Hit songs before they were famous
NOT everyone can sit down at the piano and bang out Imagine from the get-go.
Sometimes you have to detour via the dumps of My Humps before you get to the good stuff. Here’s some early versions of recognisable songs that, with the odd tweak or complete overhaul, would go on to conquer the world.
1. ROD STEWART: MAGGIE MAY
MANY artists freestyle jibberish lyrics then fix them up later. Here’s Rod Stewart with rock star Tourettes before Maggie May even had any mention of Mags in the lyrics. The familiar tune is intact, Rod just randomly sings “I’ll kick your head in one of these days” and “if the dog’s in the yard, I don’t mean a guard”. What?
Most clever sever: the lyric at 2.40 “I don’t mean to tell ya, that you look like a fella” did not make the final cut. Probably a wise decision.
2. NIRVANA: HEART SHAPED BOX
ROCK legend has it rock legend Kurt Cobain wanted to call this song Heart Shaped Coffin, and the lyric of this rough demo features that very line. This band demo is pretty close to what would be slightly tidied up for the world, with Cobain humming over the words he hadn’t committed to yet.
Most clever sever: swapping “I wish I could catch your cancer” to “I wish I could eat your cancer when you turn black” for the official version. That’s one of Cobain’s most romantic lyrics.
3. A-HA: LESSON ONE
BEFORE it became Take On Me the Norwegian trio had a song called Lesson One in 1982. That dinky keyboard riff was always there, as were the verses and some of the lyrics that would make it through to the version that topped charts all over the world in 1985. Apart from the `anchors away’ part, mercifully. However *that* chorus was still sorely absent. The first version of Take On Me flopped, it was then sped up and given that iconic cartoon-book video and hey presto.
Most clever sever: Morten Harket’s rooster-in-labour shriek at the 40 second mark of Lesson One was wisely binned from the finished Take on Me that would go on to soundtrack Blue Light Disco dry humping.
4. KATE BUSH: BABOOSHKA
YOU may remember the infidelity anthem being all full of bass, sass and smashing glass. But it started life as a piano ballad, although because it’s Kate Bush she of course still double-tracked her vocals on this rather flawless demo that is a fan’s delight.
Most clever sever: just minor lyrical tweaks including what sounds like ‘fiance’ here to `little lady’ in the hit version.
5. MEN AT WORK: DOWN UNDER
BEFORE it was an a-side, Down Under was the b-side to the Melbourne band’s first single Keypunch Operator, released independently in 1980 before they signed with CBS. It did not trouble the chart. The first incarnation of Down Under is far less polished, with a slacker reggae feel. But all the world-dominating parts are there, including that flute line, just a bit more loose.
Most clever sever: removal of the man from Brussels having a dialogue in the song. At the 1.30 mark did they use the word ‘Ranga’ decades before Chris Lilley?
6. COLDPLAY: LOVERS IN JAPAN
EVER wanted to sit in as Chris Martin downloads a song from his brain to the recording studio? Here’s a leaked demo of Lovers in Japan, as a work very much in progress. It’s Martin at the piano getting an early version of the Viva La Vida hit down on tape, complete with stops and starts and bum notes. It ends with him musing “Hmm … that needs a bit of work.”
Most clever sever: the 50 second mark where Martin found what key to sing ‘they are turning my head out’ in. It took a few on-the-spot goes to find the one he’d later use in stadiums.
7. CYNDI LAUPER: GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUN
POP fact. Girls Just Want to Have Fun is a cover of a flop by Richard Hazard, and when you hear his version, sung by a man, it’s slightly creepy. Lauper eventually made the song her own, but not before recording this demo which is close to Hazard’s guitar-heavy new wave original. Bouncy, happy synths would soon be surgically implanted, but here’s a dark, gloomy demo with some different lyrics for Cyndi trainspotters.
Most clever sever: jettisoning pretty much the whole musical backing; this version was never going to top any charts and launch her career.
8. PINK FLOYD: COMFORTABLY NUMB
YOU may know this is one of those patchwork hits, where Roger Waters needed a chorus for his verses and David Gilmour had the perfect one he’d prepared earlier. He didn’t have much more, as this demo shows, which is just Gilmour humming and strumming over a key part of one of the most iconic rock ballads of the `70s. Luckily Waters had a rock star moan ready to go.
Most clever sever: well, thinking of words was quite a helpful inclusion.
9. INXS: DARK OF NIGHT
Sometimes a change of title makes all the difference — this song became By My Side. Everything’s almost there — husky Hutchence, a 3am piano line — it just needed that chorus. Luckily INXS knew a thing or two about writing big choruses on demand.
Most clever sever: not removing, but adding the impassioned ‘by my side’ vocals in the chorus of what is one of their most underrated ballads.
10. BEYONCE: HALO
Don’t want to shatter too many illusions here, but Beyonce got a writing credit on Halo. However when you listen to this demo the song’s author Ryan Tedder gave her as a guide, well, she didn’t change too much, except axe a whole bridge. Members of the Bey Hive will argue about her vocal arrangement deserving a co-writing credit, and certainly the song sounds more special with Bey’s powerful voice not a dude pushing his falsetto to the limit.
Most clever sever: subbing himself out and Beyonce in.
11. BEYONCE: IRREPLACEABLE
Apols for the myth-busting, but here’s another Beyonce song she got a co-writing credit on it without doing much to the demo except adding Beysus juice. Well, she did change the gender in the lyric from dude to chick, so there’s that. And again, listen to this version and Beyonce’s version and you’ll hear what difference being in the hands of a superstar has on a song.
Most clever sever: Bey really ran with the ‘to the left, to the left’ hook. Smart.
12. BLONDIE: ONCE I HAD A LOVE
THIS song was floating around Blondie HQ in 1975 as a quirky reggae-lite jam. Then it became more funky and as known as The Disco Song. Producer Mike Chapman asked the band to hear what other songs they had when making the Parallel Lines album. He heard this, reinvented it as a total disco track called Heart of Glass, their biggest hit with good reason.
Most clever sever: the de-reggaefication. They’d do that better later on.
13. APOLLONIA 6: MANIC MONDAY
PRINCE wrote a lot of songs in the 80s and farmed them out to many of his special friends. Girl band Apollonia 6 featured his rumoured lover Apollonia, who was his love interest in Purple Rain. Prince wrote Manic Monday for them, and was giving them Sheila E’s The Glamourous Life as well as his own Take Me With U and 17 Days. However none of those tracks made their debut album, which did house the hit Sex Shooter. Which was fitting with their pre-Pussycat Dolls skankola image. Prince gave Manic Monday to the Bangles instead, allegedly as a way of courting their smokin’ hot singer Susanna Hoffs.
Most clever sever: Prince’s switcheroo made everyone happy. Except Apollonia.
14. QUEEN: FEEL LIKE
John Deacon – he’s the one that’s voluntarily not in Queen anymore – came up with this bassline and Queen created a song called Feel Like around it. David Bowie was in the studio ready to work on a different song, they started jamming, Deacon dusted off this bassline and one of the best duets of all time was created as Feel Like morphed into Under Pressure. But the bones of the song are here, with plenty of Freddie Mercury magic.
Most clever sever: realising this song needed heavy duty showy Bowie.
15. MICHAEL JACKSON: BILLIE JEAN
Buttercup a day? Yes, here’s a giddy Michael Jackson scatting nonsense lyrics over an almost-finished version of the classic Billie Jean groove. “She told me I was a lonely man and I felt sad,” MJ sings. Poor bugger.
Most clever sever: he got off the Jesus Juice and wrote the proper lyrics.
16. FLEETWOOD MAC: DREAMS
And some songs are just perfect from the get-go. We give you Stephanie Lynn Nicks, genius.
Most clever sever: the whole `70s soft rock touch certainly made it more radio friendly but this version is a whole lot of `wow’.