Hit songs often credited to the wrong artist

A friend once told me "Land of 1000 Dances" was his favorite James Brown song. He may have been joking -- I'm not sure.

 

Don't know if it's a common mistake, but I made it the first time listening to Neil Young's Comes A Time and heard "Lotta Love." I thought wow, I didn't know Neil covered Carole King.

 

Of course I've heard OBA. I was in 7th grade when it came out, and the ripoff was obvious to me even then.

 

"Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress".

Not CCR.

 

Blue Swede's 'Hooked on a Feeling' credited to Neil Diamond.

 

I don't recall anyone ever thinking the whole song was MJ. Everyone understood he did the chorus but I don't think anyone thought he did the verses as well...

 

Some of these examples are pretty funny since the vocalists sound so different. This reminds me of a sad memory of my childhood: I was actually the correct caller number into a radio station contest. They asked me who sang "Everything Is Beautiful." I knew it was Ray Stevens but my mom kept screaming at me that I was wrong and forced me to say Elvis Presley. (I was 9 at the time.) Needless to say, the deejay sought another caller who then won the contest.

 

Black Is Black by the Los Bravos sounds like Gene Pitney.

 

"Lunatic Fringe" by Red Rider. A lot of people at the time thought it was Pink Floyd.

 

It's sad and amazing how many people think "Don't Worry Be Happy" is by Bob Marley. It has almost as many views under on YouTube on uploads credited to Marley, as well as more google search results.

 

Lots and lots and lots of people think that "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks is by Alanis Morissette. It was credited that way constantly on early '00s download sites.

 

I never thought this but I know people who have

 

and Sheryl Crow.

 

Another song more frequently misattributed to Neil Diamond is Andy Kim's "Rock Me Gently."

 

Bah, I was going to post that one.

I'm gonna add the video and pretend I mentioned him first anyway.

 

Just yesterday, I was in a record shop and someone was trying to find "Big Bad John" by Johnny Cash. AFAIK, Cash never recorded that (It was Jimmy Dean, the later sausage king).

At a younger age, I thought Steve Miller's "Swingtown" was a McCartney & Wings song. It sounds like mid-70s Macca. Especially the "Whoa-oh! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh" part.

 

Wha?? HOW? Sounds nothing like Floyd to me.

 

"Hair Of The Dog" by Nazareth being called "Son Of A Bitch" by ACDC

"I Love The Night Life" by Alicia Bridges being credited to Leo Sayer

"Promises" by Eric Clapton being credited to Kenny Rogers

 

I think this was due to Napster, but there was a bluegrass cover of Gin n Juice by The Gourds that was always mislabeled as Phish.

"Oh, I love Phish, their cover of Gin n Juice is awesome!"

 

"Weird Al" Yankovic- Any lame parody song ever (including those sung by women!).

This happened all the time in the Napster days (or so I heard....).

There's even a few Not Weird Al pages listing who actually did the parodies that are always credited to him.

The “Not Weird Al” Page

XVR27's "Weird Al" Yankovic Page - Songs NOT By "Weird Al" Yankovic

 

I had a date to the Iggy Pop concert who was convinced Real Wild Child (Wild One) was a Billy Idol cover.
No, I did not go into the fact that Iggy didn't write it either.

 

Well, he did cover Carole King on Pocahontas, just slapped some new lyrics onto this...

 

That is weird because the hit cover version is by Nicolette Larson.

 

"My Sharona" by The Kinks

 

Didn't a great many people think that the Hudson Brothers "So You Are a Star" was the Beatles?