# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**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, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/21 "2017-04-06T16:57:19Z")
More… “Venus” was a #1 hit for both Shocking Blue and Franky Avalon “Honey” was a #1 hit for both Bobby Goldsboro and Mariah Carey Neil Sedaka and Taylor Swift both had #1 hits called “Bad Blood” Marky Mark and the Beach Boys both had #1 songs called “Good Vibrations” ---
**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, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/22 "2017-04-06T17:10:03Z")
Maroon 5 and Phil Collins both had #1 singles called “One More Night” Celine Dion and Huey Lewis both had #1 hits called “The Power of Love” Adele and Lionel Richie both had “Hello” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” by both Frankie Valli & the 4 Seasons and Fergie ---
**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, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/23 "2017-04-06T19:34:16Z")
Well, I wasn’t just talking about songs with the same name. I was more thinking of songs that you associate with a name that most others don’t. ---
**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, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/24 "2017-04-06T20:46:09Z")
Since Petula Clark was mentioned above, if someone mentions “Downtown” her song would still be the version that I think of. I wonder if most people wouldn’t think Macklemore these days. And to be honest, I like his “Downtown” song a lot more. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2017, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/25 "2017-04-06T20:49:10Z")
One of the most diabolical examples has to be Robin S’s “Show Me Love” vs. Robyn’s “Show Me Love”. Both were hits in the 1990s. Fortunately, my survival does not depend on distinguishing the two. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/26 "2017-04-07T17:18:29Z")
When I Google the song title “Rhythm of Love,” the top hits are not for either the 1987 Yes song or the 1988 Scorpions song, but a 2010 song by someone called Plain White T’s. Wiki tells me that there are at least nine different charting songs (or songs from charting albums) with this title, but the Yes one came first. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/27 "2017-04-07T18:36:33Z")
There’s a gazillion songs entitled “Hold On”; [Wilson Phillips](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIbXvaE39wM) is of course the most popular, but I’m more likely to think of Santana, Kansas, Triumph, or 70’s one-hit wonder Ian Gomm. “Learning to Fly”: [Emerson, Lake & Powell](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1e38oFX4ag) is what comes to mind, even though Pink Floyd & Tom Petty’s songs were much more popular. “Over the Hills and Far Away”: There was a time when I’d answer [Led Zeppelin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Az-TuYb4h0) (like most people, I’d presume) but nowadays it’s more likely to be the [Gary Moore](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IocRCDWB5k)/[Nightwish](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwED4C5FJuo) song. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/28 "2017-04-07T18:51:30Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > There’s a gazillion songs entitled “Hold On”; [Wilson Phillips](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIbXvaE39wM) is of course the most popular, but I’m more likely to think of Santana, Kansas, Triumph, or 70’s one-hit wonder Ian Gomm. Yes and Tom Waits for me. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/29 "2017-04-07T19:05:56Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > When I think of _ **One** _, I think of the guy who wrote it…Harry Nilsson. Or Marvin Hamlisch\*. (\*and Edward Kleban) ---
**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 16, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/30 "2017-04-16T15:40:21Z")
This just happened to me today and reminded me of this thread. Clicked a YouTube link to [Maggie May by The Spinners.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wc4GITm7PfY) Not what I thought at all. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/31 "2017-04-16T17:57:08Z")
> [@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. I thought it was the Bee Gees. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/32 "2017-04-16T18:06:12Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > 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. I was a top-40 listening 3rd grader when the Rod Stewart song came out. So I was more familiar with that than the Dylan song. Becoming more familiar with the Dylan song later in life, I don’t think they seem similar at all except for the name. Also, I’m surprised Rod Stewart wrote the song. I figured it was a cover. His later career seems to be mostly covers, and even back then he was doing cover songs (Try a Little Tenderness, Downtown Train) and songs written by others for him to sing (My Heart Can’t Tell You No). His next album was all covers and a couple new throwback sounding songs not written by him. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/33 "2017-04-16T18:11:30Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Since Petula Clark was mentioned above, if someone mentions “Downtown” her song would still be the version that I think of. I wonder if most people wouldn’t think Macklemore these days. And to be honest, I like his “Downtown” song a lot more. Neil Young and Pearl Jam, from “Mirror Ball.” #6 on the US rock chart and #13 overall in Canada in 1995. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/34 "2017-04-16T20:41:24Z")
> [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > Neil Young and Pearl Jam, from “Mirror Ball.” #6 on the US rock chart and #13 overall in Canada in 1995. [SWV’s R&B hit from 1993. Using the _other_ meaning of “downtown”.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VE6DbEm9uxU) While we’re mentioning Petula Clark, this morning in church I saw a hymn named “This Is My Song” and wondered “why is a Petula Clark song in the hymnal”? [They’re clearly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8FPOjgX07c) [not the same song.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8XmLuTmKIM) ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/35 "2017-04-16T21:11:50Z")
When I was growing up, the only radio station my mom listened to was the local country station. So for me, these are the definitive versions of the songs: [Heartache Tonight, Conway Twitty](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Boky9EgS4rk) [Danny’s Song, Anne Murray](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynf2cLS5xSM) [Mountain of Love, Charlie Pride](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhhltDaKwWs) ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2017, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838/36 "2017-04-17T01:41:28Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > “Over the Hills and Far Away”: There was a time when I’d answer [Led Zeppelin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Az-TuYb4h0) (like most people, I’d presume) but nowadays it’s more likely to be the [Gary Moore](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IocRCDWB5k)/[Nightwish](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwED4C5FJuo) song. Interestingly, searching you tube for the Led Zeppelin song caused me to find the Nightwish version, and I was quite surprised at how much I actually liked it despite never really hearing anything like it before. Then a few months later an Epica song came onto my normally classic rock station, and from there I got swept into symphonic metal and didn’t really look back (although I’ve gone on to a lot of different music since then). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-is-not-the-song-i-mean/783838.md?page=1)