# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2024, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/121 "2024-09-09T21:02:14Z")
Once a friend played some piano music by Sergei Prokofiev that was highly percussive, and remarked: “It sounds like the ghost of Bartók took him over!” Béla Bartók being my favorite composer, I enjoyed that. I think it must have been _Sarcasms._ I know it wasn’t _Visions Fugitives_, because I’d already heard that. Besides, I remember _Visions Fugitives_ as light skippy faerie music, as only Prokofiev could have written. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/122 "2024-09-10T01:47:03Z")
For longest time thought Badfinger’s “No Matter What” was Cheap Trick, especially when singing the title. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2024, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/123 "2024-09-10T07:39:07Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I could have sworn it was the Carpenters. (referring to Three Dog Night’s “Old Fashioned Love Song”) How?? There’s no female vocal. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/124 "2024-09-10T12:16:29Z")
When I recall only the tune and chords and rhythm, and forget the singing (I tend to listen for music theory rather than vocals), it sounds exactly like the sort of material the Carpenters would do. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2024, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/125 "2024-09-10T14:30:17Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > it sounds exactly like the sort of material the Carpenters would do. That it does. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2024, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/126 "2024-09-10T15:58:50Z")
Jesus, you weren’t kidding. I own all the early Yes albums, and this hits the sweet spot. Weirdly, I’ve never heard of them. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2024, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/127 "2024-09-10T18:52:51Z")
🙂 Ah, my work here is done. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/128 "2024-09-13T04:46:15Z")
My opinion of Starcastle: If early Yes and early Styx had a baby, it would have sounded like the first two Starcastle albums. Not surprisingly, Styx and Starcastle did a lot of dates together, and not just because they were both Illinois bands. After the band broke up, Starcastle’s drummer, Stephen Tassler, went to medical school, and one story I read said that he had an old promo picture of the band in the waiting room, and you guessed it - the band was recognized more than once. There’s a Doper who saw Starcastle back in the day, opening for Boston but they were there for the opening act, along with about 14,000 drunk teenagers who were there to see Boston, who basically phoned it in. (I had the same experience at a Boston show in 1995.) ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2024, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/129 "2024-09-13T16:57:55Z")
When I lived in St. Louis circa 1980, I saw Starcastle play at a bar in southern Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![Kimble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kimble/32/19185_2.png) [@Kimble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimble)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/130 "2024-09-14T13:02:24Z")
My grad school roommate bought Edie Brickell & New Bohemians’ _Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars_ after I told him they performed [The Sundays’ cover of “Wild Horses”](https://youtu.be/wscB1ckO_Ew) used in a Budweiser commercial. Fortunately, he liked the album. It’s harder for me to mess up these days with Shazam, streaming radio, and [Radio (Broadcast) Data System](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Data_System). However, I did manage to assume [Gary Clark Jr.'s “Bright Lights”](https://youtu.be/CFjMeOnqAPI) was by the Black Keys for years. I was intrigued by the thought of the Black Keys having a Talib Kweli feature and wondered if it was a sign of a new direction for them. Nope! ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2024, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/131 "2024-09-14T19:04:17Z")
“Shooting Rubberbands…” is a good album. Their follow-ups were a disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2024, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/132 "2024-09-15T03:36:04Z")
I thought the song “Help Me” was done by Fleetwood Mac, maybe. I would never have guessed it was done by the same person who performed “Both Sides Now” [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/otPQDEbVsc4/maxresdefault.jpg "Joni Mitchell - Help Me (Official Audio)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otPQDEbVsc4) ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2024, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612/133 "2024-09-16T14:53:48Z")
For multiple songs, I’ve had Little River Band, Supertramp, and Alan Parsons Project confused with each other. As a kid, my mom played all three constantly, and they all blended together in my subconscious. Particularly “Games People Play”, which easily could have been indistinguishably performed by any of them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-totally-thought-were-by-somebody-else/1004612.md?page=6)