# How do I find out who wrote particular lyrics? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 20, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-out-who-wrote-particular-lyrics/241062 "2004-04-20T18:32:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-out-who-wrote-particular-lyrics/241062/1 "2004-04-20T18:32:21Z")
I was listening to Joss Stone’s _Fell in Love with a Boy_ and I could tell I’d heard it before, but I figured it was just a bad ripoff. Then I heard the White Stripes _Fell in Love with a Girl_ again and made the connection. Does anyone know who wrote this song? Is the WS version a cover too? Google just gives me a bunch of lyrics list pages… what do I search for to find out who wrote it? ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-out-who-wrote-particular-lyrics/241062/2 "2004-04-20T18:39:02Z")
Sorry if this does not help, but have you tried looking at the liner notes? Most musicians attribute the original writer. You do not even have to buy the CD, just open it in the store, check the inside cover, then put it back on the shelf. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-out-who-wrote-particular-lyrics/241062/3 "2004-04-20T18:42:18Z")
Sorry if this does not help, but have you tried looking at the liner notes? Most musicians attribute the original writer. You do not even have to buy the CD, just open it in the store, check the inside cover, then put it back on the shelf. If you want to be scrupulously honest, take the opened CD to the counter, tell them you opened it, but do not want to buy it, they will happily take it and send it back to the distributer for repackaging. No harm, no foul. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-out-who-wrote-particular-lyrics/241062/4 "2004-04-20T18:49:51Z")
You open a cd around here, you buy it. I was looking for a easy “I don’t have to leave my desk” way to do it. ---
**Author:** ![askeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@askeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/askeptic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-out-who-wrote-particular-lyrics/241062/5 "2004-04-20T18:54:42Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > You open a cd around here, you buy it. > > I was looking for a easy “I don’t have to leave my desk” way to do it. Not “around here”. I will try to stop by borders today and get you the information. No promises, but I will try. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-out-who-wrote-particular-lyrics/241062/6 "2004-04-20T19:49:52Z")
I’ve seen Joss Stones’s version referred to as an Aretha Franklinesque cover of the White Stripes song. From a quick check at the White Stripes site, this does appear to be ‘their’ song. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-out-who-wrote-particular-lyrics/241062/7 "2004-04-20T19:53:35Z")
Are you kidding me? It’s takes me 12 minutes and 11 tools to get a CD open. If I tried to do that in a store I’d have half a dozen security guards wrestling me to the ground before I broke the last seal. And I need a cite that says that CDs can be sent back for repackaging as **askeptic** claims. How would they know you hadn’t damaged the disk when it was open? Why would they take the chance of reshipping a potentially defective disk? Anyone from Borders who can say what their policy is on this? ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-out-who-wrote-particular-lyrics/241062/8 "2004-04-20T20:09:27Z")
As a former Best Buy employee… you’re seen opening a cd… you buy said cd. ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-out-who-wrote-particular-lyrics/241062/9 "2004-04-20T21:03:13Z")
The White Stripes (or at least Jack White) _did_ write “Fell in Love With a Girl.” I don’t have the liner notes to _White Blood Cells_ with me, but the _WBC_ page of [All Music Guide](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDMISS70402041702433222&sql=Az0yvad5kl8w8) credits the writer of the song as “White Stripes,” and Joss Stone’s [album page](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDMISS70402041702433222&sql=A0d2gtq4zzu48) credits “Fell in Love With a Boy” to “White.” In answer to the question in the title of the thread, check out All Music Guide. You can search for a song and it’ll give you a list of all the different versions and tell you who wrote it. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-find-out-who-wrote-particular-lyrics/241062/10 "2004-04-20T21:38:50Z")
Thanks, **L-G-B** … that’s what I was looking for.