Last Man Standing (with Potential Battle Royale Implications): Pairs of Songs That Share the Same Title (But Aren't Covers of the Same Song)
By Mr. Moderator on Jun 1, 2008
Townsman Chickenfrank has thrown down the following Last Man Standing Challenge, with potential Battle Royale implications! This could be an historic occasion. Listen to what the man says:
I thought of this when The Spinners' "Games People Play" video was posted.
When the song title popped up, I immediately thought of Joe South's song, "Games People Play", and what a better song that is.
Can you name pairs of songs that share the same title (but aren't covers of the same song)? Which of the pair is the better song?
I can also think of one title that's actually a triplet, but I'm sitting on it as my coup de grace death blow.
241 comments
"Fascination", The Undertones
WINNER: The Undertones
Song titles with parenthetical emendations don't count. The Human League song is actually called "(Keep Feeling) Fascination." However, you're certainly correct that the Undertones song is better.
Similarly, the Spinners song is technically called "They Just Can't Stop It (Games People Play)," although I think that was mostly because of the recent Joe South hit.
Petula Clark vs. Chicago:
"Color My World"
Winner: Petula!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4e/Colormyworld.jpg/200px-Colormyworld.jpg
Two can play at this game! My apologies to Chickenfrank for all this pettiness from the git-go, but I'm sure he'd agree that it's better we define the rules of the game now than later. Let the games continue!
The People are behind me yet. I will make sure to live up to the faith they are displaying, perhaps foolishly, so early in this Last Man Standing/Battle Royale.
I once sent him 3 cds of songs about being songwriters / bands, so he's learn to tolerate my whims.
I do remember another couple on the cd - 'The Happening' by The Supremes and 'The Happening' by the Pixies.
If you think that was obsessively weird - you should try doing what i call my 'aural crosswords'. I occasionally amuse myself by trying to make a new song out a bunch of little bits of other songs and then seeing if my friends can guess what makes it up.
Problem is, it only really works with Top 40 stuff.
'Poor Boy' by:
Steve Earle
Woody Guthrie
Cilla Black
Shocking Blue
The Master's Apprentices
Split Enz
Elvis Presley
Supertramp
Nick Drake
and The Fabulous Thunderbirds
And yes, they're all different songs with the same title.
I'll sustain some parenthetical titles depending if they make me smile and nod in agreement.
Peter Laughner or Ryan Adams
Winner: Peter Laughner
WINNER: The Rolling Stones by a mile!
Song: Victoria
Artists: The Kinks, Shane McGowan and the Popes, Old 97's
Winner: The Kinks
"Temptation," Heaven 17
Winner: New Order
Song: Forever
Artists: The Beach Boys & The Explorers Club
Winner: (this is a bit of the limb I suppose) The Explorers Club
As The Explorers Club is a direct descendant bandwise of The Beach Boys, I thought it might be a cover, but it wasn't. It seemed interesting to me that a band would choose a song title used by the band they are heavily influenced by.
"Heartbreak Hotel"
Elvis Presley and Whitney Houston
This, perhaps more than anything else, was a clear demonstration of the need for a President of Music to be installed who could have stepped in and ruled this an invalid move, forcing her to change the name.
"Learning to Fly," Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Winner: Petty
"Temptation," New Order
"Temptation," Heaven 17
Winner: New Order
To this I'll add, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, "Temptation"...THE WINNER!!!
sorry, one more...
NO Townsperson need apologize for one more in a Last Man Standing. Good one!
Led Zeppelin, "Rock and Roll"
WINNER: The VU song by that name
(Let's get one thing straight: I will not accept the Pince Nez over the use of the ampersand.)
"Don't Look Back - Barry & The Remains
Winner: The "temptin" Temptations
Is the personal pronoun 'I' essential in this fever-pitched Last Man Standing? If not, I would like to propose Love's 'Can't Explain' and the Who's 'I Can't Explain'. The Who song would be the victor.
Clem Snide
Freddy Cannon (Boyce & Hart)
Sweet
Gotta go with Sweet.
"Don't Look Back" - The TemptationsThat’s the toughest fight so far. Put the "I Need You" fight on the undercard and I’d split ordering that PPV.
"Don't Look Back - Barry & The Remains
“Shangri-La” by The Kinks
“Shangri-La” by ELO
“Shangri-La” by Versus
“Shangri-La” by The Rutles and/or Innes
“Shangri-La” by The Four Coins
The Kinks win, of course, but it’s a great name to hang a song on. You’d have to work hard at writing a bad “Shangri-La”.
I'm intrigued by your President of Music proposal, alexmagic. Would there be checks and balances on this person, or would the role be more unfettered, like that of a Tsar/Czar?Good question. There would probably need to be some kind of system in place for appeal, but I think if you elected the right President, you have to accept that he or she might understandably demand some unilateral powers to do the job well, like Kenesaw Mountain Landis, only, you know, without that whole color line thing.
"Temptation," Heaven 17
"Temptation,"Elvis Costello and the Attractions
I'll add:
"Temptation," Tom Waits
"Temptation," Stinking Lizavetta
"Temptation," Charlie Parker with Strings
Gee, winner? Stinking Liz, maybe.
"Ain't No Use," Sarah Vaughan
Sarah by a long chalk.
"Amy," Elton John
"Amy," Pure Prairie League
I'm biased, but I still like BFH's best.
"Fire"
is it -
Jimi Hendrix Experience
Arthur Brown
Ohio Players
Pointer Sisters?
My preference of the moment is Jimi, but I know there will be disagreements.
While we're throwing our biases into the ring, someone named Keyshia Cole as well as Tim McGraw have songs entitled "Let it Go". The song by that title by Nixon's Head tops those newer ones.
World Party vs the Grateful Dead
Winner: WP
Los Lobos vs
the Band vs
Matthew Sweet vs
Icicle Works
A strong field but the winner without question is the Band.
1. The Doors (upon further consideration)
2 Cale
3. World Party
4. Grateful Dead
That's just my opinion, of course, but The People have had my back since early in this contest.
I'll have to register a dissenting voice regarding your fine "Evangeline" showdown. I think Richard Lloyd's solo in the Matthew Sweet version ultimately overpowers The Band's version.
Hallelujah
Winner: Cale, although the brothers McAloon would have taken either Cohen or all-time Darwin Award finalist Buckley
"Do It Again" by The Beach Boys
"Do It Again" by Steely Dan
It'd probably be safe to go with the Kinks, and I am on record as a Steel Dan backer already, but I'm going with the Beach Boys on this one. I await any disputes.
"One of These Days," Paul McCartney
"One of These Days," Neil Young
"One of These Days," Velvet Underground
All of these have their merits, but I like the Velvets' version best.
Buzzcocks
James Brown
Badfinger
The Decemberists
Hugh Cornwell
Dr. Feelgood
Winner: Buzzcocks
"Mornin' Glory" Bobbie Gentry
"Morning Glory" Duke Ellington
I go with Bobbie Gentry from an almost-phone-sex point of view.
"New York" Sex Pistols
Not a fave Pistols track, for me, so I'll go with the Cat Power, which I've been enjoying.
"Night Flight" Led Zep
I'm not being an obscuphile here, but I really think the Affinity track works well, if you like that sort of thing.
"Oh Yeah" Roxy Music
"Oh Yeah" Los Lobos
The Roxy has always been a musical valium for me, but the Shadows' tune works on several levels.
Them vs
Laura Branigan vs
U2
Winner: Them
I'm with the Mod on Steely Dan's Do It Again, which gets bonus points for having windchimes instead of drumfills.
http://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/index.php/2007/03/05/thrifty_music_vol_2_a_buck_twenty_five_b#more340
HVB
'Do it again' by Matthew Sweet
General slocum:
'Oh Yeah' by Ash
Sammy Maudlin - all of those 'poor boys' are original songs except for the Woody Guthrie song, also covered by Pete Seger and Joan Baez. It's considered a 'traditional', so i imagine that would be the Howlin' Wolf one.
Oh, i've long had this theory that any album can be ruined by a song called 'In Too Deep'. For some reason, the pattern of syllables seems to lead to a very weak hooks, and songs that are noticeable filler. I'm looking at you Belinda Carlisle, Matthew Sweet and Dead Or Alive, but i'm sure there's others.
"Happiness" by
01. Michael Stipe and Rain Phoenix
02. The Blue Nile
03. Teenage Fanclub
04. Matthew Sweet
05. Grant Lee Buffalo
06. Robert Palmer
07. The Mavis's
08. Regurgitator
09. Lisa Germano
10. Adrian Belew
11. Front 242
12. Built To Spill
13. Gorky's Zygotic Mynci
14. Ron Sexsmith
15. Macy Gray
16. Allen Toussaint or the Pointer Sisters
17. Goldfrapp
There's probably more.
I noticed listening to #07 that parts of it sound suspiciously like 'There She Goes' by the La's.
Hrrundie, you have your phone sex, and I'll have my phone sex. I appreciate their tune, but come on! Bobbie's inviting you back into bed the next morning, and I couldn't deny such a request, when voiced that way.
I'll take the Zep version thankyouverymuch.
Dr. Art
Since I won't be close to ruling this throw-down, I'll kick my triplet to the Hall to see who answers quickest:
What's the song title shared by The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Elvis Costello??
we must add to the "Sylvia Plath" count.
Who can forget the Johnson's song of that name? Or was that a cover?
there's also a version by Witness (whose "Plath" features the unforgettable lyric "like white on Condalesa Rice").
I was going to add the Stones' Heartbreaker to the list, but I double-checked and the name of the song is actually Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker). Hhhmmm.
And yes congratulations, Art. It's going to be weird now treating you with deference and respect and all.
DAMN YOU MORRISON MY ARCH NEMESIS. YOU AND YOUR LENGTHY CATALOUGE!!
I've been constantly amazed at how many "gimmes" that keep getting suggested that I hadn't thought of, such as "Heartbreaker". It's funny, too, when you learn the real title of a song after first thinking that you had a pair. Bob Marley and Peter Tosh do a song called "Stop That Train"; there's a song on The Harder They Come soundtrack that's based around that lyric, but when I checked to see who the artist was I learned that the title is NOT "Stop That Train". Now I forget both the artist's name and the real title of that song - and I'm not walking into the next room to check the album cover again.
"Wipeout" is a song by the Surfaris of course.
But there's also the Original Sins song by that name, from their album called "Out There". I think JT wrote in order to have a way of "granting" audience requests for "wipeout" without actually playing the song people *really* wanted to hear when they asked for a song by that name.
Beach Boys (from Wild Honey)
Van Morrison & Them (by Bert Berns)
Ben E. King (a Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman song)
Beach Boys
Undertones
Undertones hands down.
The Beatles
Primal Scream
MC5
...I'll give it to The Beatles.
"Heaven"
1 Better Than Ezra
2 Talking Heads
3 Psychedelic Furs
4 Rolling Stones
5 Men Without Hats
6 Eurogliders
7 Asia
8 Mutton Birds
9 Loudon Wainwright III
10 Suicidal Tendencies
11 Pere Ubu
12 Bettie Serveert
13 Sheila E
14 Pixies
15 Squeeze (UK Squeeze)
16 Joan Armatrading
17 Kristen Hersh
18 Live
19 The Chimes
20 Duke Ellington
21 Robyn Hitchcock
22 The Fire Theft
23 Golden Palominos
24 Louis Philippe
25 Eurythmics
Plus, not in my collection, but know they exist:
26 Bryan Adams
27 Warrant
28 All Saints
29 Captain and Tenille
All different songs. The Duke Ellington one is the standard. The Psych. Furs and Talking Heads ones are subject to frequent covers.
"Just Like a woman" by Bob Dylan and bill Medley.
Sorry Bob, your song is lovely, but I'm more in the mood for Bill Medley's scrappy little tune.
"they'll do it every time!"
Homefrontradio, Townspeople want to know - no, need to know - your choices for the best of each of your overlapping song titles, especially for "Heaven". I'd give the nod to Pere Ubu's song by that title, just edging out the Talking Heads' song. How about you? Great work on digging up some of the longest groupings of song titles!
Sat, how in the HELL did you mix up R.L. Burnside and Bill Medley? How fried are you after all the work you just completed. Congrats!
Marshall Crenshaw vs
the Velvet Underground
I love them both but I'll give the nod to VU
WINNER: The Rolling Stones
WINNER: This one's gonna bum some of you out, but...The Isley Brothers version.
“Hold On”
John Lennon
Badfinger
Tom Waits
Deep Purple
Yes
Kansas
Steve Winwood
Wilson Phillips
Triumph
Roseanne Cash
Herman’s Hermits
Santana
New Kids On The Block
Green Day
The Hollies
Elvin Bishop
Roseanne Cash
Sarah McLachlan
The O’Jays
Toots & The Maytals
The Rascals
and
The Sons of Champlin
I’m gonna give this one to Lennon on the strength of his Cookie Monster impression alone, but I have no doubt that Sam & Dave could have taken on this entire field by themselves in a Gauntlet Match if they’d simplified their song title.
let's just say my memory is shot to shit, it was early, and the "finder" function on my mac betrayed me.
Both Teenage Fan Club and Fu Manchu have songs called "Hang on" (It's such a common combination of words, I'm sure many others do too...perhaps Bill Medley...).
I choose Fu.
Bowie vs Moby Grape
Another close call for me but I'll give it to Bowie.
"Photograph": Ringo Starr vs Nickleback
WINNER: Was there ever a question?
