It happens a lot to me. Some one mentions a song and I think I know what they are talking about but then I find out that I don’t. I thought I was grounded in all that is Top 40, R&B, New Wave, Rock-- you know, oldies like me. Then I find out that I’m in a totally different universe than everyone else in the conversation.
Right here some years ago people were talking about the terrible, cheesy song Patches and I thought I knew what they were talking about. I too hated that sappy POS song. Only it was a sappy POS song by somebody named. Dickie Lee (not Bobby Vinton, BTW) that I had never heard of before and not the sappy POS song by Clarence Carter who sings about his terrible parents and crappy life.
Now this last one is all on me because I’m just wrong but other people, they have to be clearer. The song Games People Play: are you referencing Joe South or The Alan Parson’s Project? Me, I’m not even thinking about a song called Games People Play. Not originally, anyway, but I think it ended up being called GPP when it was first called They Just Can’t Stop It by The Spinners.
Does anyone else find that their musical universe doesn’t always overlap with everyone else’s?
When I was in high school I was on some sort of team video project. We took random footage from around school and needed to come up with a soundtrack. Someone suggested the song “One” would be great. Yeah, I thought, great U2 song about humanity coming together as one. Good idea. Someone else on the team will add the music. Imagine my surprise when I see the video for the first time, in the class, with the Metallica anti-war song “One” playing over the footage. What the hell? Apparently I was the only one on the team who thought “One” was of course the U2 song.
I grew up with two different versions of a song called Cherry Pie, one 1954 recording by Marvin & Johnny and a 1960 cover by Skip & Flip. These were both often played on oldies stations, and though I favored the original I did not spurn the white cover. When an oldies DJ announced the song there would be a moment where I would pause waiting for whose version they were announcing. About the time I started college a group called Warrant did a song called Cherry Pie. When it came on, usually because a roommate was watching MTV, it became a vexation to hear the song named just to find out it’s that damned hair band again.
Rod Stewart wrote a song called Forever Young that was similar in structure to Dylan’s composition of the same name. When he realized this, he sent the song to Dylan and asked him if he had any objection to it. Dylan agreed to let Stewart record his version of it in return for a songwriting credit and a share of the royalties. Stewart’s song reached #12 on the charts in 1988.
Most people think David Bowie for Absolute Beginners, I think The Jam.
The Power of Love is a terrible one for this - you mean Jennifer Rush? Or the Huey Lewis song? Frankie Goes To Hollywood?The Everly Brothers? Dee-lite? Something else?
Dang, now I wish I had tried to think of what they were before clicking the spoiler button; I’m quite familiar with all three of them.
Apparently there’s some singer named Adele Something-or-other who’s had a little success with, among other things, a song called “Rumour Has It.” But there’s already a catchy song called “Rumor Has It” taking up space in my brain, so that whenever anyone mentions the Adele song I automatically start hearing the earlier song by The Honeydogs.
Not too long ago there was a thread here about the song Our House and I was soooo mistaken about the song the thread was about. I was glad I wasn’t the only one who mixed up those two songs. You’d think at my age the CSN&Y song would be what would immediately come to mind but it isn’t. Madness is my go-to Our House.
Not to mention the Pointer Sisters, whose own “Jump” song reached #1 on the US Dance Singles chart. They did, however, change it to Jump (For my Love) to avoid confusion with the Van Halen single, which was released just months earlier.
