# Songs not named what you thought **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [April 28, 2021, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986 "2021-04-28T21:00:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/21 "2021-04-28T23:30:44Z")
Whenever I search for the Pet Shop Boys song that ought to be called Let’s Make Lots Of Money, I forget that it is actually called Opportunities. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/22 "2021-04-28T23:31:02Z")
Buncha these, of course: Train In Vain, by the Clash. Chorus is mostly “stand by me”, which would overload with the Ben E. King classic. Added points for not having its title listed on the album. Brain Damage by Pink Floyd. The Weight by The Band. “Take a load off Annie” Life During Warning by Talking Heads. “This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco” Black Dog by Led Zeppelin. Doesn’t really have a chorus, but the words “black dog” aren’t anywhere in the song. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/23 "2021-04-28T23:36:53Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > Life During Warning by Talking Heads. “This ain’t no party, this ain’t no disco” Actually “Life During Wartime”. And welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_McQwark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4da419/32.png) [@Steve\_McQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McQwark)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2021, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/24 "2021-04-28T23:56:50Z")
> [@cheeses\_of\_nazareth](#): > > _Long Train Runnin’_ by the Doobie Brothers Agreed on this one. I was on a Doobie Brothers kick on Youtube recently and saw “Long Train Runnin’” on the thumbnail; I had to start playing it before I remembered which song it was. > [@whitetho](#): > > Leo Sayre had a hit where he repeatedly exclaimed “I can dance!”, but the song title is “Long Tall Glasses”. This one I remember because I always liked the lyric “long tall glasses of wine up to yar” ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/25 "2021-04-29T00:01:39Z")
Buffalo Springfield: For What it’s Worth (“Stop children, what’s that sound…”) Neil Young: After the Gold Rush (“Well I dreamed I saw the knights in armor…” Bob Dylan: Positively 4th Street (“You got a lotta nerve to say you are my friend…”) Basically any song where the title does not appear in the lyrics could qualify. Dylan has a ton of these. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/26 "2021-04-29T00:08:09Z")
You know how I know you didn’t read the whole thread? ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/27 "2021-04-29T00:09:23Z")
I’ve heard the songs “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town” by Pearl Jam (“I…seem…to RECOGNIZE…your FAAAACE”) and “Young Lust” (“Oooohhh, I need a dirty woman…”) by Pink Floyd a million times over the course of my life, and only learned what they were titled last year. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/28 "2021-04-29T00:11:45Z")
> [@Steve\_McQwark](#): > > For me, the classic one is “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield. The “it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound” song. Yeah, good call. I’m pretty sure there are about 12 people in the entire world who know what that song’s actual title is. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/29 "2021-04-29T00:14:35Z")
Strange, I’m one of those 12 then. I never knew the song by any other name but my sister had the album, I had the tape and still have the CD. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/30 "2021-04-29T00:17:05Z")
Well, if you _owned_ the album. . … I shouldn’t talk. I owned Bab Marley’s Legend for a year before I realized what song Three Little Birds was. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/31 "2021-04-29T00:25:49Z")
I don’t think that one is _that_ obscure. Certainly most of my peers would know it (I’m 45, but we listened to a lot of classic rock growing up). I was surprised by the Bob Marley one, “Three Little Birds.” That feels like I title I knew from reading the track listing of _Legend_, but I had never actually associated it with a specific song. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/32 "2021-04-29T00:27:30Z")
> [@cheeses\_of\_nazareth](#): > > _Without love,_ > _Where would you be right now?_ > _Without lo-o-o-o-ve?_ > and so on- repeated many times- is _Long Train Runnin’_ by the Doobie Brothers - Whaaattt??? ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/33 "2021-04-29T00:34:17Z")
“Gumboots” by Paul Simon. (“You don’t feel you could love me, but I feel you could…”) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/34 "2021-04-29T00:52:35Z")
I came here to post this, but you beat me. > [@Bunnybread](#): > > “Escape” by Rupert Holmes. Apparently his record label agreed and pretty much forced “(The Pina Colada Song)” on him. and then this. Ok, I guess I am too old and too slow! 😺 ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/35 "2021-04-29T00:53:11Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > Black Dog by Led Zeppelin. Doesn’t really have a chorus, but the words “black dog” aren’t anywhere in the song. I think the story was that during the recording sessions, some black dog was wandering near the studio. Also, D’Yer Mak’er. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7U5TCX0R950/maxresdefault.jpg "Led Zeppelin ~ D'yer Mak'er (1973)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7U5TCX0R950) > Fans who have been seeing (and saying) “dire maker” when they refer to the track haven’t been doing it right. As Plant once confirmed, the [joke is in the pronunciation](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/the-10-wildest-led-zeppelin-legends-fact-checked-153103/the-title-of-dyer-maker-is-based-on-an-old-cockney-joke-about-jamaica-152525/) — and how someone with a cockney accent might sound when they’re saying either “Jamaica” or “Did you make her?” > > In the old joke, a man tells a friend that his wife has just gone on vacation. After he asks if it’s Jamaica (“D’yer mak’er”) she’s gone to, the man replies, “No, she went on her own accord.” (Get it?) > **[The Joke Led Zeppelin Was Trying to Make With 'D'yer Mak'er'](https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/the-joke-led-zeppelin-was-trying-to-make-with-dyer-maker.html/)** > > Led Zeppelin dropped a joke in the title of 'D'yer Mak'er.' But a lot of people didn't get it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/36 "2021-04-29T00:57:22Z")
Speaking of Led Zeppelin: it was several years after I first heard “Fool in the Rain” (a phrase that doesn’t appear in the song) that I discovered that it’s name wasn’t something like “Light of the Love That I Found.” ---
**Author:** ![Acierocolotl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acierocolotl/32/6241_2.png) [@Acierocolotl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acierocolotl)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/37 "2021-04-29T00:59:46Z")
This is a little inside baseball because it’s in a different language, but there was a one-album wonder band I really liked called TSPC. One song I thought was called, “Je suis,” (because that’s what the lead singer bellows) but the song is called, “Politically Correct,” and that bit of lyric is just a recorded sample in the song. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/38 "2021-04-29T01:13:17Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Speaking of Led Zeppelin: it was several years after I first heard “Fool in the Rain” (a phrase that doesn’t appear in the song) that I discovered that it’s name wasn’t something like “Light of the Love That I Found.” True. The words do appear, but not together. And the thoughts of a fool’s kind of careless and Now I will stand in the rain on the corner How about The Clash/Train in Vain? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/aUzBgeI5dpc/maxresdefault.jpg "The Clash - Train in Vain (Stand by Me) (Official Audio)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUzBgeI5dpc) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/39 "2021-04-29T01:13:48Z")
Speakling of Song #2 by Blur, it seemed 90s alt rock had tons of examples of songs whose title did not match the chorus or most memorable line in the song. For example, the “Rat in a Cage” song by the Smashing Pumpkins is “Bullet With Butterfly Wings.” “What’s Going On?” by 4 Non Blondes is actually “What’s Up?” “Take Me Away to Paradise” by Green Day is “Longview.” The “I’m Not Sick but I’m Not Well” song by Harvey Danger is “Flagpole Sitta.” The “Got Time to Wait for Tomorrow” song by Stone Temple Pilots is “Plush.” Everybody knows which one “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is, but does everyone remember which one is “In Bloom” or “Sliver”, assuming they would have listened to radio stations that would play it? ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2021, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986/40 "2021-04-29T01:37:27Z")
For years, I had heard people talking about this great Stevie Wonder song called “Sir Duke.” I was sure that I had never heard it. So one day I made it a point to find it on YouTube and listen to it. And I found that, in fact, I had heard it many times. It’s the song that I thought was called “You Can Feel It All Over.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-not-named-what-you-thought/940986.md?page=3)