And a very,very fine thread it is too. Jerry. As a teenager in the UK I thought all songs were written by/for whoever had the version that I heard. Looking back, the two Ray Charles Modern Sounds in C & W albums and virtually all Elvis's stuff were cover versions of songs whose originators meant little or nothing (in the UK at least). After the Beatles etc covered various RnB/Soul songs and me and my "hipster" mates checked the record catalogues that a whole host of wonderful performers came to light.Bit threadrifty but I know what I mean.
As a fairly typical "hip"* teen the cover versions were no match whatsoever for the originals, which often turned out to be cover versions in the first place.
Isn't music wonderful.
* i.e. clever little shit.