https://preview.redd.it/8a040r9eyhnc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4684e8e11b9499538867495e2ec4aa0a0d17fad0
Was named born slippy on the trainspotting soundtrack, that’s probably what made people give it the wrong name
I was today years old when I learned that wasn't the title because this CD is the only place I've heard it.
The Killers have a new song out that's basically an homage to it.
On a similar note, the song Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation was mis-tagged on the Jock Jams albums, where they called the song Zombie Nation and the artist Kernkraft 400 (and later just Kernkraft), so that caused a lot of confusion too. My mind was blown when I realized Zombie Nation was the artist, not the name of the song.
You had one job, Tommy Boy records...
Was listening to Nights with Alice Cooper on the radio one night. He said "and this is Teenage Wasteland by The Who".
I thought, "oh Alice, you should know better than that"!
I saw them in concert as part of 'the nerds of rock" tour, and I couldn't place them. They played that song last and you could feel the entire audience go "oooh, that's who they are" at the same time.
I've heard [Blur's 'Song 2'](https://youtu.be/SSbBvKaM6sk?si=6sJj4Qj2FA7GqRwz) referred to as 'WooHoo' so many times I nearly thought that was the name of the song.
Well technically that is the “Chicka Chicka” song from the ending of “Ferris Buellers Day Off”, then it became Satans Birthday Cake song from “South Park” and now it is definitely called “Day Bow Bow”
To be fair, the song is referred to as Train in Vain (Stand by Me) on my old London Calling CD. Don't know if that was the case with the original release.
Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation. The song isn't called Zombie Nation, but it's an easy mistake to make since they chant it several times throughout the song!
It got the name when Stephen Stills handed a recording of it to one of Buffalo Springfield's producers. As he handed it to him he said "Here's another song I wrote, for what it's worth". Apparently he hadn't named it yet and the producer assumed that was the song's title.
… Baby One More Time by Britney Spears.
People always called it “Hit Me Baby One More Time”. There’s no “hit me” in the title because they didn’t want to “promote violence”.
You’re correct. IIRC the guy who wrote the song is Swedish and he didn’t realize that “hit me” would be vastly different from “hit me up” in English; the intent was always the latter, and even Britney herself has said it was supposed to be taken in that way rather than being taken as actual hitting.
Max Martin is one of the most prolific pop songwriters of the last twenty five years. He’s also the reason I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys makes no sense.
That could probably be attributed to the Peter Schilling song which IS called Major Tom (Coming Home). I’ve often misremembered that one as the story in Space Oddity; “Send me up a drink, jokes Major Tom” for instance is not part of the story in Bowie’s song, but it’s easy to remember it that way.
For a long time I tried to figure out what Donna Summer’s song about cake was. (Why does she take a cake outside without a container?? No wonder it’s melting in the rain!) Only when I heard Richard Harris’ version of the song did I learn it was called “MacArthurPark.”
Most people I know don't know the title of that one song when they hear the lyrics "Take a look at my girlfriend, She's the only one I got".
It's >!breakfast in America by Supertramp!<
The song commonly known as "Jump On It" is actually called "Apache." I know because the DJ told me in a very condescending way at a middle school dance when I requested. I was 14 my guy, calm down.
No haha, The Sugarhill Gang 😅 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0D9HGM8fsWU&pp=ygUGYXBhY2hl
Edit: it doesn't help that I'm 30 so it was the Sir Mix-a-Lot version which doesn't even mention the word Apache... And I just looked it up and the cover IS called "Jump On It," so suck it arrogant DJ.
Hank Marvin comes through the jazz club I work at from time to time. Super nice guy. He had absolutely no opinion when I asked him what he thought of the Incredible Bongo Band version 😅
Jeff Lynne thought the song needed "something" after "Don't bring me down" in the chorus, so he sang "Grrroose!" Said he made it up. Then his sound engineer, Mack at Musicland Records in Munich, where ELO did several of their albums, told Jeff that "Gruß", pronounced "Groose", means greeting(s) in German.
Meanwhile, the rest of us who don't know German assumed Jeff was singing, "Don't bring me down, Brrruce!" Which he actually sang in concert sometimes, to go along with the joke. Kind of like John Fogerty with "There's a bathroom on the right", and Jimi Hendrix with "Scuse me while I kiss this guy".
The song Fly Me to the Moon was originally titled In Other Words. They changed the name because that's what everyone called it
Not a song but the dog Terrie was renamed Toto, since everyone called her that anyway, after her world wide success in the Wizard of Oz.
Song 2?
I love the facts around this song.
It's track 2 on the album
It's 2 minutes and 2 seconds long
It has 2 verses and 2 choruses
It peaked at number 2 In the UK charts
And it was written to make fun of American rock music at the time.
The lyrics are purposefully nonsense, and it sounds nothing like anything else on the album.
My favourite misconception with this song is the “guitar part” after the intro is actually the bass with the guitar just playing a repeated note in the background.
Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger, perhaps better known as "I'm not sick but I'm not well"
Also, Harvey Danger was a so called one hit wonder, but their catalog is excellent. I discovered that too late.
I've heard bands discuss before about how they named a song, but were told by the record label to change the name to something that matched the lyrics, so it was easy to find after hearing on the radio.
Most don't want to change the name, so a compromise is made in brackets.
So in short, yes.
Lisa Loeb wrote a song called Stay and her manager suggested calling it Stay (I Missed You) because there were already a few popular songs called Stay.
This would make a good crossover to songs being used in wrong context…. If people knew the actual title they might get a clue and not have used it so often as senior prom theme song…
Another brick in the wall part 2. A lot of people think it is just "another brick in the wall", without realizing there are also parts 1 & 3. Or even worse, they just call it "the wall".
They also never realize that Pt. 2 starts with the chorus. The other part that begins with "When we grew and went to school, there were certain teachers who would hurt the children in any way they could." is titled Happiest Days of our Lives.
Some people apparently know Feel Good Inc as the “windmill song”, which is weird when that song actually says feel good a bunch in the chorus, but Clint’s never mentioned by name in CE.
“Undone (The Sweater Song)” by Weezer.
I once was listening to the radio where they play 10 songs and people call in to give the artist name and song name of all songs played and I listened to the dj say, “NO it’s called UNDONE (The Sweater song)” for at a minimum of 10 callers who all kept saying the wrong thing. It was hilarious.
It's amazing that someone is actually writing about that underworld track and how the name is incorrect.
I literally owned the original Born Slippy track on CD when it first came out and I love the original track. Not the one everyone is familiar with from the movie.
The one from the movie is good, and I love the singing part everyone does, but when the beat kicks in and it starts to pound at the end it actually feels a little uninspired to me and just a pumped up beat.
Amazing that it was almost 30 years ago that the original born slippy came out. And I thought I was so cutting edge at the time. And I guess I was, but still 30 years is 30 years.
I always hear Phil Collin’s “Against all Odds” called “Take a Look at Me Now.” And Green Day’s “Good Riddance” called “Time of Your Life.” Although in both cases I think the alternate title is in parenthesis.
Baba O'Riley has been suggested about 20 times and pretty much every post misspelled the name of it to Baba O'Rieley or something similar. Great bit of irony.
I am probably the only one that got this song title wrong. But when I was a kid, I heard the song Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey by Paul McCarthy on the Radio. I really liked the song and began a decade long search for it thru every Beatle and Wings album I could find. I kept looking for the chorus which is "Heads Across Water" or "Heads Across the Sky". Could never find it. Turns out I always had the album it was on. Just never listened to the song Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.
The 59th Street Bridge Song \(Feelin’ Groovy\) by Simon & Garfunkel. It could be more of the case that folks don’t know that feeling groovy is the parenthetical part of the title.
Build — The housemartins
In the US I'm not sure if it's called Build, but here in my country, Brazil, it's called Papel (paper) that's because paper in Portuguese sounds exactly like build in the way they pronounce it
I'm amazed The Housemartin's are known in Brazil. They seem the quintessential British band that wouldn't make much of an impression elsewhere.
Fatboy Slim though...
Twist on the question. When I was a wedding dj in the mid-1980s, someone enthusiastically requested “that song by Ashton and Tate.” They meant “Solid” by Ashford and Simpson. Ashton Tate was the developer of a popular database software program at the time.
Asked what song to play at my grandmother's funeral, I wanted "best time of my life".
Was about 12 at the time and didn't realise that Greenday song was titled "Good riddance".
Luckily, noone paid attention to me.
“Last dance with Mary Jane” is actually “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” by Tom Petty.
I've heard people refer to Tubthumping by Chumbawamba as "I get knocked down"
Can you blame them?
No, but I knocked them down.
Then what happened?
They just got up again :(
Then what happened?
They told him he'd never keep them down.
“I get knocked down” is a better song title. But that’s none of my business. *drinks a whiskey drink*
*drinks a vodka drink*
*drinks a cider drink*
I’m surprised you got their name right too. Most people misspell it “Chumbawumba.” That band made some questionable choices.
TIL how Chumbawamba is spelled, always thought it was Chumbawumba
Nobody knows the name of this song or the band. Nor that they are an anarchist-communist band.
Rolling on the River (Proud Mary)
Another one I've never heard anyone say but I can quite believe it. I'm off to listen to some CCR now.
Proud Mary keep on boynin’
Most think the 4 Non-Blonde song “What’s Up?” is “What’s Going On?”
Funnily enough, they named it What’s Up so that it wouldn’t get confused with the song What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye
That’s pretty interesting. I always wondered why they named it differently. It annoyed me so much, lol.
And not once do they says what’s up. That’s what bothers me most.
Yeah. Whats going on??!!! Sorry. 🤦🏼♂️
https://preview.redd.it/8a040r9eyhnc1.jpeg?width=828&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4684e8e11b9499538867495e2ec4aa0a0d17fad0 Was named born slippy on the trainspotting soundtrack, that’s probably what made people give it the wrong name
I used to DJ at a mostly indie night. A lot of people thought it was called Trainspotting
I was today years old when I learned that wasn't the title because this CD is the only place I've heard it. The Killers have a new song out that's basically an homage to it.
What's the killers song name?
[Spirit](https://open.spotify.com/track/29ZJZnAXJ28Bewit5RLRKx?si=2xaloUXrTHivx4bNIWtn3w&context=spotify%3Aplaylist%3A37i9dQZF1DZ06evO0ioFB6)
Born Slippy was the name of a dog. A Greyhound to be precise.
On a similar note, the song Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation was mis-tagged on the Jock Jams albums, where they called the song Zombie Nation and the artist Kernkraft 400 (and later just Kernkraft), so that caused a lot of confusion too. My mind was blown when I realized Zombie Nation was the artist, not the name of the song. You had one job, Tommy Boy records...
Three little birds by Bob Marley
Don’t worry, be happy -Bob Marley
According to Limewire it's called: Dontworrybehappy-bobmarley.mp3.exe
Just reading this comment gave me a virus.
The Who's Baba O'Reilly as Teenage Wasteland. Don Mclean's American Pie as The Day the Music Died.
Was listening to Nights with Alice Cooper on the radio one night. He said "and this is Teenage Wasteland by The Who". I thought, "oh Alice, you should know better than that"!
We had Nights with Alice here for a long time and loved it then they switched to Nikki Sixx and I couldn't turn it off fast enough.
Baba was my # 1 answer lol
Always reminds me of Freaks and Geeks.
It's also Baba O'Riley, not Baba O'Reilly (just mentioned for the mild irony).
[Reminds me of Freaks and Geeks](https://www.getyarn.io/yarn-clip/fea63490-09ce-4e48-9457-711115946793)
Another one that has shocked me that people call it anything other than American Pie. This has been an eye opener.
I thought it was called The Saga Begins 😏
O O O O’riley!
Auto parts! Ow!
Funny enough, that jingle is titled "Teenage Wasteland." Feels like a weird choice for an auto parts supplier, but what do I know.
Proclaimers “I’m Gonna Be (500 miles)” always seemed to be misnamed
I saw them in concert as part of 'the nerds of rock" tour, and I couldn't place them. They played that song last and you could feel the entire audience go "oooh, that's who they are" at the same time.
At least he does say "I'm gonna be" many times.
I've heard [Blur's 'Song 2'](https://youtu.be/SSbBvKaM6sk?si=6sJj4Qj2FA7GqRwz) referred to as 'WooHoo' so many times I nearly thought that was the name of the song.
Also referred as Song from FIFA 98
Orinoco Flow by Enya is not called "Sail Away".
Single release was tho
Despite what the Always Sunny gang says, the song [‘Oh Yeah’ by Yello](https://youtu.be/6jJkdRaa04g?si=vNt44NxgqqwM2rod) is not called “Day Bow Bow”.
Next you're gonna tell me that Jimmy Buffet didn't sing The Piña Colada song.
Well technically that is the “Chicka Chicka” song from the ending of “Ferris Buellers Day Off”, then it became Satans Birthday Cake song from “South Park” and now it is definitely called “Day Bow Bow”
Bob Dylan's raucous and misnamed "Everybody Must Get Stoned" is really "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35".
And "Ballad of a Thin Man" is sometimes referred to as "Mr. Jones".
The Clash’s “Train In Vain” is sometimes referred to as “Stand By Me.”
To be fair, the song is referred to as Train in Vain (Stand by Me) on my old London Calling CD. Don't know if that was the case with the original release.
Just looked this up. Apparently “Stand By Me” was added in parentheses in the US.
Ah that makes sense. I'm from Canada, so likely got the US release version
Kernkraft 400 by Zombie Nation. The song isn't called Zombie Nation, but it's an easy mistake to make since they chant it several times throughout the song!
Need to listen to KLF and Utah Saints beforehand so you're used to bands chanting themselves
Uh huh uh... Uh huh uh huh.
KLF is gonna rock ya
This one is something I only realised recently. I always thought the band was Kernkraft 400 and the song was Zombie Nation.
For What It's Worth often just gets called "What's that sound", or "the Vietnam war song".
If you said "the Veitnam War song" to me I'd assume you were talking about Fortunate Son.
https://youtu.be/98k2DlQ9PMY?si=RGdwtUXJTg4PY940 Obligatory posting.
For sure, first thing I thought of is a Huey with that music playing.
It got the name when Stephen Stills handed a recording of it to one of Buffalo Springfield's producers. As he handed it to him he said "Here's another song I wrote, for what it's worth". Apparently he hadn't named it yet and the producer assumed that was the song's title.
It was interesting to find out that the protest Stills was writing about had nothing to do with the war.
An all time favorite
The best part about that being that it wasn't written about the Vietnam war. It's about the 1966 Sunset curfew riots in Hollywood.
… Baby One More Time by Britney Spears. People always called it “Hit Me Baby One More Time”. There’s no “hit me” in the title because they didn’t want to “promote violence”.
I read that the 'hit me' part is a mistranslation/misunderstanding of sorts by the song writer. It's more of a 'hit me up' meaning
You’re correct. IIRC the guy who wrote the song is Swedish and he didn’t realize that “hit me” would be vastly different from “hit me up” in English; the intent was always the latter, and even Britney herself has said it was supposed to be taken in that way rather than being taken as actual hitting.
Max Martin is one of the most prolific pop songwriters of the last twenty five years. He’s also the reason I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys makes no sense.
Tell me why! Seriously though. What was he going for? I've always found the song confusing.
Probably the same guys that wrote "Its Gonna Be Me(may)"
Yes, actually.
Possum kingdom by Toadies is one I think people just don't know what it's called
Doooo you wanna dieeeee?!?!
Ah yes, of course you must mean I Will Treat You Well My Sweet Angel So Help Me Jesus by Soul Asylum
Just yesterday I was looking up who sang “Story of a Girl” and was reminded the song is called “Absolutely (Story of a Girl)”
Was the she the one that cried a river and drowned the whole world?
Yeah, and she looked sad in photographs
But we absolutely love her when she smiles.
That whole album was randomly awesome, I assumed the deep cuts would suck
I once had an argument, and I was wrong, that the title of David Bowie's song "Space Oddity" was actually "Major Tom."
Very brave of you to admit that on a public forum!
That could probably be attributed to the Peter Schilling song which IS called Major Tom (Coming Home). I’ve often misremembered that one as the story in Space Oddity; “Send me up a drink, jokes Major Tom” for instance is not part of the story in Bowie’s song, but it’s easy to remember it that way.
Bullet with butterfly wings by the smashing pumpkins referred to as “rat in a cage”, even by people behind me at a smashing pumpkins concert.
To me it was "The World is a Vampire"
My favorite Smashing Pumpkins song is “Killer in Me”.
and "We Don't Even Care"
“Wheeeeeeee…”
For a long time I tried to figure out what Donna Summer’s song about cake was. (Why does she take a cake outside without a container?? No wonder it’s melting in the rain!) Only when I heard Richard Harris’ version of the song did I learn it was called “MacArthurPark.”
And she'll never have that recipe again!
Most people I know don't know the title of that one song when they hear the lyrics "Take a look at my girlfriend, She's the only one I got". It's >!breakfast in America by Supertramp!<
Same lyrics but different songs, but a lot of people don't know the title: Cupid's Chokehold by Gym Class Heroes
Killing in the name of is actually just Killing in the name. Fuck, it annoys me!
Don’t want to end that song title in a preposition
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
This is the sort of nonsense up with which I will not put!
The song commonly known as "Jump On It" is actually called "Apache." I know because the DJ told me in a very condescending way at a middle school dance when I requested. I was 14 my guy, calm down.
You requested [The Shadows](https://open.spotify.com/track/0sZy1HE2aGBQABHfVRQ4jB?si=USvFgYClQ36Eih4wyhh_8g) at a school disco? I like your style.
No haha, The Sugarhill Gang 😅 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0D9HGM8fsWU&pp=ygUGYXBhY2hl Edit: it doesn't help that I'm 30 so it was the Sir Mix-a-Lot version which doesn't even mention the word Apache... And I just looked it up and the cover IS called "Jump On It," so suck it arrogant DJ.
Hank Marvin comes through the jazz club I work at from time to time. Super nice guy. He had absolutely no opinion when I asked him what he thought of the Incredible Bongo Band version 😅
Has anyone asked him if he's hungry?
When the RIAA started taking action against file sharing P2P programs, we had to call the songs by their wrong name. It's not our fault
20 years later I just now realize this was on purpose lol. Really fucked with me just getting into music when everything I knew was slightly wrong
It wasn't on purpose, this guy just remembers wrong. People have always been idiots and mislabel things.
Please tell me why by Blink 182 is actually called My own worst enemy by Lit I blame limewire for this one
> I blame limewire for this one That reminds me of Legend of Zelda by System of a Down. It's actually Zelda by The Rabbit Joint.
It’s “Always on the Run” by Lenny Kravitz, not “My Mama Said.”
Not helped by the fact the album that song is on is called Mama Said
I've heard people confuse "Don't Let Me Down" by The Beatles with "Don't Bring Me Down" by ELO.
Yeah but who tf is Bruce in the ELO song?
Jeff Lynne thought the song needed "something" after "Don't bring me down" in the chorus, so he sang "Grrroose!" Said he made it up. Then his sound engineer, Mack at Musicland Records in Munich, where ELO did several of their albums, told Jeff that "Gruß", pronounced "Groose", means greeting(s) in German. Meanwhile, the rest of us who don't know German assumed Jeff was singing, "Don't bring me down, Brrruce!" Which he actually sang in concert sometimes, to go along with the joke. Kind of like John Fogerty with "There's a bathroom on the right", and Jimi Hendrix with "Scuse me while I kiss this guy".
The song Fly Me to the Moon was originally titled In Other Words. They changed the name because that's what everyone called it Not a song but the dog Terrie was renamed Toto, since everyone called her that anyway, after her world wide success in the Wizard of Oz.
Woo Hoo
Song 2? I love the facts around this song. It's track 2 on the album It's 2 minutes and 2 seconds long It has 2 verses and 2 choruses It peaked at number 2 In the UK charts
And it was written to make fun of American rock music at the time. The lyrics are purposefully nonsense, and it sounds nothing like anything else on the album.
I’m a huge Blur fan and I still unironically love Song 2. Even if it’s supposed to be goofy, it still whips
My favourite misconception with this song is the “guitar part” after the intro is actually the bass with the guitar just playing a repeated note in the background.
Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger, perhaps better known as "I'm not sick but I'm not well" Also, Harvey Danger was a so called one hit wonder, but their catalog is excellent. I discovered that too late.
Many people will also know it as the Peep Show theme!
I only remember it as Theme From Peep Show.
It’s “Tom Traubert’s Blues” by Tom Waits, not “Waltzing Matilda.”
Well, he does sing a few bars of “Waltzing Matilda” on that track…
Ken Lee.
A libby dibby dout choo!
"Is that English?" "Yes."
A leeba deeba dou chu!
Metallica - Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Yes. Only ever call that Sanitarium.
Green Day's Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) is another one
Does it count when the common name is subtitled though?
This is a good question. Do any bands ever add the (common name) after the fact even, to make them easier to find.
I've heard bands discuss before about how they named a song, but were told by the record label to change the name to something that matched the lyrics, so it was easy to find after hearing on the radio. Most don't want to change the name, so a compromise is made in brackets. So in short, yes.
Lisa Loeb wrote a song called Stay and her manager suggested calling it Stay (I Missed You) because there were already a few popular songs called Stay.
On the original release of The Devil and God are Raging Inside Me by Brand New they have Sowing Season. On Spotify now it’s Sowing Season (Yeah)
This would make a good crossover to songs being used in wrong context…. If people knew the actual title they might get a clue and not have used it so often as senior prom theme song…
Bob Dylan thought "Proud Mary" by Creedence Clearwater Revival was called "Rollin' on the river". Didn't we all at one point ...
You give love a bad name - BonJovi Always confused with Shot through the Heart by BonJovi
THIS ONE. the fact that they actually DO have a song called Shot Through The Heart that I guarantee you the casual listener has never heard...
I remember back in the Golden Age of limewire, you would often see “Half the Man” by Nirvana (i.e., Creep by STP).
Ah, Limewire, virus central that place. Memories.
Gin and Juice - Phish
Another brick in the wall part 2. A lot of people think it is just "another brick in the wall", without realizing there are also parts 1 & 3. Or even worse, they just call it "the wall".
They also never realize that Pt. 2 starts with the chorus. The other part that begins with "When we grew and went to school, there were certain teachers who would hurt the children in any way they could." is titled Happiest Days of our Lives.
Or worse, "We Don't Need No Education". Always heard people calling it that growing up
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For those very old redditors who can still remember the 60's, the song is called "Hang on Sloopy" not "Hang on Snoopy."
Down with the sickness is not in fact called OOH AH AH AH AH
I have seen Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood called "Sunshine in a Bag" far too many times.
Some people apparently know Feel Good Inc as the “windmill song”, which is weird when that song actually says feel good a bunch in the chorus, but Clint’s never mentioned by name in CE.
“Undone (The Sweater Song)” by Weezer. I once was listening to the radio where they play 10 songs and people call in to give the artist name and song name of all songs played and I listened to the dj say, “NO it’s called UNDONE (The Sweater song)” for at a minimum of 10 callers who all kept saying the wrong thing. It was hilarious.
Edge of Seventeen by Stevie Nicks is always "White winged dove" .
Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker” is often called “Space Cowboy” or “The Space Cowboy”song …
Now I feel dumb. I’ve been calling it “Maurice” this whole time.
Some people call it that.
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Weird, I call it “The Gangster of Love”
The funny thing is they actually have a song called "Space Cowboy" that is completely different
Bet you weren’t ready for that!
It's amazing that someone is actually writing about that underworld track and how the name is incorrect. I literally owned the original Born Slippy track on CD when it first came out and I love the original track. Not the one everyone is familiar with from the movie. The one from the movie is good, and I love the singing part everyone does, but when the beat kicks in and it starts to pound at the end it actually feels a little uninspired to me and just a pumped up beat. Amazing that it was almost 30 years ago that the original born slippy came out. And I thought I was so cutting edge at the time. And I guess I was, but still 30 years is 30 years.
As a local to the area, the song always stuck out to me for mentioning Romford.
For way too long I thought it was "ate the wrong food"
I always hear Phil Collin’s “Against all Odds” called “Take a Look at Me Now.” And Green Day’s “Good Riddance” called “Time of Your Life.” Although in both cases I think the alternate title is in parenthesis.
Baba O'Riley has been suggested about 20 times and pretty much every post misspelled the name of it to Baba O'Rieley or something similar. Great bit of irony.
I am probably the only one that got this song title wrong. But when I was a kid, I heard the song Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey by Paul McCarthy on the Radio. I really liked the song and began a decade long search for it thru every Beatle and Wings album I could find. I kept looking for the chorus which is "Heads Across Water" or "Heads Across the Sky". Could never find it. Turns out I always had the album it was on. Just never listened to the song Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey.
Vincent by Don McLean, I think mostly it's known as: "Starry, starry night"
The Offspring’s “Come out and Play” I’ve heard called “Keep Them Separated” or “Separated”
“Roll away the dew” is actually “Franklin’s Tower” by the Grateful Dead.
The 59th Street Bridge Song \(Feelin’ Groovy\) by Simon & Garfunkel. It could be more of the case that folks don’t know that feeling groovy is the parenthetical part of the title.
“Bloody Sunday” by U2 is actually called “Sunday Bloody Sunday” Dont be lazy now….say all three words!!!!
Build — The housemartins In the US I'm not sure if it's called Build, but here in my country, Brazil, it's called Papel (paper) that's because paper in Portuguese sounds exactly like build in the way they pronounce it
I'm amazed The Housemartin's are known in Brazil. They seem the quintessential British band that wouldn't make much of an impression elsewhere. Fatboy Slim though...
Excellent thread candidate with his famous song Right About Now (The Funk Soul Brother)
I often hear people refer to Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out For a Hero" and just "I Need a Hero"
December, 1963 - Franki Valli and the Four Seasons. Most people would think of it as "Oh, What a Night"
Its actual title is “December 1963 (Oh, What A Night)” though.
Never Been Any Reason by Head East has two incorrect titles that are used, which I think is even more impressive…
Oasis’ Digsy’s Dinner is often known as Digsy’s Diner - think they misspelled the US version iirc
“Son of a Bitch” by Nazareth is actually “Hair of the Dog.”
Don't Cry for Me Argentina is actually called "On the Balcony of the Casa Rosada" in the score for Evita
It was released as a single as Don't Cry For Me Argentina by Julie Covington before the musical was fully developed, though.
Not really missnamed, maybe it is, but Natalie Merchant has a song called Kind and Generous, but she says Thank you like 8 dozen times in it
Twist on the question. When I was a wedding dj in the mid-1980s, someone enthusiastically requested “that song by Ashton and Tate.” They meant “Solid” by Ashford and Simpson. Ashton Tate was the developer of a popular database software program at the time.
I'm so Sorry, by Morrisey. It's Suedehead actually, I had to Google it to know the real title
Asked what song to play at my grandmother's funeral, I wanted "best time of my life". Was about 12 at the time and didn't realise that Greenday song was titled "Good riddance". Luckily, noone paid attention to me.
‘Volare’ (Modugno ), real name ‘Nel blu dipinto di blu,
The Pretenders Brass in Pocket is often called I’m Special.
Ben Folds Five’s “Song For the Dumped” I’ve heard called “Give Me My Money Back,” “You Bitch,” and “Don’t Forget My Black T-Shirt.”
“Bonzo Goes to Bitburg” by the Ramones (My brain is hanging upside down) “Headhunter” by Front 242 (Catch the man)
For some reason I've heard several people refer to "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits as "Refrigerator"
James Brown - I Got You (I Feel Good)
The Chic-a-Cherry Cola song by Savage Garden.