What Beatles or Rolling Stones songs have that many covers? . . . I'm not sure if any Lennon McCartney song is covered so often; sure, you can point to them writing some song that Chad and Jeremy recorded and things like that, it's not the same thing.
Oh, dear. Let's begin by reminding one and all that Chad & Jeremy never put a cover of a Beatles' song on the charts, nor did
the Beatles ever give them a song . . . but the Beatles
did give Peter & Gordon three songs (one of which Paul McCartney wrote under
an assumed name to see if the song would click because it was good and not because it had any tie to the Beatles) that they themselves
never recorded commercially, "A World Without Love," "Woman" (the non-de-plume song), and "I Don't Want to See You Again." (How did
Peter & Gordon have such an in at the time when half the business wanted the Beatles? Easy---Peter Asher's sister, Jane, was Paul McCartney's
main squeeze at the time.)
Now, sit down and learn, students . . .
Believe it or not, the Beatles' "Yesterday" has the record for the most recorded cover versions of
any song,
ever---over
2,200 times. Says
who? Says
The Guinness Book of World Records, says who.
There are also 510
more covers of Beatles songs on record, making them the
most covered artist---2,710 covers---in
any genre of
all time. It isn't even close. (The second-most covered song of all time in any genre
may be Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled
Water," but I can't find a firm number for the song, from Guinness or elsewhere.)
Among covers of other Beatles songs, there are said to be 106 covers of "Eleanor Rigby," 75 covers of "Hey Jude," 65 covers of "Let It Be,"
64 covers of "And I Love Her," and 60 covers of "Come Together."
Behind the Beatles for most-covered artist? It
may be Chuck Berry. There may be just under 2,000 covers of Chuck Berry's songs known
to have been released commercially, and the number one cover of any Berry song is probably "Johnny B. Goode," with a reported 648. Not
quite "Yesterday," but taken cumulatively he's at least knocking on the Beatles' doors. (Which reminds me that John Lennon---who might have
been the Beatle who most admired Berry's music---once said, "If you were to call rock and roll by another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'.")
The Rolling Stones are known to have been covered 438 times---and their
most-covered song (about 200, believe it or not) is . . .
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction."
Bob Dylan is known to have been covered 608 times. His ten most-covered songs, from one to ten: "Blowin' in the Wind," "Don't
Think Twice, It's All Right," "I Shall Be Released," "Mr. Tambourine Man," "Like a Rolling Stone," "Knockin' on Heaven's Door,"
"All Along the Watchtower," "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight," and "The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)."
(Amazon figured that one out.)
Buddy Holly's known to have been covered about 1,043 times total. The top ten covers of Buddy Holly songs: "Peggy Sue" (83), "Not
Fade Away" (82), "Rave On" (69), "That'll Be the Day" (66), "Oh Boy" (59), "True Love Ways" (58), "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" (55),
"Everyday" (45), ""That's My Desire" (45), and "Maybe Baby" (38). (I was kind of surprised, too---even knowing the Rolling Stones
had their first U.S. hit with a thrusting version of "Not Fade Away," or that it got a new life when the Grateful Dead began including
it in their marathon concerts after it proved a popular entry on their
Grateful Dead live set, I didn't think it would be
that close to
"Peggy Sue" for Holly's most covered song. I thought for sure that numero two-o---thank you, Joe Bob Briggs!---would have been
"That'll Be the Day.")
Stevie Wonder's been known to have been covered 533 times; Frank Sinatra, 493; Marvin Gaye, 396; Michael Jackson, 391; Queen, 371;
U2, 336.
"Psychotic Reaction" is still one of my favourites among the 1960s garage band-style records, but alas there are only eleven known
recorded covers of the song. The bar bands may love it (so did early New Wave rockers Television, who often played it in their live sets
in the 1970s; I know, because I saw Television at the legendary CBGB in New York City in 1976 and "Psychotic Reaction" was part of
their set, though they never included a version on either of their known live albums,
The Blow Up and
Live at the Old Waldorf,
San Francisco), but only
eleven artists other than the Count Five (also including Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, who included a
version in their box set) re known to have released versions of the song commercially.
