There are a lot of songs called “I Want You” out there. The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, The Troggs, Savage Garden, Marvin Gaye, Janet Jackson, Roxette, LL Cool J, Paris Hilton, Jody Watley, Cabaret Voltaire, Third Eye Blind, and Faith Hill have all recorded different songs with that name.
Another popular title: “Stay”. Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Shakespears Sister, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, Ne-Yo, U2, Lisa Loeb, Dave Matthews Band, Oingo Boingo, and Alison Krauss.
What other common titles are out there? And which has produced the most good songs (I’d give “I Want You” the edge between these two titles, with the Costello and Dylan versions in there).
(As you can tell from The Beatles and U2, elements of the title (in parentheses) don’t count.)
Don’t Stop - Fleetwood Mac and The Rolling Stones
Fleetwood Mac’s tune is classic, even being used by Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign. The Stones’ song was their best in recent years.
Hey You - Pink Floyd, Madonna, and B.T.O.
Pink Floyd has the classic one here. I liked B.T.O.'s song of the same name. It was a good fun tune. I have not heard Madonna’s.
Feel Like Makin’ Love - Roberta Flack and Bad Company
Roberta Flack’s song is a soul classic. Bad Co.'s is a classic tune in the rock genre. Both good songs.
I think I remember Casey Kasem saying once that 6 different songs titled “Lady” have been in the Top 40 in the ‘rock era’. This memory comes from the early 80s, so I suppose he was introducing either Kenny Rogers’ or Lionel Richie’s songs. There have probably been others since then with that same title.
I like a song by Crazy Town (kind of a Limp Bizkit wannabe band) called “Butterfly”. When I looked for the video on YouTube, I found out there are at least 2 or 3 other songs called “Butterfly”. One is an “inspiring” ballad by Mariah Carey. Another is one of the most popular songs on the original Dance Dance Revolution game. I think there is even a Malcolm McLaren “Butterfly.” (Did I get the producer’s name right? Because in my mind I keep mixing up his name with the guy who was in A Clockwork Orange. )
Different songs called “Girlfriend” have been recorded by Avril Lavigne, Bobby Brown, Pebbles and Matthew Sweet.
Hey, didn’t we have a thread like this a few weeks ago?
Kenny Rogers’ song Lady was written by Lionel Richie. Some others I can think of off the top of my head are songs by the Little River Band and Styx, all with the same name.
“Let it rain” is definitely an oft-repeated title. I’m aware of completely different songs to that title done by three different artists (Amanda Marshall, Megan Metcalf, and Shirley Myers,) and a search on allmusic.com turns up many others, including Jon Bon Jovi, Tracy Chapman, Mark Chestnutt, Eric Clapton, Cypress Hill, JoJo, and Michael W Smith.
