4 Major Hits From 1970 That You Might Not Have Known Were Covers

The year 1970 featured a wild mix of styles and artists on the pop charts throughout the year. Things were changing rapidly on the music scene, opening doors for new acts while veterans tried to keep their footing. Matters were shifting so rapidly that many fans might not have even realized that some of the biggest hits of the day had been done before. Here are four massive hits from 1970 that you might not have realized were covers.

Videos by American Songwriter

“(They Long To Be) Close To You” by Carpenters

Most people know Richard Chamberlain as an actor who became a staple of miniseries in the 70s and 80s. But in the 60s, he was a teen idol thanks to his role in the series Dr. Kildare. And, like many teen idols, he tried his hand at music success. Chamberlain delivered the first take on “(They Long To Be) Close To You” back in 1963. It wasn’t a hit, which was a rarity for a song written by the duo of Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The Carpenters unlocked the song’s potential in 1970. With Karen Carpenter’s yearning vocals lending weight to the playful arrangement, the song made it all the way to No. 1 on the charts.

“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Diana Ross

Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, who’d later turn into imposing artists in their own right, wrote this classic. Dusty Springfield wanted to record it, but the pair of writers stayed laser-focused on placing the song at Motown. They managed to do just that. Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell duetted on a Top 20 hit version of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” in 1967. But when Diana Ross recorded the song in 1970 as one of her first post-Supremes moves, her take dwarfed the success of the duet. Ross’ version of the song upped the drama significantly, as she glided ethereally over it all on her way to her first solo No. 1.

“Get Ready” by Rare Earth

We now think of “Get Ready”, written by Smokey Robinson, was one of the signature songs of The Temptations. But at the time it was released in 1966, the song barely scraped the Top 30 of the pop charts. That made it a bit of an underperformer by Motown standards. A few years later, Motown head Berry Gordy Jr., in an effort to branch out a bit, signed the rock band Rare Earth from right in the label’s backyard of Detroit. The group had been playing a version of “Get Ready” live for a while when Gordy requested that they record it. They did a take that was over 20 minutes long, taking up the whole second side of an album. Edited down to under three minutes for radio, it made it to the Top 5.

“Mama Told Me (Not To Come)” by Three Dog Night

Three Dog Night possessed a knack for taking the work of unheralded songwriters and making it soar for mass consumption. In 1970, Randy Newman was still very much under the radar as a songwriter. He had written “Mama Told Me (Not To Come)” for Eric Burdon & The Animals, who recorded it in 1967. And Newman did his own low-key take on the song the same year that Three Dog Night was turning it into a No. 1 smash. The band created an insinuating little musical hook that wasn’t there originally while also changing up the structure of the refrain a bit. But what helped sell it more than anything was the lead vocal of Cory Wells, who played up the role of frazzled party-goer to the hilt.

Photo by Roger Jackson/Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images