Game: Song(s) Within A Song...

[WendyCR72]

The "Same Title..." game thread is still active and can/will probably go on forever, but here is something a little different, inspired by my listening to The Beatles channel on SiriusXM.

Can you (universal you!) name songs that reference other songs, be it by the same band or by different artists? I'll give a few examples to start the thread off:

The Beatles did this twice that I can think of off the top of my head. In "All You Need Is Love", at the very end, John Lennon sings the verse from their earlier hit, "She Loves You" (She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!).

And their song, "Glass Onion", makes reference to "Strawberry Fields Forever", "I Am The Walrus", and others!

And "Summer Rain" by Johnny Rivers (I know this one mainly because my parents played it a bunch!) had a line referencing - who else? - The Beatles with the line, "And the jukebox kept on playing Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

Any other songs/artists you can think of that have done the same? List them here! Have fun!  🙂

[Bastet]

Ooh, I dig this; there are probably a shit ton of them, requiring some real pondering and group effort to get a good list going.

What immediately springs to mind is "American Pie", which, being about the death of several musicians, references them and their songs.

Then Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire", which includes several musicians/songs in its recitation of American history.

David Allan Coe's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" also name checks a number of artists.

Getting more specific, I think first of one of my hate to love songs, "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, which calls out Neil Young for the lyrics of his "Southern Man".

I also think of a song I love, Eddie Money's "Take Me Home Tonight", which brings in Ronnie Spector to quote her own song ("Be My Baby").

And Joan Baez's "Michael" incorporates characters from a number of her earlier songs.

 

[WendyCR72]

Can't believe I forgot this one in the first post as my parents also loved this Beach Boys song, but the band, Garbage, had a hit in the '90s with "Push It", and one of the lines was sampled straight from the Beach Boys song, "Don't Worry, Baby", using the line, "Don't worry, baby, it'll be all right..."

And Def Leppard in their song, "Rocket", invoked a bit of "Love Bites", another hit of theirs, in the middle of the song during the instrumental/guitar portion as Joe Elliot sang the chorus, "Love Bites..."

[Annber03]

Fun game! I'll have to mull this one over a little more, but one that immediately comes to mind is Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream", which had a reference to Del Shannon's "Runaway" in its opening verse:

It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down
I had the radio on, I was drivin'
Trees went by, me and Del were singin' Little Runaway
I was flyin'

3 hours ago, WendyCR72 said:

And "Summer Rain" by Johnny Rivers (I know this one mainly because my parents played it a bunch!) had a line referencing - who else? - The Beatles with the line, "And the jukebox kept on playing Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

I love that song :). 

[BetterButter]

Hollaback Girl  - That's right, I'm the last one standing, and another one bites the dust

Goody Two Shoes - Pretending that you're Al Green, Al Green

Gone Til November (Pop Version) -  So I'm knocking on heaven's door like I'm Bob Dylan

[smittykins]

“Radar Love,” Golden Earring:

The radio’s playin’ some forgotten song

Brenda Lee’s ‘Comin’ On Strong’

[WendyCR72]

Another I thought of: the opening lyrics to Nirvana's "Territorial Pissings" are actually lyrics to The Youngbloods" song, "Get Together", albeit said sort of mockingly on the Nirvana track before the blistering guitars took over.

Come on people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another
Right now

What do I mean by "mocking"? Well...

Here is the original:

 

"Territorial Pissings" by Nirvana:

 

[WendyCR72]

On 6/15/2020 at 2:36 AM, Annber03 said:

Fun game! I'll have to mull this one over a little more, but one that immediately comes to mind is Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream", which had a reference to Del Shannon's "Runaway" in its opening verse

OT post: What's ironic about that is, as a Travelling Willbury, Tom Petty covered the song (with the other Willburys including Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, and Roy Orbison! All are now gone, minus Lynne, who did the lead vocals here! (ETA: Oops! Apparently, Bob Dylan was also a member! So Lynne and Dylan are the only living Willburys left!)

 

[Popples]

This might not fit in, because I'm not sure if it was a shout-out or a happy coincidence. I've always found it a bit interesting that "This Kiss" from the album Faith by Faith Hill contained the line "It's the way you love me", then on her next album, Breathe, there's a song called "The Way You Love Me".

[Annber03]

16 minutes ago, WendyCR72 said:

OT post: What's ironic about that is, as a Travelling Willbury, Tom Petty covered the song (with the other Willburys including Jeff Lynne, George Harrison, and Roy Orbison! All are now gone, minus Lynne, who did the lead vocals here!)

 

I've heard that, yeah! Very cool cover :). I read somewhere that Petty had worked with Shannon on some album of his in the early '80s or something, I think it was. Imagine that had to be quite the thrill for him. 

[BetterButter]

Wolfmother - Joker and the Thief

Traveling Wilburys - End of the Line - Maybe somewhere down the road when somebody plays Purple haze

[KWalkerInc]

In Candi Staton's "Victim," she refers to her biggest hit ("Young Hearts Run Free") when she sings, "I told you young hearts run free / But I didn't listen to myself."

Arthur Conley's "Sweet Soul Music" is a tribute to many soul greats of the '60s, mentioning Lou Rawls, Otis Redding and James Brown among others.  I remember the lines "Spotlight on Sam and Dave, y'all.  Singing 'Hold On, I'm Comin','" because as I mentioned in the misheard lyrics thread, I misheard the Sam and Dave part as "Sammy Day" the first time and wondered who he was.

A little while ago, Jennifer Hudson's "We Gon' Fight" came up on my iPod and she sang, "We go back like Philip Bailey."

I don't like "All Summer Long" by Kid Rock, but it applies here because he repeatedly says, "Singing 'Sweet Home Alabama' all summer long."

[BetterButter]

Eminem - Stan - You know the song by Phil Collins, "In the Air of the Night"

[WendyCR72]

Another one. And this is again due to SiriusXM.

Steve Miller had, of course, a song called "The Joker" with the lyric, "Some call me a space cowboy; some call me the gangster of love..."

Well, the Classic Vinyl radio station just played a song also by Steve Miller called..."Space Cowboy", which is a completely different song.  😛

[Bastet]

Veruca Salt call back to their earlier song "Seether" in "Volcano Girls":

I told you about the seether before
You know the one who's neither or nor
Well here's another clue if you please
The seether's Louise

[WendyCR72]

8 hours ago, Bastet said:

Veruca Salt call back to their earlier song "Seether" in "Volcano Girls":

I told you about the seether before
You know the one who's neither or nor
Well here's another clue if you please
The seether's Louise

How did I forget that one? (Gen X'er here!) "Seether" the song is also how the group Seether got its name (when they changed their name from Saron Gas!).

[BetterButter]

Bon Jovi - It’s My Life - For Tommy and Gina who never backed down

[Dandesun]

Bruce Springsteen's 'Thunder Road' references Roy Orbison and 'Only the Lonely' in the first stanza:

The screen door slams

Mary's dress waves

Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays

Roy Orbison's singing for the lonely

Hey that's me and I want you only...

And then several years later, he wrote 'The Promise' which references a few of his own songs but 'Thunder Road' is featured throughout. (He also references 'Darlington County' in the song.)

And then Eric Church has a whole song called 'Springsteen' which references 'I'm on Fire' and 'Born to Run' specifically.

U2's 'Angel of Harlem' references Charlie 'Bird' Parker, John Coltrane and his 'A Love Supreme' album, Miles Davis, and Billie Holliday.

[Popples]

Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time" mentions The Tokens' "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", The Marvelettes' "Please, Mr. Postman", and Chubby Checker's "The Twist" in the second, third, and fourth verses, respectively.

[Annber03]

4 hours ago, Dandesun said:

U2's 'Angel of Harlem' references Charlie 'Bird' Parker, John Coltrane and his 'A Love Supreme' album, Miles Davis, and Billie Holliday.

As a U2 fan I'm kicking myself for not thinking to include this one earlier. I love that song. 

[ebk57]

John Prine "Ain't Hurtin' Nobody"

Heard Little Richard singing "Tutti Frutti"

From the top of a telephone pole

 

 

[Bastet]

I've heard two in the last half hour!

Bon Jovi's "It's My Life", which references Frank Sinatra's "My Way"* ("Like Frankie said, I did it my way") and Hank Williams Jr.'s "All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down", which references his dad's recording of "Lost Highway" ("And I think I know what my father meant when he sang about a lost highway.")

*It also references their own "Livin' On a Prayer" ("It's for Tommy and Gina who never backed down"), but that was already noted upthread.

[Sandman87]

Fun topic!

Here's one without lyrics: Alice Cooper's "Unfinished Sweet" has a snippet of the Jame Bond theme right in the middle of it. I'm still not sure why he put that in a song about going to the dentist...

Tone Loc's "Funky Cold Medina" makes mention of his song "Wild Thing". Bad dog!

[Sandman87]

In the live version of Frank Zappa's "Tinseltown Rebellion" from Does Humor Belong in Music? there are multiple references to "Sunshine of Your Love", "Whip It", "Rock You Like A Hurricane", and "I'll Tumble For Ya."

Blue Oyster Cult's "The Marshall Plan" includes the first few bars of "Smoke on the Water."

Edited June 27, 2020 by Sandman87

[janie jones]

In "High Lonesome," the Gaslight Anthem reference the Counting Crows' "Round Here" with "Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hand / I always kinda sorta wished I looked like Elvis," and later Tom Petty's "Southern Accents" and Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire": "There was Southern Accents on the radio as I drove home / And at night I wake up with the sheets soaking wet / It's a pretty good song, baby you know the rest."  Who knows what else in that song, but those are the ones I've caught that come to mind.

They also reference Tom Petty in "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues": "I still love Tom Petty songs..." and I don't know if "But not me, pretty baby" is a reference to "But not me, baby" in "Yer So Bad."

Crowded House's "Weather with You" contains the line "Walkin' 'round the room singin' 'Stormy Weather'."

"Sleepwalker" by the Wallflowers references Sam Cooke's "Cupid": "Cupid, don't draw back your bow / Sam Cooke didn't know what I know."

[KWalkerInc]

Former American Idol contestant Elliott Yamin had a song on his Christmas album called "Christmas Without Carol" where he said, "How come the blue blue Christmas Elvis used to sing about / Never raised my suspicions / Now it's the only song I can think about"

[Popples]

Darlene Love's 1992 "All Alone on Christmas" references her 1963 Christmas song "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)".

Do you remember sleigh riding in the snow
And dancing all night to "Baby, Please Come Home"
Today's celebration is bittersweet
There's mothers and children in the street

[BetterButter]

Madd Head - Pimp'n Ain't Ez - Like Montell Jordan This is how we do it

[KWalkerInc]

In "Nightshift," the tribute by the Commodores to Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson, they mention both "What's Going On?" and "Higher and Higher."

[WendyCR72]

On 6/29/2020 at 11:30 AM, Popples said:

Darlene Love's 1992 "All Alone on Christmas" references her 1963 Christmas song "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)".

Do you remember sleigh riding in the snow
And dancing all night to "Baby, Please Come Home"
Today's celebration is bittersweet
There's mothers and children in the street

I like both songs and am annoyed I had forgotten this!  🙂

[Annber03]

Heard it on MTV Classic this morning-the chorus to Fat Joe's "What's Luv?" references Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do With It?".

[KWalkerInc]

In "Fu-Gee-La" by the Fugees, Lauryn Hill says, "Say say say / Like Paul McCartney, not hardly."

On another Fugee note, in Wyclef Jean's "We Trying to Stay Alive" (which is playing right now which is why I noticed), he of course samples the Bee Gees, but also says, "A material girl living in a material world" in a nod to Madonna.

Edited July 3, 2020 by KWalkerInc
Added second song.

[WendyCR72]

The Garbage song, "Special" seems to borrow a lot from The Pretenders. The "Special" refrain harkens back to "Brass in Pocket" and the last verse mentions "talk of the town", which was also the title of a Pretenders song.

I guess legend has it the record company was hesitant to release the track as a single at first so as not to get sued, but Shirley Manson called Chrissy Hynde, who gave permission.

[KWalkerInc]

In "We Belong Together," Mariah Carey sings, "Bobby Womack's on the radio / Saying to me / 'If you think you're lonely now...'"  Then she says she changed the station and adds, "And then I hear Babyface / 'I only think of you...'" which I think is a reference to "Two Occasions" by his group The Deele.  ("I only think of you / On two occasions / That's day and night.")

[smittykins]

Reunion’s “Life Is A Rock(But The Radio Rolled Me)” is nothing but a string of names of artists/songs/record companies, plus at the end, there’s snippets of Three Dog Night’s “Celebrate” and Stevie Wonder’s “Uptight(Everything’s Alright).”
 

 

[BetterButter]

Naughty by Nature - Hip Hop Hooray -You said: "I know you, Mr. O.P.P. man

[KWalkerInc]

In "(Not Just) Knee Deep" by Funkadelic, they quote James Brown:  "I've got ants in my pants and I need to dance."

[WendyCR72]

In his song, "Your Cash Ain't Nothing But Trash", Steve Miller references two of his other songs, "Space Cowboy" and "The Joker".

[KWalkerInc]

In "Dilemma" by Nelly and Kelly Rowland, Kelly sings a part of Patti LaBelle's "Love, Need & Want You."  And if I remember correctly, Ms. Patti plays Kelly's mom in the "Dilemma" music video.

[auntiemel]

Both of these aren't song namechecks, but artists...

I think that the epitome of namechecking other artists in a song is probably Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder. 🙂

But one that has always stuck in my memory is from Monkey by Counting Crows, which says, "Got nowhere but home to go, got Ben Folds on my radio."

Also, in Straw Hat and Old Dirty Hank by Barenaked Ladies, which is about Anne Murray's stalker, references two of her songs within the lyrics. "I cried a tear, you wiped it dry, I put you up, up, on a pedestal so high" references "You Needed Me." The other is "spread my tiny wings and fly away," which references "Snowbird".

Edited July 16, 2020 by auntiemel

[KWalkerInc]

In "Cue the Rain," Queen Latifah sings much of the chorus of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" (so they're all credited as co-writers).

In Bell Biv DeVoe's "Word to the Mutha!" which features the other three members of New Edition, they have a rap section that refers to a lot of songs by NE group members, including "Poison" and "Do Me" (BBD); "Don't Be Cruel," "My Prerogative" and "Every Little Step" (Bobby Brown); "Do What I Gotta Do" and "Sensitivity" (Ralph Tresvant) and "Rub You the Right Way" and "My, My, My" (Johnny Gill), as well as New Edition's "Candy Girl" and "NE Heartbreak."

 

[BetterButter]

Childish Gambino -Difference - Springsteen this city 'cause this city we were born to run

[BetterButter]

Blackstreet  - No Diggity -With the homies Blackstreet and Teddy The original rump shakers

[BetterButter]

The Proclaimers - Hate My Love - I like Johnny Cash Singing "A Boy Named Sue"

[KWalkerInc]

From "Reminiscing" by The Little River Band:  "And the Porter tune--Night and Day / Made us dance across the room."

In Elliott Yamin's "Thinkin' 'Bout You," he says, "Ohh, sweet thing / Like Chaka Khan sang."

[janie jones]

The Ramones' "Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio" names a bunch of people.

Rick Nelson's "Garden Party" also references several people and lyrics.

[BetterButter]

Bad Company -Shooting Star - Johnny was a schoolboy When he heard his first Beatles song 'Love Me Do' I think it was

[KWalkerInc]

In "Come Into My House" by Queen Latifah, she says, "Remember me from 'Wrath of My Madness'?" which was her first single a few months earlier.

I can't remember the exact wording, but in "Lights, Camera, Action" by Mr. Cheeks, he says something about a woman dancing when "Thong Song" came on.  He also says, "Got me singing, 'I'm sorry Ms. Jackson'" in reference to the chorus of Outkast's "Ms. Jackson."

ETA: From "Ain't Gonna Hurt Nobody" by Kid N' Play:  "Like Johnny Kemp said, 'I just got paid.'"

Edited August 10, 2020 by KWalkerInc
Added one.

[KWalkerInc]

From "Wicked" by Ice Cube:  "But like En Vogue, 'No, you're never gonna get it!'"

And for good measure, from "Addams Family (Whoomp!)" by Tag Team:  "Step to the mic like Cube and get 'Wicked.'"

In "(Lay Your Head on My) Pillow" by Tony! Toni! Toné!, one of the guys repeatedly sings the chorus (just part with the title) of Bob Dylan's "Lay Lady Lay" toward the end of the song.

[Twilight Man]

On 6/14/2020 at 11:32 PM, WendyCR72 said:

The Beatles did this twice that I can think of off the top of my head. In "All You Need Is Love", at the very end, John Lennon sings the verse from their earlier hit, "She Loves You" (She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!).

And their song, "Glass Onion", makes reference to "Strawberry Fields Forever", "I Am The Walrus", and others!

 

On 6/15/2020 at 2:20 AM, WendyCR72 said:

And Def Leppard in their song, "Rocket", invoked a bit of "Love Bites", another hit of theirs

 

On 6/17/2020 at 5:31 AM, KWalkerInc said:

In Candi Staton's "Victim," she refers to her biggest hit ("Young Hearts Run Free") when she sings, "I told you young hearts run free / But I didn't listen to myself."

 

On 6/18/2020 at 1:58 AM, WendyCR72 said:

Steve Miller had, of course, a song called "The Joker" with the lyric, "Some call me a space cowboy; some call me the gangster of love..."

 

On 6/18/2020 at 2:45 PM, Bastet said:

Veruca Salt call back to their earlier song "Seether" in "Volcano Girls":

 

On 6/23/2020 at 1:09 PM, BetterButter said:

Bon Jovi - It’s My Life - For Tommy and Gina who never backed down

 

On 6/24/2020 at 12:54 PM, Dandesun said:

Bruce Springsteen ...........  wrote 'The Promise' which references a few of his own songs but 'Thunder Road' is featured throughout. (He also references 'Darlington County' in the song.)

 

On 6/27/2020 at 6:10 AM, Sandman87 said:

Tone Loc's "Funky Cold Medina" makes mention of his song "Wild Thing". Bad dog!

 

On 6/29/2020 at 11:30 AM, Popples said:

Darlene Love's 1992 "All Alone on Christmas" references her 1963 Christmas song "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)".

 

On 7/12/2020 at 2:31 AM, WendyCR72 said:

In his song, "Your Cash Ain't Nothing But Trash", Steve Miller references two of his other songs, "Space Cowboy" and "The Joker".

For what it's worth (seeing as though The Beatles and Springsteen are both mentioned above), I personally DON'T LIKE artists namedropping their previous songs.   IMO, it seriously just screams desperation.   "Hey, remember this great song.   Don't you wish I was playing that instead of this one???"

 

Here are two examples that definitely "fit the bill":

(M.C.) Hammer has a song called "Burn It Up", in which he is constantly saying '"GET IT STARTED was part one / part two is Burn It Up"              and then he goes on what I describe as a "tirade" at the end, mentioning seven of his songs, including "Get It Started", "Pray", "Here Comes The Hammer", "Turn This Mutha Out", and, of course, "U Can't Touch This".

The Beach Boys (from "Summer in Paradise", that "Mike Love album" that everyone hates) have two songs where Love just tells everyone about all of their previous songs  -----  "Summer of Love" has Mike singing about "Excitations" and references "Surfing U.S.A.".   The "title" song, "Summer In Paradise", has Love referencing "Fun, Fun, Fun", "........ Rhonda", and "Barbara Ann".