# Songs that could be the same story told from different viewpoints **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 1, 2019, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-could-be-the-same-story-told-from-different-viewpoints/828771 "2019-02-01T05:56:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-could-be-the-same-story-told-from-different-viewpoints/828771/1 "2019-02-01T05:56:40Z")
So had realization that Where Do You Go to My Lovely by Peter Sarstedt and We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful by Morrissey could in fact be the same story told from different viewpoints. I mean not literally, as far as I know Morrissey never intended for his song to be that, they _could_ be. What other songs could in fact be different sides of the same story. I am excluding “I dumped/cheated-on someone” vs “They dumped/cheated-on me” as that’s like 50% of songs ever written. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_Raygun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c67d28/32.png) [@Ronald\_Raygun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_Raygun)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-could-be-the-same-story-told-from-different-viewpoints/828771/2 "2019-02-01T08:51:49Z")
The classic answers to this question are The Boys Are Back in Town / Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? It’s Raining Men / Let the Bodies Hit the Floor ---
**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:** [February 1, 2019, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-could-be-the-same-story-told-from-different-viewpoints/828771/3 "2019-02-01T15:14:19Z")
[_I Want My Baby Back_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0x8S1U7O3w) by Jimmy Cross was a novelty tune recounting the experiences of the driver of the car which collided with the motorcyclist described in the Shangra-la’s “Leader of the Pack”. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-could-be-the-same-story-told-from-different-viewpoints/828771/4 "2019-02-01T16:00:30Z")
How about when the SAME song ends up being two different viewpoints. Like this version of[One Toke Over the Line](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNKL9onYB_8) vs. [this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkCaAnIcDWw). “Answer songs” probably shouldn’t count, but I still have to bring up [_Eve of Destruction_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_of_Destruction_(song)) and it’s sappy reply _Dawn of Correction_. Also Merle Haggard’s excellent [Okie from Muskogee](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68cbjlLFl4U) got counterpunched by the Youngbloods’ 'shoulda-been-a-lot-better [Hippie from Olema.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OimAEdj7Qa0) ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-could-be-the-same-story-told-from-different-viewpoints/828771/5 "2019-02-01T18:47:17Z")
If answer songs don’t count then forget that I mentioned Wild Side of Life/It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-could-be-the-same-story-told-from-different-viewpoints/828771/6 "2019-02-02T15:47:50Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Also Merle Haggard’s excellent [Okie from Muskogee](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68cbjlLFl4U) got counterpunched by the Youngbloods’ 'shoulda-been-a-lot-better [Hippie from Olema.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OimAEdj7Qa0) Also Kinky Friedman’s [Asshole from El Paso](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n__tAHR5ErM) ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-could-be-the-same-story-told-from-different-viewpoints/828771/7 "2019-02-02T16:04:26Z")
I still think it’s hysterical that the Grateful Dead once performed (a pretty good) _Okie from Muskogee_: [Grateful Dead Live at Fillmore East on 1971-04-27 : Free Borrow & Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/gd71-04-27.sbd.murphy.2221.sbeok.shnf/gd71-04-27d3t06.shn) - We don’t let our hair grow long and shaggy Like the hippies out in San Francisco do \* ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-could-be-the-same-story-told-from-different-viewpoints/828771/8 "2019-02-02T16:28:17Z")
Not quite the idea, but I’ve always thought the couple from Blue Rodeo’s ‘Five Days In May’ might have been the same couple that ran away again forty years later in ‘The Way’ by Fastball. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-could-be-the-same-story-told-from-different-viewpoints/828771/9 "2019-02-02T16:59:32Z")
> [@Ronald\_Raygun](#): > > The classic answers to this question are > > The Boys Are Back in Town / Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? > > It’s Raining Men / Let the Bodies Hit the Floor Do I get extra credit if the songs are by the same group? Abba - Waterloo / The Winner Takes It All ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-could-be-the-same-story-told-from-different-viewpoints/828771/10 "2019-02-02T19:11:46Z")
If answer songs do count (we’re awaiting the official ruling) then [“Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFZsZ7O1Z8o) has two of them: [“Billy, I’ve Got to Go to Town”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys-enA8Jsrw) by Geraldine Stevens and [“Ruby’s Answer”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep2aw18vhIA) by Dori Helms ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2019, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-could-be-the-same-story-told-from-different-viewpoints/828771/11 "2019-02-03T22:48:17Z")
“Every Breath You Take” and “Somebody’s Watching Me”