Songs Mistakenly Attributed to Simon

Over Paul Simon’s long and prolific career, he recorded, played guitar on, sang backup on, and produced many songs that he did not write. However, because of his name being attached to the songs for those reasons, many such songs have been attributed to him that he did not in fact author. These are just some of these many songs, with the actual, correct lyricists mentioned if I can determine them.

The list is organized as follows:
-The “traditionals" 
-Songs by more well-known songwriters
-Songs by lesser-known songwriters
-Unknowns: songs whose authors I could not track down even after hours of research. 
(If anyone wants to scroll down to the ones marked “unknown,” and fill in this missing information, I would be most grateful, and of course update this list.)

Note: There is a song with the title “Forever and After” written by Ben J. Solomon and Sandy Stone, but I believe this is a different song than the one posted in this blog.

TRADITIONAL
“All Through the Night” (Welsh/English translation; performed as a member of The Mystics)
“Barbriallen” (Scottish)
“Comfort and Joy” (English, a version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen”)
“El Condor Pasa” (music: Andean/ Incan/ Peruvian. English lyrics: Simon.)*
“Feuilles-O” (French, originally Haitian/Creole)
“Rose of Aberdeen” (American) 
“Roving Gambler” (American) 
“Scarborough Fair” (British) 

*(Daniel Alomia Robles arranged this traditional folk song in 1913; Simon added his own lyrics to the melody as arranged by Jorge Milchberg of Los Incas and Urubamba.)

BY “FAMOUS” SONGWRITERS/COMPOSERS
By Art Garfunkel, writing as Artie Garr or Tom Graph
“I’m Lonesome”
“A Soldier and a Song”
“Dream Alone”
“Private World”
“I Love You (Oh Yes I Do)”

By Hal David and Sherman Edwards
“Frame Without a Picture”
“The Lipstick on Your Lips” aka “I’d Like to Be”
“Bigger and Better Things”

By Dion Di Mucci (best known as just "Dion"), Scott Kempner, and Mike Acquilina
"New York is My Home" (duet with Simon)

By George Gershwin and Irving Caesar
"Swanee" (OK, so no one thinks Simon wrote this one... but did you know he sang it? He did, as Jerry Landis)

By Marvin Hamlisch and Joel Hirshorn
“Flame”

By Randy Newman
"The Blues" (duet with Simon)

BY OTHER SONGWRITERS/COMPOSERS
(Alphabetized by first-credited)

By Leslie Alfredi, Erik Satie, and Elaine Simone
“River”

By Battiste, West, Mangual and Pettignano
“In-Laws” (performed by The Vels)

By Joe Bennett
"Black Slacks" (performed first by Joe Bennett & the Sparkletones)

By Alfred Burt
“Star Carol”

By Philip Claypool
"A Mile out of Memphis" (covered by Carl Perkins, first with Claypool, then with Simon)

By Simon Climie and Dennis Morgan
“An Angel Cries”

By Martin "Marty" Nathaniel Cooper, Harvey Philip Burak and John Brennan
“Cards of Love” (Note: Cooper was the Tico in the band Tico and the Triumphs, of which Simon was a member. He sings lead on this track.)

By Ritchie Cordell
“Better Lovin’”
“Georgiana”
“Winter Blues” (performed by The Cupcakes)

By M. Curtis and J. Meyer
“When You Come Back to School”

By Milton DeLugg and Bob Hilliard
“Fortune Teller Cookies”

By Jackson C. Frank
"Blues Run the Game"

By D. Goodman
“I Wrote You a Letter” (performed by Dotty Daniels)

By Ruby Fisher
“North Wind”

By Andy Halmay
“I Grew Up Last Night”

By Marvin A. Kalfin
“Pretty Words”
“Just to Be With You” (also mistakenly attributed to Carole King) 

By Paul Kaufman and Mike Anthony (Michael J. Logiuice)
“I Want You in My Stocking”

By Baker Knight
“One Lonely Boy” (performed by Dean Martin)

By Larry Kusik and Don Wolf
“Invisible”

By Lewis and Goerring
“The Lipstick on Your Collar” (performed by Connie Francis)

By G. Marlo and Steve Lewis
“Promise of Love” (performed by The Montgomerys)

By Hugh Martin
"Make a Wish"

By Rose Marie McCoy
“Two Teenagers”

By Jorge Milchberg
“Death in Santa Cruz” (performed by his band Urubamba)

By Ouida Mintz
“The Beginning of the End”
“Every Night (When I Turn Out the Light)”
“I’m Scared”
“Just a Kid”
“The Tables are Turning”
“Too Many Memories”
“The Third Rail”
“The Wedding Waltz”
“Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way”
“Yours is the Kiss That Counts”

By Floyd Morris
“That’s How I Feel”

By Charles Mott and Charles Singleton
“Everygirl”

By Horace Ott and Charles Singleton
“My Best Friend”

By Raoul Perodin, Ben Judah Solomon and Sandy Stone
“When Mona Combs Her Hair”
“Yesterday’s Little Girl”

By Richard and Charles Pettignano
“Do the Walk”

By Sid Prosen and Tom Layton
“Fightin’ Mad”
(Note: Prosen also worked on Simon’s early instrumentals “Tia-Juana Blues” and “Simon Says” [See Lee Simms])

By Jeff Raphael
“(Please) Forgive Me" (recorded by Garfunkel as Artie Garr)

By (Ben?) Raleigh or J. Raphael
“Forgive Me”

By Ben Raleigh and John Gluck
“Sleepy Sleepy Baby”

By (Beverly?) Ross
“It Means a Lot to Them”

By (Beverly?) Ross & (Jeff?) Barry
"So Tenderly" (performed by The Mystics)

By Melvin Schwartz
“Baby Talk” (performed by Jan and Dean)

By Sol Schlinger (and Garfunkel?)
“Beat Love”               

By Lee Simms and Sid Prosen
"Tia-Juana Blues"
"Simon Says"
(Lee Simms is Louis Simon, Paul's father, who originally published these under other titles. Prosen was the father's publisher. See comment by brenda19 below for more details.)

By Charles Singleton
“Bye Bye” (performed by David Winters)

By Sy Soloway
“It Says in the Horoscope”

By Stock and Curtis
“(I Begin) to Think Again of You” (performed by The Mystics)

By Denise Taub
“Two Hearts on a Chain”

By Emile Charles Waldteufel, Jo Hanna and Arlene Tyne
“Rock ‘N Roll Skaters Waltz”

By JB Willingham
“Why Don’t You Stay a Little Longer” (performed by The Fashions)

By JB Willingham and Dee Earvin
“I Set a Trap for You” (performed by The Fashions)

By Don Wolf and Ben Raleigh
“A Different Kind of Love”
“I Want to Know All About You”
“A Good Foundation for Love”

BY (UNKNOWN)
“Gotta Make a Hit Record” (performed by The Montgomerys)
“I Can Feel It Happening to Me”
“Laurels”
"Let Me Steal Your Heart Away" (performed by the Mystics; I posted it just in case)
“Let’s Make Pictures”
“Little Doll Face”
“One-Two-Three”* (NOT the same as performed by Len Barry)
“One Way Love” (NOT the same as performed by The Drifters or Cliff Bennett)
“Sugar and Spice” (NOT the same as performed by The Searchers)
“Tired of Playing Games”

*The melody of "One-Two-Three" is "Saudade da Bahia" by Dorival Caymmi. (Info thanks to commenter Daniel.)

20 comments:

  1. In the famous section or the traditional section...it should mention El Condor Pasa, this is probably the most famous S&G song not written by Paul Frederic, since it's tune is tradional and old.

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  2. Anon-- I took your advice... sort of. I believe Simon wrote new lyrics to an old tune, so I explained that he did not write the melody.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Peruvian songwriter Daniel Alomía Robles wrote El Condor Pasa in 1913. Simon learned from a group called Los Incas, who mistakenly told him it was a traditional song of Peru. When Robles's son heard the S&G version, he sued for copyright infringement, but Simon settled amicably once he understood that he had been misinformed by Los Incas as to its origin. Simon did add some lyrics.

    Otherwise, great blog, just discovered it doing some research on Simon's pre-S&G songs.

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  5. Dubi-- Thanks for the information, and the compliment!
    When you say that Robles wrote the song, did he write Spanish lyrics that Simon translated? Did Simon follow Robles' pattern of "I'd rather be..." with new words? Or did Simon write completely new words to an old melody he heard and liked?
    I'm trying to determine what Simon's level of contribution was. Even if I could find the Robles song, I'm afraid I don't speak Spanish or whatever native Peruvian dialect the song may be.
    Thanks for your help, and I'm glad if I can be of any help in return for your research.

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  6. Paul wrote completely new, unrelated lyrics to the original music, which is part of musical play. You can find more on this in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_c%C3%B3ndor_pasa_(zarzuela)

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  7. "All through the Night" I believe is Welsh, not Irish

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  8. Jelly Troll (and yes I know who Jelly Roll Morton was)-- Thanks. I fixed it. The original lyrics are, of course, in Welsh.

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  9. Kimberly Kalfin DinardoOctober 23, 2016 at 8:55 AM

    Just a quick correction: My father, Marvin A Kalfin, wrote "Just to Be With You" ��

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  10. Kimberly-- Thank you! The embarrassment that I feel over the error is overwhelmed by the chance to correct it, and from such knowledgeable source. Not sure why I got that wrong; it's been a while since I did that research. I will fix it at once. Just to be clear, did he write both the music and the lyrics?

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  11. I have, for a long time carried a grudge against Paul Simon based in his practice of not acknowledging the original source of some of his material.
    "Rhymin' Simon" to me is probably his best effort, somewhat tainted by his claim to "American Tune", but by far his least known transgression relates to his best known song. Bridge over Troubled Water (1969)bears an unmistakable similarity to "Hymn to Freedom (aka The Prayer (A Jazz Hymn) and My Prayer)from the album Night Train by The Oscar Peterson Trio (1962).
    Peterson could hardly help but be aware of the facts, yet it speaks volumes for him that he let the matter lie throughout his life.

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  12. Anonymous-- Not being a jazz expert who knows that Peterson tune offhand, I will have to listen the both myself and get back to you. As it is, my concern in this blog is mostly with the lyrics, but thank you for your input.

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  13. The instrumentals "Tijuana Blues and "Simon Says "were originally released as "Blue Mud " and "Simmer Down " in 1958 on "Big Records' by Lee Simms ( Paul's father Louis ) and his orchestra . The writing credits are L Simon and S Prosen.(owner of the record company ) At around the same time Paul, as True Taylor,released "Teenage Fool "and "True or False " on the same label. Writing credits Paul Simon (Teenage Fool ) and Lee Simms (True Or False ) The instrumentals were included in the unauthorised 1967 release of The Hit songs of Simon and Garfunkel on Pickwick Records which was later withdrawn from sale for legal reasons. Really enjoy your blog by the way! Thank you .

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  14. brenda19-- Thanks so much for you input! How meaningful for Paul to record his dad's material. Not sure how to list this info in the above post but I'll figure it out... it's too interesting not to include!

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  15. Just to mention the curious fact that the Urubamba song "Death in Santa Cruz" that appears on the eponymous debut album of the band, produced by Simon, has its original title in Spanish as "Campanas de Santa Cruz", which translates as "Bells of Santa Cruz".
    I don't have any idea as to why the change in the translation.

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  16. Nahuel-- Is the song itself different in any other way, or has just the title changed?
    It could be that the bells in question were those tolled to announce a death, and "bells" could idiomatically mean "death" for someone, as in "Ask not for whom the bell tolls"?
    If so, then the title change might have been to make it clear to non-Spanish speakers that these "bells" were a death toll, and not, say, wedding bells, or just church bells that told the time.
    That's the only way I know that "bells" mean the same as "death."

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    1. As far as I know, it's just the title changed. It very well may be that "bells" has that meaning, although, as a native Spanish speaker myself I never thought it that way. I believe this is one of those cases where only the composer can solve the question.
      Slightly off topic, many instrumental songs (like much of Andean music) have somewhat "random" titles, even some originally don't have titles, being traditional (I believe that is fairly common around the world), and are identified by the genre or rhythm (like huayno, bailecito, carnavalito, etc.).
      I take the occassion to congratulate you on this excellent blog. Great effort! Thanks.

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    2. Nahuel-- I am willing to agree to chalk this one up to "I guess we'll never know," as you suggest.
      I did not know that many folk melodies are unnamed, but that makes sense.
      And I will take this occasion to accept your compliment, and thank you for it!

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  17. It is probably too late to mention this and I am aware that tgis blog is concerned with lyrics but the melody of "One-Two-Three" is "Saudade da Bahia" by Dorival Caymmi.

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  18. Daniel-- That's one the amazing things about the Internet! It's never "too late" to add anything, as long as the blog is still active!
    I will add your info-- thanks so much.

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