T or F: If Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers had written and recorded "You May Be Right" instead of Billy Joel, it would have been among their best songs and greatest achievements

I've never disliked You Got Lucky.. I'm not sure why it's been used here for comparison.

I mentioned it just cuz it's sort of thematically similar to "You May Be Right" -- both are basically assertions of "Hey, I'm pretty awesome" to obviously skeptical women.

(And I've always liked the video's complete lack of engagement with the lyrics. It's endearing and makes me wish there had been a Saturday morning cartoon featuring a time-traveling Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.)

idk "You May Be Right" to me comes across as "I'm a piece of crap, but c'mon, you know you really love me..and besides some of my craziness is your fault".

xpost

What exactly is Billy's problem in that clip? The audience just seem to be grooving.

The show was part of Billy's USSR tour, and was being filmed for a documentary/home video release. The lighting crew/director kept bringing up the house lights on the audience in order to get crowd shots. It distracted Billy, obviously, but his claim was that he didn't want the audience to feel like Soviet cops were watching them.

Also, those Yamaha electric pianos weigh as much as Rhode Island. Billy must've turned into the Hulk or something.

HULK JOEL TAKES SHIT FROM NOBODY

i fucking hate this song so much

Friday night HULK SMASH YOUR PARTY
Saturday, Hulk say HULK SORRY
Sunday came,
HULK SMASH IT OUT AGAIN

lol

hahaha

irl lol

If CCR had written and recorded "Witchy Woman" instead of the Eagles...
― chocolatepiekid, Friday, 4 December 2009 20:00 (2 years ago) Permalink

I can sorta hear Petty singing You Might Be Right, and it would sorta work, but what I really want to hear is ^^^

okay full confession: I did not know Kool G Rap's "Road to the Riches" was built around a Billy Joel sample

I don't know if it would be the best thing ever, but this thread is making me wish I could hear Petty covering this tune. He released a live box set with a ton of covers recently, so I guess it could still happen. Someone should send him this thread.

I actually had the idea one night listening to some prog song that it could be converted to the chiming guitars and McGuinn-isms of Petty. I think it was "Northern Lights" by Renaissance, but I just listened to that, and I must have been high.

okay full confession: I did not know Kool G Rap's "Road to the Riches" was built around a Billy Joel sample

Yeah! That's the one being played at the beginning of the "My Life" video upthread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC2Up4-LJM0

"You May Be Right" as is would fit right in on a Johnny Cougar (Mellancamp) album like American Fool or Uh Huh, when his sound was pretty much cold tapping the Stones before he brought in the violin and the accordion. I definitely think "You May Be Right" has a big time Stones sound especially with the harp and beat.

I think it is a pretty good rock and roll tune, there is just the automatic flinch factor that it is the dude that did "Piano Man".

if looks could kill, this dude's face is genocide

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Billy_Joel_Shankbone_NYC_2009.jpg

hodor

There is definitely some Stones in "You May Be Right" - also some "new wave". Check out his outfit on the cover of the single:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/21/Youmayberight.jpg

Other bands who might be able to do interesting covers of "You May Be Right": The Cars, Elvis Costello

That pic above but one: Who painted a face on a lightbulb?

daaaaamn Joan Jett was mannish in '80.

Man, just listened to the first side of Glass Houses for the first time in a while - it's pretty damned solid. Nobody's idea of a great new wave record but as far as pop-rock goes I'd rate it decently. Wouldn't say it's his best but I think it's underrated within his catalogue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kwTgtjfFlI

dunno about Tom Petty, but somebody coulda really gone somewhere with this - good material on this record!

^^^^ The standout gem on this record, along w/the rarely discussed Don't Ask Me Why. Still have unabashed love for this record more than 30 years after first buying it.

Friday night HULK SMASH YOUR PARTY
Saturday, Hulk say HULK SORRY
Sunday came,
HULK SMASH IT OUT AGAIN

― Doctor Casino, Monday, March 19, 2012 1:51 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Just died lol again.

Also going to be thinking about a Television version of "Hotel California" for the rest of the day.

:D

Hahaha definitely gonna start singing that instead

Not crazy about this song but Tom Petty would have done it much better. I want that version to exist.

There is definitely some Stones in "You May Be Right"

Yeah just gave this a re-listen and the way he's stretching the ends of the lines out ("chaaaa-ange") is so obviously Mick Jagger.

If the Pixies had written and recorded "I'm Affected" instead of the Ramones, it would have been among their best songs and greatest achievements.

When I'm in a store and "You May Be Right" comes on, I start asking myself if the shopping I am doing is absolutely necessary and if maybe it would be alright for me to leave immediately.

If Bob Dylan had written and recorded "Until the End of the World" instead of U2, it would have been among his best songs and greatest achievements since Blood on the Tracks.

If the post-Quadrophenia Who had written and recorded "Morse Moose and the Grey Goose" instead of Paul McCartney and Wings, it would have been among their best songs and greatest achievements.

What if....

Just realizes H.P. Lovecraft's "Nemesis" has the same meter as Billy Joel's "Piano Man." pic.twitter.com/Oty5JxoHWW

— Captain Video (@OurWorldcomic) January 14, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKKTqB_Lzv0

http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2018/01/18/hp-lovecraft-billy-joel-piano-man

Always thought my man was more of an Aleister Crowley guy though.

If Blink-182 had written and recorded "Misery" instead of Soul Asylum, it would have been among their best songs and the most-mocked vocal performances of Tom DeLonge.

If Britney Spears had recorded "I Try" instead of Macy Gray, it would have been among her best ballads and greatest achievements.

Macy did just fine with it, mind you - just suddenly heard it in my head recently and have been unable to shake the sense of it.

Also, if Billy Joel in his Moog days had written and recorded "A Glass of Champagne" instead of Sailor, it would have been among his best early singles to be left off of most versions of Greatest Hits Vol. I & II.

If Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers had written and recorded "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)" instead of Greg Kihn, it would have been among their best songs and greatest achievements.

'Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell wrote a demo for "The Boys of Summer" while experimenting with a LinnDrum drum machine. He showed it to Tom Petty, but they felt it did not fit with the record they were working on, Southern Accents. At the suggestion of producer Jimmy Iovine, Campbell played it for Don Henley, who wrote the lyrics and recorded the vocal. They rerecorded the song after Henley decided to change the key."
So Don Henley would have had to give the song to Tom Petty, not the other way around.

If the Bee Gees had written and recorded "Heart of Glass" instead of Blondie, it would have been among their best disco-era songs and yet completely forgotten and barely heard, with a surprising resurgence in chain drug-store playlists in the late 2010s.

If CCR had written and recorded "Witchy Woman" instead of the Eagles...

― chocolatepiekid, Friday, December 4, 2009 2:00 PM (ten years ago) bookmarkflaglink

i think about this all the time.

yeah that's one of the best calls itt

If any reasonably competent 70s rock band with a cracking rhythm section and stronger hitmaking instincts than Richie Furay had recorded "Fallin' In Love" instead of The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, it would have been among their best songs and greatest achievements.

If Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac had written and recorded "Time to Hide" instead of Paul McCartney and Wings, it would have been among their best songs and greatest achievements, just below all the songs they actually wrote and recorded for Rumours.

If Spooky Tooth had recorded "Let It Be"...

If Hall & Oates had written and recorded "Abracadabra" instead of the Steve Miller Band, it might not have been among their best songs and greatest achievements, but at least it would be way less stiff and have a really gutsy vocal trying to sell those terrible lyrics.

If Black Sabbath had written and recorded “moby dick” it would be among their best songs and greatest achievements