It always seemed like a strange choice to me. Not that the two are necessarily incompatible, but when you’re a gnarly ‘70’s rock and roll band named after smoking weed, writing a song about Jesus was at least a little unexpected. Yet there they were, the Doobie Brothers, in 1972, testifying on what would become one of their most recognizable hits, ‘Jesus is Just Alright.’ Whoa yeah.

But recently I heard a song intro carrying a familiar jangly, 12-string Rickenbacker sound and thought: hey, that’s gotta be The Byrds. And then, moments later…that’s The Byrds doing ‘Jesus is Just Alright’! So I did a quick check: The Byrds’ version was released in 1969, thus meaning it wasn’t, in fact, a Doobies song after all (interestingly, it turns out it wasn’t a Byrds original either; it was first recorded by the Art Reynolds Singers in 1966 as a straight gospel tune).

Naturally this got me to thinking about how many other famous and popular songs had other lesser-known, earlier versions (often, but not limited to, original recordings). The answer, in short, is: a lot.

Here then is at least a partial accounting of such seemingly inverted occasions (followed, at the bottom, by a playlist containing both the famous cover and less familiar version, back-to-back). Some aren’t all that obscure; surely you’re aware of Carl Perkins doing ‘Blue Suede Shoes’ before Elvis, Otis Redding’s ‘Respect’ coming prior to Aretha’s standard, and Springsteen’s original of ‘Blinded By The Light’ preceding the bigger hit by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band. Others, though, may well be quite surprising, if not outright jarring, to hear. Just about everything in the early Led Zeppelin catalog was lovingly lifted – including once from, of all people, Joan Baez (we’ve chosen 5 Zep re-makes to close the list below). But did you also know that the “Soul Queen of New Orleans” Irma Thomas recorded ‘Time Is on My Side’ before The Rolling Stones? That Santana’s breakout hit ‘Black Magic Woman’ was actually covering Fleetwood Mac? (it’s true). Or that Cyndi Lauper wasn’t the first to sing ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’…and that the earlier rendition was, perplexingly, by a man?!

Be honest: that answer is probably no, you didn’t.

Song – Lesser-known earlier version before Famous record

‘Jesus is Just Alright’ – The Byrds before The Doobies Brothers
‘Train Kept A Rollin’’ – Tiny Bradshaw before Aerosmith
‘What A Man’ – Linda Lyndell before Salt-N-Pepa w/ En Vogue
‘Loco-Motion’ – Little Eva before Grand Funk Railroad
‘Respect’ – Otis Redding before Aretha Franklin
‘Hard to Handle’ – Otis Redding before The Black Crowes
‘Hound Dog’ – Big Mama Thornton before Elvis Presley
‘Blue Suede Shoes’ – Carl Perkins before Elvis Presley
‘I Fought The Law’ – Bobby Fuller Four before The Clash
‘Cocaine’ – J.J. Cale before Eric Clapton
‘Black Magic Woman’ – Fleetwood Mac (w/ Peter Green) before Santana
‘I Love Rock and Roll’ – The Arrows before Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
‘Blinded By The Light’ – Bruce Springsteen before Manfred Mann’s Earth Band
‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’ – Robert Hazard before Cyndi Lauper
‘Red Red Wine’ – Neil Diamond before UB40
‘Tainted Love’ – Gloria Jones before Soft Cell
‘The First Cut is The Deepest’ – P.P. Arnold before Rod Stewart
‘Time is on My Side’ – Irma Thomas before The Rolling Stones
‘Torn’ – Ednaswap before Natalie Imbruglia
‘Black Betty’ – Lead Belly before Ram Jam
‘Twist and Shout’ – The Isley Brothers before The Beatles
‘Hallelujah’ – Leonard Cohen before Jeff Buckley
‘I Will Always Love You’ – Dolly Parton before Whitney Houston
‘The Man Who Sold The World’ – David Bowie before Nirvana
‘Me and Bobby McGee’ – Roger Miller before Janis Joplin
‘Alone’ – i-Ten before Heart
‘Ol’ 55’ – Tom Waits before The Eagles
‘I’m A Man’ – Spencer Davis Group before Chicago
‘It’s My Life’ – Talk Talk before No Doubt
‘Babe I’m Gonna Leave You’ – Joan Baez before Led Zeppelin
‘You Shook Me’ – Muddy Waters before Led Zeppelin
‘Dazed and Confused’ – Jake Holmes before Led Zeppelin
‘When The Levee Breaks’ – Memphis Minnie before Led Zeppelin
‘Bring it On Home’ – Willie Dixon before Led Zeppelin

…This earlier/original version is apparently rare enough to not exist on Spotify (it’s omitted from the playlist above), but you can sample the original male-perspective take on Lauper’s signature song here.