It’s so ironic that this Chuck Willis song was released right before he died. “What Am I Living For” was the B-side of “Hang Up My Rock and Roll Shoes” which I just posted about. It became the more popular of the two songs and appears to have many more covers. Taj Mahal, in three fine 1990s albums kept the memory of records by artists like Fats Domino Chuck Willis and T-Bone Walker alive. I like the Percy Sledge version, too. Sledge is mostly remembered for his first and biggest hit “When a Man Loves a Woman” but he made many other excellent records and was a great singer.
There are country and R&B covers which is true for many songs.