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Post by jlthorpe on Oct 29, 2016 17:19:55 GMT -5
I thought about creating this thread after listening to Sia's "Cheap Thrills". It sounds like the title of the song is sung by backup singers, and not Sia herself (unless she did the background vocals as well). Which made me wonder if other songs have the title sung by someone other than the artist credited for the song.
I figured "Gonna Fly Now" by Bill Conti was a good example. According to Wikipedia, "Gonna Fly Now" is performed by DeEtta Little and Nelson Pigford. So they end up singing the title, not Conti.
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Post by dougbroda on Oct 29, 2016 18:25:59 GMT -5
I think it depends in part on the definition. If you include songs where the credited artist doesn't sing on the song at all, there are lots of them (e.g. Santana, Sergio Mendes, and as you mentioned, Bill Conti). If you exclude those, it's going to be rare, I would think.
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Post by freakyflybry on Oct 29, 2016 18:46:00 GMT -5
In "Under The Bridge", the title is only sung by the Red Hot Chili Peppers' background singers, unless Anthony Kiedis did those vocals himself.
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Post by davewollenberg on Oct 30, 2016 16:38:30 GMT -5
On 'Shake you down', Gregory Abbott's backup singers sang the title, not Gregory, himself.
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Post by slf on Oct 31, 2016 17:07:13 GMT -5
Well, since today is Halloween, let's not forget probably the ultimate example of this phenomenon. I'm talking about, oh, a certain charttopper from the summer of '84, from, oh, one of the biggest movies of that summer that, oh, had EVERYBODY asking that $64,000 question: Who ya gonna call? (Yeah, Ray Parker Jr. utters the word "ghost" and "bustin", but I'm virtually certain he doesn't actually utter the full title.)
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Post by jlthorpe on Oct 31, 2016 17:52:57 GMT -5
"Ghostbusters" and "Shake You Down" are great examples. I didn't realize backup singers sung the title for "Under the Bridge"; I thought it was the band themselves.
dougbroda, it could probably include both examples, but I think I meant more the latter ("Gonna Fly Now" probably was a bad example, but it was the only other one I thought of).
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Post by davewollenberg on Oct 31, 2016 19:33:35 GMT -5
Ray said in the Billboard book of #1 rhythm and blues hits, he never sang the word 'Ghostbusters', in his song.
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Post by woolebull on Oct 31, 2016 22:12:58 GMT -5
Great topic! How about, "One Night In Bangkok" by Murray Head?
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Post by woolebull on Jan 20, 2017 19:41:30 GMT -5
On 'Shake you down', Gregory Abbott's backup singers sang the title, not Gregory, himself. How about on the 1/17/87 countdown, the top 2 both had titles not sung by the singers? As davewollenberg pointed out, "Shake You Down" does not. "Down" was number one on 1/17/87/ and right behind it, Robbie Nevil did not sing the title of his number 2 hit, "Ces't La Vie". Bet that hasn't happened too much in chart history! |
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Post by johnnywest on Jan 21, 2017 8:23:51 GMT -5
Possibly "Rhythm Nation."
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Post by woolebull on Jan 21, 2017 8:35:53 GMT -5
Possibly "Rhythm Nation." I think you are on point with "Rhythm Nation". Speaking of "possibly" not singing the title: I was debating the possibility of the Top 3 on 1/17/87 all being sung by someone else other than the singer. At number 3 that week was "Notorious" by Duran Duran. I can't figure out if Simon is part of the "Notorious" that most people think of when you think of the song...though he does sing the word notorious once in the song outside of the chorus. And back to Robbie Nevil: I know he doesn't sing the title of his next hit, "Dominoes". And I'm not sure about the song after that either: "Wot's It To Ya". |
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Post by woolebull on Jan 21, 2017 8:44:07 GMT -5
A question to throw out to you all about "Video Killed The Radio Star". Tina Charles, who sings the title, wasn't an actual part of the Buggles, correct? I think I read that the guys who made up The Buggles were her backup musicians, and she returned the favor or something by helping them out. If anyone has better clarification, I would appreciate it!
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Post by giannirubino on Jan 21, 2017 9:10:40 GMT -5
woolebull, I always thought Robbie Nevil was singing at least *some* of the backing vocals on Wot's It To Ya." Now I need to find out if that is indeed the truth. I'm on a mission!
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Post by jlthorpe on Jan 21, 2017 9:37:19 GMT -5
I would say "Notorious" doesn't count since Simon LeBon did sing the title outside the chorus. And the chorus was still sung by band members, if not the lead singer.
The "Rhythm Nation" example reminded me of another one from 1990: Vanilla Ice's "Ice Ice Baby".
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Post by OnWithTheCountdown on Jan 21, 2017 12:26:05 GMT -5
Robbie Nevil does sing "Wot's It To Ya" early in the chorus by himself. Although it sounds like, to me anyway, he also sings backing vocals. (Haven't looked at the song credits yet.)
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