i wrote this 4 u, but u said no, so now i have to record it myself, dammit!

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on the steely dan OPO thread, jinx mentions that they wrote "any world (that i'm welcome to)" for dusty springfield. but she never recorded it.

neil young sent "powderfinger" to lynyrd skynyrd before he recorded it himself. but they never recorded it.

i've never been clear on whether meat puppet curt kirkwood actually tried to get zz top to record any of the songs he wrote for huevos, or if he was just working under zz top's influence at the time. either way, zz top never recorded any of 'em.

the beatles wrote "misery" for helen shapiro, who bizarrely turned them down, forcing the beatles to record it themselves.

other examples?

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 02:20 (twenty years ago)

when i first skimmed this message, i read "zz hill" instead of "zz top". that was confusing

― i am nervous (cochere), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 02:22 (twenty years ago)

jesus fucking christ why would you give someone else 'powderfinger'

― jake b. (cerybut), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 02:25 (twenty years ago)

This is an fcc thread? With all due respect, fcc, if one of the rest of us had started this thread you would have said the examples are too numerous to mention.

In any case, here's one: The Bee Gee's originally wrote "To Love Somebody" for Otis Redding, but Otis died so they recorded it themselves. (There is however, the James Carr version).

― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 02:29 (twenty years ago)

i thought misery was written for sinartra who thought they were taking the piss?

― elwisty (elwisty), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 02:30 (twenty years ago)

I think this happened a few times to Elvis Costello early in his career but I can't think of any examples. Maybe I should peruse the extensive archives at his website.

― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 02:32 (twenty years ago)

KISS wrote "Hard Luck Woman" for Rod Stewart, who turned it down; they then proceeded to sound exactly like Rod Stewart.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 02:34 (twenty years ago)

With all due respect, fcc, if one of the rest of us had started this thread you would have said the examples are too numerous to mention.

have i said that? i've THOUGHT that a few times, but i'm not sure i've ever said it! (but wait! don't check me on that. 'cause maybe i did.) (but i don't care. i wanna hear the examples, dammit!)

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 02:36 (twenty years ago)

jesus fucking christ why would you give someone else 'powderfinger'

neil y was quite the prolific songwriter who, like the others i mentioned in my original examples, i'm sure had oodles and oodles of songs cluttering up his house, his studio, his car, and he had to do something with 'em. this was long before robert pollard discovered that it was mathematically possible to release 42 albums a year.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 02:37 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, EC submitted three songs for a Frida from ABBA solo album Something's Going On but they were rejected, perhaps by producer Phil Collins! One song is rumoured to have been "Imperial Bedroom."

― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 02:42 (twenty years ago)

i thought misery was written for sinartra who thought they were taking the

hmm. all the sources i have handy, including mark lewisohn (in a q&a with mccartney) and ray coleman, say it was helen shapiro.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 02:52 (twenty years ago)

Prince once wrote a song (which I've never heard but have always wanted to) for Joni Mitchell called Emotional Pump (!!?) which she turned down. Erm -- think it was the title?

He's master of this thread, BTW. He's written a bunch of stuff for folks that they've turned down for one reason or other and usually the demo's for these songs are amazing.

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 02:59 (twenty years ago)

If Prince wrote a song for me I'd make him perform it with me.

― Andrew (enneff), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 03:03 (twenty years ago)

xpost:
Certainly the title of the thread is very Princely.

― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 03:06 (twenty years ago)

Certainly the title of the thread is very Princely.

notice i resisted writing "...so now EYE have to record it myself..."

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 04:06 (twenty years ago)

'i thought misery was written for sinartra who thought they were taking the piss?'

Randy Newman "Lonely at the Top"

― dave q (listerine), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 04:19 (twenty years ago)

Pete Townshend wrote "And I Moved" for Bette Midler but she didn't record it. He brought this up to explain why it's written from a woman's perspective (think this was before he admitted he was bisexual.)

Didn't Springsteen write "Hungery Heart" for The Ramones? I know he wrote "Born in the USA" for use by a fake band in a Paul Schrader film of that title, but then he liked it so much he kept it for himself. So he wrote another song called "Light of Day" instead and gave it to Schrader.

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 05:11 (twenty years ago)

The story is that Brian Wilson wrote "Don't Worry Baby" for Ronnie Spector, but Phil was jealous and wouldn't let her sing it. (She did eventually record it on that EP Joey Ramone produced, and it sure sounds like it was made for her.)

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Wednesday, 2 February 2005 05:23 (twenty years ago)

Springsteen has said he wrote "Fire" for Elvis, but I don't know how serious he was.

― skreddy57 (skreddy57), Thursday, 3 February 2005 01:54 (twenty years ago)

the beatles were hardly on sinatra's radar at the time of Misery, I can't imagine they would have tried to write a song for him and that he ever would have heard it.

Mark Eitzel wrote "Saved" for Barbara Streisand. I know it was sent to her, but she never recorded it. It's perfect for her though.

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 3 February 2005 02:12 (twenty years ago)

Evan Dando wrote "I'll Do It Anyway" for Belinda Carlisle, but she didn't want it. So he, er, did it anyway.

― wombatX (wombatX), Thursday, 3 February 2005 05:46 (twenty years ago)

Wasn't there something about Bowie having written "Golden Years" for Elvis? Am I making that up?

― Fa Fa fa FA, Fa fa Fa fa FA Fa, Thursday, 3 February 2005 07:02 (twenty years ago)

KISS wrote "Hard Luck Woman" for Rod Stewart, who turned it down; they then proceeded to sound exactly like Rod Stewart.
-- Joseph McCombs (jmccomb...), February 2nd, 2005.
is this true why did rod reject this brillaint song ?
and good choice - it is a crap song

― gene stanley, Thursday, 3 February 2005 08:41 (twenty years ago)

I just remembered another one: Sylvia wrote "Pillow Talk" for Al Green, who turned it down, so she had a hit with it.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Monday, 7 February 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

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