Songs with Earlier Histories Than the Hit Version

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We’re All Alone

Written and first recorded by Boz Scaggs (AUS #54 1976).
Other hit versions by Frankie Valli (US #76/MOR #27/CAN #73 1976), La Costa (C&W #75 1977), The Walker Brothers (NETH #22 1977), Rita Coolidge (US #7/MOR #1/C&W #68/UK #6/IRE #6/AUS #32/NZ #34/NETH #22 1977).

From the wiki: “”We’re All Alone” was written by Boz Scaggs, and was included on his 1976 album Silk Degrees. ‘We’re All Alone’ was used as the B-side of one of the album’s promotional singles, ‘Lido Shuffle’, in advance of the album’s release but was itself never released as an A-side except in Australia, where it peaked at #57.

“‘We’re All Alone’ did garner attention soon after the Scaggs’ album’s March 1976 debut. Frankie Valli covered and released a single version from his Valli LP which reached #78 U.S. in August 1976. The Walker Brothers – one of Scaggs’ formative influences – cut ‘We’re All Alone’ for their Lines album. The Walker’s track had an October 1976 single release in the UK whereas the Frankie Valli version had been released that July. Neither single charted in the UK, but the Walker Brothers’ version did reach #22 in the Netherlands in August 1977. Country singer La Costa (sister of Tanya Tucker) had a single release of ‘We’re All Alone’ in both the US – where it charted at #75 C&W – and also the UK where the track was the B-side of a remake of ‘I Second That Emotion’.

“Rita Coolidge version of “We’re All Alone” was featured on her album Anytime…Anywhere released in March 1977. Coolidge would recall: ‘When I was with A&M Records, it was like a family. I would visit Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss, and it was a very open, communicative group of people. One day I was in Jerry Moss’ office and he said that the Boz Scaggs album Silk Degrees was in a million homes and there was a song on it that was perfect for a woman to sing. He said, ‘It’s called ‘We’re All Alone’ and as he’s not doing it as a single, I think you ought to record it.”

“‘We’re All Alone’ was the second promotional single from Anytime…Anywhere in the US. It ascended the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #7 in September: the track also received enough airplay on country radio to reach #68 on the C&W chart.

“Reportedly the concurrent availability of both the Boz Scaggs original and the Coolidge version of ‘We’re All Alone’ at radio stations (and their versions having the same key and tempo) moved some disc jockeys to splice together the two tracks into one unofficial duet – a trend that had begun two years prior with the two concurrently released solo versions of ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers’. However, unlike ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers’, which featured Columbia Records label mates Barbra Streisand and Neil Diamond, Skaggs and Coolidge were signed to competing record companies which, for whatever reason, declined to allow the two to remake the song as an official, separate single.”

Frankie Valli, “We’re All Alone” (1976):

La Costa, “We’re All Along” (1977):

The Walker Brothers, “We’re All Alone” (1977):

Rita Coolidge, “We’re All Alone” (1977):

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