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  Song Artist/Date/Label Remade by
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Fair Swiss Maiden (aka The Swiss Maid) Roger Miller 9-19-61
RCA Victor 7958
Del Shannon (5-9-62), Roger Miller (1965 for Smash)
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Fallen Angel Rogue 1975
Epic 50209
Frankie Valli
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Fallen Star, A Bobby Denton 1957
Tune 202
Nick Noble, Ferlin Husky, Jimmy Newman
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Family Man Mike Oldfield 1982
on lp Epic 37983 Five Miles Out
Hall & Oates
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Farmer John Don & Dewey 1-20-59
Specialty 659
Searchers, Premiers, Tidal Waves, Los Lobos, Neil Young
Don & Dewey's 1957 demo—a much slower arrangement—has also been released.

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Feelin' Alright? Traffic 1968 (spring)
United Artists 50460
Joe Cocker, Dave Mason, Grand Funk Railroad
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Fernando Anni-Frid Lyngstad 1975
on lp Swedish Polydor S265 Frida Ensam
ABBA (9-3-75)
The backing track for Lyngstad's original, which she sang in Swedish, was also used for Abba's hit.

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Feudin' Banjos (aka Dueling Banjos) Arthur Smith & Don Reno 1955
MGM 12006
Dillards, Eric Weissberg & Steve Mandell, Joe Maphis & Zen Crook
The melody is similar to Michael Praetorious's 17th-century dance tune "In The Mountains."

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59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) Simon & Garfunkel 8-16-66
on lp Columbia 9363 Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme
Harpers Bizzare
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Fill Your Heart Tiny Tim 1967 (later)
Reprise 0679
Biff Rose (1968), David Bowie
The song's demo, sung by co-writer Paul Williams, got to Richard Perry as he was producing the God Bless Tiny Tim album. Williams' co-writer, Biff Rose, didn't cut it until months later.

This is not a major David Bowie song but, aside from his Pinups album, he didn't record many covers.

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Fingertips Little Stevie Wonder 1962
on lp Tamla 233 The Jazz Soul Of Little Stevie
Little Stevie Wonder (c. 3-10-63 on Tamla 54080)
Stevie's hit single version was split into Parts 1 and 2 (actually taken from two different live dates).

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Fire Bruce Springsteen c. 8-77
on lp Columbia 88697761771 The Promise (2010)
Robert Gordon w/ Link Wray (12-77), Pointer Sisters, Bruce Springsteen (1978, Columbia 06657 [1987]), Robin Williams
"Fire," and other tracks on The Promise, were cut in the summer of 1977 for Springsteen's Darkness On The Edge Of Town album but not used for various personal and legal reasons.

Bruce wrote "Fire" with Elvis Presley in mind and even sent him a demo. Elvis died soon after so we'll never know what he might've done with the song.

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Fire And Water Free 1970
on lp A&M 4268 Fire And Water
Wilson Pickett (12-11-70)
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First Cut Is The Deepest, The P.P. Arnold 1967 (charted 5-67)
Immediate 1901
Cat Stevens (10-5-67), Koobas, Rod Stewart, Keith Hampshire, Sheryl Crow
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First Time, The (aka First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, The) Bonnie Dobson 1960
on lp Prestige International 13021 She's Like A Swallow
Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger (1962), Kitty White, Kingston Trio (9-26-62), Ewan MacColl (many more times), Gordon Lightfoot, Roberta Flack, Peggy Seeger (1983), Alison Moyet
Ewan MacColl wrote the song in 1957 for Peggy Seeger, whom he married the following year. After composing it, MacColl sang it to Peggy by phone from England while she was in Los Angeles. Bonnie Dobson heard Seeger perfoming "First Time" at the Colorado Folk Festival and ended up being the first to record it.

Bonnie Dobson's Swallow album was reissued in 1964 on Prestige Folklore FL 14015.

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First We Take Manhattan Jennifer Warnes 1986
on lp Cypress 661-111-1 Famous Blue Raincoat
Leonard Cohen, Joe Cocker, R.E.M.
Beginning in the 1970s, Jennifer Warnes worked as a backup singer with Leonard Cohen and the two had become friends. When she wanted to do an entire album of his songs, Warnes ended up with some compositions Leonard had yet to record, including "Manhattan."

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Five Guys Named Moe Irv Carroll w/ Al Jennings 10-21-41
Bluebird 11390
Louis Jordan (7-21-42), Joe Jackson, Jerry Dixon
Five Guys Named Moe was a 1992 Broadway play tribute to Louis Jordan, which ran for 11 years.

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500 Miles Journeymen 3-21-61
Capitol 4625
Peter, Paul & Mary, Kingston Trio (12-7-61), Hedy West, Bobby Bare (as "500 Miles Away From Home"), Seldom Scene
Journeymen member, and future Mamas & Papas leader, John Phillips got (took?) co-writing credit on their single release. Hedy West was the only writer listed on the Journeymen's album and most (all?) subsequent versions.

Bobby Bare's hit was based on Hedy's song but had different verse lyrics. Bare and Charlie Williams were the credited writers although West was later rightfully also listed.

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Flamingo (aka Pretty Flamingo) Gene Pitney 1966
on lp Musicor 3095 Backstage (I'm Lonely)
Manfred Mann (4-23-66), Tommy Vann & Echoes (7-66), Rod Stewart
The song was originally composed as an instrumental titled simply "Flamingo," with lyrics casually written as an afterthought. The Drifters cut a demo but composer Mark Barkan wasn't happy with it. He then did his own arrangement demo with Jimmy Radcliffe on vocals. The song quickly got to Gene Pitney, whose British management also represented Manfred Mann. Soon after Gene's album issue, the title was modified to "Pretty Flamingo" to avoid confusion with the Edmund Anderson//Ted Grouya jazz standard.

Fly Me To The Moon see In Other Words
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Foggy Mountain Breakdown (aka Theme From Bonnie & Clyde) Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs & Foggy Mountain Boys 12-11-49
Mercury 6247
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs (1967 for Columbia), Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Joe Maphis, Stray Cats et al.
Lester Flatt (guitar) and Earl Scruggs (banjo) had been recording for a few years before they cut "Foggy." Interestingly, this now-bluegrass-standard written by Earl, was their first instrumental. The song really came to the public's attention when it was used in the 1967 film Bonnie & Clyde. In fact, Mercury reissued their 1949 recording under the title "Theme From Bonnie & Clyde."

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Follow Me John Denver 11-5-69
RCA 0332
Mary Travers
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Fool Such As I, (Now And Then, There's) A Hank Snow 5-19-52
RCA Victor 5034
Tommy Edwards (11-20-52), Jo Stafford (12-30-52), Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan
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Fools Rush In Bob Crosby w/ Marion Mann 3-18-40
Decca 3154
Tommy Dorsey (3-29-40), Glenn Miller (3-31-40), Tony Martin (3-31-40), Mildred Bailey (4-2-40), Brook Benton, Etta James, Rick Nelson
Adapted from an instrumental by co-writer Rube Bloom titled "Shangri La" (not the Robert Maxwell song of that title).

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For All We Know Larry Meredith 1970
on lp ABC OC 15 Lovers And Other Strangers ost
Carpenters
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For Lovin' Me Ian & Sylvia 1964
on lp Vanguard 79175 Early Morning Rain
Gordon Lightfoot (12-64), Peter, Paul & Mary
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For My Good Fortune Mahalia Jackson 7-10-58
Columbia 41258
Pat Boone
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For Once In My Life Barbara McNair 10-22-65
on lp Motown 644 Here I Am (rel. 11-66)
Jean DuShon, Tony Bennett, Stevie Wonder
McNair's was scheduled to be issued as Motown single #1112, around July of 1967, but it was cancelled. It was finally released on a 45 (Motown 1123) but not until early 1968. A number of artists—including Connie Haines and actor Jack Soo—cut the song before hers. Soo's has not been issued but Haines' is now available as download on a collection titled Motown Unreleased 1965.

Even though she recorded it in 1966, Jean DuShon considers hers the first. It probably was the earliest issued version but according to Motown session records, and the 1965 copyright on McNair's 45, Barbara's was recorded the previous year.

For Sentimental Reasons, (I Love You) see Sentimental Reasons
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For The Good Times Bill Nash 1968
Smash 2178
Kris Kristofferson (10-21-69), Ray Price (3-16-70), Al Green
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For You Joe Green's Marimba Band 3-3-31
Columbia 2429D
Leo Reisman (4-7-31),Glen Gray & Casa Loma Orch. (5-26-33, 1937, 1956), Jimmy Jones, Rick Nelson
First heard in the film Holy Terror (1931). This is not the same song as John Boles' "For You" from the 1930 film Captain Of The Guard.

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Forever Floyd Cramer 6-12-59
on lp RCA 2151 Hello Blues
Little Dippers, Pete Drake
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Forever Autumn Vigrass & Osborne 1972
Uni 55330
Justin Hayward
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Fortune Teller Benny Spellman 2-2-62
Minit 644
Rolling Stones, Hardtimes, The Who, Iguanas, Robert Plant & Alison Krauss
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Four Strong Winds Ian & Sylvia 1963 (spring)
Vanguard 35021
Brothers Four (8-63), Bobby Bare, Neil Young
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Four Winds (aka Let The Four Winds Blow) Dave Bartholomew 3-15-55
Imperial 5350
Roy Brown (1957, 1968), Fats Domino, Taj Mahal
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Fox On The Run Manfred Mann 1968
Mercury 72879
Emerson & Waldron, Country Gentlemen, Tom T. Hall
Although "Fox" wasn't a hit in the US for Manfred Mann, or any other pop artist, it's notable that the song has evolved into a bluegrass standard.

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Fox On The Run Sweet 1974
on lp UK RCA Victor 5080 Desolation Boulevard
Sweet (1975 for US Capitol)
Sweet's 1974 recording was produced by the group's longtime collaborators Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn. The band produced their 1975 version and that's what was issued as a single, and included on the US release of their Desolation Boulevard album.

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Frankie And Johnny Al Bernard w/ Carl Fenton's Orch. 5-21
Brunswick 2107
Paul Biese Trio w/ Frank Crumit (6-10-21), Frank Crumit (1927 for Victor), Ted Lewis, Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Cash, (as "Frankie's Man, Johnny"), Brook Benton, Sam Cooke, Elvis Presley et al.
Various theories abound as to the source of the song's sordid tale. The earliest story goes back to 1813 when a North Carolina woman named Frankie shot her husband dead. Another, in 1889 St. Louis, involves (a different) Frankie gunning down her man who "done her wrong." The composition was first published in 1904 under the title "He Done Me Wrong." Frankie Baker, who claimed to be the perpetrator of the St. Louis murder, unsuccessfully sued Republic Pictures over use of "her" story in their 1936 film Frankie And Johnny.

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Free Bird Lynyrd Skynyrd 6/28 to 7/2-71
on CD MCA 11888 Skynyrd's First (1998)
Lynyrd Skynyrd (4-3-73, 1976)
"Free Bird" was initially recorded as part of the band's intended first album. They weren't connected to a label at the time and once Al Kooper signed them, the group started over on what became their debut lp: pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's demo of "Free Bird," done in October of 1970, has also been issued.

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Freeborn Man Keith Allison 1967
Columbia 44028
Paul Revere & Raiders, Freddy Weller, Outlaws, Jimmy Martin, Bill Monroe
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Freedom For The Stallion Lee Dorsey 1971
Polydor 14106
Hues Corporation, Oak Ridge Boys, Allen Toussaint & Elvis Costello
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Freight Train Chas. McDevitt Skiffle Group w/ Nancy Whiskey 1956 (rel. 12-56)
Chic 1008
Peggy Seeger, Isla Cameron & Guy Carawan, Rusty Draper, Elizabeth Cotten, Peter Paul & Mary, Taj Mahal
Written by Elizabeth Cotten when she was a child. Peggy Seeger, whose family Cotten had worked for, performed in England in the mid-1950s, which explains how Brit Chas. McDevitt picked up the song. Two UK songwirters, mistakenly thinking it was traditional, took the credit but Cotten's name was added in later years.

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Freshman, The Verve Pipe 1992
on CD VP 1001 I've Suffered A Head Injury
Verve Pipe (1996 for RCA [twice])
Their I've Suffered A Head Injury CD was subsequently reissued minus the "Freshman" original.

There were two different versions of "The Freshman" on the RCA CD Villians. The first, produced by Jerry Harrison, was replaced by a Jack Joseph-Puig-produced remake. That second one became the hit.

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Friday's Child Lee Hazelwood 1965
on lp Reprise 6163 Friday's Child
Nancy Sinatra
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Friends Buzzy Linhart 1971
on lp Kama Sutra 2037 The Time To Live Is Now
Bette Midler, Buzzy Linhart (1974 for Atco)
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Friends In Low Places David Chamberlain 1989
Country International 228
Garth Brooks, Mark Chestnutt
Garth Brooks recorded the song's demo in 1989 for writers DeWayne Blackwell and Earl Bud Lee. He cut his hit version the following year.

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From A Distance Nanci Griffith 7-86
on lp MCA 31300 Lone Star State Of Mind
Julie Gold, Bette Midler
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Fugitive Jan Davis 1964
A&M 733
Ventures (2-64), Laika & Astronauts
The Ventures' drummer, Mel Taylor, also played on Davis' recording.

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Fujiyama Mama Annisteen Allen 1954
Capitol 3048
Wanda Jackson
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Funky Broadway Dyke & Blazers 1966
Artco 101/Original Sound 64
Wilson Pickett
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Funny How Time Slips Away Billy Walker 4-21-61
Columbia 42050
Jimmy Elledge, Willie Nelson, Joe Hinton, Dorothy Moore, Spinners, Elvis Presley, Al Green