Ten Songs You May Not Know Were Covered: Twistin' the Night Away (#8)

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Here's another entry in that wacky world of covers. Most of the time I've been dealing with big hits that were actually, unknown to many, covers. This time, though, it's songs that most people didn't realize had other hit cover versions. Here's the next song, with an artist we've already met. #8: Twistin' the Night Away Apparently the 70s were the decade to "cover Sam Cooke songs." The first song in this countdown was Cat Stevens' version of "Another Saturday Night." Steve Miller covered "You Send Me" on his classic Fly Like an Eagle album in 1976. Here we have another one of Cooke's great rock hits, which was a top ten hit in 1962. It had the word twist in the title, so it was almost guaranteed to be a hit (thanks to things like Chubby Checker's "The Twist" and Joey Dee and the Starliters in 1960 and 1961, respectively). Fast forward to 1972. We haven't had the American Graffiti or Happy Days "early rock" nostalgia craze hit yet, so you can't chalk the fact that Rod Stewart decided to cover this song on his Never a Dull Moment album up to the 50s/early 60s revival. And, as Cat Stevens' cover of "Another Saturday Night" came two years later, you can't even say it was "cool to cover Cooke" at that point. Heck, maybe Rod Stewart started that craze. At any rate, Stewart's version of "Twistin' the Night Away," filled with late 50s/early 60s jargon ("he's dancing with a chick in slacks") and words that had dramatically changed meaning since the original ("where the people are so gay" was not a homosexual reference, nor was the "dancing with an older queen" ), was released as a single but didn't fare all that well, peaking at #59. Maybe the outdated slang had something to do with it. Stewart re-recorded it for the 1987 film Innerspace, and that single did much worse, peaking only at #80. It's completely different than the upbeat Cooke original, thanks to those great guitar riffs from Ronnie Wood. Of course, you have to like Rod's voice to like this version. I do. Twistin' the Night Away Written by Sam Cooke Originally recorded by Sam Cooke, 1962 Covered by Rod Stewart, 1972 (and again in 1987) Here's the Never a Dull Moment version from Rod: