Songs you thought were by a different artist upon first hearing

Easy to find used on vinyl though.

 

When I first heard Prince's I Feel For You, I thought it was a woman singing.

 

I dunno if this has been mentioned already , but, 'Sickle Clowns'(pretty sure that's the name) on the Pretty Things,'Parachute'.Man, I really thought FM radio,back in the day, had unearthed a previously unheard Beatles track!

 

A couple were confusing to me because of the authorship;

"All the Young Dudes" by Mott the Hoople sounds like the Bowie composition that it is.

"If You Want it..." by Badfinger is the Beatles without the Beatles.

Also, I had thought "Spill the Wine" by Eric Burdon was by WAR, judging by the sound of the instrumentation, though the voice should have been a dead giveaway...

 

When I first heard The Black Keys album 'Magic Potion' playing in a record shop I thought it was a Little Feat record No idea why now but at the time that was my first reaction.

Ended up asking the shop assistant who the record was by and bought it. Great album.

 

When I first heard "Fall at Your Feet" by Crowded House, I thought it was Squeeze.

 

I thought the Fine Young Cannibals' "She Drives Me Crazy" was the Bee Gees when I first heard it.

Don't know why, but I thought that America's "Daisy Jane" and "Lonely People" was Paul McCartney & Wings.
(George Martin produced those songs and Geoff Emerick engineered them)

Also thought that Pilot's "Magic" was McCartney as well.
(Produced and engineered by Alan Parsons. Man! Those EMI Abbey Road engineers could make anyone and anything sound Beatle-y - huh?)
Must have had Macca on the brain in 1975 prior to Venus & Mars!

I knew Klatau wasn't the Beatles though!

And or course the old standards:

Stealer's Wheel - "Stuck in the Middle With You" was Dylan
Billy Swan - "I Can Help" was Ringo Starr

 

In 1982, I kept hearing "Far, Far From Home" by Fastway on the radio and thought it was some long lost Led Zeppelin tune.

Same thing in 1986, I kept hearing "Oh, Ruby" by Dirty Looks and would have bet my left arm that it was an unearthed Bon Scott-era AC/DC track.

Doug

 

Ditto!

 

Are you sure it was 'BAB??? Not WLIR??---I was mainly listening to 'BAB at that point & I don't remember EVER hearing XTC on 'BAB...WNEW-FM,WLIR,WPLJ,'PIX-102,sure...

 

First time I heard Cream's "Blue Condition",I thought it was the Kinks.

 

When I first heard "Bette Davis Eyes" on the radio, I thought it was Rod Stewart.

 

The first time I ever thought I knew who a particular song was by before the artist was identified, it was "Black Is Black" -- and I thought it was by Gene Pitney (actually Los Bravos).

Incidentally, "Bring A Little Lovin'" by Los Bravos is an incredibly exciting song, that never gets any airplay ...

 

OK. I'm too lazy to read this whole thread. I got to page 3. At that point, nobody had mentioned "Lies" by the Knickerbockers sounding like some British band. I think it was the Beatles.

Sorry it it came up already.

 

When I first heard "Listen To The Music" by the Doobie Brothers, I thought it was by Chicago. I know that sounds crazy.

 

If you were thinking a lot about Macca in those days, I suppose I can understand how you'd think he was singing those songs. But in truth, none of those were in McCartney's style, at least not at that time. The two America songs were poignant, like "Yesterday" and "For No One", but Macca wasn't doing that stuff anymore.

 

Rod has laid out guys for telling him that.

 

When I heard Pilot's "Magic", I thought it was Peter Frampton. That song sounded like it could have been by any number of artists.

 

I don't believe so.

 

It didn't sound like the usual Steve Miller stuff, to be sure. Better, in fact.

 

I also hear a similarity.

 

I think Billy Swan and Billy Squier are the same person..

 

Let him try it.

 

I thought the song "Brothers in Arms" was a new song by Pink Floyd.