We have to put them somewhere.
What is amazing to me is how versatile this little cowboy song is, how it can inspire so many international, genre-stretchy versions (most with their own little individual touches) and all without losing its original je ne sais quoi. Good job, Sonny Bono.
- Cher’s original – 1966
- Sheila – 1966 – French – went to #1 on the music charts in France
- Dalida – 1966 – Italian – went to #1 on the music charts in Italy
- Stevie Wonder – 1966
- Petula Clark – 1966 – British – a popular revisioned version that spawned imitators (see Betty Chung and The Minions versions below).
- Gábor Szabó – 1966 – Hungarian (interesting international version)
- Nancy Sinatra – 1966 – the most influential early cover, prominent in the movie Kill Bill and an arrangement from which a lot of other covers are derived.
- Vanilla Fudge – 1967 – the first rock music cover
- Djorde Marganovic – 1967 – Serbian
- Terry Reid – 1968 – British – first tour de force with multiple movements
- Betty Chung – 1968, Chinese
- Sonny – 1973 – from Sonny & Cher Live Vol. 2
- Frank Sinatra – 1981
- Cher – 1987 – reinterpreted like a Bon Jovi song
- Domina Noctis – 2002 – Italian goth metal
- Paul Weller – 2003 – British – unique, good cover
- The Raconteurs – 2006
- Clara Moroni (alias Cherry) – 2006 – Italian
- Parabelum – 2007– French – from the movie Rebelles
- Arnold T – 2007
- Ania Dąbrowska – 2010 – Polish
- Charlotte Church – 2010 – Welsh
- 2Cellos with Sky Ferreira – 2012 – Croatian – beautiful cover
- The Parlour Suite – 2012 – billed as dream-pop or surf-pop
- Nico Vega – 2014 – indie
- Sopor Aeternus – 2014 – German
- David Guetta with Skylar Gray – 2014 – French (with a great video)
- Lady Gaga – 2014
- Mark Boone Junior with Kevin Bowe – 2014
- Time and the Dragon – 2014
- Lara Phillips – 2015
- Kaleo – 2015-2018? – Icelandic
- Daniela Andrade – 2016 – Canadian
- Dua Lipa – 2017 – British / Albanian
- Louden Swain – 2017
- Monophones – 2018 – good Retro-Soul
- Scubba – 2018 – jazz fusion
- Lily Frost – 2018 -Canadian
- Grace – 2019 (My Titan Shot Me Down) from the movie Titanfall 2
- De Kalafe e A Turma – 2019 – Brazilian
- Little Fawn – 2020
- Highpass – 2020 – Russian dance
- Outsideinside – 2020
- Ania Waraszko – 2021 – Polish
- Freddy LeGrand – 2021 – Dutch electronic
- Thibault Cauvin – 2021 – French instrumental guitar (very nice!)
- Joe Kox and Nivek – 2021
- The Everlasters feat. Emcee Agora – 2021 – electronica
- Jack’s Basket Room – 2022 – Finnish
- Caroline Palacheck – 2022 from the movie The Minions
- G.E.M – 2022 – Chinese, from the movie The Minions
- Cara Frew – 2022 – South African
- The Swangles – 2022
- L’FREAQ – 2022 – alternative (quiet, lush version)
- Lila Frascara – 2024 – Argentina, Latin / jazz-fusion
- Hyperslay – 2024 – techno
- Raye – 2024 – British from the Netflix show Black Doves
- Travis Garland – 2024
- Kaitlin Butts – 2024 – Eletronica/Dance, Country
This list does not include performances on televised talent shows.