15 Classic Songs That Had Very Different Original Titles
Songwriting is an art and a science, in the sense that both can end up going a number of ways that nobody could predict. Some songs come to their authors in a flash, others gestate for days or weeks or months, while still others somehow turn out to be “The Thong Song.” It’s no surprise that songs can evolve considerably over time, but some of them started out wildly different, right down to the titles.
“Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler
It’s not as bananas as it sounds that “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was originally called “Vampires in Love.” It was supposed to be part of a musical adaptation of Nosferatu songwriter Jim Steinman was writing. That’s right, just like Jason Segel’s Dracula musical in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, (hopefully) minus the puppets.
“Yesterday” by the Beatles
When Paul McCartney was writing “Yesterday,” he only had the melody, so as a placeholder, he called the song “Scrambled Eggs.” The first draft included the verse, “Scrambled eggs/Oh, my baby, how I love your legs/Not as much as I love scrambled eggs/Oh, we should eat some scrambled eggs.”
“Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen
Technically, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is three songs that Freddie Mercury wrote in bits and pieces over several years, but the first part of it -- you know, “Mama, just killed a man” -- was called “The Cowboy Song” in these early stages. Really changes the visual.
“A Horse With No Name” by America
“The ___ Song” appears to be a popular placeholder. When America began recording “A Horse With No Name” in 1971, it was called “The Desert Song” even though it had a much better title right in the first line of the chorus.
“War Pigs” by Black Sabbath
Sabbath’s signature song was initially called “Walpurgis,” which bassist Geezer Butler described as a “sort of like Christmas for Satanists,” due to the line about “generals gathered in the masses just like witches at black masses.” The suits thought it “sounded too Satanic,” however, so they changed it to… “War Pigs.” Yeah, that’ll go over much better with the squares.
“Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves” by Cher
Likewise, the title “Gypsys, Tramps and Thieves” is offensive on three different levels, but it was actually considered toned down from songwriter Bob Stone’s original title, “Gypsys and White Trash.” They kept the slur, but insinuations of crime and travel are non-starters.
“I Know There's An Answer” by the Beach Boys
Meanwhile, the person outraged by the Beach Boys song originally titled “Hang On to Your Ego” was one of the Beach Boys. It was “too much of a doper song” for Mike Love, who changed the title and the lyrics because they were “so totally offensive to me that I wouldn't even sing 'em.”
“Dance the Night Away” by Van Halen
Everyone, however, should be grossed out by David Lee Roth’s preferred title of “Dance, Lolita, Dance” for the song that Eddie Van Halen convinced him to change to “Dance the Night Away.” They kept the rest of the lyrics suggesting predation, but at least this way, we can pretend not to hear them.
“Mandy” by Barry Manilow
Thankfully, there are no sordid tales behind Barry Manilow’s “Mandy,” which was released a few years earlier as “Brandy” by Scott English. When Manilow recorded it, however, he changed the name to avoid confusion with Looking Glass’s then-hit, “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl).”
“Mrs. Robinson” by Simon & Garfunkel
If it seems strange to declare that Jesus loves a woman who seduces the son of her husband’s colleague more than she will, that’s because “Mrs. Robinson” wasn’t originally about the most famous adulterous cougar. It was called “Mrs. Roosevelt,” who was apparently a much bigger baseball fan than we realized.
“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” by the Tokens
The most tropical doo-wop hit got its title changed because it was originally not in English. It was a South African song first released in the ‘30s as “Mbube,” so when the Tokens covered it, the song was translated incredibly loosely based on a “vague understanding” of the title, which means “lion.”
“When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge
“When a Man Loves a Woman” wasn’t always the love song that it is today. In fact, when it was first written, it was called “Why Did You Leave Me, Baby?” before a producer tactfully suggested that it might work better with a slightly more positive spin.
“Take On Me” by A-ha
A-ha’s signature song actually had several titles before it became everyone’s karaoke nightmare. When two of the band members were in a previous band, it was first called “Panorama” and then “Miss Eerie,” then reworked as “Lesson One” by A-ha before finally finding its forever title.
“Breed” by Nirvana
“Breed” is one of the more straightforward titles in the Nirvana catalog, just a word plucked from the chorus, but it was first called “Imodium” after the anti-diarrheal medicine because Kurt Cobain sings the song so fast. Get it? Do you get it? Listen, he was 22.
“Rock You Like a Hurricane” by the Scorpions
It’s not exactly going to shock anyone who’s listened to the rest of the words that the Scorpions wanted to do something a little more intense than “rock you.” Although the record label vetoed it, “I thought we needed a rock song with lyrics that should be forbidden,” drummer Herman Rarebell said, as dorkily as it’s possible for a glam rock drummer to say.