# That is not the song I mean. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 5, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838 "2017-04-05T20:03:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/1 "2017-04-05T20:03:25Z")
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. Take The Boys Are Back In Town. [I think The Bus Boys](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOw8Ftj3M0s) when everyone else is thinking [Thin Lizzy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQo1HIcSVtg) 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)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dpjs9nEBVOQ) that I had never heard of before and not the sappy POS song by [Clarence Carter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvfsfS6NVUc) 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](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5znh58WITU8) or [The Alan Parson’s Project?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLi7Ljcy6n8) 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.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cb8ZUpAr94) Does anyone else find that their musical universe doesn’t always overlap with everyone else’s? ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/2 "2017-04-05T20:48:26Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/3 "2017-04-05T20:59:27Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > 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. Funny–because I assumed that “One” was of course the Three Dog Night song. 🙂 If people talk about “What a Wonderful World,” I am usually uncertain whether they mean the Louis Armstrong song, or the Sam Cooke song. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/4 "2017-04-05T21:21:02Z")
Me too with the Three Dog Night One. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Terrific](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tom_terrific/32/342_2.png) [@Tom\_Terrific](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Terrific)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/5 "2017-04-05T21:24:35Z")
I was with the Three Dog Night One also. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/6 "2017-04-05T21:29:54Z")
When I think of _ **One** _, I think of the guy who wrote it…Harry Nilsson. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/7 "2017-04-05T21:35:05Z")
When people talk about _Forever Young_, they mean Rod Stewart. I think of Alphaville. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/8 "2017-04-05T22:15:30Z")
I grew up with two different versions of a song called Cherry Pie, one [1954 recording by Marvin & Johnny](https://youtu.be/-tPjZOXNEXo) and a [1960 cover by Skip & Flip](https://youtu.be/o4Ow_78bgNk). 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. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/9 "2017-04-05T23:29:35Z")
> [@Sefton](#): > > When people talk about _Forever Young_, they mean Rod Stewart. I think of Alphaville. Huh? Try Bob Dylan. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/10 "2017-04-05T23:38:10Z")
_Rio_. You know, by **Pablo Cruise**. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2017, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/11 "2017-04-05T23:43:17Z")
Don’t get me started on _Somebody to Love_\* or _Don’t Stop_\*\*. - Do you mean the one by Jefferson Airplane or Queen? \*\* Fleetwood Mac or the Rolling Stones? ---
**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:** [April 5, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/12 "2017-04-05T23:52:26Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Huh? Try Bob Dylan. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2017, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/13 "2017-04-05T23:53:36Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > _Rio_. You know, by **Pablo Cruise**. So I’m like, there’s _another_ Rio besides Duran Duran and Peter Allen? Looked it up. No, not really. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/14 "2017-04-06T01:51:00Z")
[\*\*\*Rio \*\*\*by Michael Nesmith](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tpkxKZS4fc) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/15 "2017-04-06T09:07:29Z")
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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_of_Love#Songs)? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/16 "2017-04-06T11:49:55Z")
My iPod has three songs called “Do It Again,” all popular songs by well-known groups. Beach Boys, Steely Dan, and the Kinks ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/17 "2017-04-06T14:44:22Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > My iPod has three songs called “Do It Again,” all popular songs by well-known groups. 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](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVIlR4mh-3E). ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/18 "2017-04-06T16:16:46Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/19 "2017-04-06T16:31:48Z")
If we stick JUST to #1 singles… Both Petula Clark and Paul McCartney had #1 hits called “My Love.” Both the Eagles and the Emotions had #1 hits called “Best of My Love.” Both Van Halen and Kriss Kross had #1 hits called “Jump.” Both John Denver and Brenda Lee had #1 hits called “I’m Sorry.” I know there are many more. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/20 "2017-04-06T16:45:53Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Both Van Halen and Kriss Kross had #1 hits called “Jump.” 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. > **[Jump (For My Love)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jump_(For_My_Love))** > > "Jump (For My Love)" is an electropop song by American girl group the Pointer Sisters, released on April 11, 1984, as the third single from their tenth studio album, Break Out (1983). The song hit the top ten on the US Billboard Hot 100, R&B, and Dance charts, and it was the best-selling American dance single of 1984, sold as a trio of songs including "I Need You" and "Automatic". The song features June Pointer on lead vocals and scored global chart success. > Girls Aloud remade the song as "Jum... [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838.md?page=2)