The View From The Balcony: “Original Song Titles Revealed!”

When musicians take a song into the studio for recording, it’s common for it to go through some changes before laying it down. Here is a list of a few of the artists’ and the original titles of the songs that made them famous…

• Harry Nilsson, “Without You (I Could Be Sleeping)”
• Carly Simon, “You’re So Vein”
• Cyndi Lauper, “Thyme After Thyme”
• Guns N’ Roses, “Welcome to the Jungle, Tarzan!”
• Lil Wayne, “A Milli, A Billi, Ain’t You Silli!”
• Robert Johnson, “Crosses on the Side of the Road Blues”
• Santana, “Oye Como Steak House”
• Tammy Wynette, “Stand by Your Man (with a Pitchfork)”
• Chubby Checker, “Twist My Sis”
• Bobby Darin, “Mack the Ginsu Knife”
• Debby Boone, “You Light Up My Wife”
• Survivor, “Eye of the Tigger”
• Irene Cara, “Flashpants…I’m a Squealin’”
• Marvin Gaye, “Let’s Get It Off”
• Queen, “Another One Eats the Crust”
• The 5th Dimension, “Hey, Darius! Put Some Shoeshine On”
• Tag Team, “Whoomp! (There it Went)”
• Dionne & Friends, “That’s What Fiends are For”
• Michael Jackson, “Billie’s Jeans”
• Rolling Stones, “(I Can’t Get No) Chain Reaction”
• Frank Sinatra, “My Way (or the Highway)”
• Beatles, “Hey Prude”
• James Brown, “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag Man”
• Bob Dylan, “Peeing in the Wind”
• Jerry Lee Lewis, “Whole Lot of Snakin’ Going On”
• Beatles, “A Hard, Dazed Night”
• Don McLean, “American Spy”
• Procol Harum, “A Lighter Shade of Ale”
• Jimi Hendrix, “Fuchsia Haze”
• Animals, “House of the Rising Puns”
• Deep Purple, “Toke on the Water”
• Crosby, Stills & Nash, “Judy Black Eyes”
• B.B. King, “The Grill is Gone”
• Flamingos, “I Only Have Pies for You”
• Glenn Miller, “Chattanooga Poo Poo”
• Hank Williams, “Cold, Cold Fart”
• Kris Kristofferson, “Me and Bobby Finkelstein”
• Roberta Flack, “Killing Me Softly with His Thong”
• Michael Jackson, “Bleat It”
• Lou Reed, “Stalk on the Wild Side”
• Billy Joel, “Piano Non-Gender Specific Person”
• Beatles, “Here Comes the Son of a Bitch”
• Garth Brooks, “Friends in Blow Places”
• Coolio, “Gangsta’s Pair of Dice”
• Fleetwood Mac, “Pay Your Own Way”
• Beatles, “Eleanor Rigged Me”
• Rolling Stones, “You Can’t Always Sit Where You Want”
• And my personal theme song: Steppenwolf, “Born to Be Mild”

…and that’s the view from The Balcony.

Randy Weeks is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Shamanic Life Coach, an ordained minister, a singer-songwriter, and an actor. He is in a constant state of re-writing his life. Randy may be reached at randallsweeks@gmail.com