Here’s a music thread topic I’ve been thinking about for a while: songs that reference other songs. It seems extremely common in hip-hop, less common in other popular music. I wonder if it used to be more common in non hip-hop popular music, I always think of the Stones naming an album Let It Bleed not long after the Beatles’ Let It Be.
What are your favorite references to songs within other songs? I always like the “if you hear any noise…” in Ladies’ Night, the bit from Prince’s “Ballad of Dorothy Parker” that’s the title for this post, and all the stuff in Shoop (“wicked, wicked” etc.).
I suppose the “I hope Neil Young will remember” in Sweet Home Alabama is the most famous.
Also, why do you think it is so much more common to do this in hip-hop?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Roy Orbison singin’ for the lonely
Hey, that’s me and I want you only
raven
Public Enemy-He Got Game
ruviana
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Damn! First one I thought of! And I’m glad it started the thread.
dubo
“I suppose the “I hope Neil Young will remember” in Sweet Home Alabama is the most famous.”
And not, “nearly every line in American Pie”? ;)
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
Bruce Cockburn – Last Night Of The World
I’m sipping Flor De Caa* and lime juice, it’s three a.m.
Blow a fruit fly off the rim of my glass
The radio’s playing Superchunk and the friends of Dean Martinez
Midnight it was bike tires whacking the pot holes
Milling humans’ shivering energy glow
gratuitous
What do these three songs have in common:
Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie
Elected by Alice Cooper
Sequel by Harry Chapin
Not only do all three reference other songs, they reference another song by the same artist. Space Oddity for Bowie, School’s Out for Cooper, and Taxi for Chapin.
Brian R.
Hiphop is all about sampling, so shout outs make sense.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
I think there are two aspects of it regarding why Hip Hop does it as much.
1) The way hip hop started, tracks would probably start as much as a response to someone else, either affirmatively or confrontationally, as it would as a stand alone thing. Especially when you got battle raps with one artist outright calling the other out using their own lines or motifs.
2) Many hip hop artists wear their influences on their sleeves, so they’re not shy about name dropping their particular muse for that day/track/album/etc.
Cassidy
The Pogues – The band played waltzing matilda
Seonachan
The Replacements’ “Alex Chilton”? Not sure if it references any particular song(s) as I’ve never listened to Chilton. In a related vein, there a Phil Ochs song called “The Doll House” in which he mimics Dylan’s singing voice on one refrain.
srv
How do you sleep, dougJ? IDK, but it’s morning in America here and you are a dedicated swallower of fascism.
I need some coffee and American Pie.
dedc79
Every Hold Steady song, but this one in particular
Brian
Let It Bleed-1969; Let It Be-1970.
ranchandsyrup
Weezer’s Heart Songs is just a list of songs/artists that influenced Rivers Cuomo.
Eta songs/artists are used in hip hop to fill in rhyming couplets. Gives many options.
Randy P
All I can come up with is “American Pie” (yeah I’m that old) which people told me was about the deaths of the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens and Buddy Holly. But frankly at the time the song came out I had no idea what the hell it was about. I’ve never been good at understanding poetry.
another lurker
Was it a millionaire who said, “imagine no possessions”?
SinnedBackwards
Golden Earring’s “Radar Love” referencing Brenda Lee’s “Coming on Strong”
nwerner
Highway Patrolman by Bruce Springsteen references “Night of the Johnstown Flood” which is a song of uncertain origins
Don Henley’s Boys of Summer tangentially references with ‘Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac”
-which The Ataris reprised with ‘Black Flag sticker on a Cadillac”
RSA
“The walrus was Paul” would be a contender, I think.
dubo
It’s also interesting how rock/pop artists/performers seem to “own” songs a lot more than they used to… it seems like every Elvis song was someone else’s song that he was doing a cover of, not to mention every band on the planet doing their own cover of “Louie Louie.”
I wonder what (besides the relentless march of capitalism) caused the trend towards singer-songwriters (or at least, singers locking down songs someone else wrote for them) as opposed to the songs and performers being largely independant?
boatboy_srq
Scissor Sisters’ “I Don’t Feel Like Dancin'” – references Kool ‘n’ The Gang’s “Joanna”
… so it still goes on, and still goes on in pop music.
raven
The Bucketheads_ The Bomb sampled Street Player by Chicago (co-written by my high school friend, Dave Wolinski!)
cleek
Elliott Smith’s “Waltz #2” ref’s 2:
and “American Pie” is full of them, obvs.
Eddie Money, “Take Me Home Tonight” has that shout-out to “Ronnie” (who then sings what she’s shouted-out about). it’s very meta. you might not understand.
James Gary
I’ve always loved the little bit of the Beach Boys’ “Caroline, No” that is embedded in Neil Young’s “Long May You Run.”
Villago Delenda Est
@Brian R.:
My thought exactly.
FVB
I want “Caravan” with a drum solo – FZ 1967
Villago Delenda Est
Does “Roll over Beethoven” count? Then hat tip to Chuck Berry…
Steve Finlay
@Cassidy: The Pogues (among others) sang it, but Eric Bogle wrote it.
john b
obligatory Built to Spill “You Were Right”. The whole song is referencing other classic song lyrics.
Randy P
I guess a song referencing itself doesn’t count. I can think of a few of those. You’re So Vain (Carly Simon), Silly Love Songs (Paul McCartney), Your Song (Elton John).
And slightly less creaky, the generic boy band song Title of This Song (Da Vinci’s Notebook)
another lurker
Between Hank Williams’ pain songs and Newberry’s train songs and Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain, Out in Luckenbach, Texas ain’t nobody feelin’ no pain.
Villago Delenda Est
@cleek:
She shows up in the video singing the “Be my little baby” part….
PeorgieTirebiter
me and my mate were back at the shack we had Spike Jones on the box
she said, I cain’t take the way he sings but I love to hear him talk…
The Dangerman
First American Pie reference wins the thread; the whole song is references (and some of them are kinda brilliant, though I’ve never gotten the refrain about “the levy” other than it rhymes with “Chevy” which appears less than inspired).
ETA: Given my background, I’ll toss out Def Leppard’s “Rocket Man”, which is a long series of references, too.
srv
Better than you, John.
cleek
and if we can count a reference to a whole album, Elliott Smith also has two in “Baby Britain”:
Tommy
I like to think I am a pretty “smart” music guy and I can’t think of a single song that references another song. I am sure there are some that do, I just don’t know what they are.
Roger That
Who’s Perry Como? Tomorrow, Tomorrow!
and I’d like to think that Johnny played the Grateful Dead version of “Fire on the Mountain” (complete with space > drums > space) instead of a hillbilly medley with House of the Rising Sun.
cleek
@The Dangerman:
i win!
daveNYC
OK Go’s ‘A Good Idea At the Time’.
John (not McCain)
I like the last two lines of DBT’s 3 Dimes Down:
Come back baby
Rock and roll never forgets.
James Gary
@Villago Delenda Est: Does “Roll over Beethoven” count? Then hat tip to Chuck Berry…
…and Ludwig Van himself–if one wants to also include the 1973 E.L.O. version that starts off with the famous first notes of the Fifth Symphony.
ranchandsyrup
A praise chorus by Jimmy Eats World checks Crimson and Clover, Don’t let’s Start by They Might Be Giants and others.
PeorgieTirebiter
@Villago Delenda Est: I read a great anecdote somewhere about Eddie having to borrow money to pay for a limo to pick her up at the airport for the session. He thought it would be disrespectful to expect her to ride in his car.
NotMax
Hinder – “Put That Record On“
barry
Rounding third and headin’ for home, a brown eyed handsome man — Fogerty referencing Chuck
The summer’s here and time is rght for racing in the street — springsteen referencing Martha and the Vandellas
Who wears short shorts — Flying Purple Eater by Sheb Wooley referencing the Royal Teens
don’t step on my blue suede shoes — Cat Mother and the All Night Newsboys (produced by Jimi Hendrix) referencing Carl Perkins
Not a song reference, but “Sultans of Swing” was the name of Alan Freed’s band
dubo
@cleek:
Yo cleek, I love you and I’ma let you finish, but…
@dubo:
; D
Brian R.
@another lurker:
Yeah, country might do it as much as hiphop. “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?” is a classic example.
Jim Parish
Johnny Rivers, Summer Rain: “And the jukebox kept on playin’ / Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”
john b
and the lyrics to Built to Spill “You Were Right” for those unfamiliar:
cleek
Hank Jr’s “All My Rowdy Friends” (which Elliott Smith also covered :) ) refs a bunch of his father’s songs.
cleek
@dubo:
rats!
i even searched for it before posting my thing.
raven
Bob Wills is Still the King,
raven
Big hockey game comin right atcha!
CaptainBringdown
“Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes” by George Jones references probably a dozen (or more) others songs and artists.
Yet another lurker
The Replacements’ “I Will Dare” was a response to U2’s “I Will Follow”
Redshift
Zevon’s “Country Living” references “Sweet Home Alabama” (in an awesome way, of course.)
Randy P
@James Gary: If we want to talk instrumental references and get out of popular music, there’s plenty. In Carnival of the Animals, the “Fossils” piece is full of quotes from songs Saint Saens felt were old and tired. And there’s a long tradition of quoting other music in classical music.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer played a big section of Bartok’s Allegro Barbaro in one song.
Jim Parish
And, of course, the Righteous Brothers’ “Rock and Roll Heaven” references a number of songs: “Mack the Knife”, “Bad Bad Leroy Brown”, “Piece of My Heart”, “Dock of the Bay”, “Foxey Lady”, and “Light My Fire”.
Ripley (Whiskey Fire version)
Listen To the Flower People by Spinal Tap. “Listen, it’s like a Mozart symphony…”
Tokyokie
After Fleetwood Mac put out Rumours, the cheeky sods in Grahama Parker’s backup band, The Rumour, put out an album entitled Max.
Liliane
Gaslight Anthem, “High Lonesome” (Round Here by Counting Crows)
Regina Spektor, “On the Radio” (November Rain)
Cassidy
@Steve Finlay: Okay.
John M
Bob Dylan in Sarah “staying up all night in the Chelsea Hotel writing Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands for You”
raven
GOAALLLL!!!!
low-tech cyclist
Beatles, “Yer Blues”: I feel so suicidal, just like Dylan’s Mr. Jones
And while Wikipedia says Counting Crows’ “Mr. Jones” doesn’t refer to the Dylan character, I’m not buying it.
john b
Destroyer references other songs in his songs all the time. Some albums are chock full of references to both classic songs and his own earlier songs and characters from earlier songs.
HL_guy
Well, if referencing other singers/groups counts, “Air Crash Museum” by the Dead Milkmen has got a bunch…
…We’re gonna stuff ’em
Put ’em on display
‘Tween Patsy Cline
Buddy Holly
We’ll have our own
Air crash museum
People lined for miles
Just to see ’em
Jim Croce’s in the corner
The Big Bopper’s by the stairs
Ricky Nelson’s in the kitchen
But nobody cares
Tom Traubert
Now me and my mate were back at the shack, we had Spike Jones on the box
She said, “I can’t take the way he sings, but I love to hear him talk”
cleek
@barry:
in a similar vein, something i just learned this week…
in the Pretender’s “Precious”, just before she lets out the famous “fuck off!” she spits out a line that i never understood. but i looked it up, and she says:
Now Howard The Duck and Mr Stress both stayed
Trapped in a world that they never made
But not me baby, I’m too precious
I had to fuck off
Mr Stress was the leader of a local blues band in Cleveland in the 70s. and “Howard The Duck” was a ref to the comic (not the movie which hadn’t been made yet).
low-tech cyclist
Tom Petty, “Runnin’ Down A Dream”: me and Del were singin’ little Runaway,I was flyin’
And on a similar note, Golden Earring’s “Radar Love”:
The radio’s playing some forgotten song
Brenda Lee’s “Coming On Strong”
Napoleon
@Brian:
Yeah, but Let it Be was recorded right at the beginning of 69 and held in the can (though it may not have been named that until later). The Stones and Beatles were well aware of what each other were up to since they were friends. That said, I think the evidence leans in the direction that the Stones were not playing off the Beatles album.
reality-based
@Cassidy:
far and away the best version of this song is liam clancy’s – makes me cry every time –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFCekeoSTwg
worn
Amazing Grace (Used To Be Her Favorite Song) by The Amazing Rhythm Aces
john b
Yo La Tengo, “Let’s Save Tony Orlando’s House”
worn
Play ‘Together Again’ Again by Buck Owens
Mark
I can think of several other songs that reference other songs, but I’m surprised no one else mentioned that “Help Me” itself:
references another song, “Buffalo Gals.”
Villago Delenda Est
@cleek:
Howard the Duck the comic was awesome.
Howard the Duck the movie (despite having Lea Thompson in it) not so much.
charles pierce
“I’m gazing out the window/of the St. James Hotel/And I know no one can sing the blues/Like Blind Willie McTell.”
Best song he ever did.
catclub
@dubo: “I wonder what (besides the relentless march of capitalism) caused the trend towards singer-songwriters (or at least, singers locking down songs someone else wrote for them) as opposed to the songs and performers being largely independant? ”
Dean Baker doesn’t. He knows the answer. Longer copyright terms.
Fuzzy
@another lurker: You win. Most of this crew has no time for a drawl.
SatanicPanic
Dead Presidents by Jay Z. And Takeover, where he responds to Nas calling him out for using Nas’ line as the chorus in that song.
Or 300 Bars and Runnin’ by Game, which mashes together like 20 different songs.
Hip hop is more based on collaboration and rivalry, so there’s more referencing both positive and negative. Diss tracks could be considered references.
cleek
and one of my favorites… Robyn Hitchcock’s “Listening To The Higsons” which has this bit:
The Higsons’ song was actually called “Got to let this heat out” but it really does sound like they’re singing “Gotta let this hen out” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrMPa5Ms2zA). and Robyn wrote a whole song about it. and then put out an album with the name.
he also has, in “Freeze”:
Rathskeller
The very last line of T. Rex’s “Get it on (Bang a gong)” is “meanwhile, I’m still thinking…” which explicitly referenced the same line in Chuck Berry’s “Little Queenie”
Fort Geek
The only ones I can think of are by Rush:
“By-Tor and the Snow Dog”; the evil By-Tor is defeated, but becomes a good guy who defeats the Necromancer in “The Necromancer.”
Then there’s “Cygnus X-1”, partly narrated by an unnamed character who rides his ship into a black hole…and appears during a battle between Apollo and Dionysus in “Hemispheres.” He calms everyone down, so they name him Cygnus, the God of Balance.
ASV
@dedc79: “Girls Like Status” is the one that comes to mind for me. Specifically references and quotes Mountain Goats and D4 songs. “Stay Positive” also explicitly references a bunch of other Hold Steady songs, but I don’t know if that really counts.
NA
“Sweet Jane” by Velvet Underground
NotMax
@Randy P.
The (Peter Schickele) P.D.Q. Bach Quodlibet for Small Orchestra is nothing but a string of references.
cleek
sdfsdfsdfadr!
David in NY
@Seonachan: “mimics Dylan’s singing voice”
Paul Simon parodying Dylan in “A Simple Desultory Philippic” and referencing Dylan’s “I’m All Right Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)” and “Rainy Day Women …”.
James Gary
@NotMax: The (Peter Schickele) P.D.Q. Bach Quodlibet for Small Orchestra is nothing but a string of references.
I think it would be fair to say that PDQ Bach’s entire catalog is “nothing but a string of references,” with some slapstick bits thrown in here and there.
(…and FYI, I am a huge fan of PDQ Bach.)
A Ghost To Most
Drive-By Truckers Southern Rock Opera is an entire double album referencing Lynyrd Skynyrd
bg
@Fuzzy:
Garth Brooks, Good Ride Cowboy – Chris LeDoux’s Life is a Highway
David in NY
God, I hope Cole makes millions on that Newsmax link, ’cause just looking at offerings like “Dick Morris, Allen West Live on NewsmaxTV” makes my stomach roil …
PeorgieTirebiter
@Tom Traubert: Hey! I already hit that, but if you like The Band, you must dig Randy Newman:
Didn’t used to be this ugly music playing all the time
Where are we, on the moon?
Whatever happened to the old songs, Mikey?
Like the Duke of Earl
Mikey, whatever happened to the f@&king Duke of Earl?
Steeplejack
From the old school: “I Dig Rock and Roll Music,” Peter, Paul and Mary; “Monterey,” the Animals.
Also “FM,” Steely Dan, and “Jackie Wilson Said,” Van Morrison.
Immanentize
@low-tech cyclist:
I have that Brenda Lee single at home somewhere….
David in NY
@cleek: You child has grabbed the keyboard.
Steeplejack
Rick Nelson, “Garden Party,” referencing his old “Ricky” Nelson stuff.
Napoleon
Does The Beatles All You Need is Love count, since in it they sing a bit of She Loves You.
NotMax
@James Gary
Actually, I must amend. The Quodlibet is credited on the original album to Peter Schickele, and he makes no bones about it not being attributed P.D.Q. Bach, but does say beforehand that as one becomes immersed in the music of another, “certain things tend to rub off.”
Not particularly referential, really, are pieces such as the Sinfonia Concertante. The pairing of lute and bagpipes never fails to elicit giggles.
Robin Oz
I love the John Prine song “Lake Marie”, especially the references to “Louie Louie”. Aww baby… we gotta go now.
gogol's wife
Fascinating thread.
You know I have to do one in honor of Shirley Temple. The verse to “But definitely” in Poor Little Rich Girl:
This is station L-O-V-E,
I’m Cupid’s assistant, please listen to me.
My boss Mr. Cupid told me,
To make hearts loop the loop,
Never, ever to sing about
The Good Ship Lollipop,
Or animal crackers in my soup.
Bobby Thomson
Me and Del were singin’ Little Runaway.
I realize teh cool kids don’t listen to that or to Hootie and the Blowfish, but Only Wanna Be With You has three separate shoutouts to Zimmie.
Bobby Thomson
Some people call me the Space Cowboy.
Bobby Thomson
@RSA: Glass Onion is basically a series of self-referential lyrics.
Karen in GA
Songs That She Sang in the Shower, Jason Isbell. The song actually starts out funny, in a dark, miserable kind of way. The choruses:
And the songs that she sang in the shower are stuck in my head
Like ‘Bring Out Your Dead,’ ‘Breakfast In Bed’
And experience robs me of hope that she’ll make it back home
So I’m stuck on my own
I’m stuck on my own
And the songs that she sang in the shower all ring in my ears
Like ‘Wish You Were Here,” How I wish you were here
And experience robs me of hope that you’ll ever return,
So I breathe and I burn
I breathe and I burn
And the songs that she sang in the shower are stuck in my mind
Like ‘Yesterday’s Wine,’ Like ‘Yesterday’s Wine’
And experience tells me that I’ll never hear them again
Without thinking of then, without thinking of then
Southeastern. Great album.
cleek
@Bobby Thomson:
Hootie?
Saw you last night you were sleepin’ in my mind
Doubtin’ you’ll ever be free again
Then I climbed back inside, someone open my eyes
To find me drunk again, Bonnie on the radio
And she was singing low “Give it up or let me go”
Karen in GA
@Bobby Thomson:
He sued them for it, as I recall.
canuckistani
Garbage’s song “Push It” references the Beach Boys “Don’t Worry Baby”
Wag
Semisonic’ song “Singing in my Sleep” is about a mix tape made for a lover and references dire straites Romeo and Juliet , The Loon Sleeps Tonight, and many others.
Glocksman
Glenn Miller’s Jukebox Saturday Night
James Gary
@NotMax: Not particularly referential, really, are pieces such as the Sinfonia Concertante…
You are correct. Please amend my earlier comment to read “I think it would be fair to say that PDQ Bach’s entire catalog contains a LOT of pieces that are “nothing but a string of references.” :P
Curt
What, no mention of Life Is A Rock But The Radio Rolled Me? Almost every single word in the song is a name check.
Mike E
Paranoia, big destroyer!
Kinks song, which uses Lola as a character and rips off All Day and All Of the Night riffs.
NotaBene
Steely Dan, from “Everything You Did”: “Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening.”
To which the Eagles replied, in some obscure track: “They stab it with their steely knives, but they still can’t kill the beast.”
Glocksman
Warren Zevon’s Play It All Night Long
john f
Led Zeppelin Rock and Roll – mentions the Walking in the Moonlight, the Stroll and Book of Love
The Crunge- references James Brown Sex Machine and Otis Redding Mr Pitiful
Citizen_X
@A Ghost To Most:
And almost as often, Neil Young.
A couple of oblique references:
And I was pretending that I was in/a Galaxie 500 video
–Liz Phair, Stratford-On-Guy
You will never hear/surf music again
–Jimi Hendrix, Third Stone from the Sun, needling the Beach Boys? Dick Dale?
pacem appellant
While Frank Sinatra sings ‘Stormy Weather’ the flies and spiders get along together – Cake, in the song Frank Sinatra.
I also think of song Busby Berkeley Dreams by The Magnetic Fields, which doesn’t quite reference a song, but an impressive choreographer.
And of course, just about anything by the Flight of the Conchords, though “Bowie’s in Space” is my favorite and is a wonderful tribute to David Bowie’s entire corpus.
bluefoot
No one has mentioned on of my favorites: in the background of part of Yes’ I’ve Seen All Good People, there’s the line “All we are saying, is give peace a chance” being sung over and over.
DougJ
Give me back my hammer
Give me back my nail
Give me back my jeans and my JJ cale
Irony Abounds
Five for Fighting’s “Slice” references American Pie – does that get me double credit?
Larry N
‘I drunk myself blind to the sound of old T-Rexx, and Who’s Next’ (Pete Townshend, You Better You Bet)
Gus
The Who’s “You Better You Bet”
I got your body right now on my mind but I drunk myself blind to the sound of old T Rex. To the sound of old TRex and who’s next.
Bubblegum Tate
James Brown was the king of this sort of thing. BT Express had a hit with “Express,” James comes with “(It’s not the Express) It’s the J.B.’s Monaurail.” The Average White Band makes a splash on the scene, James forms a group called the A.A.B.B. (Above Average Black Band). And of course, a lot of his lyrics were basically just stage patter referencing other stuff–songs, dance crazes, whatever.
As for its prevalence in hip-hop…that’s just the sampling mentality coming into play, plus the fact that hip-hop is more lyrical than other forms of music and relies on references and allusions more.
Matt in HB
Does U2’s Angel of Harlem referencing John Coltrane and A Love Supreme count? A shout out to a collection of songs, not just one.
Low Country Boil
Although it’s an album rather than a song, Chris Mars’ “Listen to the Darkside” and Guster’s “Come Downstairs and Say Hello” both mention Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
Citizen_X
American Music Club, Johnny Mathis’ Feet, where they also reference, um, my life:
“Johnny looked at my old collection of/punk rock posters/Anonymous scenes of disaffection/chaos and torture”
jayboat
Always loved Hootie’s references to Zimmie in that song.
Blood On The Tracks is very special to me.
Great thread- I can hear all these great tunes in my head as I read through it.
Props to Barry- I thought I was the only person left who even remembered Cat Mother.
M.C. Simon Milligan
@HL_guy: There’s also the mis-attributed call-out in DM’s “Punk Rock Girl”
Tom the First
@Larry N:
Yep… was gonna say this one. An ode to the misanthropic, drunken music lover.
Paul in KY
The REM song that name drops Leo Nard Bern Stein in it
Splitting Image
“A singer on the radio, late last night
Said ‘You’ve got to kick at the darkness ’till it bleeds daylight'”
– U2, “God, Part II” (referencing Bruce Cockburn’s “Lovers in a Dangerous Time”)
“You point the way to the truth when you say ‘All you need is love'”
– George Harrison, “All Those Years Ago” (referencing the Beatles “All You Need is Love”)
Peter Schilling’s “Major Tom (Coming Home)” is an extended reference to David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”.
Paul in KY
@dubo: They figured out how much the songwriter was paid & how those payments can go on & on & be passed down to descendents.
Shana
@cleek: We named our daughter Elaine partly because of “Freeze” and yes, she does have a strong sense of justice. In fact she’s in law school now.
How about Billy Bragg’s “Levi Stubbs’ Tears”?
John Cole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_72-7TFHEnU
E R Upton
@dubo: What started the trend of singer-songwriters was the Beatles. They wrote their own songs, and everyone made a big thing about it from the beginning (as well they should have!). It is impossible to underestimate the influence of the Beatles on popular music.
Low Country Boil
Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life” mentions several songs — “Be Bop a Lula” by Gene Vincent, “Mack the Knife” (by a variety of artists), “Baby What’d I Say” and “I Got a Woman” by Ray Charles, “Sweet Lovin’ Woman” by Dobie Gray, and maybe a couple of others.
catbirdman
“Crackle & Drag” by Paul Westerberg is about Sylvia Plath offing herself. The song’s title quotes from the ultimate line of Plath’s last poem, Edge. Both song and poem are hauntingly beautiful.
Tom the First
My absolute favorite is from Savoy Truffle, mainly because it name checks a song from the same album…
“But what is sweet now turns so sour
We all know Ob-la-di-bla-da…”
Always thought the “sweet now turns so sour” line was an allusion to the other Beatles coming to hate the song after Paul insisted on doing take after take after take of it.
C.S.
It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels is actually more famous than the song it’s responding to.
Paul in KY
There’s also one called ‘Riot Grrl’ (can’t remember which band) where one of the lines is: ‘She loves Social Distortion’.
Tom Traubert
@PeorgieTirebiter:
So you did… so you did…
Tom Traubert
@PeorgieTirebiter:
So you did… so you did…
ALEXXX
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VVj1zqbWpU&feature=kp
Out on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins
Nature kids, I/they don’t have no function
I don’t understand what they mean
And I could really give a fuck
The Stone Temple Pilots,
They’re elegant bachelors
They’re foxy to me
Are they foxy to you?
I will agree
There isn’t absolutely nothing
Nothing more than me
Dreamin’ dream dream dream
cleek
@john b:
more YLT
“Big Day Coming”:
and “Drug Test”
“We’re An American Band”:
(they covered FG’s ‘You Tore Me Down’)
“Paul Is Dead”
there are probably many more
Steeplejack
@John Cole:
Glad you posted that! But I would have gone with this version: unexpected (and unexpectedly good) guitar solo by Waylon at 1:50. Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson are like “Damn, Waylon!”
cleek
@Shana:
that is awesome ! :)
C.S.
Would Woody Guthrie’s Jesus Christ count, since it’s basically a rewriting of the folk tune Jesse James?
roc
Hip-hop prizes authenticity and cultural roots.
Shout-outs — the right ones at the right times — are a short-hand/secret-handshake to demonstrate both things at the same time.
Rock music doesn’t have the same emphasis on lineage or additive culture.
Just look at how many and varied are the sub-genres of rock-n-roll.
Hip-hop covers a range of different styles — but nothing that compares to the gulf between Pop, Blues, Prog, Metal, et al.
Tom Traubert
My Woman From Tokyo — “Frank Zappa and the Mothers…”
Tom the First
You can also take your pick of any number of Destroyer songs.
Tom the First
You can also take your pick of any number of Destroyer songs.
C.S.
Two references for “Jole Blon” that come to me off the top of my head. James McMurtry’s Song for a Deckhand’s Daughter (“He’d always whistle Jolie Blon/On his way out the back door on a Friday night”) and Guy Clark’s South Coast of Texas (“They’re bound for the Mexican Bay of Campeche/And the deckhands are singing “adios Jole Blon””).
Graham
Another Randy Newman, Christmas in Capetown, references ABBA’s Dancin’ Queen
badpoetry
Better than Ezra, “A Lifetime”:
And that REM song was playing in my mind
In three and a half minutes
Felt like a lifetime
(REM song in question is rumored to be Perfect Circle from Murmur)
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
150 comments and no mention of the rarely heard second verse in Money for Nothing? There seems to be some argument over just who it’s referencing (my vote has always been for Boy George).
And to go obscure: Minutemen- Tour Spiel
TheMightyTrowel
The wombats song Joy Division is a perennial earworm of mine. Can you guess whose songs are name checked?
Heliopause
I assume somebody has mentioned Glass Onion upthread.
Stuck in Brownbackistan
Let’s see…
Arthur Conley’s “Sweet Soul Music” references and namechecks several songs and artists.
The Kinks’ “Destroyer” uses the riff from their “All Day and All of the Night” and lyrics that call out “Lola”.
Springsteen’s “Johnny Bye Bye” reworks “Johnny B. Goode” into a song about Elvis’ death.
A couple of clever ones from Will Smith’s heyday – “Men In Black” steals a lot from Patrice Rushen’s “Forget Me Nots” and “Getting Jiggy With It” does the same with Sister Sledge’s “He’s the Greatest Dancer”.
cleek
Pavement, “The Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence” is all about REM.
specialed5000
Eddie Money- Take Me Home Tonight ‘just like Ronnie sang’ and then Ronnie Spector chimes in ‘be my little baby’
Trollhattan
Couple from Richard Thompson:
“Don’t Sit on My Jimmy Shands”
“Al Bowley’s in Heaven”
Anybody remember “Rock On” by one-hit-wonder David Essex?
Hey, shout, summertime blues
Jump up and down in my blue suede shoes
Hey, kid, rock ‘n’ roll, rock on
And where do we go from here?
Which is a way that’s clear?
Still looking for that blue jean baby queen
Prettiest girl I’ve ever seen
See her shake on the movie screen, Jimmy Dean
(James Dean)
Calouste
Barclay James Harvest wrote a song that solely consisted of Beatles’ song titles/lyrics:
Trollhattan
@specialed5000:
Good one.
Trollhattan
Gilliwn Welsh’s “Elvis Presley Blues” has quite a few subtle song references. A sampling:
I was thinking that night about Elvis
Day that he died, day that he died
I was thinking that night about Elvis
Day that he died, day that he died
Just a country boy that combed his hair
Put on a shirt his mother made and he went on the air
And he shook it like a chorus girl
He shook it like a Harlem queen
He shook it like a midnight rambler, baby
Like he never seen
low-tech cyclist
@Tom the First: Damn, I was gonna do “Savoy Truffle,” but had to go to a meeting, and you snuck in there while I was gone!
low-tech cyclist
@specialed5000: cleek beat ya to it, way up near the beginning.
Karen in GA
@cleek: Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ has a song called, simply, “REM.”
Suzanne
Bob Dylan sings in “Sarah”, “I wrote ‘Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’ for you”.
Social D’s “White Light White Heat White Trash”.
James Gary
…also, Stephen Malkmus’ “Jenny and the Ess-Dog:” “Kiss when they listen/to “Brothers In Arms and if there’s something wrong with this/they don’t see the harm…”
Graham
Tom Waits’ Tom Thumbs Blues mentions Waltzing Matilda.
Steeplejack
Just came to me: Johnny Rivers, “Summer Rain.”
“And the jukebox kept on playin’ ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.'”
Graham
Randall Bramblett’s song Red Booth mentions the song Don’t Make Me Over..he hears it and breaks down and cries, it got to him…..
bg
Alanna Myles, Black Velvet
The whole song is a tribute to Elvis, but especially :
Up in Memphis the music’s like a heatwave
White lightning, bound to drive you wild
Mama’s baby’s in the heart of every school girl
“Love me tender” leaves ’em cryin’ in the aisle
The way he moved, it was a sin, so sweet and true
Always wanting more, he’d leave you longing for
Black velvet and that little boy’s smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that’ll bring ya to your knees
Black velvet if you please
gar
The Song “Ride Captain Ride” by Blues Image…….
Seventy-three men sailed up from the San Francisco Bay
Rolled off of their ship, and here’s what they had to say
“We’re callin’ everyone to ride along to another shore
We can laugh our lives away and be free once more”
But no one heard them callin’, no one came at all
‘Cause they were too busy watchin’ those old raindrops fall
As a storm was blowin’ out on the peaceful sea
Seventy-three men sailed off to history
Raindrops is from “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head” by B.J. Thomas…..
Steeplejack
Just thought of a couple
ofsongs that reference themselves. Whoa, trippy.Archie Bell and the Drells, “Tighten Up.”
King Curtis, “Memphis Soul Stew.”
Tom the First
@Steeplejack: Love this song.
Tom the First
@low-tech cyclist: Doh!
narya
the Jazz Butchers reference Love & Rockets in “the Devil is My Friend”
Xjmueller
“Turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening.” – Steely Dan, Tell me everything.
FlipYrWhig
I hate myself for knowing this, but there was a recent Kid Rock single whose premise, and chorus, were about listening to “Sweet Home Alabama” in the summer of 1989. Not just a reference to the song, a reference to listening to the song, and because it was already an old song, it’s almost nostalgia for nostalgia: nostalgia used to be better than it is now, I guess.
Xjmueller
Beatles – Back in the USSR: ripped title from Chuck Berry, references Ray Charles’ Georgia, and parodies the Beach Boys California Girls.
Omnes Omnibus
A bunch of Van Morrison songs reference old blues and r&b songs/singers. For example, Jackie Wilson Said.
Xj
@Xjmueller: sorry, missed it upthread
Omnes Omnibus
Also, Wrong ‘Em Boyo, made famous by The Clash, uses Stagger Lee.
phein39
James McMurtry, Levelland:
. . . and I can hear the marching band,
doing the best they can to play,
“Smoke on the Water,” “Joy to the World” . . .
Omnes Omnibus
@phein39: Smoke on the Water name checks Zappa.
Origuy
Steve Goodman’s “Ballad of Penny Evans” refers to Penny and her husband playing “Heart and Soul”.
Warning, don’t click that link if you’re where someone can see you crying. It’s really sad.
phein39
in memory of Bob Casale,
“Come Back, Jonee” – a reworking of Johnny B. Goode:
Hey, come back Jonee
Gotta come back now, Jonne
Hey, come back, Jonee
Jonee be good
She’ll love you, sure
You made her cry
Jonee, you’re bad
You’re gonna make her sad
Jonee went to the pawnshop
Bought himself a guitar
Now he’s gonna go far
You gotta love ’em and leave ’em
Sometimes deceive ’em
You made her cry
Jonee, you’re bad
You’re gonna make her sad
After the teardrops
Jonee jumped in his Datsun
Drove out on the expressway
Went head-on into a semi
His guitar is all that’s left now
He made her cry
And she calls his name
Jonee, you’re to blame
Come back Jonee
Hey, come back Jonee
You’ve gotta come back now, Jonee, Jonee, Jonee
Hey, come back Jonee
cminus
A few that I don’t think have been mentioned:
“Volcano Girls” by Veruca Salt references “Seether”, also by Veruca Salt. I told you about the Seether before / You know the one that’s neither or nor / Well here’s another clue if you please, / the Seether’s Louise.
“Raised on the Radio” by the Ravyns references songs by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Michelle, Lady Jane, yeah I fell in love with girls I never met.
“The King of Bedside Manor” by Barenaked Ladies ends with the singer shouting “Styx!” and quoting extensively from “Mr. Roboto”.
mwbugg
I’ll Fix Your Flat Tire, Merle – Pure Prairie League
Augie
@badpoetry: I had always guessed that the REM song was “Everybody Hurts”. But it was only that, a guess, based on the somber nature of the song.
Robin Oz
@Trollhattan: You reminded me that “My First Lover” from the same Gillian Welch album has lines about listening to “Quicksilver Girl” by Steve Miller Band…
Viperbuck
Elvis Costello opens “Suit of Lights” with the line:
“While Nat King Cole sings ‘Welcome To My World’, you request some song you hate, you sentimental fool”.
Ben Vaughn wrote a wonderful song I first heard covered by Marshall Crenshaw:
“I’m Sorry, but So Is Brenda Lee”
Harry Nilsson’s cover (rearrangement) of “You Can’t Do That” references a couple dozen Beatle tunes.
badpoetry
@Augie: Thematically, “Everybody Hurts” is a good fit; but its duration is 5:20. The nice thing about “Perfect Circle” is that it is exactly 3:30.
Here’s someone that really gave the question some thought; he makes a strong case.
http://www.simpleprop.com/anderswa/012306lifetime.html
Wallis Lane
@Omnes Omnibus:
Good one: “I’m going to have to leave my kni-i-i-fe in your back.”
I’d add Arthur Lee & Love, “Laughing Stock,” where they reference their first hit “Little Red Book” while imitating that song’s opening notes:
“I keep on singin’ my songs, I just got out my little red / I keep on doin’ all the / Things I shouldn’t have to do”
Also “Mashed Potato Time” by Dee Dee Sharp references “Please Mr. Postman” and “the Lion Sleeps Tonight” as cool songs to dance to:
“They got a dance was outta sight, doin’ the lion sleeps tonight”
And they discovered it’s the most, man, The day they did it to Please Mr. Postman”
Gordon
@Low Country Boil: I’ve always thought “Walk of Life” was completely a response and tribute to to old rock and roll, especially “Johnny B. Goode”
Infamous Heel-Filcher
It’s a band reference, not a song, but I’m quite partial to the “deadhead sticker on a Cadillac” line in Boys Of Summer. Bonus points to the Ataris for updating to a Black Flag sticker.
ZenHousecat
How about X, True Love, part 2, last verse:
True love is the land of a thousand dances
Be-bop-a-lu-la
D-i-v-o-r-c-e
Skip to my lou
A-hunk-a-hunk-a burning love
I’ve been working on the rail road
Black Betty, black Betty, had a baby
Freddy’s dead, that’s what I said
Spike
@Karen in GA:
You have just demonstrated a remarkable talent for understatement.
Augie
@badpoetry: @Augie: Thnks for the link. Interesting stuff and well researched though I am not 100% convinced (we are all slaves to our original interpretations). However, I would find the BTE explanation cited that it just refers to a “general REM” song to be horribly disappointing.
Joshua Buhs
From U2’s God part II:
Heard a singer on the radio late last night
He says he’s gonna kick the darkness
’til it bleeds daylight
I…I believe in love
Which references Bruce Cockburn’s Lovers in a Dangerous Time.
barbequebob
@Rathskeller:
The opening line of the Beatles “Come Together” is “here come old flathop, he was movin up slowly”, which is a direct quote from Chuck’s song “You Can’t Catch Me” ( i know it mostly because the Stones covered it in their early days).
I understand that Chuck successfully sued the Beatles for using his lyrics without permission.
Also, Rick Nelson song “Garden Party” mentions a number of song titles, and musicians, for examle
“I said hello to Mary Lou (RICK NELSON), she belongs to me (DYLAN)
When I sang a song about a honky-tonk (STONES COUNTRY HONK), it was time to leave
Someone opened up a closet door and out stepped Johnny B. Goode
Playing guitar like a ring an’ a bell and lookin’ like he should”
barbequebob
@Rathskeller:
The opening line of the Beatles “Come Together” is “here come old flathop, he was movin up slowly”, which is a direct quote from Chuck’s song “You Can’t Catch Me” ( i know it mostly because the Stones covered it in their early days).
I understand that Chuck successfully sued the Beatles for using his lyrics without permission.
Also, Rick Nelson song “Garden Party” mentions a number of song titles, and musicians, for examle
“I said hello to Mary Lou (RICK NELSON), she belongs to me (DYLAN)
When I sang a song about a honky-tonk (STONES COUNTRY HONK), it was time to leave
Someone opened up a closet door and out stepped Johnny B. Goode
Playing guitar like a ring an’ a bell and lookin’ like he should”
Danimaux
Also “The summer’s here and time is rght for fighting in the street” — The Stones referencing Martha and the Vandellas.
Danimaux
Also “The summer’s here and time is right for fighting in the street” — The Stones referencing Martha and the Vandellas.
eyelessgame
“Killing me softly with his song” is about Don McLean…
badpoetry
@Augie: I do agree that the official explanation (“general REM song”) is unsatisfying, but I kind of get why they won’t give a direct answer- it makes the song more interesting to have it open to the listener’s interpretation. For me, I like to imagine the song is “Fall on Me”, just because I have strong memories associated with that song… and as long as they don’t specifically say what song it really is, it’s easy for me to substitute in my own preference. (Also, it’s kind of fun to research and speculate, and as long as BTE doesn’t settle the question, we can still be amused with wondering).
But if it is “Perfect Circle”, that’s still ok with me- it’s a very melancholy and haunting song. (So is “Everybody Hurts”, come to think of it).
Tom the First
@Joshua Buhs: Plus, the structured as an answer to Lennon’s “God.”
Songgirl
Hi all, I’m new here. Since the thread started with a Joni reference, how about her song “Chinese Café”, where she starts singing Unchained Melody in the middle of the song?
Randrew
@HL_guy:
And someone played a Beach Boys song
On the jukebox
It was “California Dreamin'”
So we started screamin’
“On such a winter’s day”
Punk rock girl your dad is the Vice President
Rich as the Duke of Earl
And security guards trailed us
To a record shop
We asked for Mojo Nixon
They said “He don’t work here”
We said “If you don’t got Mojo Nixon
Then your store could use some fixin'”
bartkid
What, no love for Canadian punk band, SNFU, with “Joni Mitchell Tapes”?:
Just when he found what he liked
It was taken away
In his chevy he did perish
To ‘A Free Man in Paris’.
brantl
And Neil should have told Lynard Skynard to masssage his junk.
Epicurus
@The Dangerman: It’s referring to a “levee” or earthen dam, I believe. Levy is a whole nother thang…or a nice loaf of Jewish Rye.
Kevin from the North Shore
@cminus:
BNL’s Gordon is packed with musical quotes: “Happy Hour” by The Housemartins in “Hello City”, “Tom Sawyer” and “Spirit of the Radio” by Rush and “Linus and Lucy” by Vince Guaraldi in “Grade Nine”, the songs “Brian Wilson”, “New Kid on the Block” and “Be My Yoko Ono” themselves.
cminus
@Kevin from the North Shore: Oh, and also from “Grade Nine”: Dad said I have to be home by eleven / Aw man, I’m gonna miss “Stairway to Heaven”
Paul in KY
@brantl: In his recent autobiography, Neil said that he thought the criticism from Ronnie Van Zant was OK & that the song Southern Men could have been worded a bit differently…overly harsh I think was what he said.
Danimaux
@Paul in KY: @brantl: The Neil Young/Skynyrd thing was the original rap battle. Lost in the background is that they were all friends.
It started with Southern Man, and of course Skynyrd’s rejoinder in Sweet Home Alabama, but then Neil followed up with this in “Walk On” —
Danimaux
Dead Kennedy’s “My Payola” take-off on “My Sharona” …. “we’re not a punk rock band, we’re a New Wave band!”