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April 13, 2021 10:41 am  #1


Four Different Songs - Same Title

Sandy - The Hollies
Unmistakeable Hollies harmonies.  Written by Bruce Springsteen. Interesting lyrics - has been described as "the perfect musical study of the Jersey Shore boardwalk culture".
This line always jumps out at me whenever I listen to the song:
"The waitress i was seein' lost her desire for me
I spoke with her last night
She said
She won't set herself on fire for me anymore"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkHNikRAtnw 

Sandy - Ronnie and the Daytonas
Hit #27 on the charts in 1965 (just before the age of naivety in pop music disappeared).  Perfect "beach sound" ballad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvJbdr63owg 

Sandy - John Travolta  (from "Grease")
One of the highlights of the soundtrack.  Travolta embodies the spirit of the 1950s vocal sound (listen for the "Why Yie Yie").Gotta love that Drive-In Intermission performing hot dog.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmyvYMk-Oqo 

Sandy - Larry Hall
Made it to #15 on the charts in 1959.  The epitome of pop music in the late 50s and early 60s.  Simple and innocent.  Nice guitar in there as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfFW_lmXoJ8

Last edited by GrimsbyFan (April 13, 2021 10:44 am)

 

April 13, 2021 2:30 pm  #2


Re: Four Different Songs - Same Title

Sandy - Dion & The Belmonts 1963

 

April 13, 2021 2:58 pm  #3


Re: Four Different Songs - Same Title

If you’ll excuse some minor tinkering with the wording, there’s another series of far more successful songs that fit in this category. The title: “I’ll Be There.”
 
Perhaps the biggest hit is the Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” in 1970. It made it to #1 on Billboard.
 
Then there’s Gerry & The Pacemakers, who did a song called “I’ll Be There” back in 1965. It was written by Bobby Darin, but the English group had the biggest hit with it. It reached #14 on Billboard, but deserved a better fate.
 
“I’ll be There” was an answer record by a singer named Damita Jo. It was a reply to Ben E. King’s “Stand By Me.”  It hit #12 in 1961.
 
And here’s where the title manipulation comes in. The Four Tops’ had a huge hit with “Reach Out (I’ll Be There)” from 1965. It topped the charts for two weeks in 1965, and remains one of their best records.
 
It’s unusual for one title to have so many separate hits behind it. But if you were to count them up on a list, It’ll “Be There.”  

 

April 13, 2021 3:09 pm  #4


Re: Four Different Songs - Same Title

If you shorten the list to three, there are a number of songs that fit.
 
Consider:
 
Do It Again – Steely Dan, The Beach Boys & Jon & Robin & The In-Men (which was called “Do It Again (Just A Little Bit Slower)" but the title is there.
 
Another trio of tunes with the same title: “Games People Play.” Artists that had completely separate hits with those words include Joe South, The Spinners and The Alan Parsons Project.
 
But perhaps the word you would never think would fit this category is an odd one: “Superstar.” That was the name of a song by Murray Head (from Jesus Christ Superstar), The Carpenters and a lesser-known hit by The Temptations.

And yes, I'm taking some small liberties with a few of these titles, but it's amazing how the same words make up the same titles - but they're all vastly different songs. 

 

April 13, 2021 4:55 pm  #5


Re: Four Different Songs - Same Title

It's also possible to increase this to five different songs with the same title, all of them reaching the top 40 from 1955 to 2000. Here are the years, peak positions, and artists.
1962 22 The Volume's
1968 14 People
1978 37 Donna Summer
1981 12 Climax Blues Band
1999 24 Martina McBride

 

April 13, 2021 8:24 pm  #6


Re: Four Different Songs - Same Title

Admittedly, having four or more songs with the same title is unusual. Far more common is two tunes with the same moniker that are completely different. Here are a few:

Color My World - Chicago, Petula Clark

Words - The Monkees, The Bee Gees

It's Getting Better - The Beatles, Mama Cass

Day After Day - Badfinger, Shango

Diary - Neil Sedaka, Bread

The Look of Love - Lesley Gore, Sergio Mendes & Brazil 66

Candy Man - Roy Orbison, Sammy Davis Jr.

Close Your Eyes - Peaches & Herb, Edward Bear

And my favorite one of them all, the only time I know of that one group released separate songs with the exact same title in two different years:

Everybody Knows - The Dave Clark 5 (1964) & The Dave Clark 5 (1967)   

Last edited by aflem (April 13, 2021 8:25 pm)

 

April 14, 2021 8:49 am  #7


Re: Four Different Songs - Same Title

#5 "fourth of july, asbury park (sandy)"  bruce springsteen and the e street band

 

April 14, 2021 4:41 pm  #8


Re: Four Different Songs - Same Title

Found a title that's been used for seven different songs which reached the top 40 from 1955 to 2000: Hold On. Once again, here are the years, peak positions, and artists.
1979 18 Ian Gomm
1979 38 Triumph
1980 40 Kansas
1982 15 Santana
1990 2 En Vogue
1990 1 Wilson Phillips
1995 16 Jamie Walters

This got me thinking that Wikipedia must have quite the disambiguation page dealing with this title, and they do ... it's been used a lot as an album title as well. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hold_On

 

April 15, 2021 8:06 am  #9


Re: Four Different Songs - Same Title

Lorne wrote:

Found a title that's been used for seven different songs which reached the top 40 from 1955 to 2000: Hold On. Once again, here are the years, peak positions, and artists.
1979 18 Ian Gomm
1979 38 Triumph
1980 40 Kansas
1982 15 Santana
1990 2 En Vogue
1990 1 Wilson Phillips
1995 16 Jamie Walters

This got me thinking that Wikipedia must have quite the disambiguation page dealing with this title, and they do ... it's been used a lot as an album title as well. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hold_On

...and you can bump that up to nine if you count Ian Thomas's original and arguably superior version of his song that was covered by Santana. 'Course it was only in Canada that he broke the Top 20 on CHUM. Pity.
 

 

April 15, 2021 10:37 am  #10


Re: Four Different Songs - Same Title

I liked Ian Thomas' original version of Hold On more myself, and it was good to see that it was noted in the Wikipedia list. But even if it had made the Billboard top 40, it wouldn't have changed the number that's being discussed here because it relates to different songs with the same title. Indeed, an interesting aspect of the situation with this title is that every time a song named Hold On made the top 40 from 1955 to 2000, it was a different song ... there were no instances of a remake of any of the songs with this title making the top 40. 

 

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