The following songs were originally performed by other artists, but have been covered by NRBQ or its members.
- 12 Bar Blues (Jack Butwell - NRBQ also sometimes turns this into the "11 Bar Blues")
- All By Myself (Big Bill Broonzy, Johnny Burnette & the Rock 'n' Roll Trio)
- All Mama's Children (Carl Perkins)
- Baby Be Mine (The Davis Sisters)
- Batman theme (Neal Hefti)
- Be My Love (Mario Lanza, Sammy Cahn)
- Beautiful Sunday (Daniel Boone)
- Blues Stay Away from Me (The Delmore Brothers, Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps, Doc Watson, Merle Haggard, etc.)
- Bonanza theme (Ray Evans & Jay Livingston)
- Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel)
- Bugler's Holiday (Leroy Anderson)
- Bye-Ya (Thelonious Monk)
- C'mon Everybody (Eddie Cochran)
- C'mon If You're Comin' (Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee)
- Caroline, No (The Beach Boys)
- Chicken Hearted (Roy Orbison)
- Come On, Let's Go (Ritchie Valens)
- Come Softly To Me (The Fleetwoods)
- Daddy's Gonna Tell You No Lie (The Cosmic Rays with Sun Ra & His Arkestra)
- Derby Town (The Clovers, traditional)
- Didn't It (The Drifters)
- Dig (Nervous Norvus)
- Don't Put No Headstone On My Grave (Charlie Rich)
- Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles)
- Escape (The Piña Colada Song) (Rupert Holmes)
- Everlovin' (The Davis Sisters)
- Feels So Good (Chuck Mangione)
- There Is A Mountain (Donovan)
- Get a Job (The Silhouettes)
- Get Rhythm (Johnny Cash)
- God Bless Us All (The Four Lads)
- God Only Knows (The Beach Boys)
- Hello, Dolly! (Louis Armstrong)
- Hey! Baby (Bruce Channel)
- Hey, Doll Baby (The Clovers, The Everly Brothers)
- Hold Me Tight (The Beatles)
- Holy Cow (Lee Dorsey)
- Honey Hush (Big Joe Turner, Johnny Burnette & the Rock 'n' Roll Trio)
- Humph (Thelonious Monk)
- I Feel Good (Shirley & Lee)
- I Got A Rocket In My Pocket (Jimmy Lloyd)
- I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Hank Williams)
- In the Mood (Glenn Miller & His Orch.)
- In The Still Of The Nite (The Five Satins)
- In Walked Bud (Thelonious Monk)
- Instant Karma! (John Lennon)
- It Was a Very Good Year (Frank Sinatra)
- It's a Sin To Tell a Lie (Fats Waller & His Rhythm)
- It's All Right (Solomon Burke)
- It's The Girl Who Gets The Blame (The Davis Sisters)
- I've Got a Tiger By The Tail (Buck Owens)
- Java (Al Hirt, Allen Toussaint)
- Jimmy Crack Corn (Big Bill Broonzy, The Sons of the Pioneers, Pete Seeger, Traditional)
- Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry)
- Judy in Disguise (With Glasses) (John Fred & His Playboy Band)
- Jump Man Jump (Piano Red)
- Just The Way You Are (Billy Joel)
- Let It Be Me (The Everly Brothers)
- Let's Make Love Not War (Charles Wright)
- Little Rootie Tootie (Thelonious Monk)
- Little Liza Jane (Traditional)
- Lucille (Little Richard, The Everly Brothers)
- Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (The Beatles)
- May Tomorrow Be a Perfect Day (Donny & Marie)
- Michael, Row The Boat Ashore (The Highwaymen, Lonnie Donegan, The Weavers, Harry Belafonte; traditional slave song)
- Misty (Erroll Garner, Johnny Mathis)
- Monday, Monday (The Mamas & The Papas)
- Mule In The Corn (Jad Fair)
- Music Goes 'Round and 'Round, The (competing versions: The Boswell Sisters, Louis Armstrong & His Orch., Frank Froeba & His Swing Bang, Hal Kemp & His Orch. Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven [Edythe Wright, vocal] )
- My Sharona (The Knack)
- New York, New York (Frank Sinatra, originally Liza Minnelli)
- Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, The (The Band)
- Norman (Sue Thompson - NRBQ performed this as "Norma")
- North To Alaska (Johnny Horton)
- Ode to Billie Joe (Bobbie Gentry)
- Palisades Park (Freddy "Boom Boom" Cannon)
- Paris (Moondog)
- People (Barbra Streisand)
- Petticoat Junction theme (Curt Massey)
- Qué Rico El Mambo (aka Mambo Jambo) (Pérez Prado)
- Quiet Village (Les Baxter)
- Rains Came, The (Sir Douglas Quintet)
- Ramrod (Al Casey)
- Remember Your Name and Address (Tiny Tim and others)
- Right or Wrong (Milton Brown)
- Right String But The Wrong Yo-Yo (Piano Red)
- Rocket Number Nine Take Off For The Planet Venus (Sun Ra & His Arkestra)
- Rockin' in Rhythm (Duke Ellington & His Orch.)
- Rollin' (In My Sweet Baby's Arms) (Traditional)
- Ruby, My Dear (Thelonious Monk)
- Same Old Thing (Joe Williams)
- Scarlet Ribbons (For Her Hair) (Harry Belafonte, The Browns, many others)
- Shake, Rattle And Roll (Big Joe Turner)
- Shop Around (The Miracles)
- Sitting in the Park (Billy Stewart)
- Sleep Walk (Santo & Johnny)
- South (original instrumental: Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orch., redone by Piano Red; vocal version: Ray Charles)
- Spinning Wheel / And When I Die (Blood, Sweat & Tears)
- S'posin' (Fats Waller & His Rhythm)
- Suite: Judy Blue Eyes (Crosby, Stills & Nash)
- Sure To Fall (Carl Perkins)
- Tenderly (Rosemary Clooney, Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker, many others)
- That Lucky Old Sun (Frankie Laine)
- That"ll Be The Day (Buddy Holly)
- That's All (Etta James)
- The End Of The World (Skeeter Davis)
- Thelonious (Thelonious Monk)
- There Is A Mountain (Donovan)
- There Should Be A Book (Lee Dorsey)
- There's a Kind of Hush (All Over The World) (Herman's Hermits)
- There's a Tear In My Beer (Hank Williams)
- Things We Like To Do (The Chipmunks, under the original title "Chipmunk Fun")
- This Boy (The Beatles)
- This Old House (Rosemary Clooney)
- Three Hundred Pounds of Joy (Howlin' Wolf)
- Time And Place (Floyd Dixon)
- Tom Dooley (The Kingston Trio)
- Tonight You Belong To Me (Patience & Prudence)
- Too Much (Elvis Presley)
- Tweedle Dee (LaVern Baker)
- Twist and Shout (The Isley Brothers, The Beatles)
- Volare (Dean Martin, Domenico Modugno)
- We Travel The Spaceways (Sun Ra & His Arkestra)
- Welcome Back (John Sebastian)
- What Does It Take (To Win Your Love For Me)? (Junior Walker & His All-Stars)
- When Will I Be Loved? (The Everly Brothers)
- Whistle While You Work (Snow White [Adriana Caselotti] & the Seven Dwarfs)
- White Horse (Laid Back)
- White Lightning (George Jones)
- Wild Weekend (The Rockin' Rebels - NRBQ added lyrics and a bridge to create "It's a Wild Weekend")
- Won't You Come Over To My House? (Irving Gillette [aka Henry Burr], released in 1906 on an Edison cylinder! though Al Anderson told one fan he thought NRBQ had learned it from a children's record)
- Woolly Bully (Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs)
- Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald (Gordon Lightfoot)
- Wham! (Lonnie Mack)
- Yeh Yeh (Georgie Fame & the Blue Flames)
- Yesterday (The Beatles)
- You Didn't Have To Be So Nice (The Lovin' Spoonful)
- You Gotta Be Loose (Wailin' Bill Dell)