Another Ten Songs You May Not Know Are Covers: Move It On Over (#6)

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Halfway through the third look at hit songs that turned out to be cover versions! The nice thing is it's hard to run out of material here, because there are a lot of covers out there. In fact, I might actually do one called "ten songs that everyone knows are covers." Meanwhile, here's today's entry. #6: Move It On Over Storming out of Wilmington, Delaware in the late 1970s, George Thorogood was a stark-sounding contrast to what was popular at the time. You had disco, punk, and smarmy-beyond-smarmy pop. Into that mix went Thorogood and his band, the Delaware Destroyers (later just the Destroyers) with some good, down home blues-based boogie rock. Think ZZ Top without the beards. One of his early "hits," if you will (he's never had a top 40 hit, and his only appearance on the "Hot 100" peaked at #65), was a smoking slide guitar-dominated rocker called "Move It On Over." It was a lighthearted look at an argument between a man and his wife where he ended up, quite literally, in the doghouse. As the title track to his second album it helped solidify Thorogood as a mainstay in guitar-heavy bare-bones rock and roll. And he can thank Hank Williams for that. "Move It On Over" began its life with the Hillbilly Shakespeare. Needless to say, there's a little bit of difference in the versions. Williams' original is guitar heavy, indeed, but it's steel guitar, along with some great fiddle work. Delaware blues-rock meets Alabama hillbilly king and gives us one of the most successful songs in George Thorogood's career. Move It On Over Written by Hank Williams Originally recorded by Hank Williams, 1947 Famously covered by George Thorogood and the Destroyers, 1979 I'll be busy scratching fleas: