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Song titles people get wrong

"Arthur's Theme" by Christopher Cross. Even the subtitle "Best That You Can Do" is seldom used. It's usually referred to as some variation of that "Moon and New York City" song.

It's easy to call "Holding Back The Years" by Simply Red as "I'll Keep Holding On."
 
Successful Top 40-songs always had (have) what the trade calls a "hook phrase". Hook phrases are not the part of a song a listener hears first, but it's the part many remember most. This is important because hook phrases do not necessarily billboard a song's title.
 
EZway2go said:
"Arthur's Theme" by Christopher Cross. Even the subtitle "Best That You Can Do" is seldom used. It's usually referred to as some variation of that "Moon and New York City" song.

It's easy to call "Holding Back The Years" by Simply Red as "I'll Keep Holding On."
Click to expand...

And I bought Hold On by Wilson Phillips thinking it was "I'll Keep Holding On." I was pissed, back then in the 80's you could return open cassettes.

I also got Arthur's Theme wrong with "If you get caught between the Moon and New York City"

Along with Joe Jackson's "Stepping Out" with Blue birds dah dah dah dah Into the Light, into the night.

It wasn't until his (Jackson) crusade against the smoking ban in the UK until I found the artist that song that song. A regular staple on Bob-FM's 9@9.

Since Christopher Cross graduated from Alamo Heights High School in San Antonio and spent equal time in San Antonio and Austin he was played heavily on SA radio stations such as KFAN, KQXT, and KMMX "Arthur's Theme", "Sailing", and "Ride Like the Wind"

Rolling Stones "Sad Sad Sad" I thought it was "say say say", "play play play", or "going to fight"
Here is another tune back in the 60's? I got wrong "Lady Hitchhiker" with "Lady Godiva" by CCR.
 
willdav713 said:
Here is another tune back in the 60's? I got wrong "Lady Hitchhiker" with "Lady Godiva" by CCR.
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The CCR song was "Sweet Hitchhiker." "Lady Godiva" was a Peter and Gordon hit from 1967.
 
1977's "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac, could be titled

"thunder only happens when it's raining"
 
I got a request at the radio station from a teenager who asked for The Who's "Teenage Wasteland". The song title is actually "Baba O'Reilly".

The Cowsills "The Rain, The Park and Other Things" is ripe for a title change of the sort we're talking about. However, I've yet to hear someone call it ... "I knew I knew I knew" or "I Could Make You Happy".
 
CTListener said:
willdav713 said:
Here is another tune back in the 60's? I got wrong "Lady Hitchhiker" with "Lady Godiva" by CCR.
Click to expand...

The CCR song was "Sweet Hitchhiker." "Lady Godiva" was a Peter and Gordon hit from 1967.
Click to expand...

But it sounded like Lady or Sweetie Godiva. The station did speed the song up which didn't help much.
 
johnbasalla said:
I got a request at the radio station from a teenager who asked for The Who's "Teenage Wasteland". The song title is actually "Baba O'Reilly".

The Cowsills "The Rain, The Park and Other Things" is ripe for a title change of the sort we're talking about. However, I've yet to hear someone call it ... "I knew I knew I knew" or "I Could Make You Happy".
Click to expand...

Yes, those certainly are two good ones. In fact, the "Teenage Wasteland" reference to "Baba O'Reilly" may be the all time champ... until possibly getting eclipsed years later by the more-commonly-known-as "Time Of Your Life" in place of "Good Riddance" by Green Day. (Although... I'm not sure about the latter... Is "Time Of Your Life" officially listed as a subtitle? It may be).

A good one for that Cowsills song could be "(I Love) The Flower Girl." If you do a YouTube search, that actually comes up as one of the video titles. When I read John's post, though, the first thing that came to my mind was "Flowers In Her Hair," which then reminded me they probably stayed away from that title so as not to be confused with the Scott McKenzie hit "San Francisco (Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)" just a few months earlier. Wasn't that why they changed Sheena Easton's "Morning Train" from "Nine To Five" - to avoid comparison with Dolly Parton's song from also just a few months earlier? Nevertheless, John's right... "The Rain, The Park and Other Things" is a bit of a head-scratcher.
 
EZway2go said:
Wasn't that why they changed Sheena Easton's "Morning Train" from "Nine To Five" - to avoid comparison with Dolly Parton's song from also just a few months earlier?
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I remember being in a Musicland store the year the song came out. Two British girls were asking for "Nine to Five," and the clerk asked, "Dolly Parton?" and they replied, "No, Sheena Easton." The clerk looked flummoxed till I stepped forward and explained that it was called "Morning Train" in the U.S.
 
johnbasalla said:
The Cowsills "The Rain, The Park and Other Things" is ripe for a title change of the sort we're talking about. However, I've yet to hear someone call it ... "I knew I knew I knew" or "I Could Make You Happy".
Click to expand...
Ok, it's a great thread, so I'll on my sword-- I first thought the title was "HAPPY".
 
rnigma said:
EZway2go said:
Wasn't that why they changed Sheena Easton's "Morning Train" from "Nine To Five" - to avoid comparison with Dolly Parton's song from also just a few months earlier?
Click to expand...

I remember being in a Musicland store the year the song came out. Two British girls were asking for "Nine to Five," and the clerk asked, "Dolly Parton?" and they replied, "No, Sheena Easton." The clerk looked flummoxed till I stepped forward and explained that it was called "Morning Train" in the U.S.
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right. I do remember that story now. It actually was released in Britain as "Nine To Five." Thanks for pointing that out.
 
Rolling Stones, "She's a Rainbow." They sing "She's like a rainbow" throughout, and that's what a lot of people think the title is.
 
On WJW-TV in Cleveland, Ohio they were playing a bit of Gary Glitter's "Rock and Roll, Part Two". They had the title listed on the screen as "Hey Song". They did get the artist name correct.
 
While doing mobile dj work I was asked for "The Girl from Iwo Jima" I had a billboard book and figured out it was Stan Getz "The Girl from Ipanema"
 
Reader's Digest once talked about a classical piece.....maybe it was a request to a classical radio station; the piece was Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. A person requested, "Could you play 'I'm Inclined to Knock Music' again?"

cd
 
cd637299 said:
Reader's Digest once talked about a classical piece.....maybe it was a request to a classical radio station; the piece was Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. A person requested, "Could you play 'I'm Inclined to Knock Music' again?"
cd
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CD,
Sorry, haven't had my 3rd cup of coffee yet. Am I missing something painfully obvious to everyone else?

Thanks,
JFP
You Don't SayTV Game Show drop-out
 
^ I tried to use the Quote function at the library here, but it keeps going haywire.

I did not get it either, when I read it the first time....years later I heard the pronunciation:

EYE-nuh KLY-nuh NOCKT-moo-sick

Sounds pretty close, eh?

cd
 
cd637299 said:
^ I tried to use the Quote function at the library here, but it keeps going haywire.

I did not get it either, when I read it the first time....years later I heard the pronunciation:

EYE-nuh KLY-nuh NOCKT-moo-sick

Sounds pretty close, eh?

cd
Click to expand...

Ok, now I get it now.
 
cd637299 said:
^ I tried to use the Quote function at the library here, but it keeps going haywire.

I did not get it either, when I read it the first time....years later I heard the pronunciation:

EYE-nuh KLY-nuh NOCKT-moo-sick

Sounds pretty close, eh?

cd
Click to expand...

That's like the Strauss operetta describing what happens after a Disney parade ends: "Deflate a Mouse."
 
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