# Are there songs the artists regret making? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 11, 2009, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363 "2009-02-11T14:44:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/61 "2009-02-13T03:58:40Z")
**Steve Marriott** always hated that all anybody ever remembers of his band **The Small Faces** is his and **Ronnie Lane** ’s song _Lazy Sunday Afternoon_. Totally atypical of their stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/62 "2009-02-13T07:37:47Z")
I doubt he regrets writing it, but I know **Don McLean** hates being known only for **American Pie**. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/63 "2009-02-13T07:55:22Z")
I heard that U2 or maybe just Bono hates “It’s a Beautiful Day”. To upbeat. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/64 "2009-02-13T11:48:19Z")
I’ve always thought of this as “the Tommy effect.” Although I don’t think Pete Townshend or The Who hate Tommy, I just think they got tired of being defined by it. ---
**Author:** ![Dog80](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2009, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/65 "2009-02-13T12:04:24Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > The one time (which was more than enough) that I saw Dio in concert, he introduced “Rainbow In The Dark” as a “chain around our fucking necks” before playing it. Thanks, Dio! According to [wikipedia:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_in_the_Dark) > [@](#): > > Ronnie James Dio said in a 2005 interview that he was displeased with the song, considering it to sound too much like pop music. He said that after the recording was finished he took a razor blade and declared his intention to destroy the tape. However, the other members of the band talked him out of it. Rainbow in the Dark is one of my favourite songs. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/66 "2009-02-14T21:09:58Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > **Steve Marriott** always hated that all anybody ever remembers of his band **The Small Faces** is his and **Ronnie Lane** ’s song _Lazy Sunday Afternoon_. Totally atypical of their stuff. Really? I would have thought “Itchycoo Park” would be the one song people would associate with the Small Faces. For me, I never heard “Lazy Sunday Afternoon” as a single. I heard it as the last song on side 1 of “Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake.” And since “Ogden’s” is one of my favorite albums of all time, I have a special fondness for “Lazy Sunday Afternoon.” Of course, that’s a function of being in the US. I think “Itchycoo Park” was the Small Faces’ only hit single here. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/67 "2009-02-14T21:25:36Z")
(Missed edit window)Yep - this is from allmusic: > [@](#): > > The Small Faces were the best English band never to hit it big in America. On this side of the Atlantic, all anybody remembers them for is their sole stateside hit, “Itchycoo Park,” which was hardly representative of their psychedelic sound, much less their full musical range — but in England, the Small Faces were one of the most extraordinary and successful bands of the mid-'60s, serious competitors to the Who and potential rivals to the Rolling Stones. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/68 "2009-02-14T22:20:47Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I respect \*\*KISS’ \*\*business sense a lot more than I respect their music (which is basically not at all) - but I would assume they regret their disco turn **I Was Made For Loving You** That’s about the only KISS song I like! > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I’ve heard Billy Joel say the same thing. It’s not that he regrets writing the songs, but he would have written them differently had he taken into account that in 20 years he wouln’t be able to hit those notes any more. Maybe that’s one of the good things about not being a big “singles” artist. There’s simply no way that Rush’s Geddy Lee, now in his mid-fifties, can hit those shrieking notes he hit in his twenties. So … nowadays he just changes the freakin’ tune to fit his current vocal range, and nobody complains. As for the really high early stuff, they simply don’t even perform those songs any more (which is another benefit of not being a hit singles band - Rush fans actually want to hear their new material, not just the old “hits”). > [@control-z](#): > > They shouldnt have made Every Breath You Take sound so innocent and adoring, those lyrics needed a more sinister song to go with them. Well I think that’s kind of the point - a stalker just thinks he’s showing his love for the object of his affection, he doesn’t think he’s being evil. > [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > IIRC, he said he had finished writing all he songs for the album, and the record company told them they needed to fill up like 4 more minutes, so, according to Lane, he wrote “Cherry Pie” in like ten minutes just to be a filler, that he put no thought into it and expected it to be buried at the end of the CD. Then the record company decided to make that the first single and video, it became a hit, and the whole band always despised it. They didn’t despise the song, but Rush wrote “New World Man” under similar circumstances - they had a few minutes left to fill after they finished recording “Signals”, so the wrote “New World Man” very quickly at the last minute. It ended up being their highest-charting single, but fortunately didn’t define them. To add my own vote to the OP’s question: Ted Nugent’s “Jailbait”. You know, the one that went, “I don’t care if you’re just thirteen/you look too good to be true”. Visiting several lyrics sites, I could find the lyrics to just about every other Nugent song, but every site that even had “Jailbait” listed had a note that said “Lyrics removed at the artist’s request”. Perhaps he feels the song, which is also about purse-snatching and stealing cars, doesn’t fit with the law & order/National Rifle Association Board of Directors position he developed later in life. ---
**Author:** ![Nom\_de\_Plume](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/85f322/32.png) [@Nom\_de\_Plume](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nom_de_Plume)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2009, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/69 "2009-02-14T23:06:49Z")
I heard that Billy Joel regrets the themes in the songs _Captain Jack_ and _Only the Good Die Young_, and wishes he hadn’t recorded them. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/70 "2009-02-15T00:01:16Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’ve always thought of this as “the Tommy effect.” Although I don’t think Pete Townshend or The Who hate Tommy, I just think they got tired of being defined by it. I think everyone in the Who has joked about Tommy having been the most famous member of the band. As for Townshend, he was disappointed that he was never able to top _Tommy_, not even with projects he considered superior. Both the _Lifehouse_ project (which became the _Who’s Next_ album) and later _Quadrophenia_ had been intended to eclipse _Tommy_. But you’re right, I don’t think anyone in the band really hated _Tommy_, and I’m sure they never wished they hadn’t recorded the album…especially since they were very badly in debt before that point. As for individual songs by The Who, I know Townshend has said that it was a surprise to him that the band actually wanted to record “Squeeze Box”, and an even bigger surprise that it became a hit in the US. Although it wasn’t their highest charting single in the US, it did have the longest run. I can’t find the quote now, but I’m pretty sure Townshend has said this caused him to take a very dim view of the record buying public. In the _30 Years of Maximum R&B_ video John Entwistle says he hated playing “Magic Bus” because the bass line was so boring, although Townshend said he always loved playing “Magic Bus” live. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/71 "2009-02-15T00:41:33Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > To add my own vote to the OP’s question: Ted Nugent’s “Jailbait”. You know, the one that went, “I don’t care if you’re just thirteen/you look too good to be true”. Visiting several lyrics sites, I could find the lyrics to just about every other Nugent song, but every site that even had “Jailbait” listed had a note that said “Lyrics removed at the artist’s request”. Perhaps he feels the song, which is also about purse-snatching and stealing cars, doesn’t fit with the law & order/National Rifle Association Board of Directors position he developed later in life. Doesn’t Nugent have a daughter now? If so, maybe that also has something to do with it. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/72 "2009-02-15T01:19:53Z")
Think Bob Dylan said the only song he ever regretted was [Ballad in Plain D](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGG9gFRhryg) It’s about the sister of his girlfriend, who he had a stand up row with one night. He’s really nasty about her in the song but she was one of his first champions, went to all the early gigs, handed out flyers, really helped him. He wrote the song just after the row. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/73 "2009-02-15T11:25:26Z")
Of all of their many 80s hits of dubious theme and origin, Duran Duran has disavowed _New Moon on Monday_, and while it has appeared on the several greatest hits compilations put together by their former record label, they haven’t performed the song live since 1984 and bass player John Taylor has said that he’ll leave the band again (he was out of the lineup for several years) if anyone ever seriously suggests that it be added to their live set again. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2009, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/74 "2009-02-15T11:32:28Z")
**Frank Zappa** was irritated by the fact that many people only knew him for _Valley Girl_, which was essentially a joke, and not for his more complex stuff. Since he never played it live, it’s fair to suppose that he might have thought it would have been better if he never wrote it. In the liner notes for their greatest hits set, the **Beastie Boys** said of _(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)_ that it was included because “it sucks”. It was meant to be a parody, but unfortunately the genre they chose to make fun of is pretty much immune to ridicule, and a lot of people took it “seriously”. **Cat Stevens** in one of his more recent interviews dispelled myths that he had renounced all his music and claimed that he still liked all of it, except one (whose title has fled from my memory) because it was about adultery. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/75 "2009-02-19T03:25:19Z")
Crazy Town was just starting to make a name for itself with an intriguing blend of rapcore, R&B, and hard rock. And then, for some reason, they made a poppy little number named Butterfly. Chris DeBurgh (a spirited power vocallist a la John Parr and Michael Bolton) did a treacly, moody, low-key love song named Lady In Red, dedicated to his wife…whom he soon divorced. Ouch. ---
**Author:** ![Gotterfunken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@Gotterfunken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gotterfunken)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/76 "2009-02-19T03:55:48Z")
> [@SiXSwordS](#): > > The Cure added a sticker on the CD “Staring at the Sea” decrying the use of “Killing an Arab” as an Pro-Iraq war anthem. I recall that they had already started putting stickers on it\* prior to the first Gulf War–back then, it was worded as a general statement denouncing racist and anti-Arab interpretations of the song. I don’t think Smith has ever expressed regret for recording the song, however. \*called _Standing on a Beach_ on the LP and cassette formats–I remember when I was in high school back in the 80s, it was important to get the cassette version, since that was the only format that included the B-sides! ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/77 "2009-02-19T04:07:27Z")
> [@jovan](#): > > In the liner notes for their greatest hits set, the **Beastie Boys** said of _(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)_ that it was included because “it sucks”. It was meant to be a parody, but unfortunately the genre they chose to make fun of is pretty much immune to ridicule, and a lot of people took it “seriously”. Some stuff is so stupid that it cannot be sent up. Back in their heyday, _SCTV_ tried to do a parody of _Laverne and Shirley_ and found it was impossible. No matter how broadly they played it, no matter how ridiculous they acted…it just looked like an episode of _Laverne and Shirley_. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/78 "2009-02-19T13:55:26Z")
Maybe fits the OP: I read an interview once with Neil Young where to be all clever-like the questions were all lines from his songs. Neil made more or less reasonable answers, but for one question (I think it was something like “When do you become old enough to borrow but young enough to repay?”), his answer was roughly “That’s a heck of a good question. I know I must have been thinking something when I wrote it, but I’m damned if I can remember what it was. I had to stop performing that song because every time I’d wonder what the heck I was saying.” ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/79 "2009-02-19T16:51:26Z")
Weird Al has expressed regret at just about every song on his _Polka Party_ CD. ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363/80 "2009-02-19T17:08:45Z")
It seems to me that there are three distinct song types being mentioned: 1. The Cherry Pie – a song an artist simply hates 2. The American Pie – the song itself is fine, it’s just an albatross around the artist’s neck 3. The Every Breath You Take – the artist doesn’t like the audience’s reaction to the song Man, I wish someone could come up with one for #3 that had Pie in the title. That is all. Carry on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-songs-the-artists-regret-making/485363.md?page=5)