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

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

If Led Zeppelin had written and recorded “fairies wear boots “ it would have been among their best songs and greatest achievements

If Neil young had written and performed “a horse with no name” it would have been among his best songs and greatest achievements

If America had recorded "Abracadabra" instead of "You Can Do Magic"...

If Magic! had recorded "America" instead of Simon and Garfunkel

If Simon and Garfunkel had recorded "Rude" instead of Magic!

now we're back on track - that would actually be a substantial improvement (though maybe not one of their signature accomplishments)

If Nirvana had written and performed “Unsatisfied” it would have been among their best songs and greatest achievements

If Tony Orlando had recorded "Master of Puppets"

"Knock three times, and I'll hear ya scream!"

The Lemon Pipers' Green Tambourine album has at least four of these!!! Through With You for Devo, Ask Me If I Care for Buffalo Springfield, and Turn Around Take A Look for Three Dog Night.... and Rainbow Tree for the Monkees. i think it'd be a SUPER beloved Monkees song if they'd done it in their psychedelic moment (not saying it'd beat out Porpoise Song, but people would love it).

I've always really liked the songs on this, album but I feel like I don't see them talked about that much... how is it rated by folks here who listen to a lot of stuff at the psychedelic/bubblegum interzone?

This might be too obvious: When I hear "High and Dry" by Radiohead (without the Saturday Night, apologies to Def Leppard), I imagine "Mayonaise"-era Billy Corgan absolutely crushing that vocal.

Years ago on the Billy Joel listening thread, one of you mentioned an alternative universe where Neil Young wrote and performed "Allentown" and I haven't gotten that version out of my head since.

how is it rated by folks here who listen to a lot of stuff at the psychedelic/bubblegum interzone

i have a friend who's really into this stuff, i'll ask him.

i know they were anthologized on some early '80s bubblegum comps on Rhino. i was almost about to say they were on "Nuggets", but that was the Lemon Drops.

imo it's the songwriting that's lacking here and i don't like the aesthetic enough to look past that -- not when there's so much more fun to be had wading through tommy james and paul revere deep cuts.

"fifty year void" is kind of fun in an "up in her room" sorta way

I feel like I don't see them talked about that much

I was recently thinking of the Lemon Pipers as an example of "bands where you love one song, and never even tried to hear another".

I imagine "Mayonaise"-era Billy Corgan absolutely crushing that vocal.

There's no way he could ever have hit those notes in "High and Dry".

...in the chorus, that is, he could manage the verses.

Pink Floyd's "Not Now John" as written and recorded by Guns N Roses

(Axl singing it an octave higher obv)

I can hear Billy doing "High and Dry!" "Drown" would be basically the template.

re: Lemon Pipers: that's interesting, budo jeru! I just listened to the album again and I do think they're short on songs; it's a real drop-off after the ones I mentioned, the title track, and "Blueberry Blue." Somehow there are two different shoe-themed filler character sketches. But that top tier is pretty strong IMHO, just sometimes a more muscular vocal, and definitely more engaged drumming, would be more to my taste. I guess that's why I thought of this thread for them...

to me, the most promising thing about AI is the eventual realization of all the ideas in this thread

and being able to instantly generate all of the covers and mashups that come into head throughout the day.

what would i even need my records or my spotify account for at that point??

thought that originally brought me here was Roger Waters and Dark Side-era Floyd performing an epic downtempo version of the Family Guy theme song, lol

If Talkings Heads had written and recorded Rusted Root’s “send me on my way” , it would have been among their best songs and greatest achievements.

someone's gonna literally make the Sinbad Shazam movie now aren't they