Not every one-hit wonder was the original recording artist of the song for which they became the most famous, as proven by these four one-hit wonders from the mid-1960s to the late 1970s. Impressively, these singular hits managed to outshine the original versions in performance, production, or a mix of the two.<\/p>\n
While we certainly intend no disrespect to artists like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Leadbelly, there is something undeniably fresh about the way these one-hit wonders reimagined their compositions.<\/p>\n
\u201cLotta Love\u201d by Nicolette Larson<\/p>\n
Depending on who you ask, the origin story of how Nicolette Larson got to cover Neil Young\u2019s 1978 track, \u201cLotta Love\u201d<\/a>, varies. According to Linda Ronstadt, she was the one who suggested Larson cover the track. According to Larson, she first heard the song after playing a cassette tape she found lying on the floorboards of Young\u2019s car. When she told Young what a good song she thought it was, the Canadian singer-songwriter reportedly replied<\/a>, \u201cYou want it? It\u2019s yours.\u201d<\/p>\n Young didn\u2019t release the song as a single on his ninth album, Comes a Time. But it was the main single from Larson\u2019s eponymous album, Nicolette. Her version peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100.<\/p>\n \u201cAll Along the Watchtower\u201d by Jimi Hendrix<\/p>\n Calling Jimi Hendrix a one-hit wonder might seem sacrilege now, as he exists among the greatest musicians in rock \u2018n\u2019 roll history. But in the 1960s, his chart performance didn\u2019t necessarily reflect that. In fact, his only Top 40 hit to date was a cover of Bob Dylan\u2019s \u201cAll Along the Watchtower\u201d<\/a>, which effectively earns Hendrix a spot on our list.<\/p>\n Hendrix\u2019s cover of Dylan\u2019s song is a rocking testament to the importance of making a cover song your own, no matter how much you might respect the original. On a rare occasion\u2014this one included\u2014the original artist might even start using the cover version as a template for future performances.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Girl from Ipanema\u201d by Astrud Gilberto<\/p>\n Pery Ribeiro was the first recording artist to release a version of the mellow bossa nova standard, \u201cThe Girl from Ipanema\u201d, which Ant\u00f4nio Carlos Jobim and Vin\u00edcius de Moraes penned in the early 1960s. But the most ubiquitous version of this track is by Stan Getz, internationally renowned jazz saxophonist, and Astrud Gilberto<\/a>, a Brazilian singer making her first major record label debut.<\/p>\n Something about the way Gilberto delivers the lines about a \u201ctall and tan and young and lovely\u201d walking to the beach and ignoring the admiring stares of onlookers makes the song more melancholic. A one-hit wonder for Gilberto, this cover version of Jobim and Moraes\u2019 song forces the listener to question how a girl so lovely could also seem so wayward and forlorn.<\/p>\n \u201cBlack Betty\u201d by Ram Jam<\/p>\n Like Jimi Hendrix\u2019s one-hit wonder cover version of \u201cAll Along the Watchtower\u201d, the Ram Jam version of \u201cBlack Betty\u201d<\/a> is virtually unrecognizable compared to the original song by Lead Belly. Musicologists John and Alan Lomax documented a cappella versions of this traditional folk song dating back as early as 1933<\/a>. Ram Jam\u2019s hard rock version would come four decades later in 1977.<\/p>\n Ram Jam disbanded shortly after releasing their cover version of \u201cBlack Betty\u201d, leaving us to wonder what other songs they might have put out to rid themselves of their one-hit wonder distinction. Nevertheless, the one major hit they do have remains a beloved track to this day, often overshadowing the fact that a previous version even exists.<\/p>\n Photo by Sherry Rayn Barnett\/Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Not every one-hit wonder was the original recording artist of the song for which they became the most…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216,34562,17172,2156],"class_list":{"0":"post-280457","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-one-hit-wonders","11":"tag-pop-music","12":"tag-rock-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}