# Lyrics that you mistook for song titles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586 "2017-04-16T22:10:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/21 "2017-04-17T14:23:06Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > “Shiny Yellow Taxi” (You know, the one that should have been titled either “You don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone” or “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”). Do you mean [“Big Yellow Taxi”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Yellow_Taxi)? ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/22 "2017-04-17T14:41:19Z")
Could probably make a whole thread just for Led Zeppelin songs. The words “Over the Hills and Far Away” do not appear in the song of that title. If judged by lyrics you’d think it might be called “You Really Ought to Know.” And “D’yer Maker” I guess should just be called, “Oh. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh.” ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/23 "2017-04-17T15:09:49Z")
> [@Cub\_Mistress](#): > > The Who’s “Baba O’Reilly” is not actually called “Teenage Wasteland”, no matter how logical it would seem There is an actual Pete Townsend song called [Teenaged Wasteland](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEdxnu-PLwQ) just to further confuse the issue. Alice Cooper has two songs with the words “Billion Dollar Babies” in them. One is actually titled “Billion Dollar Babies”. Their other song, “Generation Landslide”, is the one I thought was titled “Billion Dollar Babies” for quite a few decades. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/24 "2017-04-17T15:36:17Z")
**For What It’s Worth** , by Buffalo Springfield, which seems like it should be “Something Happening Here”. Dylan had a number of these, like **Positively 4th Street** /“You’ve Got A Lotta Nerve”. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/25 "2017-04-17T20:41:00Z")
I didn’t actually mistake any of the lyrics for the title of [“A Simple Desultory Philippic, (or How I Was Robert McNamara’d Into Submission)”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOvs3rCFI2A) but I never would have guessed _that_ title. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/26 "2017-04-17T23:38:09Z")
Don McLean’s _American Pie_ – Just once, somewhere, I read that the official title of the song is “The Day The Music Died”. Which I thought made sense, as that phrase appears at the end of every stanza. But I’ve never seen or heard that mentioned elsewhere. So I’ve been curious – What really is the _“official”_ name of the song? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/27 "2017-04-17T23:45:56Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Could probably make a whole thread just for Led Zeppelin songs. The words “Over the Hills and Far Away” do not appear in the song of that title. If judged by lyrics you’d think it might be called “You Really Ought to Know.” One comes across songs now and then with titles that seem to have utterly no connection to the lyrics (at least not obviously) – You would never guess the title from the lyrics, and never guess anything about the song from the title. Two that come to mind are: After The Gold Rush (Neil Young; although the best-known and best, IMO, rendition is the a-capella version by Prelude). Nothing at all there about any gold rush that I can tell. Creeque Alley (Mamas & Papas) – The title does apparently have some connection to the back-story of the song, but you’d never know that just by listening to the words. Any others? ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/28 "2017-04-18T00:32:02Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Any others? “Badge” - Cream (apparently EC misread GH’s spelling of “bridge” in the lyric sheet, hence the title) Of course I’ll think of another one right after I post. ETA - “In the Gut of the Quantifier” - The Fall ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/29 "2017-04-18T00:37:49Z")
Well, there were no official song titles with the original webcast of “Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”, and even now that there are official soundtracks and such, I still think of “My Eyes” as “On the Rise.” ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/30 "2017-04-18T00:45:07Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > **For What It’s Worth** , by Buffalo Springfield, which seems like it should be “Something Happening Here”. That’s the song I came here to mention. I always thought it should be “What’s That Sound?”, though. In any event, the words “For What It’s Worth” aren’t in the song. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/31 "2017-04-18T00:57:33Z")
The Indigo Girls’ song “Virginia Woolf” makes absolute sense if you know about Virginia Woolf, which as an English major with a specialty in “women between the wars,” I did, but I found out later that a lot of people who liked the Indigo Girls had no idea who Virginia Woolf was. One of the two Indigo Girls (the one who wrote the song) has a degree in English as well. But the name Virginia Woolf is nowhere in the song, just lines like “they published your diaries, and that’s how I got to know you”; and “the river eclipsed your life”; or “the thunder clouds rolled and the critics stormed; the battle surrounded the white flag of your youth.” I know lots of people who think the song is called “Each Life Has Its Place.” ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/32 "2017-04-18T01:51:33Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > One comes across songs now and then with titles that seem to have utterly no connection to the lyrics (at least not obviously) – You would never guess the title from the lyrics, and never guess anything about the song from the title. > > Two that come to mind are: > > After The Gold Rush (Neil Young; although the best-known and best, IMO, rendition is the a-capella version by Prelude). Nothing at all there about any gold rush that I can tell. > > Creeque Alley (Mamas & Papas) – The title does apparently have some connection to the back-story of the song, but you’d never know that just by listening to the words. > > Any others? The group spent some time in St. Thomas in the USVI. There is a famous narrow street there called Creeque Alley, named after a prominent family. I staggered down it many times, once or twice with Margie Creeque, a disowned member of the family and a notorious hell-raiser. Good times, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Nuveena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a587f6/32.png) [@Nuveena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nuveena)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/33 "2017-04-18T19:48:00Z")
Not only is “(Now You’re Messing with a) Son of a Bitch” by AC/DC not called “Son of a Bitch,” it’s not even AC/DC. :smack: “Hair of the Dog” by Nazareth? Never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/34 "2017-04-18T20:00:43Z")
For a long time, I assumed Golden Earring’s **Twilight Zone** was called “When the Bullet Hits the Bone.” ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2017, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/35 "2017-04-19T02:08:23Z")
I had no idea what song people were talking about when I heard the title “Proud Mary”. For decades I thought it was called “Rolling on the River”. ---
**Author:** ![miffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@miffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miffy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2017, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/36 "2017-04-19T11:10:30Z")
I thought that “Under the Bridge” by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers was “Give it away now” ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2017, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/37 "2017-04-19T12:00:27Z")
When I was really young, my favorite recording was Judy Collins singing her hit song, [“Clouds”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7Xm30heHms). ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/38 "2017-04-19T16:03:16Z")
> [@miffy](#): > > I thought that “Under the Bridge” by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers was “Give it away now” I think you mean “I Don’t Ever Wanna Feel” (or some such). “Give it Away Now” is another song from the same album, that really does repeat the title many times. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/39 "2017-04-19T16:22:10Z")
“Don’t Murder Me” by the Grateful Dead. The actual title is “Dire Wolf.” ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2017, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586/40 "2017-04-23T00:04:52Z")
Today I heard the song “Don’t Worry About A Thing” by Bob Marley. I guess it’s about three little birds, or something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lyrics-that-you-mistook-for-song-titles/784586.md?page=3)