Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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Cocaine

Written and first recorded by J.J. Cale (NZ #1/SUI #2/AUT #3/SWE #10/AUS #45/GER #22 1976).
Other popular versions by Eric Clapton (B-side 1977), Eric Clapton (B-side live US #30/CAN #3 1980).

From the wiki: “‘Cocaine’ was written and first recorded in 1976 by singer-songwriter J. J. Cale, and released on his album Troubador. Released internationally as a promotional single, it charted Top-3 in Switzerland and Austria, and topped the New Zealand music chart.

“The song was further popularized by Eric Clapton (who has said the song is ‘quite cleverly anti-cocaine’) when released on his 1977 album Slowhand and as the B-side to the US Top-3 hit ‘Lay Down Sally’. In 1980, a live version of ‘Cocaine’, from the album Just One Night, was also released as a B-side – to the Top-30 his ‘Tulsa Time’.”

Eric Clapton, “Cocaine” (1977):

Eric Clapton, “Cocaine” live (1980):

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