and ultimately led to her signing a record deal, but we're choosing to believe it's the latter.

Jordan Laser & Kisschasy – Howling

Cover Released: November 2025

Original Released: December 2025

Back in August 2009, Melbourne rockers Kisschasy released their third album, Seizures. Fans eagerly expected the record to be followed by a fourth LP, but this never happened. In fact, in 2015, the band split, eventually reforming for the Good Things Festival in 2022.

However, Kisschasy had recorded a batch of demos for their fourth album, though they never saw the light of day. That is, until December 2025 when the band gave their fan club a preview of what could have been with Howling.

If the track sounded familiar, that was because just one month earlier, Sydney artist Jordan Laser had released her own version of the song. “She's done a really great job of reworking it, and it's given it a whole new life," Kisschasy's Darren Cordeux told The Music last year. "I was like, ‘Oh, this sounds like the way it should have been recorded.'"

Though it remains to be seen whether the demos for Kisschasy's planned fourth album will ever see the light of day, they are releasing their first album in 17 years, The Terrors Of Comfort, on February 13th. Howling, sadly, remains absent from the track list.

Honourable Mention: The Hollies & The Beatles – If I Needed Someone

Cover Released: December 3rd, 1965

Original Released: December 3rd, 1965

To calculate which of these went on sale first, you’d need a photo finish of record store stockists on the day of December 3rd, 1965. That’s the day when The Beatles issued their sixth album, Rubber Soul, and the same day that The Hollies released their single, If I Needed Someone – whose original could be found on Rubber Soul.

Written by George Harrison, the track was largely considered to be his finest work up to that point, but due to the fact it wasn't released as a single, it missed out on chart success. Two months earlier, however, The Hollies – who were at that point largely recording other people's songs – were given a demo of If I Needed Someone by producer Ron Richards, who had in turn received it from The Beatles' manager George Martin.

Despite initial apprehension about recording the song due to the bands’ hometowns of Manchester and Liverpool sharing a rivalry, The Hollies relented, recording it in the same studio as The Beatles. It went on sale at the same time as Rubber Soul, and swiftly hit No. 20 in the UK – giving Harrison his first chart hit.

While Harrison and The Hollies' Graham Nash would later become friends, the former wasn't a fan of the recording, calling it "rubbish" and noting it was "technically good, yes. But that's all." Nash would claim it was Harrison's comments that prevented the song from performing better on the charts.