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I Hate My Hit! 10 Songs Disowned by the People Who Made Them Famous
http://tr.im/hatemyhit

what do you think?

One time I read where Pat Benetar will no longer sing "Hit Me With Your Best Shot." I saw her open for Styx several years ago and while the band still played the song, instead of singing it herself, Pat brought up several females from the audience to sing the song.

On the subject of that particular song, many years ago I played in a punk rock band that did our own version of it, which we called "Hit Me With Your Wet Snot"!

Hi!

Jani Lane, of the rock group Warrant, ended up apparently hating his hit "Cherry Pie". I think that later on he admitted that the song gave him the notoriety to be able to continue living off of music. I think Jani was one of the best songwriters of the so-called hair band era.

I recall that at one point in time, because of his convictions, Bob Dylan could no longer sing, "Lay Lady Lay" in concert.

I cannot understand how anyone can hate their own material especially if it was a hit.
Noddy Holder from the band Slade who makes millions every year from the song "Merry Xmas Everybody" loves the song.....He says how can you hate anything that gives you huge recognition and makes you huge wads of cash.
I know that all artists evolve and get better and maybe some of the earlier stuff was perhaps not as good as the more recent stuff but that is no reason to hate it.
I am proud of all my material.....OK some of the early stuff and even more recent stuff is pretty naff and poorly recorded but it is still MINE.

I WISH I had this problem!

Exactly Mike!

And,,,,I think it's disrespectful to the fans that made it a hit for any writer or artist to benefit the fruits of all that money spent by the fans, and disrespectful to the fans who still love the songs and want to hear them when at a concert.

They should all lie in the bed they made. Spoiled rockers!
Bet they begged and prayed for each one of those songs to be a hit when faced with just playing some low paying clubs, (if that was the case for anybody).

Ingrates!

This is where the real stars like Sir Paul, and The Stones, and others with a sensitivity to their fans delivers what he knows he fans still love. He'll play "Let it Be" when he's 100 if he could. And with a smile! And his roots song from 1964, (All My Loving). With pride and gratitude!

Those ten? More ego and self centerness than Paul, and that's saying something!

John

LOL Sub ....and John...my sentiments exactly

I used to be a huge R.E.M. fan (but then I lost weight.) Anyway, I saw them at a club in Indianapolis when they were first starting out, but my opinion changed after I saw them in concert in support of their "Green" album in the late '80s. During this show, they did not cover any of their older material, and although I am sure it was meant to be tongue in cheek, they went so far as to flash messages on the big screen such as: "Don't scream out "South Central Rain" during a quiet part of a song. Michael hates that."

I didn't care for their attitude and haven't purchased any of their music since then.

At the end of his later concerts, Harry Belafonte used to say that his mother told him to never sing a song that he didn't love, because that would be the song he'd have to sing forever. He would then launch into Jamaican Farewell and Day-O.

Jerry Jeff Walker would sing Mr. Bojangles as his first song, just to get it out of the way.

Todd Rundgren hates "I don't wanna work, I just wanna bang on the drum all day"

And does anyone know how Chuck Berry feels about "My ding-a-ling"?

Midnite

I think it was Willie Nelson who said someone warned him to be careful about what kind of songs he wrote, because, if they became a hit, he'd have to play them the rest of his life.

I get together with some cover-song specialists to play every so often. They request the same songs of mine they heard me play the first time we got together years ago. And they tell me this or that is "...my favorite Gary Andrews song." Of course, being familiar with it now enables them to play along, and some can sing along. ("Fancy (And Maybe Nevermore" and "Yippee Ki Yo" on www.garyeandrews.com are two they always request.)

Trouble is, I had a hundred songs they didn't hear back then, and a hundred more now they haven't heard yet. I slip a 'new' one by when my turn in the circle comes around (after the requests), and they inevitably ask, "Did you write that?" and compliment the song. And still, they haven't heard half of what I've written. Others say, "Is that a new song?" and I say, "Not to me!"

I enjoy the songs they request, but I also enjoy my 'latest hit' and some of my 'classics' I don't get to play because I'm doing requests.

I guess touring musicians have to play stuff every night, two and four and six times a week for years, and I can see how that could become a task, instead of a pleasure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZcLEY2qEY

He Has Fun With His!

Bass2x and I got to play out live on his Ding-a-Ling SONG when it first came out. Being what it's about, and the way he was when doing that song when we were in that backup band, I bet he still is having fun playing with his Ding-a-Ling!

Bottom line is, IF their fans like certain songs,,,PLAY the damn things for THEM! The artist are getting paid PLENTY to provide what the fans want. If they want to do just new or very selective numbers based on how little they played them through the years, or whatever, they should just play shows for the disabled in nursing homes. Then, they wouldn't have to worry about people yelling out those hits.

How soon they forget who got them on those HUGE stages in the first place.

Paul Stookey of Peter Paul and Mary dashed off "There is love" as a throw away and then it because a perrinial hit as a wedding song. He hated it and said there was no sincerity in it. I think he probably likes the royalties.

Lyrics are not bad:

He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour is acting on his part
The union of your spirits here has caused him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in his name
There is love
There is love

Well a man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home
They shall travel on to where the two shall be as one
As it was in the beginning, is now until the end
Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again
And there is love
There is love

Well then what`s to be reason for becoming man and wife
Is it love that brings you here, or love that brings you life
For if loving is the answer, then who`s the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you`ve never seen before?
Oh, there`s love
Oh there`s love

Irrespective of their Stardom, I got sympathy for any Human Being that's turned into a Human Jukebox.

When it's all about money & fan base...& no regards to artistry & enjoyment...it's time to either retire or do a Cobain.

JMO,
Stan

I heard Merle Travis say on a recording he hated 'Sixteen Tons'... till the residuals started rolling in after Tennessee Ernie Ford recorded it.

I was a little surprised they never mentioned Gene Autry hating "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." But it was kinda obvious the writers had no sense of history.

I've got a few like that. "Valvoline," one of two Dodson Drifters songs that got radio airplay, was literally written in the studio, and was a real throwaway; the engineer was testing sound levels and said, "Joe, sing something." (He very quickly ran a tape.) That was in 1980, and I still get people occasionally requesting that song. Do I play it? Yup. Do I ever question their taste? Not out loud.

Joe

One day I hope I have a hit that everyone wants to hear...even if I hate it, I'll sing it!

Any artist has to respect fans and audiences by singing what they want whethr he likes the material or not....Small price to pay for being paid to perform.

I have a live recording of Of Bob Wills telling the audience that they hate to play "San Antonio Rose" just before playing it. Sounded like he was kidding, but you know how that is when someone says that. There's a little truth to it or they wouldn't have said it in the first place.

I've seen smiling faces when I did my not famous Too Little Time song at the first JPF showcase I did. It's a simple diddy, and I would sing that when I'm 100 if there's just one face smiling, asking for it, or I know it will bring a smile,,,even if just mine.

I should have those "terrible" problems with people wanting to hear ANY song I would write or record, with them HAVING to hear it! Man!

Hey Stan, Jukebox me right into the same song again! And again!

Music is communication, and feelings for the listener. If ANY song lives up to that after years? Then THAT is a GREAT song for those folks. And getting paid at the same time?

Hey,,I already went over this before......See?

Play it again, Sam!

Do do-do do do do do do-do
Too many times I've longed for a love
Too many tears at night
You came along and made wet eyes feel right
Now they see your love's strong


Chorus: (Everybody)
But there's too little time to love with all the want to's
Too little time for life
So, for now we'll love today
Said for now we'll love tonight
Together time's flying, bye bye.

And so on, and so on, and so on, till I die. THEN, I won't be singing anything. Until then, ask me to sing that or any song anywhere, any time. If at all possible, it's going to be sung.

Man, for that gift of "any" song alone! "Worth the extra effort", as Sir Paul has said.

Website given is toxic to my computer and will not open.

John Mayall's response to old song requests (probably a Clapton #): "Did you come to hear an old record?" and then play some jazz/blues fusion song.

I am undecided about set lists. As much as I like certain songs from certain bands, I do understand the artistic need to move on. At some point, if you don't like a song, it becomes like being in a cover band.

I assume, though, that the majority of artists like their hits and don't mind playing them.

Kevin

OK, John...What can I say. I've been to a Bob Dylan Concert a year or so ago...& watched Bob do NOTHIN' but NEW ONES the whole set...& only did TWO of his Classics as "Encores". THEN watched Willie Nelson BLOW The Crowd AWAY..with Mostly Oldies-&-Greaties.

& at the time, I picked on Bob for what he'd just done..(Partly 'cuz The Announcer mentioned "Bob's New CDs are for sale back at...[I've forgotten where]...)

But...looking back...(as We Oldsters LOVE to Do!)...I truly respect Bob The ARTIST for doing what's HIM. Evolving. Trying to say Something NEW. Something..that's of course..VALID.

I think Eric Clapton's done a Better Job at Re-Inventing Himself than Bob....but I still like Bob Dylan because he's still Doing What Bob always did a good job at..."Pushin' The Envelope". His Way. (There's an Honesty to it...heh!)

Tho, yeah, it ain't ALWAYS "Crowd-Pleasin'"

Best Wishes,
Stan

Kevins version of Pat Benetars, "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," is really appropriate in a swine flu kind of way. Better get that one back out there. Could be a seasonal hit...