Who Did It First: Great Pop Cover Songs and Their Original Artists BobLeszczak. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.Who Did It First: Great Rhythm and Blues Cover Songs and Their Original Artists Bob Leszczak. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefie

Abstract

Who Did It First: Great Pop Cover Songs and Their Original Artists Bob Leszczak. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014.Who Did It First: Great Rhythm and Blues Cover Songs and Their Original Artists Bob Leszczak. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2013Who Did It First: Great Rock and Roll Cover Songs and Their Original Artists Bob Leszczak. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014Bob Leszczak has delivered three marvelous books that capture much of the history of American popular music over the last seven decades. As the titles indicate, these books are organized around the concept of one singer or group recording (or covering) a song that had already been recorded by another singer or group. Covering is quite common in the music business, and it takes many forms. It could be the hit of an original artist recorded by a subsequent artist who might have as big or even a bigger hit than the original artist. Or it can be a song that initially did not have much commercial success but was taken by another performer- to-hit status. There are many stories associated with cover songs, and Leszczak seems to know close to all of them.One of the more unusual covers-at least in the sense of commercial success (or lack thereof) and history-is Elvis Presley's recording of Mystery Train. Presley's rollicking ride on that train long ago entered the annals of rock history as a masterpiece, and he would still be performing it in concert in the 1970s. The song was written by Little Junior Parker and recorded by Little Junior's Flames in 1953 for Sun Records. The original version was a minor regional hit but did not chart nationally. Elvis would record it for Sun Records in 1955 in what would be his last release on the Sun label. Elvis's rendition also would be a regional hit that did not chart nationally. Nor would its RCA single re-release in 1956 hit the national charts. So here we have a legendary song given a legendary performance by a legendary artist, and neither this performance nor the original enjoyed commercial success in the typical use of that term.In these books, Leszczak discusses 1,173 songs that have been covered. They go as far back as at least 1928 (Al Jolson's My Mammy covered thirty-nine years later by The Happenings), although most are from the 1940s on. More than these 1,173 songs, however, are discussed. Leszczak often takes the opportunity to discuss other songs related to the artists or to the covered song at hand. He also discusses other notable covers (often album cuts) of the song being discussed. These discussions are uniformly informative and interesting. The breadth of Leszczak's knowledge is so great that even the most informed reader will likely come away thinking on more than one occasion, I did not know that.These books are well organized, and everything is readily accessible. At the beginning of each book, there is an alphabetical listing for each song, e.g., Act Naturally by Buck Owens before The Beatles. …