# Best songs not sung by the lead singer **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 20, 2012, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813 "2012-07-20T03:56:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/41 "2012-07-20T16:06:08Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The Kinks: “Strangers” with Dave Davies as the lead singer. > [@JKellyMap](#): > > And, “Living on a Thin Line”. Dave sang lead on quite a few great Kinks songs—some of them his compositions, some Ray’s. In addition to the ones you mentioned, I like “I’m Not Like Everybody Else,” “Death of a Clown,” “Susannah’s Still Alive,” “You’re Looking Fine,” “Arthur,” “When You Were a Child,” “Wicked Annabella,” “Perfect Strangers” More of a curiosity is “Willesden Green” sung by bassist John Dalton, or the songs on _Preservation Act 2_ with lead vocals by female member-for-a-year Maryann Price. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/42 "2012-07-20T16:12:56Z")
“Back on The Road Again” sung by REO Speedwagon’s bass player. BTW, Ooh La La was sung by Ronnie Wood, not Ronnie Lane. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/43 "2012-07-20T16:14:11Z")
> [@tomcar](#): > > Oh La La was also sung by Ronnie Lane. In fact, “Ooh La La” was sung by Ron Wood on the album. It’s one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite bands. It was co-written by Wood and Lane. But [here’s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYPTX12L5Uw) a nice clip of Ronnie Lane doing the song. eta: I see **california jobcase** beat me too it while I was looking up the link to the clip! ---
**Author:** ![Reloy3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c68b51/32.png) [@Reloy3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reloy3)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/44 "2012-07-20T16:25:00Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > “Drive”-Ben Orr That’s my favorite, and what I came here to post. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/45 "2012-07-20T16:28:29Z")
All of the Ringo-sung songs for the Beatles (Octopus’s garden, I wanna be your man…). Andy Summers “Mother” - The Police ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/46 "2012-07-20T16:41:48Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Andy Summers “Mother” - The Police You think that’s “best?” 🙂 Andy sang on a B-side from the _Synchronicity_ era, “[Someone To Talk To,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aBeQDeqEOg)” which is a really good song. I have no idea how that made a B-side and “Mother” made it to the album. “Mother” has a bad-ass guitar solo, yes, but that’s the only redeeming quality. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/47 "2012-07-20T16:42:56Z")
“[I’d Rather Go Blind](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohx9Ve7-GS0),” by _Chicken Shack_, sung by Christine Perfect (usual lead singer, Stan Web). Little Miss Perfect later became Christine McVie, and one of the acknowledged lead singers of _Fleetwood Mac_, but I believe this was effectively a one-off vocal from when she was in _Chicken Shack_. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/48 "2012-07-20T16:48:26Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Dave sang lead on quite a few great Kinks songs—some of them his compositions, some Ray’s. In addition to the ones you mentioned, I like “I’m Not Like Everybody Else,” “Death of a Clown,” “Susannah’s Still Alive,” “You’re Looking Fine,” “Arthur,” “When You Were a Child,” “Wicked Annabella,” “Perfect Strangers”. I do not know about the others, but I am pretty sure that “Death of a Clown” was released as a solo Dave Davies single, not as by The Kinks. Actually, I remember seeing him do it on _Top of the Pops_, and the DJ mistakenly introduced him as Ray Davies. There was a howl from Dave of “You did that on purpose!”, before he launched into the song. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/49 "2012-07-20T17:03:04Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > I do not know about the others, but I am pretty sure that “Death of a Clown” was released as a solo Dave Davies single It was, but it also appeared on the Kinks album _Something Else_, so maybe it’s a borderline case. If I understand correctly it was one of the songs that was originally intended for a Dave Davies solo album that never materialized. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/50 "2012-07-20T17:05:37Z")
\*Shock Me \*by Kiss - sung by Ace Frehley ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/51 "2012-07-20T17:08:21Z")
“Heaven Beside You,” Alice in Chains (Jerry Cantrell, guitarist) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/52 "2012-07-20T17:14:42Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > “Heaven Beside You,” Alice in Chains (Jerry Cantrell, guitarist) I’d say Cantrell and Staley were co-lead singers. There were a lot of songs where each sang by himself and there were plenty of others where they sang together. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/53 "2012-07-20T17:22:51Z")
In the Band, there were three of the best vocalists in all of rock, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel, and Levon Helm. Yet on [Bessie Smith](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IG48mTHPb9A), Robbie Robertson, who famously had his microphone turned off during the _The Last Waltz_, takes the lead (ably backed by Danko, of course). I never thought Robbie had a bad voice, but it was obviously not his most important contribution to the Band. But here, it works perfectly, on a song that I consider to be one of their greatest and most moving. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/54 "2012-07-20T17:28:44Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > ETA: Oh, and duh - a song I’ve done in pretty much every band I’ve ever been in - **That’s What I Like (About You) by The Romantics** - again, sung by the drummer instead of the normal coupla frontman singers… [Threadwinner](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvHKjDKY_O8). ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/55 "2012-07-20T17:39:02Z")
Genesis - “For Absent Friends” and “More Fool Me” were sung by drummer Phil Collins. Hey, it counts! He _was_ just the drummer back then! ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/56 "2012-07-20T18:07:19Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > \*Shock Me \*by Kiss - sung by Ace Frehley You…BASTARD! :mad: 😃 After reading everyone else’s that was my only one left I could think of! Fine, I’ll add “Strange Ways”, also by KISS…sang by Peter Criss. Take that! ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/57 "2012-07-20T18:24:40Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > Happy sung by Keith Richards. And then there’s [“In Another Land”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRNdA8OiJug), written and sung by bassist Bill Wyman. Certainly not typical Stones, but I like it… a nice bit of vaguely Syd Barrett-ish baroque psychedelia. Wyman showed up at a Stones’ recording session to find it had been canceled. Engineer Glyn Johns was also there, so they recorded the song, which features Charlie Watts, Nicky Hopkins, Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott. After hearing the take, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones agreed to put it on _Satanic Majesties_ (adding background vocals and guitar). ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/58 "2012-07-20T18:25:07Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > [Love Will Keep Us Alive.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfRkuBDhUHE) Sung by Timothy B. Schmit, bass player for the Eagles. He sings high tenor, which fits this song perfectly. I believe he also sang “I Can’t Tell You Why”, also appropriate to his voice. Excellent Queen examples given. Who would have thought to use anyone else when you have Freddie up front. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/59 "2012-07-20T18:30:39Z")
Rolling Stones-wise, Keef also sang “Before They Make Me Run”, “You Got the Silver”, and “Lil T&A”. mmm ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813/60 "2012-07-20T18:32:29Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > “Dreams Never End,” New Order (Peter Hook, bassist) How the hell did I not know this? Great choice. > [@Steken](#): > > U2’s “Van Diemen’s Land”, sung by The Edge. “Seconds” was a much better (IMO) song with The Edge on lead vocals. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-songs-not-sung-by-the-lead-singer/628813.md?page=4)