The Rolling Stones

Songs Covered By The Rolling Stones

Below you see all 74 covers the Rolling Stones played on regular albums (including live-albums).

I chose the covered version that most likely inspired and influenced The Rolling Stones. This is in many times not the first version of the song. The Chuck Berry versions of e.g. Confessin’ The Blues, Don’t Lie To Me or Down The Road Apiece are very likely to have inspired The Stones more than the respectively earlier versions by Jay McShann (1941), Tampa Red (1940) or The Will Bradley Trio (1940). This is the case for many more songs. Nevertheless, I have made a special list for those early original songs.

Definitely not covered by The Rolling Stones: Some songs were performed earlier by others but were definitely Jagger/Richards songs. The definition of a cover by the secondhandsongs (www.secondhandsongs.com) people (first released/recorded by others) is false in my opinion. People at the It’s Only Rock’n’Roll-forum at the Rolling Stones-fansite gave me very justified feedback (http://www.iorr.org/). The Rolling Stones cannot cover their own songs. In the time between recording and release, someone else might have performed those songs. Or they simple gave a song to someone else to record (As Tears Go By, Sister Morphine or Wild Horses e.g.).

I am very grateful to my friend Down Under, expert on the Rolling Stones and their music, also intrigued by the origins of their regular albums and their live music. His cooperation and information is priceless for this project.

The albums of the Rolling Stones songs named are not definitely the first albums where the song was published. I just took my own LP and CD collection as a guideline.

Four lists

1. 74 Influential songs covered by The Rolling Stones on regular albums
2. 14 of the real ‘original songs’
3. Songs definitely not covered by The Rolling Stones
4. Songs covered by the Rolling Stones on video or DVD

1. Covered by The Rolling Stones on regular albums

Original son	Performer	Year	Coverband	Album	Year
Ain’t Too Proud To Beg	The Temptations	1966	Rolling Stones	It’s Only Rock’n’Roll	1974
Around And Around	Chuck Berry	1958	Rolling Stones	Stone Age	1964
Bye Bye Johnny	Chuck Berry	1960	Rolling Stones	Rock’n’Rolling Stones	1964
Can I Get A Witness	Marvin Gaye	1963	Rolling Stones	Rolling Stones	1964
Carol	Chuck Berry	1958	Rolling Stones	Rolling Stones	1964
Champagne & Reefer	Muddy Waters	1961	Rolling Stones	Shine A Light	2008
Cherry Oh Baby	Eric Donaldson	1971	Rolling Stones	Black And Blue	1976
Come On	Chuck Berry	1961	Rolling Stones	Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass)	1963
Confessin’ The Blues	Chuck Berry	1960	Rolling Stones	12X5	1964
Corrina	Taj Mahal	1963	Rolling Stones	No Security	1998
Crackin’ Up	Bo Diddley	1959	Rolling Stones	Love You Live, Vol.2	1977
Cry To Me	Solomon Burke	1962	Rolling Stones	Out Of Our Heads	1965
Da Doo Run Run	The Crystals	1940	Rolling Stones	The Rest Of The Best, The Stones Story, Part 2	1983
Don’t (You) Lie To Me	Chuck Berry	1958	Rolling Stones	Metamorphosis	1975
Down Home Girl	Alvin Robinson	1964	Rolling Stones	The Rolling Stones No. 2	1965
Down The Road Apiece	Chuck Berry	1940	Rolling Stones	The Rolling Stones No. 2	1965
Everybody Needs Somebody To Love	Solomon Burke	1964	Rolling Stones	The Rolling Stones No. 2	1965
Fortune Teller	Benny Spellman	1962	Rolling Stones	Got Live If You Want It !	1964
Going To A Go-Go	Smokey Robinson & The Miracles	1965	Rolling Stones	Still Life	1982
Good Times	Sam Cooke	1964	Rolling Stones	Out Of Our Heads	1965
Harlem Shuffle	Bob & Earl	1963	Rolling Stones	Dirty Work	1986
Hitch Hike	Marvin Gaye	1962	Rolling Stones	Out Of Our Heads	1965
Honest I Do	Jimmy Reed	1957	Rolling Stones	Rolling Stones	1964
I Can’t Be Satisfied	Muddy Waters	1948	Rolling Stones	The Rolling Stones No. 2	1965
I Don’t Know Why (I Love You)	Stevie Wonder	1968	Rolling Stones	Metamorphosis	1975
I Just Want To Make Love To You	Muddy Waters	1954	Rolling Stones	Rolling Stones	1964
I Need You Baby (Mona)	Bo Diddley	1956	Rolling Stones	Rolling Stones	1964
I Wanna Be Your Man	The Beatles	1963	Rolling Stones	Singles Collection, London 1	1963
I Want To Be Loved	Muddy Waters	1955	Rolling Stones	Singles Collection, London 1	1963
If You Need Me	Solomon Burke	1963	Rolling Stones	12X5	1964
I’m A King Bee	Slim Harpo	1957	Rolling Stones	Rolling Stones	1964
I’m Alright	Bo Diddley	1963	Rolling Stones	Got Live If You Want It	1966
I’m Moving On (Live)	Ray Charles	1959	Rolling Stones	December’s Children (And Everybody’s)	1965
It’s All Over Now	The Valentinos	1963	Rolling Stones	12X5	1964
I’ve Been Loving You Too Long	Otis Redding	1965	Rolling Stones	Got Live If You Want It !	1966
Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)	The Temptations	1971	Rolling Stones	Some Girls	1978
Key To The Highway	Charles Segar	1940	Rolling Stones	Dirty Work	1986
Let It Rock	Chuck Berry	1960	Rolling Stones	Rolling Stones Rarities 1971-2003	1971
Like A Rolling Stone	Bob Dylan	1965	Rolling Stones	Stripped	1995
Little Baby	Howlin’ Wolf	1961	Rolling Stones	Stripped	2005
Little Queenie	Chuck Berry	1959	Rolling Stones	Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out	1970
Little Red Rooster	Howlin’ Wolf	1961	Rolling Stones	The Rolling Stones, Now	1964
Look What You’ve Done	Muddy Waters	1956	Rolling Stones	December’s Children (And Everybody’s)	1965
Love In Vain	Robert Johnson	1937	Rolling Stones	Let It Bleed	1969
Mannish Boy	Muddy Waters	1955	Rolling Stones	Love You Live, Vol.2	1977
Memphis	Chuck Berry	1958	Rolling Stones	Rest Of The Best, Stones Story Part 2	1983
Mercy Mercy	Don Covay & The Goodtimers	1964	Rolling Stones	Out Of Our Heads	1965
Money	Barrett Strong	1959	Rolling Stones	No Stone Unturned	1964
My Girl	Otis Redding	1965	Rolling Stones	Stone Age	1967
Nearness Of You	Frank Sinatra	1962	Rolling Stones	Live Licks	2005
Not Fade Away	Buddy Holly & The Crickets	1957	Rolling Stones	Big Hits (High Tide And Green Grass)	1964
Oh Baby (We Got A Good Thing Going)	Barbara Lynn	1963	Rolling Stones	The Rolling Stones, Now	1965
Pain In My Heart	Otis Redding	1962	Rolling Stones	The Rolling Stones No. 2	1965
Poison Ivy	The Coasters	1959	Rolling Stones	No Stone Unturned	1964
Prodigal Son (That’s No Way To Get Along)	Reverend Robert Wilkins	1929	Rolling Stones	Beggar’s Banquet	1968
Rock Me Baby	B.B. King	1964	Rolling Stones	Live Licks	2004
Route 66	Chuck Berry	1961	Rolling Stones	Rolling Stones	1964
Shake Your Hips	Slim Harpo	1966	Rolling Stones	Exile On Main Street, 1	1972
She Said Yeah	Larry Williams	1965	Rolling Stones	December’s Children (And Everybody’s)	1965
Stop Breaking Down	Robert Johnson	1937	Rolling Stones	Exile On Main Street, 2	1972
Suzie Q	Dale Hawkins	1957	Rolling Stones	The Rolling Stones No. 2	1964
Talking About You	Chuck Berry	1961	Rolling Stones	December’s Children (And Everybody’s)	1965
Tell Me Baby	Muddy Waters	1964	Rolling Stones	The Rest Of The Best, Stones Story, Part 2	1983
That’s How Strong My Love Is	Otis Redding	1964	Rolling Stones	Out Of Our Heads	1965
The Last Time (This May Be..)	The Staple Singers	1955	Rolling Stones	12X5	1964
Time Is On My Side	Irma Thomas	1963	Rolling Stones	12X5	1964
Too Rude (Winsome)	Half Pint	1983	Rolling Stones	Dirty Work	1986
Twenty Flight Rock	Eddy Cochran	1958	Rolling Stones	Still Life	1982
Under The Boardwalk	The Drifters	1964	Rolling Stones	12X5	1964
Walking The Dog	Rufus Thomas	1963	Rolling Stones	Rolling Stones	1964
You Better Move On	Arthur Alexander	1962	Rolling Stones	December’s Children (And Everybody’s)	1964
You Can Make It If You Try	Gene Allison	1958	Rolling Stones	Rolling Stones	1964
You Can’t Catch Me	Chuck Berry	1955	Rolling Stones	The Rolling Stones No. 2	1965
You Gotta Move	Mississippi Fred McDowell	1964	Rolling Stones	Sticky Fingers	1971

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2. Real Originals

Many of the songs that were covered by the Rolling Stones were not the original version of the song. They were recorded or released much earlier by others. Here are some of the original releases.

Song	Performer	Year
Confessin’ The Blues	Jay Mc Shann Orchestra & Walter Brown	1941
Don’t (You) Lie To Me	Tampa Red	1940
Down The Road Apiece	Will Bradley Trio	1940
If You Need Me	Wilson Pickett	1962
I’m Moving On (Live)	Hank Snow & His Rainbow Ranch Boys	1950
Little Baby (My Baby)	Little Walter	1955
Mannish Boy (I’m A Man)	Bo Diddley	1955
My Girl	The Temptations	1965
Rock Me (Baby)	Muddy Waters	1957
Route 66	Nat King Cole	1946
Tell Me Baby	Big Bill Broonzy	1942
That’s How Strong My Love Is	O.V. Wright With The Keys	1964
The Nearness Of You	Glenn Miller Orchestra (feat. Ray Eberle)	1940
Time Is On My Side	Kai Winding	1963

The covered songs above are in my opinion the most influential songs for the Rolling Stones.

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3. Definitely no covers

In an earlier version of this website I considered, by mistake, these songs as being songs covered by the Rolling Stones. The only reason for that was that I was misled by the fact that the first songs were performed/recorded or released earlier (or in the case of Wild Horses almost simultaneously) than the Rolling Stones versions. They are all Jagger/Richards songs sometimes written for someone else (Marianne Faithfull) or given away to record (Wild Horses). In the time between recording and release of the record some others were allowed to perform the song. All interesting songs.

Song	Performer	Year	Original	Album	Year
As Tears Go By	Marianne Faithfull	1964	Rolling Stones	December’s Children (And Everybody’s)	1965
Blue Turns To Grey	The Mighty Avengers	1965	Rolling Stones	December’s Children (And Everybody’s)	1965
Sister Morphine	Marianne Faithfull	1969	Rolling Stones	Sticky Fingers	1971
Think	Chris Farlowe	1966	Rolling Stones	Aftermath	1966
We’re Wastin’ Time	Jimmy Tarbuck	1965	Rolling Stones	Metamorphosis	1966
Wild Horses	The Flying Burrito Bros	1971	Rolling Stones	Sticky Fingers	1971

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4. Covered by The Rolling Stones on video or DVD

Song	Performer	Year	Coverband	Album	Year
Bob Wills Is Still The King	Waylon Jennings		Rolling Stones	The Biggest Bang	2007
Get Up, Stand Up	Bob Marley & The Wailers	1973	Rolling Stones	The Biggest Bang	2007
I Can’t Turn You Loose	Otis Redding	1965	Rolling Stones	Four Flicks	2004
I’m Yours And I’m Hers	Johnny Winter	1969	Rolling Stones	Stones In The Park	1969
Learning The Game	Buddy Holly		Rolling Stones	The Biggest Bang	2007
Love Train	O’Jays	1973	Rolling Stones	Four Flicks	2004
Mr. Pitiful	Otis Redding	1965	Rolling Stones	The Biggest Bang	2007
Night Time Is The Right Time	Ray Charles	1959	Rolling Stones	The Biggest Bang	2007
Who Do You Love	Bo Diddley	1956	Rolling Stones	Voodoo Lounge	1995

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