Cover Culture : Dawn Penn / Dionne Warwick – Are You There
COVER VERSION VS ORIGINAL SONG
Since the early 1960s and even prior, numerous iconic Jamaican hits were derived from popular foreign songs. The original pop and soul tracks were frequently embraced by audiences on the island, leading reggae artists to create their own renditions. Some of these artists gained fame by covering chart-topping songs, turning these adaptations into timeless classics.
For instance, American artist Bill Withers recorded the Grammy-winning song Ain’t No Sunshine, which Horace Andy later adapted, while Dennis Brown’s rendition of Black Magic Woman originally came from Fleetwood Mac. These two examples represent just a small fraction of the many covers that have emerged over the past sixty-five years.
Since the advent of these adaptations, both Jamaican and international reggae musicians have persistently reimagined pop and soul hits, continuing this tradition into the present. You’re welcome to listen to both the original and the cover versions to determine which one resonates with you the most.
DAWN PENN
Jamaican songstress Dawn Penn began her recording career during the rocksteady period from 1967 to 1969, which concluded in 1970 when she moved to the British Virgin Islands. She returned to Jamaica and resumed her music career in 1987. In the early ’90s, Penn stepped back into the studio to re-record her 1967 song You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No) for the tribute album Steely & Clevie Play Studio One Vintage, leading to its global success in 1994. Early in her career, she collaborated with notable figures like Coxsone Dodd, Bunny Lee, and singer-producer Prince Buster. For Buster, she recorded a version of Dionne Warwick’s Are You There (With Another Girl), which was released as the B-side of Long Days, Short Night on Prince Buster’s label in Jamaica in 1967.
DIONNE WARWICK
Are You There (with Another Girl), written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for US singer Dionne Warwick, was released as a single in December 1965. It ultimately peaked at number 39 on the Billboard charts. The song also appears as the tenth track on her album Here I Am, released the same year. Burt Bacharach first encountered Warwick, who hails from a musical background, during a 1962 recording session with the Drifters, leading to her signing with his and Hal David’s production team. That same year, Scepter Records put out her debut single, Don’t Make Me Over. Warwick’s fourth single, Anyone Who Had a Heart, which came out in November 1963, marked her first top 10 pop hit in the US and became a worldwide bestseller.
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