Ten Songs You Might Not Know Were Covers (Vol. 5): Always on My Mind (#6)

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Ah, it's a two-fer Thursday! For today's looks at covers I'm going with songs that have been covered multiple times. To switch things up a bit I thought I'd start with the one you might not have known was a cover...even if you did. (That may be true of the other song today, but we'll worry about that when we get there.) #6: Always on My Mind Willie, Willie, Willie. I say this all the time: fabulous songwriter, lousy singer. To paraphrase that t-shirt, friends don't let Willie Nelson sing on one and three. So Willie wins a Grammy for doing whatever he did to this song. Five years later, the Pet Shop Boys rescue the song and people say, "Oh, listen to them doing a Willie Nelson song." Not so fast. Back when Willie still had short hair and no beard Elvis Presley recorded this song. It was released on a single with "Separate Ways," as the "I'm getting divorced and I don't like it" single. Many people know that Elvis did the song before Willie. But wait, there's more! Let's keep going back. Gwen McCrae (remember "Rockin' Chair"?) and Brenda Lee also recorded it before Elvis. But the first recording goes to..... B.J. Thomas. Won't that make raindrops fall on your head?! If you're only familiar with Willie's version, shame on you! I mean, you may not recognize the soulful Thomas rendition. What a different take on the song! Always on My Mind Written by Wayne Carson, Johnny Crhistopher, and Mark James Originally recorded by B.J. Thomas, 1970 Famously covered by Elvis Presley, 1972 Famously covered by Willie Nelson, 1982 Famously covered by the Pet Shop Boys, 1987 I just never took the time: