4 Famous Songs Completed by Someone Other Than Who First Wrote Them

Not every song started by a certain artist is finished by that person. Sometimes it takes others to put the final cherry on the sundae. Collaboration can be key. Indeed, sometimes more than one voice helps the final product.

And that’s just what we wanted to explore here below. We wanted to highlight three songs from back in the day that took more than one person to finish. These are four famous songs completed by someone other than who first wrote them.

“(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” by Otis Redding from ‘The Dock Of The Bay’ (1968)

While this song was started and sung by the great soul artist Otis Redding, it was not written solely by him. After Redding started the lyrics, guitarist Steve Cropper finished off the work, filling out the words while keeping Redding’s original breezy feel. Speaking to NPR in 1990, Cropper said, “Otis was one of those [guys] who had 100 ideas… And that’s about all he had: ‘I watch the ships come in and I watch them roll away again.’ I just took that … and I finished the lyrics.”

“Free As A Bird” by The Beatles from ‘Anthology 1’ (1995)

Known as perhaps the greatest band of all time, The Beatles started in the 1960s and broke up in 1970. But the band ended for good in 1980 with the murder of singer John Lennon. Or did it? In 1995, the group’s remaining members took one of Lennon’s old recordings and added to it, completing it as only the former Mop Tops could. The result was the dreamy tune, “Free As A Bird”, which was released on the Fab Four’s LP, Anthology 1.

“Tears In Heaven” by Eric Clapton from ‘Rush: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack’ (1991)

This song from the British-born guitarist Eric Clapton is surely one of the saddest tunes ever written. It was inspired by the tragic death of Clapton’s young son, who fell out of a high-rise window and died. But while Clapton began this song with some heartbreaking lyrics, it was collaborator and songwriter Will Jennings who finished off the tune, adding more words to supplement what Clapton had started with. The result is one of Clapton’s best (and, yes, saddest) compositions.

“Wagon Wheel” by Old Crow Medicine Show from ‘O.C.M.S.’ (2004)

This famous folk song from Old Crow Medicine Show was built on lyrics first written by Bob Dylan. That’s why OCMS included The Bard as a co-writer on the tune when they released it in the 2000s. While Dylan penned the chorus for the song decades prior, Ketch Secor rounded it out with new verses. The result was one of the most popular songs of the early 21st century.

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