"Someone Like You" sounds familiar.
February 16, 2012 8:41 AM Subscribe
What older song does Adele's "Someone Like You" remind me of?
It's not the whole song, just the second line in the chorus: "I wish nothing but the best for you too." (If you haven't heard the song several hundred times on the radio already, it's at the 1:20 mark here.)
That snippet of melody sounds really familiar, but I can't place it. I keep thinking it's from a '70s song, possibly disco, possibly something AM Gold-esque. In my head the old song is quicker in tempo, and sung by a female vocalist whose voice might be similar to Adele's but less belt-y. I don't think the song includes the high "too" note, ending on the "you" note (or something like it) instead.
I may have gotten some of the above wrong. I may just be totally making this all up. But I want to figure this out!
(I find it amusing that I'm not the first MeFite to think an Adele song sounds like something else. That song also sounds familiar to me, in the same '70s way, but doesn't ping my "I've heard that before" sense. )
It's not the whole song, just the second line in the chorus: "I wish nothing but the best for you too." (If you haven't heard the song several hundred times on the radio already, it's at the 1:20 mark here.)
That snippet of melody sounds really familiar, but I can't place it. I keep thinking it's from a '70s song, possibly disco, possibly something AM Gold-esque. In my head the old song is quicker in tempo, and sung by a female vocalist whose voice might be similar to Adele's but less belt-y. I don't think the song includes the high "too" note, ending on the "you" note (or something like it) instead.
I may have gotten some of the above wrong. I may just be totally making this all up. But I want to figure this out!
(I find it amusing that I'm not the first MeFite to think an Adele song sounds like something else. That song also sounds familiar to me, in the same '70s way, but doesn't ping my "I've heard that before" sense. )
One More Try by Timmy T.
Whether this is right or not I'm super happy that I dredged it out of my brain on the barest of memories.
posted by TheRedArmy at 9:01 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
Whether this is right or not I'm super happy that I dredged it out of my brain on the barest of memories.
posted by TheRedArmy at 9:01 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Hmmm... none of these so far. What's in my head is more uptempo, probably not a ballad.
posted by Metroid Baby at 9:22 AM on February 16, 2012
posted by Metroid Baby at 9:22 AM on February 16, 2012
I've always thought that line sounds a lot like Juice Newton's Angel of the Morning (see 0:56 mark)
posted by argonauta at 9:30 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by argonauta at 9:30 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
It reminds me of Rod Stewarts "Reason to Believe".
posted by fshgrl at 9:32 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by fshgrl at 9:32 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
I want to say there is an Alanis Morissette song that uses a line similar to that one..
posted by royalsong at 9:39 AM on February 16, 2012
posted by royalsong at 9:39 AM on February 16, 2012
Yes, Alanis uses that line in "You Oughta Know".
posted by leigh1 at 9:44 AM on February 16, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by leigh1 at 9:44 AM on February 16, 2012 [3 favorites]
This might be too on the nose, but my immediate thought was the Whitney Houston version of "I Will Always Love You," because of the similarity between Adele's "I wish nothing but the best for youuuuuuuuuuu" and Whitney's "I will always love youuuuuuuuu."
Clearly, this is an issue that will require my full attention today, displacing whatever work I might otherwise have done.
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 9:45 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
Clearly, this is an issue that will require my full attention today, displacing whatever work I might otherwise have done.
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 9:45 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
I don't have an answer, but I always thought it sounded like another song. I hope someone figures it out!
posted by Sweetmag at 9:47 AM on February 16, 2012
posted by Sweetmag at 9:47 AM on February 16, 2012
One 1970s song that's like the sonic sister of "Someone Like You" is Olivia Newton-John's "Hopelessly Devoted To You".
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 9:56 AM on February 16, 2012
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 9:56 AM on February 16, 2012
For what it's worth, I can't hear her sing without thinking about Alison Moyet.
posted by davebush at 10:06 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by davebush at 10:06 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
At first I instantly dismissed jjmoney's You Spin Me Right Around response. Then I remembered this one lyric that did seem to echo a bit of Adele's "Someone Like You" (Specifically, the lyric was "I set my sights on you").
So I did some research, and listened to this absolutely gorgeous cover of "You Spin Me Right Around"*
And here is where things get very curious ... synchronize the Adele song with the above at say about 1:14 for both songs. And you hear both vocalists singing "Yooouu" at the same time and in harmony! Coincidence?* .... you be the judge.
*Yes, of course, but still kinda cool
posted by forforf at 10:15 AM on February 16, 2012
So I did some research, and listened to this absolutely gorgeous cover of "You Spin Me Right Around"*
And here is where things get very curious ... synchronize the Adele song with the above at say about 1:14 for both songs. And you hear both vocalists singing "Yooouu" at the same time and in harmony! Coincidence?* .... you be the judge.
*Yes, of course, but still kinda cool
posted by forforf at 10:15 AM on February 16, 2012
IF it helps... that melody in that stanza is:
(I) F#
(Wish) G#
(No-) A
(-thing) E
(But) E
(The) A
(Best Fo-) G#
(-r) A
(You) F#
(Too) A
A google search of that only returns Adele's song, however.... Methinks it might be a combination of a similar and likely pretty common melodic structure (perhaps in a different key, hence no results) with similar sounding lyrics that is jarring your memory.
posted by Debaser626 at 10:31 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
(I) F#
(Wish) G#
(No-) A
(-thing) E
(But) E
(The) A
(Best Fo-) G#
(-r) A
(You) F#
(Too) A
A google search of that only returns Adele's song, however.... Methinks it might be a combination of a similar and likely pretty common melodic structure (perhaps in a different key, hence no results) with similar sounding lyrics that is jarring your memory.
posted by Debaser626 at 10:31 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
The song stylings of Taylor Dayne also come to mind, for some reason.
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 10:37 AM on February 16, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by El Sabor Asiatico at 10:37 AM on February 16, 2012 [2 favorites]
The frst thing I thought of when I heard that " Nothing - but-the-best" was this.
posted by timsteil at 10:52 AM on February 16, 2012
posted by timsteil at 10:52 AM on February 16, 2012
Response by poster: I was clicking around YouTube, thinking it might be a Donna Summer song, and I realized... could I be thinking of MacArthur Park?
I think there's still a song that's more on-the-nose than that, though, so I'm not declaring this resolved. Maybe there's something out there in between the two songs?
posted by Metroid Baby at 11:04 AM on February 16, 2012
I think there's still a song that's more on-the-nose than that, though, so I'm not declaring this resolved. Maybe there's something out there in between the two songs?
posted by Metroid Baby at 11:04 AM on February 16, 2012
Donna Summer "Hot stuff" is what I am reminded of.
posted by msali at 11:20 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by msali at 11:20 AM on February 16, 2012 [1 favorite]
Maybe i'm the only one, but the song i always think of when i hear this song is Kings of Leon - Use Somebody
posted by frmrpreztaft at 11:44 AM on February 16, 2012
posted by frmrpreztaft at 11:44 AM on February 16, 2012
I don't know why, but that song – and especially that part – has always reminded me of Skid Row's I Remember You.
posted by iamkimiam at 12:13 PM on February 16, 2012
posted by iamkimiam at 12:13 PM on February 16, 2012
Response by poster: I may also be thinking of Friends of Distinction's Love Me or Let Me Be Lonely. However, at this point I'm starting to think everything sounds like Adele, so who knows?
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:30 PM on February 16, 2012
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:30 PM on February 16, 2012
How about 'Reason to Believe' by Rod Stewart? The chorus of both songs starts out with the lyrics, "Someone like you (pause)..."
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 8:37 PM on February 16, 2012
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 8:37 PM on February 16, 2012
Response by poster: Oh, and just to clarify (for anyone still reading), it's the melody that reminds me of something else. The lyrics could be anything.
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:44 AM on February 17, 2012
posted by Metroid Baby at 5:44 AM on February 17, 2012
Mod note: Final update from the OP:
Two years later, it popped into my head this morning: I'm almost certain the song I was looking for is Blondie's "Maria." I was pretty far off with the decade, it turns out! But there are some similarities in the melody of the chorus: compare the notes Debaser626 posted above with "go insane and out of your mind" here. Same key, even. I'm declaring this resolved!posted by cortex (staff) at 7:57 PM on February 25, 2014
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posted by modernserf at 8:46 AM on February 16, 2012