When the Cover Beats the Original: 4 One-Hit Wonders That Did It Right

Not every one-hit wonder built their fame on an original composition. Some artists made their mark by reimagining someone else’s work so powerfully that their versions eclipsed the originals. From the mid-1960s to the late 1970s, these four performers created defining hits that stood out for their production, performance, or both.

This isn’t to diminish legends like Bob Dylan, Neil Young, or Lead Belly, but rather to celebrate how these one-off stars brought a new spark to their songs — often transforming them into enduring classics.

“Lotta Love” – Nicolette Larson

The story behind Nicolette Larson’s 1978 hit “Lotta Love” depends on whom you ask. Linda Ronstadt claimed she encouraged Larson to record the Neil Young track, while Larson herself said she discovered it by chance — on a cassette she found on the floor of Young’s car. When she told Young she loved it, he reportedly said, “You want it? It’s yours.”

Young never released the song as a single from his album Comes a Time, but Larson made it her breakout moment. Her smooth, sunlit rendition became the lead single from her debut album Nicolette and climbed to No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, earning her a lasting place in soft-rock history.

“All Along the Watchtower” – Jimi Hendrix

Labeling Jimi Hendrix a one-hit wonder feels almost blasphemous today, yet during the 1960s, his chart success didn’t match his revolutionary influence. His only U.S. Top 40 hit was his explosive cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.”

Hendrix transformed Dylan’s folk song into a swirling electric storm — bold, defiant, and utterly his own. The cover was so impactful that Dylan himself began performing the song in Hendrix’s style in later years, a rare tribute from one master to another.

“The Girl from Ipanema” – Astrud Gilberto

Originally recorded by Pery Ribeiro, the bossa nova standard “The Girl from Ipanema” found worldwide fame through Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto. Gilberto, making her major-label debut, delivered the song’s dreamy lyrics — “tall and tan and young and lovely” — with a wistful detachment that made the song both romantic and melancholy.

It became Gilberto’s defining hit and one of the most recognizable songs of the 20th century, cementing her as a one-hit wonder whose voice carried a quiet kind of poetry.

“Black Betty” – Ram Jam

The origins of “Black Betty” stretch back to the 1930s, when folklorists John and Alan Lomax documented Lead Belly’s a cappella version. Four decades later, Ram Jam electrified the tune into a hard rock anthem that exploded onto the charts in 1977.

Though the band disbanded shortly afterward, “Black Betty” remains their enduring legacy. This thunderous reinterpretation still dominates playlists, often making listeners forget that a humble folk version ever came first.