Joe Boles/Seattle
In the 1950's and 1960's, there were 1000's of small independent record companies that were formed with a microphone, tape recorder and a garage to act as a studio. Then, record to tape, press up a few records, pay a few DJ's and hope for the best. Though a bit oversimplified, there were still a few details to work out. One of which was to decide what the title of the song was. Apparently it was more complex than it should have been. The records below started off with a title that was usually wrong or at least was determined not as correct as the re-named title that followed. Some are very common variations, others not so much. All of them are part of just another great aspect of the record collecting hobby.

Five Willows - Church Bells Are Ringing
Five Willows - Church Bells May Ring
Probably one of the best know examples of record title changes. I recall finding out about it in the early 1970's, and I suspect that collectors that were older and more in the "Know" had me beat by quite a few years. In this case, the title was definitely incorrect and Melba pressed up at least the first run before realizing the mistake and re-titling it. The labels remained exactly the same except for the title. Typeset on the "May Ring" side eventually was larger on later presses. I usually see 5-10 of these go up for sale every year. The current price book (200-300) is too high for this one.
Church Bells Are Ringing 78
Willows - Chrch Bells MAy Ring 78
The title variation was also available on 78, and in my opinion, is tougher to find than the 45 RPM version shown previously. The Melba label obviously did not catch the error in time as both disc formats were pressed with the above title, but I see way more 45's offered for sale than 78's, by a large margin.
Cellos - Rang Tang Ding Dong
Cellos - Rang Tang Ding Dong I Am The Japanese Sandman
The Cellos had a great novelty record in 1957. It climbed most regional charts and peaked Nationally at #62 on the Billboard pop charts. It stayed around for 10 weeks, and frankly sold a lot of discs. This group out of New York went on to have a few more novelty records, but could sing a straightforward ballad with ease. When this record was first pressed, it was just as "Rang Tang Ding Dong." "I Am The Japanese Sandman" was added fairly quickly after the initial pressings. The first variation was pressed in both 45 and 78 RPM formats, as was the latter. I wonder, maybe the Japanese Sandman part was added to enhance the novelty value of the record?
Platters - Only You
Platters - Only You And You Alone
A much more common variation, the Platters first record on Mercury was originally entitled "Only You." The original "Only You" on Mercury was issued on the pink label. Later issues, as shown with larger typeset, included the words in parenthesis (And You Alone).
Marketts - Outer Limits
Marketts - Out Of Limits
The Marketts had a great surf sound, and had their first few singles on the Los Angeles area Union label. In late 1963, they decided to surferize the theme song to Outer Limits. They had an amazing take on the theme and it rocketed them up to the number three position on the Billboard charts. When it was first pressed, WB took the liberty to name the song after the popular show, but apparently forgot to get the needed permissions. Rod Sterling sued the Marketts for those opening four notes, that to me, sounded like the Twilight zone. Anyway, the name of the song was changed to Out Of Limits. Many copies of the first title, Outer Limits, were pressed and so it is not that hard to find.
Revels - Dead Mans Stroll
Revels - Midnight Stroll
A great classic Halloween song, the Revels recorded this one for the Philadelphia based Norgolde records. It was one of about five discs they waxed for Norgolde. When originally released for Halloween 1959, "Dead Man's Stroll" was how the first run of record labels were printed. It was probably too harsh of a title, and they re-thought their marketing plan. Yes, the lyrics did say "Dead Man's Stroll" several times during the recording, but the milder and gentler "Midnight Stroll" was more palatable to the record buying public. And that said public did buy the record. Peaking at number 35, the record stuck around for ten weeks, and was gone after Halloween. It did come back in several regions on future Halloween seasons.
Cookie Cupcakes Mathilda
Cookie Cupcakes Matilda
Perhaps a lesser know title variation, this classic record was issued many times, but first for the Khoury's label in 1958. Released on Judd in late 1958, it charted on Billboard in January 1959, reaching number 47, and stayed around for an amazing fifteen weeks! When Judd pressed up the first copies, they misspelled the title and added an extra "H" making it Mathilda. That was fixed shortly thereafter, to the correct title as was on the Khoury's label waxing.
Ian Whitcomb - You Turn Me On
Ian Whitcomb - Turn On Song
Ian Whitcomb had three records that made the Billboard Charts, and this was the second. He formed the band Bluesville in Dublin, and had a high,somewhat odd sounding voice. Along with a lot of breathing in and out, this record took off in the USA and peaked at number eight on the Billboard charts in 1965. In this title change, the record length is actually different, too. It could be said that both are the same recording, but one is edited. On the original release, the title is "Turn On Song" and it runs 3:08. It has one additional chorus, and when the song is over, it ends. Whitcomb along with Tower records decided to clean it up a bit, and reissued the record as "You Turn Me On" (Turn On Song). They removed the one chorus, cut down the beginning and faded it out at the end. There is also a tambourine on it.
Squires - Sindy
Squires - Cindy
The Squires were a Los Angeles based group that had a local hit with Sindy. Or was that Cindy? The first label it was on was called Mambo, which soon become Vita, which also pressed it as Sindy. See my First And Second Pressings Page. But while it was on Mambo, they changed the spelling of the girl's name. Maybe it was because of the Cobras Los Angeles release of the same song which used "Cindy." Sindy came first, then Cindy, yet the Vita release shows Sindy. Interesting information, but a little confusing to us record collectors!
Impalas -  I Ran All The Way Home
Impalas -  Sorry I Ran All The Way Home
This was a number two record on the Billboard charts, and it kicked around for a total of 18 weeks. This is a fairly common title change, where the first pressings did not have the "Sorry" on the title. The second pressings as shown used "Sorry", and the rest of the title in parenthesis. The label also included a bit more information on the second press. "Sorry" was prominently heard throughout the record, especially on the opening notes.
Royal Teens - Sham Rock
Royal Teens - Sham Rock Hop
When I played the record on my radio show, I always referred to it as the Shamrock Hop. When I bought a Royal Teens CD, it was listed as Sham Rock. Since the "A" side was "Big Name Button", it gets most of the mentions in the reference books. A little known title change, this one makes sense. The chorus clearly indicates the "Sham Rock" as it's sung in a quasi instrumental, Royal Teens style.
Tymes - So In Love
Tymes - So Much In Love
So In Love, So Much In Love, it's all the same, right? Not when you have the Tymes 45's in your hands. As was the case with many incorrectly titled records, the communication must have been poor between the engineers that cut the session and the person in charge of ordering the label artwork and text. The labels stayed the same except for the title change. Listening to the record, it could have been permanently titled So In Love......
Five Satins - In The Still Of The Night
Five Satins - I'll Remember In The Still Of The Night
You could find many combinations of this variation, so I just picked the records shown above. "In The Still Of The Nite" is how my original stock 45 and 78 show it, and I have a later promo pressing that adds the "I'll Remember" and then puts In The Still Of The Note in parenthesis.
Bill Smith Combo - Tough - Le Bill
Charlie Jester - Crazy Baby - Lanar
This pairing does triple duty. It not only has a title change, but has a label change and an artist change as well. The Bill Smith Combo released an amazing instrumental called Tough, in 1960. It was on his Le Bill label as shown above. It was then pressed with a Distributed By Roulette inscription underneath the label logo. In 1961, it was once again pressed, but this time as by Charlie Jester And The Team Mates, and re-titled "Crazy Baby", on Lanar. Bill Smith is credited on the record label, so he certainly had his visibility. The writers however, changed on the label, even though it is the exact same instrumental! I guess they decided to give Bill Smith the boot!
Shirelles - Tomorrow
Shirelles - Will You Love Me Tomorrow
The Shirelles had a monster hit with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and that is how most of the records were pressed in 1960. When the record was first issued, they just used the title "Tomorrow." The song was written by Carol King and Jerry Goffin, and reached number one on the Billboard pop charts.
Bobby And Sylvia - Broke Jaw
Bobby And Sylvia - Broke Heart
Here's an interesting title that would not be seen today. Back in 1962, apparently it was questionable as well, thus the change. Bobby and Sylvia were Bobby Hebb and Sylvia Vanderpool-Robinson. "You Broke My Heart And I Broke Your Jaw" was deemed unfit, but not before the initial pressing run of discs. Battle records smartly changed the title to just "You Broke My Heart", but something tells me this record should never have been released in any form. Released in 1962.
Richard Lanham - Raido
Richard Lanham - Radio
Twelve year old Richard Lanham waxed a record on the New York based Acme records, in 1957. The song was called "On Your Radio", but it took a second try to really get it correct. The first pressings are as shown above and they spelled radio as "Raido." Phonetically, it almost works. The error was spotted and corrected, and we have another in the category of "First and second titles due to a spelling error."
Pixies - Thrill
Pixies - Thrilled
These are the Pixies from Washington DC, not to be confused with the Pixies Three. Their release on the Don-Dee label, was the second for the group in 1963. On the left, the record actually seems like it could have been a marked up promo for a radio station, as the "X's" are on the plug side and they added the "ed" in pencil. The first issues just say "Thrill" while the second stab at the title shows the correct information as "Thrilled." Also, Pixies became "The Pixies."
Clarence Henry - I Don't Know Why
Clarence Henry - But I Do
When Clarence Frogman Henry entered the Billboard top twenty for the second time (# 4), the record originally was called "I Don't Know Why." The name was soon changed to just "But I Do." It must have been an executive decision by management, since either title worked, but the latter seemed to stick with you a bit more.
Marvin Gaye - How Can I Forget
Marvin Gaye - How Can I Forget You
Here is an interesting variation from Marvin Gaye. Though listed in Billboard as "How Can I Forget", the title made an obvious change when it was added to the LP "That's The Way Love Is" and printed the information on the label below Marvin Gaye's name. Released in 1968.
Elgins - My Illness
Elgins - Heartache Heartbreak
Sometimes a title change is not a simple thing, like a word or two. How about a completely different title that is the same song? That's what happened with the Elgins recording on Titan. "My Illness" was the first title, and it was changed to "Heartache Heartbreak." My thought is that the first title was a little harsh so perhaps record buyers would not feel sick when they bought "Heartache Heartbreak."
Turbans - I'll Always Watch Over You
Turbans - I'll  Watch Over You
One way to make the print larger and keep it on the same line is to remove a word from the title. "Original presses of this Turbans record showed "I'll Always Watch Over You." Second presses not only of the Herald label, but also the title, had just "I'll Watch Over You." When I listen to the song I hear them sing Always.
Jack And Jill - Party Time
Jack And Jill - Record Hop
Another instance of trashing the original tile and renaming it something entirely different. When Huggy Boy first released "Jack And Jill's "Party Time" on his Caddy record label, it seemed like the right tile to use. The song states "Let's Have A Party" in the lyrics,no mention of a "Record Hop." When Imperial decided to release it, they also exercised some creative control and changed it to the dull and apparently less offending "Record Hop." They also decided to switch writers, publishing, and for good measure, they deleted the credit given to the Jim Balcom Orchestra.
John Zacherle- Igor
John Zacherle- Dinner With Drac
John Zacherle was a TV horror host on WCAU in Philadelphia, and had a very popular show. Eventually that led to recording many records including an LP. His first record was titled"Igor." The flip was just called "Dinner With Drac" - a different version than the hit, but "Igor" was clearly the intended "A" side. Apparently, it was too graphic for the the radio station programmers, and airplay was limited. The new plan was to go back to the studio and re-cut "Dinner With Drac" and make part one and part two. The original version of "Dinner With Drac" and "Igor" were scrapped. Shown above is "Igor" and the 78RPM of "Dinner With Drac Part One." Cameo's amazing house band, Dave Appell and The Applejacks, handled the music on these sides.
Virtues - Blues In The Night
Virtues - Blues In The Cellar
The Virtues made a lot of records, for a long period of time. "Guitar Boogie Shuffle" was their biggest hit and can be found on my first and second labels page. They recorded this record for Hunt records in late 1959. It was titled "Blues In The Night" for Hunt. Nothing really wrong with that, as it is much different than the classic song of the same name composed by Harold Arlen. When the promotional copies were pressed for ABC, they actually showed "Blues In The Night", but "Night" was erased and "Cellar" was stamped over it - all presumably by hand. Maybe they wanted to be sure others didn't think it was an instrumental version of the classic tune.
Velveteens - Please Holy Father Part One
Velveteens - Please Holy Father Part Two
Here is a combination of everything going on. And I could probably post three or four more variations of the record. There were several groups called the Velveteens outright, and several more that were a backing group for a single artist. This group was from Agawam, Massachusetts, and originally consisted of four girls. They had called themselves the Neighborhood Girls and then Teensters and finally the Velveteens - after a few personnel changes. They recorded "Please Holy Father" parts one and two, for the Stark label, owned by Chuck Lidell in 1960. Ronnie Baker with Monty and the Specialties are credited on the record. The disc did not exactly use a proper number, rather 12591/12592, and was pressed by Columbia based on the ZTSP 62590/62591 shown at the bottom of the labels. Lidell took the writing credits on both sides. The record label name was Stark and showed no "Records" after the Stark name.
Velveteens - The Teen Prayer
Velveteens -  Teen Prayer
When the release above was not selling, the decision was made to go back to the studio and recut "Holy Father" and re-title it "The Teen Prayer." They pressed it up on the same style Stark label, and numbered the release 102. Added in the title "THE Teen Prayer"on the record above left. This was a short lived variation before shortening it to just "Teen Prayer" shown above right. It had lots of spins on stations from Massachusetts to San Francisco, but not enough to land in the Billboard top 100. The "Teen Prayer" version above is one of the later pressings that used Triway distributing. Also of note to me is the Capital "K" on the name. I have never determined if they were being creative with the logo, or changing the name of the label to Star K. There were other Stark labels, but was this one first?
Dale Hawkins - Class Cutter
Dale Hawkins - Yea Yea Class Cutter
Dale Hawkins had a classic record called "Susie Q" back in 1956. Born in Goldmine Louisiana, he hit the Billboard top 100 four times and this was the final entry peaking at number 52. A fun song originally recorded by Dicky Stop, sales of Hawkins' version were certainly bolstered by an appearance on Bandstand. First copies of this disc just showed "Class Cutter", but later issues included "Yea Yea." It makes sense since the chorus singing (Or whining) the phrase, were a significant part of the record. Released in 1959.
Applejacks - Rock A-Tonga
Applejacks - Rocka-Conga
Dave Appell and the Appeljacks had a lot of successful records in the late 1950's into the 1960's. He backed many of the artists on Cameo/Parkway and could be heard on hit after hit. His history of working in the music business actually started in the 1940's, but his first hit under his name was "Mexican Hat Rock" in 1958. His next Billboard chart hit was Rocka-Conga. The first issues appeared as "Rock A-Tonga. The same exact record, just the name was changed.
I'm The Girl On Wolverton Mountain
I'm The Girl From Wolverton Mountain
Sometimes the title of the song has a very minor change. However it can appear to have a slightly different meaning. Jo Ann Campbell may have had only three Billboard hits, but she had a lot of successful records thanks to great radio exposure and being invited to many shows in New York including Alan Freed's. She hit number 38 on this 1962 recording, but there must have been some confusion in the title. It's a tough one to try and figure out. The printed Billboard magazine and the Cameo LP's show "I'm The Girl From Wolverton Mountain." My Billboard Top Pop Singles lists it as "I'm The Girl On Wolverton Mountain." My guess is that the "On Wolverton Mountain" was either first or a title misprint somewhere in the record run.
Roll With Me Henry
The Wallflower
This is a record that has eluded me for quite some time. And the information on the internet is quite sketchy. One of the great things about record collecting is that it can answer some questions very definitely, and of course, bring up others. Many posts say that the Etta James record was titled "Roll With Me Henry" but never issued because of the theme, or whatever else. This record above proves that records were pressed with that title on 78, and I have confirmed it on 45RPM - I have a copy, it's just not as photogenic as the above 78. It also shows that there were no notations on the "Roll With Me Henry" title showing (The Wallflower) or (Dance With Me Henry) on the original modern release. The most common version is "The Wallflower" shown above right. Previously, the earliest "Roll With Me Henry" title I had was on the Kent label from 1960.
Tazmen - Gobo
Tazmen - Easy Pickin
The Tazmen were a Chicago based group featuring Guitar player Joe Rumero. They had a local hit called "Easy Pickin" on what seems to be there own label, or a label they decided to name their group after. When it was first released, it was called Gobo, with a different flipside, and ZTSC-9105 as the record number, which was also different from the "Easy Pickin" release. This was issued in 1957.
Freddie Bell - Giddy Up A Ding Dong
Freddie Bell - Ding Dong
Here is an example I have to guess at. Freddie Bell and the Bellboys recorded a bunch of discs, including the version of "Hound Dog" that Elvis reportedly heard and reworked into his monster hit. The problem with Freddie Bell the Bellboys was not necessarily popularity, but record sales. They just didn't have a lot in the US, but they did have excellent sales in the UK. Popular? Yep. they toured all over and had amazing success with their shows in Las Vegas. Early Billboard ads for the record showed a close spelling of my example on the left (Giddiap). They were promoting their appearance in the movie Rock Around The Clock. The correct spelling of the record on the left also showed up in Billboard under the best selling records in Britain. It also showed up that way on their Mercury LP. I see lots of copies of each variation available, so who knows?
Storm Trio - Wonderful Lover
Storm Trio - My Wonderful Lover
This is the second appearance for the Storm Trio on my website, the other on the 1st and 2nd pressings page. This originally came out on the Kieth label, then on to Jubilee. The song titles on both sides of the record changed - though the song was exactly the same, and shown above is the plug side of the record. "Wonderful Lover" was replaced with "My Wonderful Lover." It had some play in Canada, making the CHUM charts for just a blip in time.
Storm Trio - Ma Ma Rock And Roll
Storm Trio - Mama Never Taught Me How To Rock And Roll
I guess the Storm Trio is getting a lot of exposure on my website. Flip it over and they changed that title too. "MA MA Rock And Roll" became Mama Never Taught Me How To Rock And Roll." Best of the two sides to my ears, it's two minutes of fun upbeat rock and roll. Issued in late 1957.
Nicky And The Nobles - School Day Crush
Nicky And The Nobles - School Days
Nicky And The Nobles had a nice record in 1958. "School Day Crush" was the ballad, and "School Bells" was the upbeat side. Both are very good, but on some copies, they printed the wrong title. And based on the labels, the incorrect title of "School Days" was printed later in the run. In other words, they didn't start out with the wrong title, it just came up in subsequent issues. The original and correct title of "School Day Crush" has the original small lettering of many of the multitude of early Gone record issues.
Spaniels - You Painted Pictures
Spaniels - Painted Picture
From Gary Indiana, the Spaniels had a great recording career. They had a huge record in 1954 called "Goodnight Sweetheart Goodnight." Though technically released in late 1953, it was a monster led by Pookie Hudson on lead vocals. When the ballad "You Painted Pictures" came out in 1955, it was shown in an August ad from Vee Jay records, in the trade papers as "You Painted Pictures". By September, the title had been changed to "Painted Picture." Listening to the lyrics, I'm not exactly sure why the change took place at all.
Spanials - Painted Picture
Spanials - Hey Sister Lizzie
On a later pressing, the title of "Painted Picture" was correct but they got the artist name wrong by spelling them Spanials. This later pressing can be identified by the letters of Trade Mark Reg. underneath the Vee of Vee-Jay. The wide silver ring is also an identifier. It was issued at least in 1958 or later. The flip side is shown above, and the title "Hey Sister Lizzie" stayed the same as the early pressings.
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