I Won't Sing It...Singers Who Turned Down Hit Songs

Mona Lisa was written specifically for the film Captain Carey, which Sinatra had nothing to do with. The original recording in the film was by Charlie Spivak, and it was released as a single. Sinatra may have decided not to cover the song at some point after this, but that would not really qualify as "turning down" a song in the sense intended by this thread.

 

Herb Alpert told a story in concert that Dionne Warwick had turned down the female version of This Guy's in Love with You so he reworked it for himself and it became a #1.

I always thought this all grew out of Kirshner saying if they had stayed with him they could have recorded Sugar Sugar b/c it would have been something available to him more than they literally turned the song down.

 

Herb Alpert told a story in concert that Dionne Warwick had turned down the female version of This Guy's in Love with You so he reworked it for himself and it became a #1.

 

I don't think cover version rules apply to that situation because Bruce had not released it yet. It was a song he wrote and offered to her (likely after her or someone else reached out for songs).

 

The original owner has the right to publish or release the first sound recording of a song. Afterwards its all fair game.

 

When he sings a bit of it on A Man And His Music, I thought he stated he had rejected it.

 

Linked both of them right there in the post

 

My understanding is that after the song was recorded for the Captain Carey film, the songwriters shopped it around and tried to get various singers to cover it. Ultimately, they persuaded Nat King Cole to do it. Sinatra might have been one of the guys they approached before Cole. But if he had done the song, his recording would have been a cover since Spivak had already recorded and released it.

 

Yeah, I was trying to find that clip but no luck. I have it on my dvd set though.

 

Helen Shapiro deserved to have continuing success throughout the '60s, but there were some bad decisions, not all of them down to Helen. A good example of this is her July '64 appearance on 'The Ed Sullivan Show': at the height of Beatle and DC5 mania, this was the perfect opportunity for a foothold in the USA, but what was performed? 'Tip Toe Through The Tulips'! I recently asked the lady herself about this, and she said the song was an un-broadcast outtake from an earlier (October '62) appearance on the show, and she didn't even know it was broadcast until afterwards. But, this is just one example (and her turning down 'Misery' another) of why she quickly faded from the hit parade.

 

Michael Jackson turned down La Isla Bonita, which of course Madonna would later sing.

 

Huh - I never knew that!

If Wiki is correct, MJ heard only the basic instrumental track - apparently Madonna wrote the melody and lyrics...

 

Helen recorded the first version of It's My Party but never released it as a single. Phil Spector also recorded a version, with The Crystals, but was sitting next to Quincy Jones at The Grammys and mentioned the song so Quincy raced out Lesley Gore's version before Phil had a chance to get his out.

 

Johnny Rivers was the first to record Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get To Phoenix" (on his Changes album), so he didn't exactly turn it down, but he did turn down Lou Adler's suggestion to release it as a single. Reportedly, Johnny said it sounded too much like "Poor Side of Town" (his recent #1 at the time). Glen Campbell then heard the song, released it as a single, and took it straight to #1.

 

"The Air That I Breathe" and "He Ain't Heavy" could very likely have been hits for the Association, graced with their dulcet harmonies, and possibly even the 7-minute "MacArthur Park." As for "Joy To the World" and "Spirit In the Sky", they would have either flopped for being too far outside their signature style, or they would possibly have expanded their fan base by reinventing their sound. The world will never know.

 

In the last year of the Guess Who, Burton Cummings, the lead singer and chief songwriter in the band, reportedly brought in his songs "Stand Tall" and "I'm Scared" to record with the band, but the other 3 at the time (Garry Peterson, Bill Wallace, and Dominic Troiano) didn't like them and refused to play on them, so Cummings quit the band (effectively breaking them up), recorded the songs as a solo artist, and had hits with both.

 

Only if we embrace Kirshner's philosophy of commerce over art. Kirshner arrogantly implied in interviews that the Monkees went straight downhill after his firing, but that's not accurate. They did lose a lot of career momentum when the TV show was cancelled, and when their music became more experimental and they did the Head movie, it alienated their teenybopper fan base who moved on to the Archies and other safe bubblegum, but the Monkees still had some really big hits after Kirshner was out of the picture, like "Pleasant Valley Sunday" and the #1 "Daydream Believer." If Don had stayed in control, their star may have faded even sooner than it did in the late '60s when the musical climate was changing so much. A similar fate befell Herman's Hermits and the Dave Clark 5 because they chose to remain musically lightweight rather than risk their careers by progressing.

 

It was common practice among many mainstream pop artists then (and alas, we've largely returned to it), but interestingly, Del Shannon turned down his own original song "I Go To Pieces" and gave it to Peter and Gordon who had a smash hit with it.

 

James Griffin (Bread) turned down "Hooked on You" (a song written by fellow Bread member David Gates) for Bread's comeback album in 1977.

 

Interesting how many artists turned down songs only to record them later after they became hits for others. Dionne recorded "This Girl's In Love With You" after Herb Alpert had a hit with "This Guy...". As mentioned in another post, the Grass Roots initially turned down "Don't Pull Your Love", but when I saw them in 1998 at an oldies package show, they did the song.

 

But, that’s not why Burton left the band. He was just burned out and tired.

 

Judging by his unpleasant demeanor onstage when I saw the Guess Who in concert in 1972, he was already feeling the burnout. It's understandable, having to maintain such a hectic lifestyle. I'm surprised that so many keep on touring for decades into their later years.

 

It's almost mind-boggling that Newman was fearless (or tactless) enough to pitch the song to Sinatra, but what a close-possible-world branch that would be: where instead of “Lonely At The Top” being the self-deprecating signature tune of its composer it became a playful encore for one of the most successful vocalists of all time!

 

The Bee Gees wrote "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" and offered it to Andy Williams but he passed on it. The Bee Gees recorded it and it was a hit.

 

Apparently a bunch of people turned down the song Happy Together