# Signature songs that occurred late in a singers career
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** music
**Created:** [July 4, 2022, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407 "2022-07-04T16:11:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@bryanmaguire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanmaguire)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2022, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/1 "2022-07-04T16:11:15Z")
So the song Non, je ne regrette rien by Edith Piaf was recorded at the very end of her career and it is one of her best known songs. Similarly My Way was recorded by Sinatra in 1969 which was at the end of his recording career. Are there are any other signature songs recorded late in a singers career?
---
### Author:  [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/2 "2022-07-04T16:12:56Z")
I saw the title of the thread and besides tagging it, I was coming in to mention Sinatra and _New York, New York_ recorded around 1977.
* * *
Another good one, Louis Armstrong recorded _What a Wonderful World_ in 1967.
---
### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2022, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/3 "2022-07-04T16:24:36Z")
“Hurt”, by Johnny Cash.
---
### Author:  [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2022, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/4 "2022-07-04T17:36:55Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#):
>
> Another good one, Louis Armstrong recorded _What a Wonderful World_ in 1967.
And _Hello Dolly_, 1964.
---
### Author:  [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2022, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/5 "2022-07-04T17:47:27Z")
Warren Zevon - _Keep Me In Your Heart_
---
### Author:  [@RobotDevilDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobotDevilDog)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/6 "2022-07-05T07:13:35Z")
I love Warren Zevon’s music, and _Keep Me In Your Heart_ is among his very best songs. But his signature song? For better or worse, the one song of his that **everybody** knows is _Werewolves of London_.
---
### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/7 "2022-07-05T07:43:11Z")
Jimmy Durante had success with “September Song” and “Young at Heart” when he was 70. The first especially was his signature from then on.
---
### Author:  [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/8 "2022-07-05T09:05:50Z")
Another Louis Armstrong one - We Have All The Time In The World. The theme song of the 1969 James Bond movie On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
---
### Author:  [@bryanmaguire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bryanmaguire)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/9 "2022-07-05T09:24:17Z")
That is probably a better example for Sinatra than mine. There was a period where no function in Ireland didn’t have New York, New York as the last song of the night.
---
### Author:  [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/10 "2022-07-05T10:46:35Z")
> [@Chefguy](#):
>
> “Hurt”, by Johnny Cash.
I would argue that _Ring of Fire_ or _Folsom Prison Blues_ would be his signature song, but _Hurt_ certainly opened him up to a younger generation.
---
### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/11 "2022-07-05T11:02:25Z")
Ethel Merman had a signature song in “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” which she started singing at age 51 in _Gypsy._ Her final screen appearance had her singing it to identify her in a cameo appearance
😉
---
### Author:  [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/12 "2022-07-05T11:21:58Z")
Carlos Santana started in 1966, and released the album _Supernatural_ in 1999, which featured the massive hit _ **Smooth** _.
---
### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/13 "2022-07-05T12:22:05Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> Her final screen appearance had her singing it to identify her in a cameo appearance
[War is hell.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmZdqsCW8vM)
---
### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/14 "2022-07-05T13:32:01Z")
My first thought is Otis Redding’s **(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay,** which was (re)recorded just 3 days before Redding died in a plane crash in 1967.
The single was released a month after Redding’s death and became the first ever posthumous single to top the charts in the U.S.
mmm
---
### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/15 "2022-07-05T17:42:35Z")
Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee” reached number one in March 1971, six months after she died at 27.
Jeff Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah” came only three years before his death. Admittedly, he died at 30. Which means his signature song was done when he was 27.
Numerology!
---
### Author:  [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/16 "2022-07-05T18:14:39Z")
Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony was first performed in 1824, three years before his death (and when we was quite deaf).
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/17 "2022-07-05T18:30:35Z")
George Jones didn’t record “He Stopped Loving Her Today” until 1980, which was twenty-five years into his career.
---
### Author:  [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/18 "2022-07-05T18:42:40Z")
I am not sure if it is considered their signature song but The Grateful Dead’s only song to make the Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten was 1987’s “Touch of Grey” after they formed in 1965. I think it would count because it is probably the only song of theirs that most people know.
---
### Author:  [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/19 "2022-07-05T20:27:00Z")
It was their only big hit but hardly their signature song which would be Truckin’ or Casey Jones (one could argue Dark Star).
---
### Author:  [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2022, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407/20 "2022-07-05T21:15:40Z")
Here’s a uniquely British example (with explanation).
Music Hall legend Bud Flanagan (1896 - 1968) recorded **Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mister Hitler?** in the year of his death (aged 72). Doesn’t get much later in a career than that.
The song was recorded as the theme tune to second world war based sitcom **Dad’s Army**. The writers sought out Flanagan as an authentic voice of the period, and he obliged (the song was written by one of the show’s writing team). Dad’s Army has become part of British cultural history.
I can’t imagine anyone is in the least bit interested, but the opening credits with Bud Flanagan:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF6qElf9GJ8)
j
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/signature-songs-that-occurred-late-in-a-singers-career/967407.md?page=2)