Songs with more than one version of the lyrics

Color Me Badd's "I Wanna Sex You Up" not only has two sets of lyrics, it has two completely different melodies. Both got recorded.

Ed

 

Kate Bush- Violin. She sings the original second verse on the Live At Hammersmith version (1979). She rewrote the verse for the studio version on Never For Ever (1980).

 

Tony Asher wrote the first set of lyrics for Good Vibrations, which were ultimately discarded early on and replaced with a new, final set of lyrics written by Mike Love. The Beach Boys' version uses Mike Love's final lyrics while Brian Wilson's solo version uses Tony Asher's original lyrics.

 

The studio version of AC/DC's "The Jack" has a completely different set of lyrics to what it finally became in live performances.

 

Cliff Richard´s now forgotten 1960 hit "A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS" had two versions - a single one and an EP. There are slight differences to the musical backing, and some seemingly unnecessary and minor differences in the lyrics. (Exchanging a few unimportant words.)

 

The QMS song I Heard You Singing and It’s Only Music I Grace Slicks Manhole are the same tune with 2 different Robert Hunter lyrics.

 

Frank Sinatra's notorious cover of Mrs. Robinson in which the lyrics are COMPLETELY different to the ones Paul Simon wrote.

I'm sure Simon was outraged, but trust someone told him it 'wouldn't be wise' to complain....

 

City Boy - 5705/Turn on To Jesus

The Outlaws - The Night Cries/Dregs Fall To The Wicked

Same melodies. Different words

 

The Beach Boys’ “Hang on to Your Ego”/“I Know There’s an Answer.”

 

Deadman’s Curve-Jan & Dean

 

The perfect example.

 

Um, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"!

It has three official sets of lyrics. The third and final version, revised by the lyricist for Frank Sinatra's A Jolly Christmas in 1957, is the most popular today.

---

The first version, written in 1944, was so depressing that not even Judy Garland would record them! These lyrics are downright emo...

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
It may be your last
Next year we may all be living in the past

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Pop that champagne cork
Next year we may all be living in New York

No good times like the olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were dear to us
Will be near to us no more

But at least we all will be together
If the Lord allows
From now on, we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

---

The version that Judy Garland recorded for the film Meet Me in St. Louis were still downcast, but not nearly as fatalistic:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
Next year all our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
Next year all our troubles will be miles away

Once again as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who were dear to us
Will be near to us once more*

Someday soon we all will be together
If the Fates allow
Until then we'll have to muddle through somehow
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now

(* On the original Garland single, she sang Faithful friends who were near to us/Will be dear to us once more in error)
---

Finally, the 1957 lyrics, with changes in bold:

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light
From now on our troubles will be out of sight

Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide gay
From now on our troubles will be miles away

Here we are as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Will be near to us once more

Through the years we all will be together
If the Fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now

 

Alas Tim was long gone when LC wrote Hallelujah, Jeff Buckley popularised it using lyrics which, I think, he based on John Cale's version.

Quite a few lyrics are changed for radio play, e.g.
Marillion Market Square Heroes replaced "I am your Antichrist" with "I am your battle priest"
Mind Funk replaced "F**k You" with "Touch You"
Supposedly Pink Floyd's It Would Be So Nice replaced "Evening Standard" with "Daily Standard" tho I've never heard the evening standard version.

Neil Young's Hitchhiker and Like An Inca
Ha also performed Piece of Crap and Ordinary People with several lyrical variations.

 

You're right, I mis-Buckley'd. I'm more of a Cale man myself anyway.

 

There was a Beach Boys SMiLE outtake that had those lyrics so I guess they decided to use them again.

 

Dazed and Confused:

Jake Holmes (original version):

I'm dazed and confused, is it stay is it go?
Am I being choosed? Well I'd just like to know
Give me a clue as to where I am at
Feel like a mouse and you act like a cat

I'm dazed and confused, hanging on be a thread
I'm being abused, I'd be better off dead
I can't stand this teasing, I'm starting to crack
You're out to get me, you're on the right track

Yeah, I'm dazed and confused and it's all upside down
Am I being choosed? Do you want me around?
Secrets are fun to a certain degree
But this one's no fun 'cause the secret's on me

The Yardbirds:

I'm dazed and confused,
Is it stay, is it go?
I'm being abused,
And I think I should know,
Come on baby,
I'm starting to crack,
If you're out to get me,
You're on the right track.
Hey!
Hey, hey!
I'm dazed and confused,
Hanging on by a thread,
Come on baby,
Do you want me dead?
I can arrange that for a dollar or two.
I can't remember,
Anything about you.
Hey, hey!
Hey, hey!
Hey!
I'm dazed and confused,
Hanging on by a thread,
I'm being abused,
I'd be better off dead,
If you're out to get me,
You're on the right track,
Quittin' teasin',
I'm starting to crack.
Yeah!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Hey, hey, hey!
I'm dazed and confused,
Is it stay, is it go?
Give me a clue,
'Cause I just want to know.
Give me a clue as to where I am at,
Feel like a mouse, and you act like a cat.
Yeah I'm,
Yeah I'm,
Yeah…

Led Zeppelin:

Been dazed and confused for so long it's not true
Wanted a woman, never bargained for you
Lots of people talk and few of them know
Soul of a woman was created below, yeah
You hurt and abused tellin' all of your lies
Run around sweet baby, Lord how they hypnotize
Sweet little baby I don't know where you've been
Gonna love you baby, here I come again
Every day I work so hard
Bringin' home my hard earned pay
Try to love you baby, but you push me away
Don't know where you're goin'
Only know just where you've been
Sweet…

 

Any live version of Rhiannon by Fleetwood Mac has different lyrics than the studio version.

 

The special version of "Substitute" for all the folks who couldn't fathom that Rog could look all white but his dad was black.

 

All The Young Dudes:
Wendy's stealin' clothes from Marks and Sparks
Wendy's stealin' clothes from unlocked cars

 

Good Time:

The Beach Boys


American Spring:
10. Good Time - American Spring ft. The Beach Boys (1972)

 

Had To Phone Ya

The Beach Boys


The Honeys
The Honeys - Had To Phone Ya

 

That song tells the true story of how he met his wife, so I'm guessing he thought using the word "horny" was going a little too far at first. In the last legitimately released live performance (from The Bottom Line Encore Collection, recorded five months before he died), he was back to using "crazy".

In any event, Chapin often put new twists on his lyrics during live performances. He reportedly used to ask local fans what their least favorite radio station was before the concert, and substitute that station's call letters for WOLD, for example. Also, in the aforementioned Bottom Line concert, in "Mr. Tanner" he changes "it took most of his savings/but he'd gladly used them all" to "...he would have gladly used them all." Since that actually changes the characterization a bit, that has become a point of contention in some debates I've seen about the meaning of the song.

Here's an interesting one:


This became a popular one for use in nursery schools and daycare centers, but for obvious reasons, people stuck to only the chorus. Fred Small reportedly decided that was unfair to the poor kids - it's kind of boring to just listen to the chorus again and again - so he wrote a new version with lyrics adults would be comfortable singing to kids:

 

Any song Bob Dylan has ever performed live. That's part of what makes the guy so damn interesting.

 

The Stones themselves had an additional verse only used live with the Sailors in Paris section.
Sounds like Cocker invented new verses entirely.