These 4 Songs Were Written by The Beatles and Recorded by Their Musical Idols

We know that The Beatles had many admirers among other musicians. They were also huge music fans themselves. Once they secured their clout in the industry, some of those folks whom the Fab Four held up as idols started recording their songs.

We found four examples where artists that The Beatles greatly adored took on their material. And they did so with fascinating results.

“Something” by Ray Charles

In terms of the number of times that a Beatles song has been covered, “Something” ranks way up there. (“Yesterday”, of course, stands as the all-time leader in that department.) The famous story here is that when Frank Sinatra covered “Something” in concert, he would often credit it as a Lennon/McCartney song. In actuality, George Harrison wrote the track. He initially envisioned it as something that Ray Charles might sing. Two years after The Beatles’ own version appeared, Charles got around to recording the track on his 1971 album Volcanic Actions Of My Soul. The R&B legend used his clever phrasing to wring every last bit of emotional potency from the song.

“Lady Madonna” by Fats Domino

Fats Domino managed to stay true to the roots of R&B while winning the adulation of early rock and roll fans as well. His husky vocals and rolling piano-based rhythms immediately set him apart from his competition. When you heard a song by Fats, you couldn’t really mistake it for anybody else. When Paul McCartney composed “Lady Madonna”, with its quick-fingered piano style and its smoky atmosphere, he thought of Fats Domino as a kind of touchstone. You can even hear it in the vocals, as McCartney does a little bit of mimicry. Domino must have caught wind of it. He soon did his own easy-rolling version of the track on the 1968 album Fats Is Back.

“Isn’t It A Pity” by Nina Simone

Nobody took control of a song quite like Nina Simone. Even when she was simply singing the melody, her tremulous voice could somehow find hidden meanings in lyrics that even the writers didn’t know were there. On top of that, her willingness to ad-lib, change up the lyrics, and generally transform a song made her covers high-wire acts. George Harrison certainly admired what she could do with his songs, considering she took on a few of them. Simone did a memorable version of The Beatles’ classic “Here Comes The Sun”. But instead, we’re highlighting her thrilling effort on “Isn’t It A Pity”, the cavernous lament Harrison recorded on his All Things Must Pass album.

“On The Wings Of A Nightingale” by The Everly Brothers

Whenever you hear John Lennon and Paul McCartney singing two-part harmony on Beatles’ records, you’re hearing two guys deeply indebted to The Everly Brothers. And not just in terms of the singing, but also when you’re talking about tight pop song construction. Lennon and McCartney even used to jokingly call each other Phil and Don as homage to the pair. Alas, the two brothers battled personally for many of the years that they thrived professionally. They reunited in 1984 for their first album in 11 years. And McCartney set the sprightly tone by writing the lead single for EB ’84. “On The Wings Of A Nightingale” just missed the Top 40 in both the US and the UK.

(Photo by Tony Russell/Redferns)

The post These 4 Songs Were Written by The Beatles and Recorded by Their Musical Idols appeared first on American Songwriter.