5th Time Around?
May 26, 2011 9:43 AM   Subscribe

What are some songs that refer to other songs (that refer to other songs, too)?

Reading this postI learned that Billy Bragg's "New England" takes lines from Simon and Garfunkels "Leaves That are Green." The love em or hate em New Jersey band Titus Andronicus takes a line from "New England" in their song "A More perfect Union."

I am particularly interested in finding other instances like this, where more than two songs are involved, but am happy to learn of instances where it is just one song directly referring to another.

(BTW, I am aware the Beatles did this a lot with their own songs and throughout their solo career and the Bob Dylan does it a lot as well)
posted by holdkris99 to Media & Arts (45 answers total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
In Romeo and Juliet, the Dire Straits song, "Hey La, My Boyfriend's Back" is quoted. Is this what you are getting at?
posted by Danf at 9:47 AM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


that cheesy '80s song "take me home tonight" has the line "just like Ronnie said/be my little baby" referring to the classic Ronettes song (it's even Ronnie Spector singing the "be my little baby" line...sadly...).
posted by ifjuly at 9:47 AM on May 26, 2011


Gillian Welch's album Time (The Revelator) does this a lot, referencing many, many folk songs (and American myths).

Also, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes frequently (musically) quote punk rock songs in their covers of other songs.

Veruca Salt's album "Eight Arms to Hold You" references the original title for the Beatles' "Help." The song "Volcano Girls," refers back to their "Seether" single while referencing "Glass Onion" by the Beatles (which itself refers back to "Strawberry Fields Forever.")
posted by entropicamericana at 9:48 AM on May 26, 2011


Lynard Skynard refers to Neil Young in Sweet Home Alabama. Not sure how directly Young's Southern Man refers to Lynard Skynard as much as the south in general.

Hootie & the Blowfish refers to Dillon Fence in Only Wanna Be With You
posted by yoga at 9:48 AM on May 26, 2011


and not songs but albums, but: casiotone for the painfully alone's "destroy the evidence" has the line "i've got seventeen seconds on in my room tonight/and when that's over i've got faith so alright, alright, alright" to describe handling a break up.
posted by ifjuly at 9:50 AM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


Plus Ones by Okkervil River references ? and the Mysterians' "96 Tears," Nena's" 99 Luftballons," Paul Simon's "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover," The Byrds' "Eight Miles High," R.E.M.'s "Seven Chinese Brothers," David Bowie's "TVC15," The Zombies' "Care of Cell 44," Commodore's "Three Times a Lady," and The Crests' "Sixteen Candles.
posted by schmod at 9:51 AM on May 26, 2011 [2 favorites]


Does a flat-out sequel to a song count? If so, there's Dion's "Lovers Who Wander," a sequel to his more famous "The Wanderer." Similarly, Buddy Holly's "Peggy Sue Got Married" is a sequel to "Peggy Sue."

George Harrison wrote "Here Comes the Moon" as an obvious allusion to his much more successful "Here Comes the Sun."

Veruca Salt's "Volcano Girls" refers to two different songs. They explicitly reference their own breakthrough hit, "Seether":
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
And that whole stanza is one big allusion to the Beatles' "Glass Onion" -- the quintessential example of the Beatles' practice of referencing their own songs, as you mentioned:
I told you about the walrus and me, man
You know that we're as close as can be, man
Well here's another clue for you all
The walrus was Paul
posted by John Cohen at 9:56 AM on May 26, 2011


Also, the title of Ted Leo & The Pharmacists' album, The Tyranny of Distance references the Split Enz song Six Months in a Leaky Boat, which Ted has also covered.

TVTropes has a pretty exhaustive list of all songs like this. (*WARNING: TVTropes*)

The AV Club has another, more carefully-curated list of the same.

And let's all dance to Joy Division, and celebrate the irony.....
posted by schmod at 9:56 AM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


Here is another list.
posted by eunoia at 9:59 AM on May 26, 2011


Previous AskMe
posted by cashman at 10:05 AM on May 26, 2011


Lynard Skynard refers to Neil Young in Sweet Home Alabama. Not sure how directly Young's Southern Man refers to Lynard Skynard as much as the south in general.

And "Sweet Home Alabama" is, in turn, mentioned in Warren Zevon's "Play It All Night Long," making a rare three-song chain. To confuse matters even further, Kid Rock's "All Summer Long" is built around a mash-up of "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Werewolves of London." It's a very weird tangle.
posted by Faint of Butt at 10:08 AM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'm having trouble coming up with specific citations, but I feel like this is done with some frequency in country music.

The one example I can think of is the new Brad Paisley hit, which mentions stand by your man, hello dolly, i walk the line and a number of other country classics.
posted by Muppetattack at 10:09 AM on May 26, 2011


and you may be interested in this previous askme.
posted by ifjuly at 10:17 AM on May 26, 2011


And another previous AskMe, for good measure.

Grumble, grumble. And my awesome most recent AskMe was deleted for being too derivative. Grumble, grumble.
posted by schmod at 10:26 AM on May 26, 2011


American Pie.
posted by macadamiaranch at 10:35 AM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


Bob Dylan's "Sara": "Stayin' up for days in the Chelsea Hotel, writin' 'Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands' for you."
posted by milk white peacock at 10:37 AM on May 26, 2011 [2 favorites]


well... do you consider songs that sample bits of lyrics or recognizable parts of a previous song to be a valid answer to the question? If so the doors are wiiiiiide open.
posted by edgeways at 10:47 AM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


Ace of Base's Cecilia is a sequel song to Simon and Garfunkel's song of the same name.
In 1998, Swedish pop band Ace of Base released a Europop track titled "Cecilia" from their album Flowers, which continues the story of the Paul Simon's character. Jenny Berggren, lead vocalist for the band, sings, "This is a song about a well-known girl", then tells of Cecilia's continuous bouncing back and forth between lovers.
posted by royalsong at 10:52 AM on May 26, 2011


A rather trite example, but an example nonetheless: In Hit Me Baby One More Time, Britney sings "My loneliness is killing me." Then in Stronger, she sings "My loneliness is killing me no more."
posted by giggleknickers at 10:58 AM on May 26, 2011


Sting's Seven Days quotes a line from Every Little Thing She Does is Magic.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 11:09 AM on May 26, 2011




Baby Got Back references Me So Horny.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 12:02 PM on May 26, 2011


"And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" refers to "Waltzing Matilda." In the original, the swagman sitting there near the billabong sings another song that begins with the words "Waltzing Matilda."
posted by Francolin at 12:20 PM on May 26, 2011


The Hold Steady "We Can Get Together".
posted by easy, lucky, free at 12:34 PM on May 26, 2011


From "The Humpty Dance": "I sang on 'Doowutchyalike' and if you missed it, I'm the one who said, 'Just grab 'em in the biscuits!'"
posted by milk white peacock at 12:40 PM on May 26, 2011


"And the boys in the NYPD choir were singing 'Galway Bay..." (That's from "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues).
posted by Buffaload at 1:02 PM on May 26, 2011


Neil Young's Long May You Run references the Beach Boys' Caroline No; Rodney Crowell's Walk The Line Revisited is about the Johnny Cash song I Walk The Line.
posted by Catseye at 2:14 PM on May 26, 2011


Regina Spektor's song On The Radio:

On the radio
You hear November Rain
That solo's awful long
But it's a good refrain

posted by bent back tulips at 3:19 PM on May 26, 2011


I have a good one!

Radiohead's "Pyramid Song".

The line “and we all went to heaven in a little row boat” is nearly identical to a lyric found in Tom Waits’ 1985 song “Clap Hands,” which itself is taken from a 1965 hit by Shirley Ellis, “The Clapping Song.”
posted by Windigo at 3:27 PM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


"Empire State of Mind" mentions sipping mai tais with his friend Ty Ty, a callback to his early song "Dead Presidents II". "Dead Presidents II" gets its title from a lyric in Nas' "The World is Yours". Nas did not appreciate this, asserting in a radio freestyle "I count dough off when you sample my voice", and furthermore adding a homophobic flourish to the chorus of "Izzo". Jay-Z responded in kind with "Takeover", mocking the poppy chorus to Nas' "Oochie Wally", claiming it was he who showed Nas the Tech 9 Nas references on "Represent", and finally bragging "So yeah, I sampled your voice/You was using it wrong/You made it a hot line/I made it a hot song". This last line was quoted in Cassidy's "I'm a Hustla", which samples Jay-Z's "Dirt Off Your Shoulder", and by Lil' Wayne in "Nah This Ain't the Remix". Wayne's line is a response to Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot", whose title is a phrase popularized in Lil Wayne's verse in Juvenile's "Back That Azz Up". Yeah.
posted by Smallpox at 3:28 PM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


Rush's "Spirit of the Radio" references "The Sound of Silence"
posted by Midnight Rambler at 4:00 PM on May 26, 2011


Material Issue's "What Girls Want" references Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy."
posted by SisterHavana at 5:27 PM on May 26, 2011


oh, speaking of Waltzing Matilda, there's always one of the pinnacles of Tom Waits' career, "Tom Traubert's Blues".
posted by ifjuly at 5:53 PM on May 26, 2011


Reading this post I learned that Billy Bragg's "New England" takes lines from Simon and Garfunkels "Leaves That are Green." The love em or hate em New Jersey band Titus Andronicus takes a line from "New England" in their song "A More perfect Union."

That's just the first half of the line ("I'm not looking for another girl I'm just looking for a new New Jersey"). The second half, "because tramps like us, baby we were born to die!" is from Bruce Springsteen's 'Born to Run' ("tramps like us, baby we were born to run").

the bands I listen to - Titus Andronicus, The Hold Steady, The Gaslight Anthem - do this CONSTANTLY so its going to take me some time to put them all together. continuing with Titus, there's another line on the album "I'm going back to New Jersey, I do believe they've had enough of me" which is a rewrite of a Bob Dylan line - "I'm going back to New YorkCcity I do believe I've had enough". That's just off the top of my head... there must be more I haven't caught.

with The Hold Steady, every song will reference a whole bunch of songs. fans have put together compilations of them, which I can track down. some of the most obvious ones:

Certain Songs - "B-1 is for the good girls and it's "Only The Good Die Young"/ C-9 is for the making eyes it's "Paradise By The Dashboard Light""

Barfruit Blues - half the crowd is calling out for Born to Run and the other half is calling out for Born to Lose

Girls Like Status - It was song number three on John's last CD,
"I'm going to make it through this year if it kills me"
And it almost killed me
And song number four on that first D4, "you want the scars but you don't want the war"

(D4 = Dillinger 4)

Hornets! Hornets! - she mouthed the words along to "Running Up That Hill." that song got scratched into her soul. he's never heard the song before. but still he gets the metaphor.

Joke About Jamaica - "They used to think it was so cute When she said "Dyer Maker" All the boys knew it was a joke about Jamaica"

Constructive Summer -"Me and my friends are like the drums on 'Lust For Live'. We pound it out on floor toms. and apparently the 'DOUBLEWHISKY COKE NO ICE!' line is either a Minutemen or Dillinger 4 reference.

I could go on all day, seriously, and if you want me to I can link you to some fan stuff. THS are partly about the redemptive power of rock and roll, so they talk about it constantly

Gaslight Anthem have the same schtick.

the chorus of High Lonesome apparently comes from a Counting Crows song

Old White Lincoln borrows the line 'cold cold ground' from the Tom Waits song. not a coincidence - the lead singer has covered it

Angry Johnny and the Radio has a bit of a coded Bob Dylan reference - "And I'm still here singin', Thinking about the government, In my old man shoes, And how you'd understand that. Are you hidin' in a basement,
Mixing up the medicine?"

That's a paraphrase of Subterranean Homesick Blues

I Coulda Been A Contender has 'We'll come a waltzing Matilda when Matilda comes around', a reference to the traditional Australian song 'Waltzing Matilda'. They may have picked it up from Tom Waits' Tom Traubert's Blues, which also references the song

like The Hold Steady and Titus Andronicus, Gaslight Anthem do this CONSTANTLY. since all three bands know each other and have worked together I expect they'll start referencing each others songs.

few others

Everything I Own Fits In This Backpack - The Wonder Years Nothing made me feel further away, Than "Left and Leaving" through a blown car stereo, Nothing made me feel closer to home, Than "Ready to Die" through my headphones,

(Left and Leaving is a Weakerthans song/album, I think)

Calling All Skeletons - The Alkaline Trio Here it is again Yet it seems like the first time Seems it never ends Double Nickles On Your Dime
(Double Nickles On The Dime is a Minutemen song)

There are more. many, many more. There's probably an essay or at least a blog post in the fact that all my favorite bands are super-referential. Good rule of thumb with the stuff I mentioned: if something sounds familiar, check to see if it's a Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, or Clash lyric first.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:04 PM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]



And "Sweet Home Alabama" is, in turn, mentioned in Warren Zevon's "Play It All Night Long," making a rare three-song chain. To confuse matters even further, Kid Rock's "All Summer Long" is built around a mash-up of "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Werewolves of London." It's a very weird tangle.


and then the Drive-By Truckers weighed in with Ronnie and Neil "And out in California, a rock star from Canada writes a couple of great songs about the Bad shit that went down
"Southern Man" and "Alabama" certainly told some truth But there were a lot of good folks down here and Neil Young wasn't around"

they've also got Let There Be Rock. it's not a cover - the chorus has the line "Bon Scott singing 'Let There Be Rock'.

they played it at their Sydney show. the crowd rather liked it
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 6:08 PM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


Brand New's Seventy Times Seven and Taking Back Sunday's There's No "I" In Team both have the line- "Is this what you call tact? You're as subtle as a brick in the small of my back, so lets end this call and end this conversation". It stems from a feud over a girl between Jesse Lacey (BN) and John Nolan (TBS). They have since made up and occasionally make cameos in the songs when touring together.
posted by ridiculous at 6:45 PM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


Memories by Leonard Cohan has a swell reference to Frankie Laine's Jezebel. Also, bizarre "making of" story attached.
posted by ovvl at 7:38 PM on May 26, 2011


Fall Out Boy's "I'm Like a Lawyer With the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)" has the lyrics "The best way to make it through with hearts and wrists intact/Is to realize two out of three ain't bad," which is a reference to Meat Loaf's "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad," which has the lyrics "I want you/I need you/But there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you," which is a reference to Elvis Presley's "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You."
posted by kirkaracha at 9:51 PM on May 26, 2011 [1 favorite]


Hank Thompson's 1952 #1 Country hit "The Wild Side of Life"* says "I didn't know God made honky tonk angels." Later that year Kitty Wells had the first No. 1 Billboard country hit for a solo female artist with her response, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels." David Allan Coe's song "If That Ain't Country" has the lines "I didn't know God made honky tonk angels/And went back to the wild side of life."
posted by kirkaracha at 10:09 PM on May 26, 2011


Lady Gaga's brand new song "Fashion of His Love" takes the entire bridge from a song she wrote before she was famous, called "Then You'd Love Me."
posted by IndigoRain at 12:02 AM on May 27, 2011


Dylan's Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat):
I bit into the root of forbidden fruit (Nina Simone, The Band)
With the juice running down my leg (Robert Johnson/Led Zeppelin)
Then I dealt with your boss, who’d never known about loss
And who always was too proud to beg (The Temptations)

There’s a white diamond gloom on the dark side of this room (nod to Pink Floyd)
And a pathway that leads up to the stars (nod to Led Zeppelin)
If you don’t believe there’s a price for this sweet paradise
Remind me to show you the scars
posted by Mister Bijou at 12:35 AM on May 27, 2011 [1 favorite]


Dan Bern's Talkin' Ani Difranco's Mom's Blues riffs off several of Ani's songs, including "Untouchable Face," "Both Hands," and "Napoleon."
posted by kristi at 11:41 AM on May 28, 2011


"And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" refers to "Waltzing Matilda." In the original, the swagman sitting there near the billabong sings another song that begins with the words "Waltzing Matilda."

...And there's a Pogues song from Rum, Sodomy and the Lash called "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" and a Tom Waits song called "Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets to the wind in Copenhagen)", I believe, which reference the first Waltzing Matilda listed. Um. Second one chronologically. They are both also awesome songs.

The Sisters of Mercy, themselves named after the Leonard Cohen song of the same name, reference Bob Dylan's "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again" in the song "Dominion/Mother Russia" with the line "Stuck inside of Memphis with a mobile home".

They Might Be Giants have "Hey, Mr. D.J., I Thought You Said We Had a Deal", in which they reference several of their own songs, though for the most part those aren't direct quotes.

Aw, man, now I'm going to be thinking about this all night.
posted by Because at 4:48 AM on May 30, 2011


KRS-One by Sublime.
posted by jitterbug perfume at 7:39 AM on June 2, 2011


Also, Eminem does this so constantly that I can't even think of all the examples. The most prominent one in my mind at the moment is that on the song "Not Afraid" off the album "Recovery", he raps "In fact let's be honest, that last "Relapse" album was mehhhh... perhaps I ran them accents into the ground, relax, I ain't goin' back to that now". And the entire song "Just Lose It" is references to his old songs.
posted by jitterbug perfume at 7:42 AM on June 2, 2011


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