See The Other Side

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A long-cherished project of Al and I is to do 'Creep (Egomaniac Mix)' with first and second person reversed where apt, i.e. "I wish you were special / I'm so fucking special / You're a creep" etc. on the grounds that this would attract at least as many people as the Radiohead original. On the double-A side would be 'Positively Fourth Street (Total Abjection Mix)' ("I know what a drag it is to see me" etc.)

Any other ideas for such anti-matter pop inversions?

― Tom, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I like sappy love songs here. "I Light Up Your Life" and "I Am So Beautiful To You."

― Mark, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Oops... You Did It Again"?
"Show You The Meaning Of Being Lonely"?
"You Want It That Way"?
"It's Gonna Be You"

A lot of pop music becomes much more acrimonious and creepy when you play this game.

― Dan Perry, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

You Wanna Be My Dog

― Nicole, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

There Is A Light That Always Goes Out - well, buy a Zippo then, you silly man.

― DG, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Born to be Mild" A ode to the quiet times in life.

― Andy, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

For some reason, I think "All the Old Dudes" has a funny ring to it.

Hmm, try the same exercise with "Gary's Got A Boner" or "I Got Erection". That's what happens eventually to all the old dudes.

― alex in montreal, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Ah, that does work... how about this: "Will I still need you, will I still feed you, when you're 64?" Probably not.

― andy, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"You Just Don't Know What To Do With Yourself" would be a total condemnation song.

What effect would it have on "The Word Girl" to reverse all the "you"s and "I"s?

― Robin Carmody, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Tom P suggested Green Day, I responded with this: "I don't have the time/To listen to you whine."

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Are you inexperienced? That could be less of an invite, more of a let down...

― Jason, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Brilliant idea, Tom. I quite like Stevie Wonder's odes to self- importance and complacency "I Am The Sunshine Of Your Life" and "I Haven't Done Nothin'" myself.

― Patrick, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Jesus, this is funny. How about a reunion of Roberta Flack & Peabo Bryson for "Tonight You Celebrate Your Love for Me"? That's sort of the original's subtext anyway, right?

― Michaelangelo Matos, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dylan's a good one: "You Want Me" would make a great hip-hop single.

― Nitsuh, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Callous singer/songwriter standards: "Will I Still Love You Tomorrow?" "I've Got a Friend" "They Can Work It Out"

All together now: "They Are the World" "Give War a Chance"

― Curt, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dylan. "you ain't it babe..."

MC Paul Barman changes Lauryn Hill's "now the joy... of my world.. is in Zion" to "now the joy... of your world... is Paul Barman."

― Tracer Hand, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Good one... especially with a double-A side single, perhaps in line with Creep:

A: "Every breath I take/Every move I make/ I will be watching me" B:"Should you stay or should you go?"/"If you dont there will be trouble!"

― fernando, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Let us not forget the Wild Seeds' "I'm Sorry I Can't Rock You All Night Long" and Kid 606's "P.S. You Love Me"

― Jason Gross, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

AC/DC's "I Shook You All Night Long" would be funny, but nothing could compare to the Spice Girls' "Wannabe":

If I wanna be your lover
I gotta get with your friends
[...]
If I wanna be your lover
I gotta, gotta, gotta SLAM!
Slam my body down and wind it all around

Actually, this makes more sense than the original...

― Dan Perry, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Let us not forget Ice Cube's classic "Today Was a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day"

69 love songs becomes a collection of putdowns if you give it the treatment. "Come back from San Francisco" becomes "Stay the hell away from New York." And then there's "You don't want to get over me."

― Toby, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Actually, Jason, the scary thing is Kid 606 did in fact just release _PS You Love Me_ for real! It's a remix collection.

Ah, other choices -- hm..."there you are now/we'll entertain you/you feel stupid and contagious/there you are now..."

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"And you-hoo-hoo-hoo/You're still dead."

― Dan Perry, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

That Peabo Bryson one caused me to splurt diet coke out my nose, by the way.

The undying Band Aid single would become "WE know it's Christmas!" , a song recorded to gloat about our gross personal indulgences, and of course to hasten the tragic starving of the world.

― Kim, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"I Keep You Hangin' On", "I Reach Out, You'll Be There" ...

― Robin Carmody, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

How about some Beatles....

"You Should Have Known Better" "You'll Be Back" "I'm Going to Lose That Girl" "I've Got To Hide My Love Away" "Got to Get Me into Your Life" "With a Little Help From Your Friends" "My Mother Should Know" "You Are the Walrus" "Baby I'm a Rich Man" "I Never Give You My Money" "You Can Work it Out"

― Adam Bruneau, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"When you think about me, you touch yourself..."

_The Woman-Machine_

― Clarke B., Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

...you're a loser baby, so why don't I kill you...

― Kim, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Don't forget Iggy Pop and his 'Ambivalence for Death', or how about that great Flock of Seagulls tune 'You Strolled (Quite Nearby Really)'.

― Flash, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Not to mention Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Get Tense" and Duran Duran's "Sated Like the Lamb."

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

[taking bow from Kim's comment] thankyou, thankyouverymuch....

And how about..."You Wanna Sex Me Up" ("tick tock will you stop" going in the background)! And Blackstreet with "Diggity," which becomes an a cappella dog-food commercial ("Here, Diggity!" "Woof!")! Hey--what about "Miss World," which in its role-reversal ("You're Miss World") necessarily becomes a duet between Courtney Love and Bert Convy!

One song that completely resists this treatment: X-Ray Spex's "I Live Off You" ("And you live off me/And the whole world lives off of everybody"). Others?

― Michaelangelo Matos, Monday, 16 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Elvis Costello recast as an egomaniac: "Now that my picture's in the paper being rhythmically admired / and I could have anyone that I have ever desired / all I gotta tell you now is why, why, why, why..."

or... imagine parents flipping Rage Against The Machine on their snotty teenagers: "Fuck me, you won't do what I tell you!"

― Dave M., Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Bono - Did I come here to paly jesus to the lepers in your head...umm, yes!

― Geoff, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Joy Division transmogrifies into the Captain & Tenille. Geddit?

― tarden, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yellowman's 'Everybody Move, Everybody Get Hurt' - the myth of Sysyphus as class-consciousness, or ANTI-class-consciousness?

― tarden, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Greil Marcus - "I'm No Rock'n'Roll Fun"

― tarden, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The Dead Kennedys' anthemic chorus of "California! Bites my ass!" and Nelly Furtado's "I'm Not a Bird" and Dream's bitter "He loves you, he loves me not" and Britney exclaiming jubulantly "You were born to make me happy" and Jodeci getting so repulsed by an ugly woman that they don't even wanna know her name.

― Sterling Clover, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I was the one with all the glory, and you were the one with all the pain... So why are you mentioned in this story? Think this song is about you? You must be vain. (cue strings) Did you ever know that I'm your hero? I'm everything you would like to be! You could soar higher than an eagle, if I was the wind beneath your wings.

― Tim, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

'walk all over me'- acdc, 'you got erection'-turbonegro, 'one day in my life'-micky jackson, 'you were my man'- tindersticks, 'john,you're only dancing'-david bowie

― geordie racer, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Dan Perry (djperry@post.harvard.edu), July 16, 2001 says these:

"Oops... You Did It Again"?

Sounds like a song about toilet training. Top marks.

― The Dirty Vicar, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

S. Berlusconi - "You are the Antichrist...you want to get pissed, destroy!"

― tarden, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

didn't the beatles effectively do this with the songs "money" and "can't buy me love"? what about baxendale turning their "summer of hate" single into "christmas is great" for their christmas show last year?

anyway, here are my suggestions:

bros: "when will i be unknown" (i can answer, i can answer that) t-rex: "get it off" travis: "don't sing" manic street preachers: "you hate us" sade: "rough operator" backstreet boys: "backstreet's not back, alright!" the doors: "douse my fire" take that: "redouse my fire" the monkees: "i'm an unbeliever" marvin gaye: "damn damn you" public enemy: "it takes a nation of millions to prop us up" beastie boys: "you've got to show apathetic disinterest towards your right to party"

― kevan, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

AC/DC - "Stairway to Heaven"
Led Zeppelin - "Highway to Hell"

― tarden, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

If the P-Funk mob was really The Mob - "I Just Don't Want You To Testify"

― tarden, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Tarden inadvertantly stumbled across an oddity -- about eleven years ago or so the Swinging Erudites in fact did a combined cover medley of "Love Will Keep Us Together" and "Love Will Tear Us Apart." It was...different.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I suppose The Go-Betweens and Suede could do a swap with 'Part Company' and 'Stay Together'. Actually The Go-Bees have loads. 'Not Here', 'My wife', 'No, this way', 'The Right Road after all', 'Let Your Horses Go'...I could go on, but I'm being dull. Of course there are always the classics by Neil Young ('Nobody Knows This Is Anywhere') and 10CC ('Alright, I Am In Love') to consider too.

― Ally C, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Alanis Morissette's "Ironic" would actually be ironic!

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

How about Craig David? Didn't meet anyone on Monday, stayed at home on Tuesday, had a wank on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday and Saturday and was all hot an bothered on Sunday.

― Madchen, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Lionel Richie: "Goodbye, It Isn't Me You're Looking For".

'NSync: "Unpop", "Hello Hello Hello", "I Don't Want You Back", "It Isn't Gonna Be Me".

Bros: "I Owe You Everything".

Destiny's Child: "Subservient Woman", "Yes Yes Yes".

Aaliyah: "Give Up".

Shaggy: "It Was Me".

Erasure: "Start!".

The Jam: "Stop", "The Harrow Machineguns", "A Town Called Sympathy", "Beat Resilience".

The Style Council: "Short Cold Winter", "You're The Worst Thing", "Whisper The Way Down", "My Ever Consistent Moods", "Walls Are Built Up Again", "It Did Matter", "Go From Toxteth".

S Club 7: "Sit Still".

Hear'Say: "Difficult And Complicated".

The Prodigy: "Very Good (Stop The Dance)".

XTC: "The Elated", "Senses Never Need To Work", "Hate On A Miner's Wages", "All You Ugly Boys", "Admirals And Captains".

Elvis Costello: "Accidents Don't Have To Happen", "Olivia's Navy".

Sparks: "This Town Is Big Enough For A Million Of Us", "Professional Hour", "Turn Your Back On Mother Earth", "Something For The Girl With Nothing", "The Number 75 Song In Hell".

― Robin Carmody, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I also like sappy love songs: "I Light Up My Life" and "I Am So Beautiful To Me." !

― ben pronto, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

robin, i just love subsurvient woman!

― gareth, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Virginia Pretty

― Madchen, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Subservient Woman" and "Casualty" would be great Destiny's Child songs, but nothing quite beats the bizarre passive-aggressive factor of "Say Your Name":

Say your name, say your name
If no one is around me
Say, "Baby, you love me"
If I ain't runnon' game
Say your name, say your name
I'm actin' kind of shady
Ain't callin' you baby
Why the sudden change?

― Dan Perry, Tuesday, 17 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Thought you might, Gareth. I sensed I'd hit on something as I wrote it: I came up with all those in about one minute ...

― Robin Carmody, Wednesday, 18 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

five months pass...

funny!

― soyfer, Monday, 14 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

This was long due for revival, to be sure. Basement Jaxx could be fun, with "Where's My Head At" and new lyrics for "Romeo":

I keep on giving you the hold up
I know you'd wish I'd make my mind up
'Cos once I'm getting on so-so
I used to be your Romeo
'Cos I see my dear you have had enough
Of keeping quiet about all this stuff
I'm neurotic like a yo-yo
I used to be you Romeo

Now wouldn't *that* be fun to sing in a sassy voice. Beyonce couldn't touch it.

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 15 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

David Bowie: "Villians"
Sinead O'Connor: "Three Old Codgers"
Cure: "Not in the Least Bit Like Hell"
Sex Pistols: "Traditional Right-Wing Conservativism in the UK"
Black Flag: "Eating and Walking"
Bob Dylan: "Vaguely Second Avenue"
Stooges: "Lose and Reintegrate"

― Lord Custos, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

and of course,
Eagles: "Motel Oklahoma"

― Lord Custos, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Or even better: "Old Coot Left Town", "Death in the Slow Lane", "Perpetrator of Hate" (Yeaaaahhh...Glen Frey as a Death Metal Guy!)

― Lord Custos, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Can't we just stop asking new questions and just revive old threads for a bit?

"You Just Can't Get Me Out Of Your Head, Can You?" (kylie)
"Thank ME" (dido)
"You Like Us, You Really Like Us" (so solid crew)
"10 days, 17 hours, 49 minutes and 21 seconds" (so solid crew)

― Jeff W, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"I Make you Feel Like a Natural Woman" (Aretha Franklin)
"Let You Guys Get It On" (Marvin Gaye)
"Did I Ever Have to Make Up Your Mind?" (Lovin' Spoonful)
"You, Yourself and You" (De La Soul)
"Your Adidas" (Run DMC)

― dleone, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"Get My Freak On" (Missy Elliott)
"You Yourself Yours" (Beatles"
"Give Yourself Some Lovin'" (Spencer Davis Group)
"You're a Man" (Spencer Davis Group)
"Why don't You Guys Do It in the Road?" (Beatles)

― dleone, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Re Spencer Davis - "I'm A Woman!!!" better surely?

― Jeff W, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Yeah, but I tried to limit myself to the personal pronouns only. Or something.

― dleone, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Or "I Am Man, Hear Me Mumble Vaguely Under my Breath" by Harry Reddy.

― Lord Custos, Wednesday, 16 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

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