Entertainment For Lively Minds
I always thought that was by...
Posted by Niks on 27 March 2009 - 10:18pm.
It occured to me while listening to Thunder Road by The Boss in the car recently that if I had never heard it before and someone told me it was by Meatloaf then I wouldn't bat an eyelid.
Similarly every time I hear Rebel Rebel on the radio it always takes until half way through the song before I remember that it isn't by The Stones. And I confess that for quite some time I thought Cool For Cats was by Madness.
Any other songs by one artist that could easily be someone else's?
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Aha! I think you might have stumbled...
...into a thread topic that may well rival the Andrew Collins-a-thon for length. A couple of classic examples come to my mind at once:
House Of The King* (Focus) which most people seem to think is by Jethro Tull (*it's the Saxondale theme)
The Pushbike Song (The Mixtures) which most people assume is Mungo Jerry because, well, it sounds EXACTLY like Mungo Jerry...
Is Donovan's...
...'Catch the Wind' too obvious? I always thought it was Dylan. (and yes i know it is remarkably like Dylan's 'Chimes of Freedom')
I love them all
But Madness, Ian Dury, Squeeze and Costello have very interchangeable moments. It's the pub rock thing I guess, and the wordy pop with a keyboard player thing.
Meanwhile for years I thought Hotel California and Dreadlock Holiday were by the same band.
'Hotel California'...
...looks and sounds rather embarrassed with itself when played back to back with 'We Used To Know', on Jethro Tull's 1969 album Stand Up...
Oh yes..
,... now mention it, it sounds like a ineffectual little brother to Tulls effort. Good call my friend!
An obvious one...
"A Horse With No Name" by America. Not Neil Young.
Then there's that German guy/band...
...whom everyone assumed was Paul McCartney, whose name I'm afraid I can only attempt to spell phonetically, from memory - Freiheit/Fry Height/High Fright/Fried Right/Pie Fight was it? Oh, you know, the one that 'occupied the same sound world' as the Frog Chorus. 'Keeping The Dream Alive', was that what it was called....?
What we really NEED in order to nail this is some guys who might have worked on a 1980s pop magazine, with the kinds of mind that retains this sortt of information. But then what are the chances of finding a couple of guys like that around here....? A million to one chance, surely....
None more Paul
its spooky. I think I bought it, its nestling in my 7" rack somewhere.
I Can't Believe It's Not Rod
There's a song out at the moment called "In Your Light" by a bloke called Jon Allen which is a very convincing take on a Rod Stewart/Ron Wood performance. It fooled me twice.
(And there's at least one advert that mimics the "Ooh La La" guitar sound...)
Scissor Sisters
On first hearing, I thought as I assume millions of others did that Leo Sayer was back, back, back!
That's funny because...
They are one of the few bands I have a distinct recollection of hearing for the first time.
They were on the radio at work and one of my co-workers said, "What do you think of this?"
Me "What is it?"
Him "It's Elton John's new single"
Me "It sounds like all his other stuff"
Him "That's what I thought but it's not really him it's some new band"
So I now think EJ every time I hear them.
Bluetones
I assumed "Slight Return" was by the stone roses for a long time.
Natalie Cole vs Aretha Franklin
Not a fair fight I know, but it was only last year that I realised that Aretha had never recorded a version of 'Pink Cadillac'.
She's so fine
sounds like it should have been by George Harrison.
I am pretty sure that many Chris Rea songs sound like Dire Straits as many Dire Straits songs sound like JJ Cale.
My Sweet Lord ...
... is, despite what m'learned friends said, nothing like One Fine Day - I can sort of see a slight resemblance, but it always struck me as a miscarriage of justice against Mr H.
(NB I'm much more of a fan of the Chiffons song than MSL, so my opinion isn't swayed by musical taste!)
More examples...
Can be found here.
I still always think the Jags are Elvis
Costello, to my acute embarrassment,when I loudly say, "Elvis!!". I blame it on a reasoanbly competent Wick, the northern scottish town, covers pub band in 1980, who played it and lots of costello, seamlessly.
When tracked down for
a 'where are they now' file type interview I remember Mr Jag saying that they'd never heard of Elvis before they made the record. Methinks the lady etc
Is it just me...
...or does anyone else think that Lenny Kravitz's singing voice is the spitting image of Elvis Costello (frankly, I don't like the rasping of either).
I've also just remembered hearing something about 'the great God Pan is alive' (that may be the title, I don't know) on the radio once and assuming it was some old obscure gem by the Incredible String Band (Robin Williamson singing) in rockish mode. But no, it turned out to be Mike Scott and/or the Waterboys.
Tull do Knopfler
This mid-80's Tull track is a dead ringer for Dire Straits.
Indeed, and while we're on the subject...
...everyone thought 'Steel Monkey', from the same Tull album, 'Crest Of A Knave', was a dead ringer for ZZ Top circa their '80s hit singles (which all sounded the same anyway). I'm sure within a few hours someone with a bit more nous than myself at this sort of thing will have embedded a youtube clip of the promo vid on this thread for the jury to decide among themselves...
Primal Scream....
.."Rocks Off" is pure early 70s Stones.. Was convinced after one hearing that Sir Mick and the boys were back on track. Sadly not.
Even more than that
'Big Jet Plane' off the same album starts exactly like 'Cindy Incidently'
Comin' on Strong - Broken English
This single sounded like it was Stones tribute band, singing one of their own songs. Turns out that this is exactly what it was.
Oasis - Don't Believe The Truth
Not exactly the same thing, and I know there may not be too many Oasis fans reading this, but when listening to the above album I kept being reminded of other songs:
If you can be bothered (and if you're not a legal representative for Messrs Gallagher) then listen to the start of each of the following tracks and see if it's just me who thinks of these others:
Mucky Fingers - I'm Waiting For The Man
Guess God Thinks I'm Abel - I Saw Her Standing There
Part Of The Queue - The Way Young Lovers Do
Keep The Dream Alive - Bitter Sweet Symphony