# Songs you would have sworn were sung by somebody else. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2009, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239 "2009-10-01T15:36:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/81 "2009-10-04T15:33:07Z")
> [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](#): > > I’m still not sure if _Ground Control to Major Tongue(Tom)_ is sung by Bowie or some person named Peter Schilling. > When I was a kid it sounded like he was saying Major Tongue. The original _Space Oddity_ (“Ground control to Major Tom”) was sung by David Bowie. The 80s follow-up (_Major Tom_ - “4, 3, 2, 1, Earth below us, drifting, falling…”) was sung by Peter Schilling. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/82 "2009-10-04T16:24:51Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > The original _Space Oddity_ (“Ground control to Major Tom”) was sung by David Bowie. The 80s follow-up (_Major Tom_ - “4, 3, 2, 1, Earth below us, drifting, falling…”) was sung by Peter Schilling. True, and I’ll add that Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes,” in which he returned to the story of Major Tom (“Ashes to action, fun to funky, we know Major Tom’s a junkie”), came out in 1980–just a few years before Peter Schilling’s song–which further added to the confusion. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/83 "2009-10-04T17:37:33Z")
No comments on my mistakes so maybe they weren’t _so_ stupid after all? ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/84 "2009-10-04T19:24:33Z")
I don’t think anyone has mentioned this, but I use to think that “Run Around” by Sister Hazel was being sung by Blues Traveler. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/85 "2009-10-04T19:33:50Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Due to the Muppet Show, I spent most of my childhood and adulthood believing that Paul Williams had sung “Just An Old-Fashioned Love Song”. A DJ attributed it to Three Dog Night only a year or two ago and it shocked the hell out of me (I actually had to look it up before I’d believe the DJ hadn’t made a mistake). Paul wrote it though. ---
**Author:** ![Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@Abby\_Emma\_Sasha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abby_Emma_Sasha)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/86 "2009-10-04T19:38:27Z")
okay here;s one my mother gave me shit for: I liked a christmas song by the Carpenters that I thought started _Greeting cards of auburn scent_. What iis auburn scent? I have no idea. My mother , however, thought it was good enough to make fun of me for. ---
**Author:** ![WPA-Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@WPA-Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WPA-Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/87 "2009-10-04T20:42:12Z")
“Love is in the Air” is sung by John Paul Young, not Neil Diamond as I had thought for twenty-some years. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/88 "2009-10-04T23:10:23Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > I don’t think anyone has mentioned this, but I use to think that “Run Around” by Sister Hazel was being sung by Blues Traveler. I think you mean “All for you” by Sister Hazel (which, to add to the confusion, was once covered by John Popper). Blues Traveler did sing “Run-around”. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/89 "2009-10-05T01:14:19Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > _Surf City_ sounds like the Beach Boys except it’s Jan and Dean. It should. It was written by Brian Wilson, who gave it to Jan and Dean to polish up. Dean Torrance reworked some of the lyrics, but it’s essentially as it was written by Wilson. In fact, Wilson shared the songwriting credits and sang backing vocals on the record. The Beach Boys and Jan and Dean were friendly with each other, and Wilson collaborated with Jan and Dean on roughly a dozen songs, including “Drag City” and “Dead Man’s Curve.” ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/90 "2009-10-05T02:25:52Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > How about a “half-mistaken” song? After hearing it on the classic rock station a few times, I was sure that Journey’s “[Feelin’ That Way/Anytime](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jaqvi4tpCNI)” was actually a collaboration between Journey and Chicago. Not being a big Journey fan I was utterly unfamiliar with Gregg Rolie’s voice. I was vaguely aware that he’d been Journey’s lead singer before Steve Perry joined the band, but I’d never heard anything he sang lead on. > > So hearing the song on the radio, I thought the piano work sounded very Chicagoesque, and the way Rolie enunciates the words on his parts of the song sounds _very_ similar to the way Peter Cetera enunciates. The lack of horns probably should have tipped me off, but I didn’t discover my mistake until I found a video of the song on YouTube. To add to your confusion, listen to the singer of Santana’s “Black Magic Woman”. Sound familiar? ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/91 "2009-10-05T03:00:22Z")
Couple more… “On the Dark Side” by John Cafferty, not Bruce Springsteen “Baby Come Back” by Player, not Hall & Oates “What People Do For Money” by Divine Style, not Run-DMC ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/92 "2009-10-05T03:02:40Z")
For a very long time, I reckoned _One Tin Soldier_ was a Joan Baez tune. In fact, that’s how I happened across the song : looking for Joan Baez on olden days’ Napster. Who’s Coven, anyhow ? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/93 "2009-10-05T03:09:34Z")
> [@DfrntBreign](#): > > To add to your confusion, listen to the singer of Santana’s “Black Magic Woman”. Sound familiar? Is _that_ Gregg Rolie too? If so, he sounds nothing like he sounds on _Feeling That Way_! ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/94 "2009-10-05T04:26:02Z")
For years the only thing I knew about country music was that the hit version of “Elvira” was by Alabama. Nope, it’s the Oak Ridge Boys. Now _that_ is the only thing I know about country music. > [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > I was fairly certain that “Western Union” was by the Monkees. Nope. It’s the Five Americans. I knew that, but only because Mike Rabon, a member of the Five Americans, used to post here under the name **aha**. He hasn’t been around for 6 years, but I remember him fondly. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/95 "2009-10-05T04:31:48Z")
> [@panamajack](#): > > I think you mean “All for you” by Sister Hazel (which, to add to the confusion, was once covered by John Popper). Blues Traveler did sing “Run-around”. Whoops, I think you’re right. > [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Is _that_ Gregg Rolie too? If so, he sounds nothing like he sounds on _Feeling That Way_! Yup, that’s him. And he sounds the same to me. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/96 "2009-10-05T18:17:52Z")
If she weren’t an '80’s one-hit wonder artist (and therefore recognizable in her own right), I’m sure many would confuse Kim Carnes with Rod Stewart. I guess the test would be for some DJ to play some _other_ Kim Carnes song, should such a thing exist. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/97 "2009-10-05T21:43:39Z")
“Goin’ Up the Country” by Canned Heat sounds like it’s sung by Kermit the Frog. ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/98 "2009-10-06T01:50:38Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Is _that_ Gregg Rolie too? If so, he sounds nothing like he sounds on _Feeling That Way_! I wasn’t sure about the Journey song (but **Nobody** seems to know (sorry)). Gregg Rolie, and later Neal Schon, left Santana to form Journey. In 1997 they, along with Michael Schrieve, Michael Carabello, Jose Areas and Alphonso Johnson, released a CD called \ ***Abraxas Pool**. \*While long out of print, it’s well worth trying to find a copy if you are a fan of the early Santana band or the earliest Journey. Gregg Rolie has a solo album called _ **Roots** _ that is along the same lines, and also very good. ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/99 "2009-10-06T01:53:51Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > When I saw _Donnie Darko_ I was sure the Gary Jules version of _Mad World_ was actually Michael Stipe of R.E.M.. Same here. I still can’t help but think he sounds like a dead ringer for Michael Stipe. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239/100 "2009-10-06T02:02:42Z")
> [@DfrntBreign](#): > > I wasn’t sure about the Journey song (but **Nobody** seems to know (sorry)). Gregg Rolie, and later Neal Schon, left Santana to form Journey. In 1997 they, along with Michael Schrieve, Michael Carabello, Jose Areas and Alphonso Johnson, released a CD called \ ***Abraxas Pool**. \*While long out of print, it’s well worth trying to find a copy if you are a fan of the early Santana band or the earliest Journey. Gregg Rolie has a solo album called _ **Roots** _ that is along the same lines, and also very good. Actually, the album I find he sounds different on is his self titled album in 1985. It’s very pop oriented. Funny thing is, he sounds younger to me than he does on the early Journey albums when he was lead singer, and this is about 10 years AFTER that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-you-would-have-sworn-were-sung-by-somebody-else/512239.md?page=6)