What a joy it must be for an artist to write and release a song that’s embraced by the masses. Most musicians would be thrilled to score even one charting hit that sells thousands if not millions of copies.
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Occasionally, an artist has revisited one of their famous tunes and given it an updated reworking, only to see the new version also become a major hit. These new renditions sometimes are reimagined and rearranged in a different style and/or tempo. In other instances, an artist has found chart success with a live version of one of their earlier hits.
[RELATED: 4 Times Famous Musicians Re-Recorded Their Own Songs Later in Their Careers]
Here are four artists who had charting hits on the Billboard Hot 100 with multiple versions of the same song:
Neil Sedaka – “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” (1962 and 1975)
Neil Sedaka had a series of pop and rock-and-roll hits in the late 1950 and early 1960s. One of the singer-songwriter’s biggest hits was the upbeat doo-wop tune “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do.” The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in the August 1962.
The tune featured backing vocals from the all-female R&B session group The Cookies.
Fast forward to the mid-1970s. Sedaka was enjoying a career resurgence at the time after scoring a chart-topping hit with the ballad “Laughter In The Rain,” and Captain & Tennille had a No. 1 smash with his song “Love Will Keep Us Together.”
Neil decided to record a slow, smoky rendition of “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do,” based on a version pop singer Lenny Welch had a hit with in 1970.
Sedaka’s updated take on “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do,” which was released in 1975, began with a snippet of the energetic intro to the original version, then kicked into the slow, piano-driven remake. The new rendition peaked at No. 8 on the Hot 100 and topped Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart in 1976.
Eric Clapton – “Layla” (1970 and 1992)
After the breakup of his short-lived supergroup Blind Faith, Eric Clapton formed the new band Derek and the Dominos in 1970. The group also featured keyboardist/singer Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle, and drummer Jim Gordon, who, like Clapton, toured with Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett in 1969 and 1970.
While Derek and the Dominos were recording what became their only studio album, Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs, they were joined on most of the tracks by slide-guitar master Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band.
The album’s centerpiece was the emotional rock anthem “Layla,” which Clapton wrote about his then-unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, the wife of his good friend George Harrison. The song featured soaring guitar interplay between Clapton and Allman, as well as a melodic piano-driven outro played by Gordon. “Layla” peaked at No. 10 on the Hot 100 in 1972, and became one of Eric’s all-time most-popular and acclaimed tunes.
Clapton revisited “Layla” when he recorded an episode of MTV’s Unplugged acoustic performance series in 1992. Eric reworked the song as a slow, jazz-blues shuffle. The soundtrack to the show, Unplugged, became hugely successful, topping the Billboard 200 for three weeks in March 1993. The acoustic version of “Layla” reached No. 12 on the Hot 100. It also was honored with a Grammy for Best Rock Song.
Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Free Bird” (1973 and 1976)
Lynyrd Skynyrd’s 1973 debut album, (Pronounced ’Lĕh-’nérd ’Skin-’nérd), featured the band’s classic Southern rock anthem “Free Bird.” The epic, 9-minute tune was co-written by lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Allen Collins. The song ends with a supercharged guitar duel between Collins and Gary Rossington.
The studio version was edited down and released as a single in November 1974, after Skynyrd had put out their sophomore album, Second Helping. It peaked at No. 19 on the Hot 100.
In September 1976, Lynyrd Skynyrd released a successful double-live album titled One More From The Road. The album was recorded in July 1976 at a three-show stand at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta.
A lengthy performance of “Free Bird” appeared as the last song on the record. It featured Van Zant interacting with the crowd, and paying tribute to late Allman Brothers Band guitarist Duane Allman. The singer also introduces keyboardist Billy Powell, who delivers a pretty piano interlude.
The live version of “Free Bird” also was released as a single, peaking at No. 38 on the Hot 100.
Aerosmith – “Walk This Way” (1975 and 1986)
“Walk This Way” was a gritty, funky rock tune featured on Aerosmith’s third studio album, Toys In The Attic. The song was co-written by frontman Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry, and highlighted by Tyler’s attitude-heavy vocals and Perry’s groovy riffing.
Although Toys In The Attic was released in 1975, “Walk This Way” didn’t peak on the Hot 100 until early 1977, when it reached No. 10.
In 1986, Tyler and Perry teamed up with popular hip-hop act Run-DMC to record a new version of “Walk This Way” that deftly brought together rock and rap. Producer Rick Rubin suggested that Run-DMC cover “Walk This Way” after Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels had started rapping over a loop of the beginning of the song in concert.
After recording the tune, Tyler, Perry, and Run-DMC didn’t want it to be released as a single. It turned out to be a groundbreaking and very popular track, reaching No. 4 on the Hot 100. It remains Run-DMC’s highest-charting single.
(Photo by Mick Hutson/Redferns; Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for The Recording Academy )
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