10 Famous Rock Songs That Were Almost Called Something Else
9. Van Halen's Dance The Night Away - Almost Called “Dance, Lolita, Dance”
Hard rock innovators and Desmond Child's favourite band Van Halen erupted onto the scene with their earth-shaking self-titled debut release in 1978.
One year later, they followed up this success with Van Halen II (what else would it have been called?) and a lead single named Dance the Night Away.
Possibly the only brand new song written for the album, as everything else had previously existed in demo form, Dance the Night Away was inspired by the music of Fleetwood Mac, specifically the song Go Your Own Way.
The initial title for the song drew on a much less radio-friendly subject matter, as David Lee Roth originally wanted to call it Dance, Lolita, Dance.
The most famous use of that name is in Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel, Lolita, which is about a middle-aged man who becomes dangerously obsessed with a 12-year-old girl. Perhaps wanting to avoid comparison to such a dodgy book, Eddie Van Halen successfully lobbied for the name and lyrics to be changed.
Considering that this tune became the band's first to enter the US top 20, this was probably the correct decision.