Gloria Jones - Tainted Love (cover versions)

Sometimes I feel I've got to

Run away I've got to

Get away

From the pain you drive into the heart of me

The love we share

Seems to go nowhere

And I've lost my light

For I toss and turn I can't sleep at night

Once I ran to you (I ran)

Now I'll run from you

This tainted love you've given

I give you all a boy could give you

Take my tears and that's not nearly all

Oh...tainted love

Tainted love

Now I know I've got to

Run away I've got to

Get away

You don't really want anymore from me

To make things right

You need someone to hold you tight

And you think love is to pray

But I'm sorry I don't pray that way

Once I ran to you (I ran)

Now I'll run from you

This tainted love you've given

I give you all a boy could give you

Take my tears and that's not nearly all

Oh...tainted love

Tainted love

Don't touch me please

I cannot stand the way you tease

I love you though you hurt me so

Now I'm gonna pack my things and go

Tainted love, tainted love (x2)

Touch me baby, tainted love (x2)

Tainted love (x3)

Tainted Love must surely be one of the most influential songs of the 1980s. Known most widely as a song performed by the band Soft Cell, this song was actually originally a 1964 Northern Soul song written by Ed Cobb and performed by Gloria Jones. However, Soft Cell's completely reworked cover version was propelled to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, where it stayed for 43 weeks.

Today, there are many cover versions of the song, some very similar and others radically different. These include covers by 29 Died, Alterno Daze, Coil, Deathline International, Dishwalla, Marilyn Manson, Shades Apart, The Living End, The Pussycat Dolls, The Ramones.

In itself, Tainted Love is a remarkably likeable song. The fact that it has been covered and sampled so extensively proves its ability to transcend both genre and context. Yet, perhaps the most interesting thing about it is that it is the lyrics are so fiercely debated over, and there are so many different interpretations floating around. For me, the significance of this ambiguity is that I can interpret the lyrics any way I want, and transform them so that they are relevant to me, or any situation. I think that is probably the reason this song has been covered so often. The song has so much character that it can be bent and twisted to fit many different bands without losing its individuality.
~~song-review
 

 
Here is a compilation of cover versions by selected artists.

Atrocity - Tainted Love
Coil - Tainted Love
Gloria Jones - Tainted Love (1964 Version)
Gloria Jones - Tainted Love (1973 Version)
Inspiral Carpets - Tainted Love
John B. - Tainted Love (Feat. Marcy Meow)
Marilyn Manson - Tainted Love
Nikolaj Steen - Tainted Love
Palast Orchester & Max Raabe - Tainted Love
Prozac+ - Tainted Love
Pussycat Dolls - Tainted Love
Shaun Inman - Tainted Love (Rough Love)
Social Distortion - Tainted Love
Soft Cell - Tainted Love
Speedmaster Project - Tainted Love (Autobahn Mix)
Stella Starlight Trio - Tainted Love
Swampys - Tainted Love
The Flying Pickets - Tainted Love
The Lost Fingers - Tainted Love
Trentemoller - Tainted Love
Union - Falso Amor (Tainted Love)
Unknown - Tainted Love