Songs that Refer to Other Songs

phil_b

Fairytale of new york

The boys of the NYPD choir
Were singing Galway Bay

mudslide73

Predictably Oasis have a few - off the top of my head: Be Here Now mentions Let It Be, D'You Know What I Mean? mentions Blood on the Tracks and Fool on the Hill in the same couple of lines and Supersonic mentions Yellow Submarine.

Grumpyrocker

Iron Maiden's From Here to Eternity and 22 Acacia Avenue both refer to the titular character from the earlier song Charlotte the Harlot.

And Back in the Village is a sequel to The Prisoner. 

Fuengi

For me, the cleverest use of this is Okkervil River's Plus Ones. 

The song is based on numerical song references, adding a single digit to each. I've lost count of the number of songs, and probably missed a couple, or three! 

not_the_dj

Another Dylan reference....in Hootie and the Blowfish "Only Wanna be with You" they mention "Tangled Up in Blue...ain't Bobby so cool"

idiotwind

not_the_dj said:

Another Dylan reference....in Hootie and the Blowfish "Only Wanna be with You" they mention "Tangled Up in Blue...ain't Bobby so cool"

That song also includes a few lines lifted straight from Idiot Wind ("They say I shot a man named Gray" etc) and they got sued for it

CoffeeAndTV

“He’s got morning glory, but that’s a different story”

EricTheWeary

JerkMoans said:

Slight tangent from @EricTheWeary’s post in the one hit wonders thread, reminding us of the oeuvre of Smiley Culture.

I’ll start with Sweet Home Alabama, and its direct reference to Neil Young’s ‘Southern Man’.

Must be loads more out there?

Ha, yes. In Police Officer he mentions Cockney Translation which was then re released following the success of Police Officer and became a minor hit. So, if you only knew the songs from the Top 40 it didn't really make sense. 

I think I might win a point here for mentioning the earliest recorded version of a song quoting another song, for those of you who remember 1923...



...which refers to ( if you haven't had enough by now) ...

scrumhalf

Golden Earring's Radar Love refers to Brenda Lee's "Coming On Strong".

Neill

idiotwind said:

'American Pie' gets in 'Helter Skelter' and 'Eight Miles High', and alludes to 'Jumping Jack Flash'

And - "The Book of Love". 

not_the_dj

Tom Petty’s Running Down a Dream has the line “me and Del were singing...little runaway...”

Del Shannon of course, who Tom had backed and produced earlier in the 80s. 

Neill

Can I have points for obscurity...

Anyone remember the Leyton Buzzards song "Saturday Night beneath the Plastic Palm Trees" which refers to the Skatalites ska version of "Guns of Navarone".

Saturday night beneath the plastic palm trees
Dancing to the rhythm of The Guns of Navarone
Found my Mecca near Tottenham Hale Station
I discovered heaven in the Seven Sisters Road

viz

Dream Theater’s Octavarium has this:

Sailing on the seven seize the day tripper diem's ready
Jack the ripper Owens Wilson Phillips and my supper's ready
Lucy in the sky with diamond Dave's not here I come to save the
Day for nightmare cinema show me the way to get back home again

Flying off the handle be careful with
That axe Eugene gene the dance machine
Messiah light my fire gabba gabba
Hey hey my my generation's home again

viz

Hey I made blue text

HerrMetal

The Wildhearts - 29 x The Pain

thecolourbox

The opening track on Laura Marling's Album from last year, Alexandra, was supposedly an question about the subject of Leonard Cohen's song Alexandra's Leaving. Meant to ask where did Alexandra from that song go when she left

She has form actually, as the opening track on Semper Femina also referred to another song. The first line of "Soothing" is "Oh my hopeless wanderer", and Hopeless Wanderer was the name of a song by Mumford and Sons, and she had not too long before separated from Marcus Mumford so definitely a direct shout out

Grumpyrocker

Def Leppard's Rocket...

"Jack Flash, rocket man, Sergeant Pepper and the band
Ziggy, Benny and the Jets"

...

"Jet Black, Johnny be, Jean Genie, Killer Queen
Dizzy Lizzy, Major Tom"

Jonathangus

HerrMetal said:

The Wildhearts - 29 x The Pain

Was going to say the same, but strictly speaking, it mostly references bands/artists rather than songs.  Also tagging @mrkb ;

Snags

Kings of Leon - Molly's Chambers seems to be a not totally oblique reference to Whiskey In The Jar.

HerrMetal

Jonathangus said:

HerrMetal said:

The Wildhearts - 29 x The Pain

Was going to say the same, but strictly speaking, it mostly references bands/artists rather than songs.  Also tagging @mrkb ;

Yeah, I was giving a twist to it. London Calling and Sheer Heart Attack are of course not only songs but also albums.  So the only straight'ish forward one is the 'rebel without a clue' by the Replacements, and then used by Tom Petty.