# Singers, composers, etc. who came to hate something they created **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2014, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059 "2014-05-23T02:36:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/41 "2014-05-23T18:09:05Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > He hated even after the awards, and said so in concert. Apparently one of the issues he had with the song is Sinatra thought it was about two gay men. Funny, I also have thought it’s about two gay men. But that’s just me, not Sinatra. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/42 "2014-05-23T18:11:42Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > I seem to recall reading Paul Simon dislikes “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)”, and saying he hopes he isn’t remembered for writing it. Paul Simon has said he doesn’t like a lot of his earlier songs. He also singled out “The Dangling Conversation”. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/43 "2014-05-23T19:25:04Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > This always gets mentioned, but Billy Joel absolutely hates _Just the Way You Are_. He also hates perforiming “We Didn’t Start the Fire”. He has trouble remembering which order the lyrics are in and has to focus on someone in the audience. He says that real fans _always_ get it right. ---
**Author:** ![fuchsiagroan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9de0a6/32.png) [@fuchsiagroan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuchsiagroan)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/44 "2014-05-23T19:43:04Z")
> [@OurLordPeace](#): > > On top of that, they wrote it as a joke, parodying all the phony “rebel” songs that were around at that time. > > Depeche Mode hate “People are People,” because it’s hackneyed and tacky, among other things. They do, however, play “Just Can’t Get Enough” because it’s fun and funny to draw a line back to their earliest, Vince Clarke-penned era. I saw them do just can’t get enough last year. It was fun. I didn’t know that about people (it is kinda cheesey). Simple Minds don’t like don’t you (forget about me). Because they didn’t write it, they didn’t see themselves as a stadium band but the song mapped them as such, and they had no other hits. Morrissey changed his tune about his Smiths work once he had some solo classics It’s not hate so much as denial of their looming presence over his career. ---
**Author:** ![Shadowfyre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfyre/32/9972_2.png) [@Shadowfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shadowfyre)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/45 "2014-05-23T19:53:01Z")
> [@fuchsiagroan](#): > > Simple Minds don’t like don’t you (forget about me). Because they didn’t write it, they didn’t see themselves as a stadium band but the song mapped them as such, and they had no other hits. I heard the same about Berlin’s Take My Breath Away from Top Gun. It’s one of the very few songs that they recorded that they didn’t write, but it is their biggest and only (I think) hit. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/46 "2014-05-23T19:59:49Z")
Billy Joel sure is getting a lot of mentions in this thread! He also, if I recall correctly, dislikes “Piano Man” - more from it being overplayed than anything else. The stanzas are apparently just limericks (and yes, after finding that out, you can never hear it the same way again). Also, John Lennon didn’t care for “Imagine.” But again, it was only after it became a huge hit - I think most artists like their songs at least a small amount when they first record them, but get tired of replaying them over and over and over again. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/47 "2014-05-23T20:05:11Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/48 "2014-05-23T21:54:56Z")
[Pinball Wizard](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball_Wizard#Story) by The Who. > [@](#): > > Townshend once called it “the most clumsy piece of writing [he’d] ever done.” ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/49 "2014-05-24T03:59:43Z")
> [@GreenElf](#): > > The lyrics for “Light My Fire” were written mainly by Krieger though. As well as the basic melody and chords for the lyric sections, which would be the aspect of the song Jim hated singing. Morrison added a phrase or two, Manzarek provided the famous organ riff, as well as the jazz chords (Coltraine?) improv section (IF I remember correctly); John decided on the latin beat. I say it’s a Robby song. FWIW, Jim also famously hated Robby’s “Touch Me.” My own contribution to the thread is Sergei Rachmaninoff, who came to detest his Piano Prelude in C#minor. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/50 "2014-05-24T05:10:18Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Where on earth did you hear this? Sinatra was on record as hating the sing-song nature of the tune, which he lampooned with his famous “doo-be-doo-be-doo at the end”. I’ve never heard a peep about him thinking it was about two gay men. “1000 UK Number One Hits” (Kutner and Leigh, 2005) quotes Sinatra as saying the song was “about two fags in a bar”. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/51 "2014-05-24T05:48:30Z")
Well, thanks for the cite, I guess. I suppose the alleged comment may have been something Sinatra said, I don’t know. The book’s quote might be apocryphal or just plain old bullshit as well. It might also be something Sinatra said facetiously to dismiss the song or dissuade whoever he was talking to from commenting further on it. I’d be surprised if Sinatra ever thought the song was about homosexuals at the time he recorded it though. There’s nothing in the song’s lyrics to suggest a homosexual relationship, and given that the supposed quote comes some years after his death and that he never came under fire from gay rights advocates since the quote came well after the gay rights movement got underway I have to say I’m dubious as to the integrity of the cite. ---
**Author:** ![Dave\_Hartwick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@Dave\_Hartwick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave_Hartwick)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2014, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/52 "2014-05-24T10:03:54Z")
Re: “Alabama Getaway” > [@Don\_Draper](#): > > It was certainly not in their usual repertoire, but I know I’d heard a live version of the song at least once. They actually recorded this song twice - once as a non-album single all the way back in '68, and the better-known version from '79. I think the band disliked the specific recording of the '79 version rather than the song itself… They played it on SNL in 1980. I was surprised to see it called one of their more popular songs in an earlier post: I used to hang around with deadheads and barely knew of it. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it on the radio. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2014, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/53 "2014-05-24T10:10:19Z")
> [@Dave\_Hartwick](#): > > Re: "Alabama Getaway"They played it on SNL in 1980. I was surprised to see it called one of their more popular songs in an earlier post: I used to hang around with deadheads and barely knew of it. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it on the radio. It was their [second biggest hit single](http://www.billboard.com/artist/303090/grateful-dead/chart?mobile_redirection=false) ever, after “Touch of Grey.” Granted, that’s not saying much – it only reached #68 on the charts – but still. That you hung out with Deadheads and barely knew of it underscores how it was disliked by the band and most of its fans (interesting about SNL, though.) ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/54 "2014-05-25T01:18:46Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I can’t find the interview, but **Tom Waits** released an album to fulfill contractual obligations and hates the songs. IIRC some of my personal favorites were on the list. Which album? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/55 "2014-05-25T01:44:43Z")
Kurt Cobain hated **Smells Like Teen Spirit**. he couldn’t believe a silly song he scribbled out in a few minutes would be the Big Hit. > [@Labdad](#): > > I seem to recall reading Paul Simon dislikes “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)”, and saying he hopes he isn’t remembered for writing it. > [@NDP](#): > > Paul Simon has said he doesn’t like a lot of his earlier songs. He also singled out “The Dangling Conversation”. And he hates Sounds of Silence too, apparently - as you say, maybe all his S&G material? Which reminds me of a story. I heard him being interviewed on radio in England in 1980 on his One Trick Pony tour. The interviewer was a girl who couldn’t have been over 18 and clearly no idea who he was. But her research had discovered **Simon and Garfunkel** , so her Big Question was: “How hard is it to write songs by yourself after having been in a partnership with Art Garfunkel for so long?” (or words to that effect). You could hear his struggle to remain polite in the pause that followed, then he finally said “I wrote all those songs …”. She floundered a bit then came back with “Oh, is this generally known?”. Bad move. Simon says “I think everyone knows it except you”. Dead air for at least 20 seconds while she twists slowly in the wind … excruciating to hear, it was. > [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > My own contribution to the thread is Sergei Rachmaninoff, who came to detest his Piano Prelude in C#minor. I hear he especially hates it when it’s used twice in one thread, including in the OP … ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/56 "2014-05-25T01:53:48Z")
That was a dick move by Simon, if the age of the interviewer is accurate. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/57 "2014-05-25T02:00:07Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > I hear he especially hates it when it’s used twice in one thread, including in the OP … Shows you how carefully I read the OP. I shall commit seppuku at once. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/58 "2014-05-25T02:15:27Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > That was a dick move by Simon, if the age of the interviewer is accurate. Nah. Assuming it was a radio interview in a professional setting, I’d say her lack of preparation merited his reaction. Ignorance is no excuse for insulting an artist like that. Even a well-known dick like Paul Simon is entitled to a minimal level of professional respect. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/59 "2014-05-25T06:10:52Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Nah. Assuming it was a radio interview in a professional setting, I’d say her lack of preparation merited his reaction. Ignorance is no excuse for insulting an artist like that. Even a well-known dick like Paul Simon is entitled to a minimal level of professional respect. What was the insult? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2014, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059/60 "2014-05-25T19:10:18Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > What was the insult? Seriously? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/singers-composers-etc-who-came-to-hate-something-they-created/689059.md?page=4)