Not every track can be a winner, even if you’re a mega-talented rock star. These four classic rock songs went on to be quite famous, but only in their “revised” form. In fact, these now-legendary rock songs originally had pretty awful lyrics and titles. Let’s have a music history lesson, shall we?
1. “Honesty” by Billy Joel
This hit 1979 song from Billy Joel is a beautiful soft rock track, but the final cut is wildly different from the original. This song was originally titled “Sodomy” and featured the controversial lyric “Sodomy, it’s such a lonely world.” The song itself is a cry for honesty, so the crude lyric didn’t really fit. Honestly, it’s a good thing Joel switched this one up.
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2. “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath
Rock songs with awful lyrics aren’t exactly rare in the world of heavy metal, but “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath could have easily been a bit sillier than what we got with the final cut. The song was nearly titled “Iron Bloke” and the subsequent lyrics almost reflected that.
Osbourne’s reasoning? The riff sounded like “a big iron bloke walking about.” Fortunately, the band revised the song’s lyrics and title to be a bit more formal.
3. “I’m So Bored With The U.S.A.” by The Clash
“I’m So Bored With The U.S.A.” by The Clash was released in 1977 and is one of their most beloved tracks. And oddly enough, it almost sounded quite different. The song was originally going to be your typical punk rock love song titled “I’m So Bored With You”.
Naturally, the lyrics would reflect that; and it would have lacked much of its political punk rock edge if Joe Strummer hadn’t decided to change the title and lyrics to “I’m So Bored With The U.S.A.”
4. “Yesterday” by The Beatles
A surprising entry on our list of rock songs with awful lyrics, “Yesterday” is one of The Beatles’ most famous songs of their career. However, it almost boasted a very different title: “Scrambled Eggs”. Likewise, it almost featured very different lyrics as well: “Scrambled eggs / Oh you’ve got such lovely legs / Scrambled eggs / Oh, my baby, how I love your legs.”
It wasn’t one of Macca’s finer moments. Thankfully, the band (with the help of George Martin) pushed the song in a different direction and ended with “Yesterday”.
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