I’m often fascinated with songs and their remakes.  To my mind, the most successful remake of a song is Jimi Hendrix’s version of Bob Dylan’s All Along the Watchtower.

The original Bob Dylan version:

The Jimi Hendrix version:

’nuff said.

But there are cases where original songwriters have written songs and subsequently given them to others to record.  Sometimes those recordings prove to be very popular.

Mott the Hoople’s All The Young Dudes was written -and I believe features some background vocals- by David Bowie.  Perhaps the most fascinating thing about the song is that, according to Mr. Bowie, it was originally intended to be included in the Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars album!

Mr. Bowie would go on to perform that song many times in concert.  He even recorded his own version(s) of it.  To my ears while they may be good, Mott the Hoople version still feels like the definitive version:

Now check out Sorcerer, a song sung/recorded by Marilyn Martin but written by Stevie Nicks.  It originally appeared in the 1984 film Streets of Fire:

It would appear Stevie Nicks remembered and liked the song enough to “take it back” in 2001, recording and releasing her own version in the album Trouble in Shangri-La:

Unlike All the Young Dudes, I can’t decide which version of Sorcerer I like more.

Interesting stuff, to my mind!