7 Albums With Two Versions Of The Same Song: The Beatles, Pink Floyd, And More

I've written before about artists who have recorded two versions of the same song, but usually these two different versions appear on separate releases. These seven artists, however, recorded two different versions of one song for the very same album.

1. The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

Among its many innovations, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of the first examples of an album intended to be a complete artistic statement, rather than just a collection of songs. This is evident when it comes to the album's penultimate track, a brief reprise of the album's opening title track, with altered lyrics to signal the album's end rather than its beginning.

2. Public Image Ltd. - First Issue (1978)

With Public Image Ltd., John Lydon's intention was to create music more in line with the experimental bands he was fond of, rather than the straightforward punk rock he was playing with the Sex Pistols. Track two of PiL's debut album First Issue is a solo spoken word piece titled "Religion," and while that would have been avant-garde on its own, it's immediately followed up by "Religion II," a song featuring the lyrics that Lydon had just recited.

3. Pink Floyd - The Wall (1979)

For concept album and rock operas, it's common practice to repeat lyrics and musical motifs, but on The Wall, Pink Floyd repeats the entire opening track "In The Flesh?" towards the album's end. At first there are obvious differences in arrangement and lyrics, but the last verse takes a sinister turn when the album's protagonist starts ranting against minorities and orders them to "get up against the wall."

4. Tom Waits - Franks Wild Years (1987)

Though Franks Wild Years isn't quite an opera on the same level as The Wall, it does feature songs that were written for a play of the same name in 1986. Two of the songs on the album's first side were actually repeated with different arrangements on the album's second side: "Straight to the Top" and "Innocent When You Dream."

5. Primal Scream - Screamadelica (1991)

Primal Scream's 1991 album Screamadelica was the band's first full-length experiment with dance music, featuring classic songs such as "Movin' On Up," "Loaded," and my favorite, "Higher Than The Sun." Apparently the band loved "Higher Than The Sun" just as much as I did, because it included an extended version of the song towards the end of the album, subtitled "A Dub Symphony in Two Parts."

6. PJ Harvey - Rid of Me (1993)

One of the singles from PJ Harvey's 1993 album Rid of Me is the tense and gritty "Man-Size," though the single was just one version of this particular song that was featured on the album. Rid of Me's sixth track is titled "Man-Sized Sextet," a brief rendition of "Man-Size" performed on cellos and violins.

7. Yo La Tengo - Painful (1993)

Yo La Tengo's two primary songwriting modes, mellow dream pop and noisy shoegaze, are on full display on 1993's Painful, which features two different versions of the song "Big Day Coming." The first version serves as the album's sleepy, drumless opening track, while the second version serves as the album's upbeat, noisy penultimate track.

Tags

The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Public image ltd., Tom Waits, Primal Scream, PJ Harvey, Yo La Tengo