Here’s the tune that started me down the path of songs that have reached #1 by more than one artist. When recently writing about “songs I didn’t know were covers,” I featured the original recording of ‘Venus’ by psychedelic rock band Shocking Blue in 1969.
I am very familiar with the 1986 Bananarama hit and was surprised to learn that not only was the recording a cover, but that the original was a big hit in its own right.
The next two songs to become number one hits for more than one artist are both 80s covers of 60s hits. I guess there was something intriguing about hearing a new era’s production techniques applied to the music of the previous generation.
The first 80s song to accomplish the feat was Kim Wilde’s 1986 cover of The Supremes’ ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On,’ released 20 years earlier. The song was Wilde’s first and only #1 hit in the United States, while it was The Supreme’s eighth #1 in just two years.
The third song to reach #1 by two different artists was ‘Please Mr. Postman,’ though arguably the best-known version of the track belongs to a band that didn’t send it up the charts.
‘Please Mr. Postman’ was the 1961 debut single of The Marvelettes, and the first song on the Motown label to reach #1. The all-female quartet was one of Motown’s biggest successes before they were eclipsed by The Supremes a few years later.
It took three years for the second song by two different artists to reach #1. And, wouldn’t you know it, the same co-writers were responsible.
Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote ‘The Loco-Motion’ for Little Eva, who released her version in 1962. Twelve years later, Grand Funk Railroad saw their take on the song hit #1, giving them their second chart-topper in as many years (‘We’re an American Band’ was the first).
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that only nine songs have made it to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 by two different artists. Over the next nine weekdays I’ll reveal those titles, rolling them out chronologically based on the release date of the second single.
The first song to achieve this impressive feat is one I’d never heard before today. Written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, ‘Go Away Little Girl’ is a rather creepy song about a guy in a relationship telling the titular little girl to leave him alone lest he be tempted to cheat.
Meet Me In Montauk 