Songs You Might Not Know Were Covers (Round 8): Without You (#3)

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Okay, this might go in the “songs you may or may not know were covers.” A lot of people do know that the hit version of this song is a cover....and yet a lot of people don’t know that. Either way, it’s a great song, so here it is. #3: Without You The killer song of all time. (Sir Paul McCartney) And waddaya know, it’s time for another one of those “it’s a generational thing” things! In 1993 Mariah Carey had a top five hit with the song “Without You.” Young fans were swooning. OFs (Old Farts) were groaning. According to Picky Wedia, singer/songwriter Chris DeBurgh called her version “a joke.” Sheesh, Chris, go pay the ferryman! (Hopefully you’ll get that joke. PS — his cover of the song is pretty darn good.) Yep, let’s face it, if you grew up hearing Harry Nilsson’s break-your-heart-and-the-glass rendition, there’s not a whole heck of a lot that anyone else can do to this song....except spoil it. (I got about six words into Carey’s version before saying, “Nope.”) Of course, you know Harry wasn’t first, since it’s here. The story (per Wikipedia) is that Nilsson heard it at a party and thought it was a Beatles song. When he found it wasn’t he jumped on it like ugly on an orangutan. Why would he think the original was a Beatles song? It was originally by Badfinger, a band that had a Beatles-ish sound to them on more than one occasion. Personally, I don’t think it sounds that much like the Beatles, but I’m glad Nilsson did. It made him turn it into one of the great classics of the 70s. Without You Written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans Originally recorded by Badfinger, 1970 Famously covered by Harry Nilsson, 1971 Also famously covered by Mariah Carey, 1993 The Badfinger original: