All About Cover Versions of Famous Songs! Quiz

Answer: Neil Diamond

Neil Diamond recorded and released his version of "Red, Red Wine" for his 1967 album "Just For You". His version reached number 62 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1968. UB40 released their version in 1983 and went to number one, but did not find similar success in the American market. That changed, however, when they re-released "Red, Red Wine" in 1988 and managed to score a number one chart position on the Billboard Top 100.

Answer: Tunnel of Love

How do you follow-up "Born in the U. S. A.", the most successful album of your career with millions of copies sold and the title cut used in Ronald Reagan's 1984 presidential campaign? Springsteen answered that by recording "Tunnel of Love", his 1987 album that dealt with marital difficulties and intense family struggles and romantic woes. The most successful single was "Brilliant Disguise".

"No More Looking Over My Shoulder" would be the last album Tritt would release for Warner Brothers before moving to Columbia Records.

Answer: Amanda Marshall

"Dark Horse" appeared on Amanda Marshall's self-titled debut album. Elton John praised Amanda Marshall's work on the "Rosie O'Donnell Show", saying he felt "Dark Star" had the potential to be a big hit for her. Marshall wrote the song with David Tyson and Dean McTaggart. Her debut album has been certified Diamond, selling over one million units.

Answer: Pat Benatar

Benatar had a hugely successful single in "Love is a Battlefield" from 1983. She followed that smash hit up with "We Belong", which was the lead single from the sixth album of her career "Tropico". Eric and Dan, under the name "Lowen & Navarro", would become performing artists in their own right in 1987 and recorded and toured until 2009. Lowen was diagnosed with ALS and passed away in 2012.

Their version appeared on the 1990 album "Walking on a Wire".

Answer: Providence

"Providence" was a medial drama that ran from 1999 to 2002 with 96 episodes. John Lennon, the song's principal composer, said that "In My Life" was his "first major piece of work", due to the personal nature of the song. Numerous artists have covered the song, including Johnny Cash, Judy Collins, Ozzy Osbourne, and even a Swedish version sang by Siw Malmkvist from 1970.

Answer: "Greatest Hits Vol. II" (1971)

In 1967, Dylan recorded close to 140 songs, including many new compositions at the time, with members of the Band in the basement of a house called "Big Pink". These sessions would latter become known as "The Basement Tapes". Several (but by no means all) of the original songs were assembled as a demo album that Albert Grossman, Dylan's manager, shopped around for other acts to consider recording. In 1968, The Band included three Basement Tapes songs on their debut: "Tears of Rage", "This Wheel's On Fire", and "I Shall Be Released". In 1971, Dylan re-recorded "I Shall Be Released", "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere" with lyrical changes, and "Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood)" for his "Greatest Hits Vol. II" compilation.

Strangely enough, when Dylan and the Band released "The Basement Tapes" in 1975, they omitted the original 1967 recording of "I Shall Be Released". That original recording would not be officially released until 1991 on "The Bootleg Series Vol 1-3".

Answer: Whitney Houston

Dolly Parton first released the track as a single in 1974. The song was written about her business partner and mentor, Porter Wagoner, and appeared on Parton's album "Jolene". Her single went to Number On on the Billboard Hot Country Songs but was not nearly as successful on the pop charts. In 1982, she recorded a new version of the song for the movie "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas". In 1995, and after Whitney Houston's massive success with the song, she recorded a third version. This time it was a duet with Vince Gill. This version peaked at Number 15. The song also appears as a live version on her 2008 "Backwoods Barbie" album, though this time as an exclusive iTunes bonus track.

In 1992, Whitney Houston was going to record Jimmy Ruffin's song "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted" for the soundtrack to "The Bodyguard", her film debut. However, that song was slated to appear in the film "Fried Green Tomatoes". Houston's cost-star, Kevin Costner, suggested "I Will Always Love You" and had Houston listen to the Linda Ronstadt version that appeared on her 1975 album "Prisoner in Disguise". Houston's recording became one of the most successful singles of all time, selling over twelve million copies and regularly appearing on critics' "Best of" list throughout the years since its initial release. The single spent a record smashing fourteen weeks at Number One on the Billboard Top 100, and is also the longest number one single from a soundtrack album. Houston picked up two Grammys for the recording in 1994: Record of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female.

Answer: Jeff Buckley

Leonard Cohen wrote the song and issued his version on 1984 on the album "Various Positions". In the late 1980s Cohen would perform the song live with a different set of lyrics, with only the last verse being the same between the two versions. Several artists who have covered the song have mixed and matched lyrics from both versions.

Jeff Buckley recorded the song and included it on his 1994 debut album "Grace". Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 259 on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", which the magazine released in 2003. Like Cohen's version, Buckley's version was never released as a single. Buckley died in 1997 due to accidental drowning.

Answer: Hall & Oates

Having finished their ninth studio LP "Voices", John Hall and Daryl Oates had gone out to eat and came across The Righteous Brothers' recording of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" in the jukebox and decided to cover the song. Their arrangement stripped away the Wall of Sound style of the original recording. Their rendition proved successful, peaking at number 12 on the Hot 100 Chart, and was their biggest success at the time. They would later produce a string of chart-topping singles with original compositions.

Recorded in August and November 1964 and released December 1964, "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" by The Righteous Brothers became a world wide smash, hitting Number One in both the UK and the United States. According to BMI in a 1999 study this song had more radio and television airtime than any other song ever recorded. The song appears at Number 34 on "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The song is one of the principal examples of Phil Spector's famous production technique called "the Wall of Sound". The song was considered too long for contemporary stands at 3:45, so Spector had the false time printed on the record and single labels, with the song supposedly running at 3:05 rather than its real length. Interestingly enough, a young Cher is one of the background vocalists on the recording.

Answer: Red Hot Chili Peppers

Released in 1973, "Higher Ground" proved to be a smash hit for Stevie Wonder. The song got a whole new lease on life when the Red Hot Chili Peppers recorded a cover version and released the song as the lead single off their 1989 album "Mother's Milk". "Higher Ground" has become one of the most highly regarded of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and a cornerstone of their career success in the early days of the band.

Their recording would be used in various films, TV shows, and video games.