# Songs you totally thought were by somebody else **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [July 22, 2024, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612 "2024-07-22T15:19:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2024, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/21 "2024-07-22T18:03:26Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Back in 1993 or so, everyone though Stone Temple Pilots’ “[Plush](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5UOC0C0x8Q)” was a new Peral Jam track. Oh yeah, I remember that, and you were not alone. I also seem to recall that pissed Scott Weiland off, and understandably. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/22 "2024-07-23T16:49:17Z")
You could have made a fortune betting me that Bring Me Some Water was by Mellisa Ehteridge and not Tina Turner. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/23 "2024-07-23T17:03:22Z")
I always thought Harley David (Son of a Bitch) was Mick Jagger. I’m still not convinced it isn’t, and the Bollock Brothers are just an elaborate joke that I didnt get. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/24 "2024-07-23T18:22:25Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Back in 1993 or so, everyone though Stone Temple Pilots’ “[Plush](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5UOC0C0x8Q)” was a new Peral Jam track. I wonder if Pearl Jam has covered it. While Stone Temple Pilots are very distinct, that song could have been a Pearl Jam song. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/25 "2024-07-23T21:07:44Z")
It’s a Serge Gainsbourg song originally, I think they’re the first to translate it. Of course every day, someone new learns that “Escape (The Piña Colada Song)” is not by Jimmy Buffett. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/26 "2024-07-23T21:13:22Z")
A few days ago, at lunch with my folks, “Your Song” came on. My dad asked “Who sings this?” My mom confidently said “Jim Croce.” I looked at her, “This is Elton John, mom.” But now that that idea is in my head… I can totally hear it. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2024, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/27 "2024-07-23T21:24:36Z")
That’s how Elton John says “I love you” in a song. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/28 "2024-07-23T21:37:20Z")
Hey. That was mine. Recently I was told different. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/29 "2024-07-23T23:42:53Z")
Nobody has mentioned The Knickerbockers, yet? I don’t even have to say who they sound like. Just listen: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gimeFYu29x4/maxresdefault.jpg "NEW \* Lies - The Knickerbockers {Stereo}") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gimeFYu29x4) ---
**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:** [July 24, 2024, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/30 "2024-07-24T00:45:11Z")
Thanks to a misheard radio announcement, I thought “Young Folks” was by Pete Yorn. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2024, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/31 "2024-07-24T13:22:30Z")
There’s a parody of _Copacabna_ called _The Star Wars Cantina_. For the longest time I thought it was a Weird Al song. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYMlad4e3Q4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYMlad4e3Q4). ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2024, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/32 "2024-07-24T13:30:27Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > There’s a parody of _Copacabna_ called _The Star Wars Cantina_. For the longest time I thought it was a Weird Al song. Quite understandable, since Weird Al is well-known as a Star Wars geek who wrote the epic ‘American Pie’ parody ‘The Saga Begins’: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/hEcjgJSqSRU/maxresdefault.jpg ""Weird Al" Yankovic - The Saga Begins (Official HD Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEcjgJSqSRU) ---
**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:** [July 24, 2024, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/33 "2024-07-24T13:32:47Z")
I thought “The Bare Necessities” was written by the Sherman Brothers, but it’s actually by Terry Gilkyson. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2024, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/34 "2024-07-24T19:49:18Z")
Hearing Argent’s _“Hold Your Head Up”_ for the first time, I was certain it was Rod Stewart on lead vocals. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/35 "2024-07-24T20:14:28Z")
That chord progression and those rhythms just don’t sound Pearl Jam to me, so I never confused those. That one Gotye song from several years back I always confused with Sting. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2024, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/36 "2024-07-24T22:13:06Z")
It’s actually by Richard Cheese. In the days of Napster every parody song was labelled as being by Weird Al, which I think was often an attempt at a meta tag, i.e. if you like Weird Al you’ll like this. Which means a lot of people ascribe Al as being much more prolific than he was, sometimes for offensive material he would never go near. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2024, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/37 "2024-07-24T22:33:13Z")
I’ve always’s thought that Joshua Kadison’s “Jessie” sounded like the poor man’s Elton John. And every Jamiroquai song sounds like Stevie Wonder. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2024, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/38 "2024-07-24T22:37:34Z")
I remember a classmate seeing a picture of Cheap Trick, before “Budokan”, and wondering what kind of weirdos they were. I also remember telling him that they’re actually really good, and sounded a lot like The Who. I never, to my knowledge, heard Martin Page’s mid 1990s hit “House of Stone and Light” until I started working at the grocery store a few years later, and their usual daytime channel played this all the time. I also thought it was by Sting at the time. I also thought Blues Image’s “Ride Captain Ride” was by Grand Funk Railroad for quite a while. Interestingly, Mark Farner and Mike Pinera were both born on September 29, 1948. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/39 "2024-07-24T22:42:22Z")
Since you mentioned Argent, they actually are the original writers and performers of “God Gave Rock & Roll To You.” The Christian band Petra later wanted to record it with a few words changed, to which Argent granted permission, but the KISS version. the best known of them, is a remake of the original Petra version. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2024, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/40 "2024-07-25T01:43:44Z")
Russ Ballard of Argent also wrote “New York Groove.” Also, covered by Kiss. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/DXeeY9D9u94/maxresdefault.jpg "New York Groove") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXeeY9D9u94) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612.md?page=3)