it's not necessary to post the songs, just the list, lol

i'm interested, I wanna see a big list of Bands/Artists that Reworked THEIR OWN songs, for many reasons: looking for a new hit with spare parts, dated or cheap production, a new remix to adapt the song to current trends, just for the sake of it, etc

I'll start the list

Aerosmith, "Walk This Way" = original (1975), new rap version with RUN DMC (1986)

Whitesnake, "Here I Go Again" = original (1982), new version (1987)

The Rolling Stones, "Sympathy for the Devil" = original (1968), remix (2003)

Prince, "1999" = original (1982), remix new master (1999)

U2, "The Sweetest Thing" = original (1987), new version (1998)

Sergio Mendes did "Mas Que Nada" at least once every decade starting from '66

I think it'll be tough to find an artist who beats that

B.B. King, Lightnin' Hopkins, & James Brown have re-recorded many songs during their careers, sometimes under different titles, or in a few cases used different lyrics for the same music. Lightnin' & John Lee Hooker have released records under several different names (Texas Slim, Sam Hopkins, etc.) as well to get around record contracts.

[Edited 11/28/12 9:08am]

Wham!/George Michael: Wham! Rap (1982/1986), I'm Your Man (1986/1996), Heal The Pain (1991/2008 with Paul McCartney)

George Benson: Breezin' (1976/2006 with Al Jarreau)

Johnnie Taylor: Disco Lady (1976/1999)

Right Said Fred: I'm Too Sexy (1992/2007)

Gap Band: You Dropped A Bomb On Me (1982/1995), You Can Always Count On Me (1974/1979)

The Winans: The Question Is (1983/1995)

The Eagles: Hotel California (1976/1994)

The Monkees: Circle Sky (1968/1996), I'm A Believer (1966/2012 Micky Dolenz solo), Daydream Believer (1967/1986 remix)

The Police/Sting: Don't Stand So Close To Me (1981/1986), Roxanne (1978/1997 with Pras & Puff Daddy/2001/2010), Shape Of My Heart (1993/2003 Rise And Fall: with Craig David)

Kraftwerk: The Mix (1991 album of re-recorded songs)

Hall & Oates: Sara Smile (1975/1996 Ghetto Smile: B-Legit feat. Daryl Hall)

Zapp feat. Charlie Wilson: Computer Love (1985/1994)

The Time: Gigolos Get Lonely Too (1982/1994 Gigalos Get Lonely Too: K-Dee feat. Morris Day)

Nena: 99 Luftballons/99 Red Balloons (1984/2002/2009)

Chubby Checker: The Twist (1960/1988 with The Fat Boys)

On Larry Graham's last album, he redid:

• It's Alright (1975)
• It Ain't No Fun to Me (1973)
• Now Do U Wanta Dance (1977)

Hunters and Collectors - Throw Your Arms Around Me, think they actually had quite a big a hit with their re-recorded version from 1990.

This is RARELY A good idea.

I have a handful of truck-stop CDs by 60s acts like Paul Revere & The Raiders and Freddie & The Dreamers that were re-recorded in the 1990s seemingly with the original singer fronting a karaoke band. Those are all pretty awful. It's amazing how even a non-starter of a 60s band like the Dreamers sounds totally alive compared to the karaoke bands of the 90s.

The Who's Quadrophenia soundtrack had some interesting remixes with totally new bass performances and some interesting overdubs. Not sure how much was re-recorded, vs parts from the original master that were left out of the original mix, but at least the bass playing is new. It's OK, neat to hear, though I still prefer the original.

Bowie did this a few times, it rarely worked out as an improvement.

One that works is Gang of 4's Return the Gift. When they reunited instead of a live album, they just recorded their set in a studio. I think I do like a couple of the re-dos at least as much if not more than the originals. They're subtly more edgy and damaging.

A lot of David Bowie songs are rerecorded by him as B-Sides or bonus tracks for albums.

Cyndi Lauper and Kylie Minogue did whole albums of new versions of their songs and the Pet Shop Boys re-recorded West End Girls, Opportunites, One More Chance, and Go West

kevinpnb said:

A few years ago, before she passed, I got an Etta James "hits" cd which, I'd not realized, was rerecorded. It was so disappointing... Synthesized arrangements of classic analog recordings.

Some older acts re-record hit songs because they don't make any money from the original recordings, because of bad record deals, or they just recorded them for a fee/salary and never recieved royalties from sales. Little Richard and Fats Domino have hits compilations with re-recordings.

Upon reading this, I immediately thought of a-ha. They turned this trainwreck into a masterpiece the following year:

Take On Me (1984 Original Version)

R.E.M. re-recorded "Gardening at Night" because the original is virtually unintelligible. As it turns out, that's part of its charm.

Howard Jones: No One Is To Blame (1985/1986 single version with Phil Collins drumming/background vocals)

Phil Collins: Take Me Home (1985/2003 Home: Bone Thugs-n-Harmony feat. Phil Collins)

Lionel Richie: Tuskegee (2012 album of re-recorded songs)

Commodores: Brick House (1977/1993 Commodores/2003 Lionel Richie, Rob Zombie, Trina)

MickyDolenz said:

DeBarge re-recorded 2 songs from their debut ("The De Barges" 1981) on their album "In A Special Way" in 1985. Those songs were "Queen Of My Heart" and "Share My World". Both songs on the '81 versions feature Tommy (then in Switch) on bass (Randy didthe '85 versions), are absent James on vocals, but Bobby sings on both versions of QoMH. I believe Bobby produces or co-produced the 81versions while El did the later ones. "Share My World" was actually written dedicated to James, so it's interesting that he later recorded it once he joined the group.

Eric Clapton did the two very different versions of "Layla" 1970/1991. Pete Townshend has remade several of the songs he's written for The Who/Roger Daltrey w/ himself as lead vocal and/or very different arrangements to the originals performed w/Rog as lead vocals.

R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe

MC Hammer - Here Comes The Hammer

Shaggy - Bombastic

Bone Thugs & Harmony - Tha Crossroads

Motley Crue - Home Sweet Home - The Greatest Hits version in 1992 was slightly different than their album version from Theatre of Pain in 1985.

Neil Sedaka - Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run - He did an acoustic version of the song which was released on his Chimes of Freedom EP in 1988.

Eric Claton - Layla - The most well known alternate version was performed on his MTV Unplugged performance and released on the same album.

Chicago -- 25 Or 6 To 4 (1970 original with Peter Cetera), (1986 remix with Jason Scheff)

Around 1987 or 88, Bill Withers released a New Jack Swing style version of his 1977 song Lovely Day:

Shanice: Lovin' You (1991/2006)

Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Motor Head Baby (1952/1953)

Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Gangster Of Love (1957/1963/1978)

Swing Out Sister: Better Make It Better (1994/1997)

Pac-Man Fever (whole album) - Buckner & Garcia (1982/1999)

Someone To Watch Over Me - Frank Sinatra (1946/1953)

Little Richard's Greatest Hits (whole album of re-recorded Little Richard hits) - Little Richard (originals in 1956 and 1958, these ones are in 1965)

Enjoy The Silence - Depeche Mode (both in 1990) the original arrangement was released in some versions of the single as a B-Side

Distance/Final Distance - Hikaru Utada (2001/2002) Hikaru Utada was going to release the title-track of her album Distance as a single but she heard of a school stabbing where a 6 year old girl was killed who had won an essay contest with an essay about how she wanted to be a singer just like Utada. She then re-arranged the track herself (with some help, she used to write her own songs but not arrange or produce them at the time) into Final Distance. Final Distance is essentially the same song with the same lyrics but the song's lyrics about the effect of distance on two lovers are enhanced (IMO) by the new context. So yeah two different titles, but same song with different arrangement!

There are many songs I've heard that are the same but translated from different languages, I won't mention them since I don't know if they count and they are too many.

[Edited 1/11/13 18:44pm]