# Songs you know by a name other than the REAL title. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 4, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562 "2004-10-04T23:20:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/21 "2004-10-05T11:27:56Z")
My typing is bad this morning. I think I’ll just lurk. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/22 "2004-10-05T12:11:45Z")
Pink’s “Don’t Let Me Get Me,” is often called “Hazard to Myself.” As to the OP, Billboard listed that particular Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons hit as being titled: “Oh What A Night (December 1963)” when it hit the charts in 1976 … bumping the immortal Miracles tune “Love Machine” out of the number one spot, I might add irrelevantly. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2004, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/23 "2004-10-05T12:15:23Z")
The name of the song is “Superstar.” The name of the entire musical is “Jesus Christ Superstar.” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/24 "2004-10-05T12:41:49Z")
“Paved Paradise, Put Up a Parking Lot” for “Big Yellow Taxi.” “Pocket Full of Kryptonite” for “Jimmy Olson’s Blues” ---
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/25 "2004-10-05T13:37:21Z")
The “duhn-duhn-duhn-duhn song” is how I usually refer to Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner.” ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/26 "2004-10-05T16:28:58Z")
> [@N. Sane](#): > > The “duhn-duhn-duhn-duhn song” is how I usually refer to Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner.” You mean _Imperial March_? 😉 I’m listening to _Bring Me To Life_. “Huh?” Sigh. “Wake me up inside.” “Oh.” ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/27 "2004-10-05T16:54:44Z")
For a long time I thought the red hot chili peppers song that is on the soundtrack for the Coneheads was “Take It Slow” the name is actually “Soul To Squeeze”. ---
**Author:** ![cichlidiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@cichlidiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cichlidiot)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/28 "2004-10-05T20:48:03Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > Most people incorrectly call _The 59th Street Bridge Song_ “Feelin’ Groovy”. > > StG It’s listed as “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy),” on their Greatest Hits. I see it listed with the same title on the 45 with “At The Zoo” and others, so that could be another reason. “Baba O’Riley” was the first that came to mind for me, too, so I’ll list Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” otherwise known as “Everybody Must Get Stoned.” I never remember the numbers in the title though. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/29 "2004-10-05T20:54:41Z")
I had a girlfriend who referred to Third Eye Blind’s song _No Rain_ as _The Bee Song_ because of the video. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/30 "2004-10-05T21:03:25Z")
> [@Odinoneeye](#): > > I had a girlfriend who referred to Third Eye Blind’s song _No Rain_ as _The Bee Song_ because of the video. I had a friend who referred to the band as _Blind Melon_ because that was their name. 😉 ---
**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:** [October 5, 2004, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/31 "2004-10-05T21:06:22Z")
> [@cichlidiot](#): > > I’ll list Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” otherwise known as “Everybody Must Get Stoned.” I never remember the numbers in the title though. You can add Dylan’s “Positively 4th Street” to that, referred to as, I dunno, maybe “You’ve Got a Lotta Nerve”? ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/32 "2004-10-05T21:11:22Z")
Probably not universal, but someone staggered up to the edge of the stage during Ray Davies’ 3 October show at the Bloomsbury, and was obviously asking him for a request – he stopped and walked over to the guy and listened for a moment or two, laughed, then went back to the mike and said, ‘Sure, I’ll play the “River Song”’ – meaning ‘Waterloo Sunset.’ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/33 "2004-10-05T21:12:44Z")
My son refers to Crystal Method’s “Busy Child” as the “I Guess I Didn’t Know” song. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2004, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/34 "2004-10-05T21:21:20Z")
> [@Tracy Lord](#): > > “The Wreck of the John B” is often referred to as “Sloop John B” – in fact, I think the latter is how the Beach Boys have it in their track listings. They probably did that on purpose seeing as how their version isn’t quite the same. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/35 "2004-10-05T22:07:34Z")
> [@Ol'Gaffer](#): > > I had a friend who referred to the band as _Blind Melon_ because that was their name. 😉 Oooops… that’s what I get for posting at work. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/36 "2004-10-06T00:23:33Z")
When I was a kid I recorded lots of music off of the radio, but never bothered to learn who sang the song and what the song was called. One time, when I was labeling songs on one of my tapes, it had the song “Morning has Broken” by Cat Stevens. I didn’t know the name, but I knew that the name of a song is the most often repeated word or phrase in it (I learned a few years later that lots of songs don’t follow this rule). Anyway, I listened to the song, and the word I heard the most, was “praise”. So that’s what I labeled the song as. ---
**Author:** ![MacSpon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@MacSpon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacSpon)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/37 "2004-10-06T00:58:44Z")
John Lennon’s _So This Is Christmas_ is actually called _Happy Christmas (War is Over)_. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/38 "2004-10-06T01:35:52Z")
Not quite the same thing, but I always think of the Elton John song as “Hold me Closer Tony Danza.” ---
**Author:** ![CurlyD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee7513/32.png) [@CurlyD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurlyD)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/39 "2004-10-06T02:10:08Z")
How about _The Guilty Feet Song_ for Wham’s _Careless Whispers_? ---
**Author:** ![Odeon\_Bypass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Odeon\_Bypass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odeon_Bypass)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562/40 "2004-10-06T02:27:19Z")
“Escape” better known as “The Pina Colada song” by Rupert Holmes [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-know-by-a-name-other-than-the-real-title/267562.md?page=3)