# Bands who recycle or call back lyrics from previous songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 3, 2013, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030 "2013-06-03T13:32:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/21 "2013-06-03T17:14:23Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Roger Clyne is a fantastic (comedic) lyricist, even funnier is the reference included in the aforementioned “Down Together” > > We could all wear ripped up clothes > And pretend that we were Dead Hot Workshop In complete agreement… The entire _ **Fizzy, Fuzzy, Big and Buzzy** _ album (CD?) is made up of these sarcastic, sardonic lyrics. It’s what made it a “Top 10 Stranded on a Desert Island” albums for me. He’s mellowed over the years. He’s gone from lyrics about bitter relationships, drinking and lonlieness on the road to family, success and stopping to smell the roses. His lyrics however still remain some of the best I have seen. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/22 "2013-06-03T17:27:42Z")
OK, here’s another (better) one for Dire Straits: “Tunnel of Love” (from the brilliant _Making Movies_ album) has Knopfler "Sing about the six-blade . . . " in reference to “Six Blade Knife” from their eponymous debut. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/23 "2013-06-03T17:32:56Z")
David Bowie’s “Ashes to Ashes” has a call back to Major Tom from “Space Oddity.” ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/24 "2013-06-03T17:33:15Z")
The Kinks’ “Destroyer” quotes both the line “Girl, I want you here with me” and the guitar riff from their early hit “All Day and All Of the Night.” (Also: “Met a girl called Lola…”) ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/25 "2013-06-03T19:02:41Z")
Ke$ha (WHOM I’M MEETING ON SUNDAY!!!) has a new unreleased song, “Machine Gun Love,” with the line “I already told you my love is a drug, boy, you’re about to OD,” recalling her earlier song “Your Love is My Drug.” ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/26 "2013-06-03T19:15:21Z")
Not quite what the OP is asking for as it doesn’t re-use lyrics, but it does reference a previous song (“One Week” and also possibly “Old Apartment”): Barenaked Ladies - “Testing 1,2,3” \*She got a new apartment It’s out on the escarpment And in her glove compartment Are my songs She hasn’t even heard them Since she found out what the words meant She decided she preferred them All wrong **Kind of like the last time With a bunch of really fast rhymes** If we’re living in the past I’m Soon gone\* ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/27 "2013-06-03T19:49:13Z")
I’ve yet to locate a Golden Earring song called “When the Bullet Hits the Bone”. . . what album is that on? ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/28 "2013-06-03T19:55:56Z")
**They Might Be Giants’** song “Why Does the Sun Really Shine” makes multiple references to their older (cover) song “Why Does the Sun Shine?” Pretty much the whole song corrects the factual inaccuracies of the previous version with the immortal lines… _“I forget what I was told my myself…”_ and _“Forget that song, they got it wrong.”_ ---
**Author:** ![FuriousGeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecae2f/32.png) [@FuriousGeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuriousGeorge)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/29 "2013-06-03T19:58:26Z")
> [@tullsterx](#): > > I’ve yet to locate a Golden Earring song called “When the Bullet Hits the Bone”. . . what album is that on? So as i look back, I’m not seeing it. I would swear as I was looking for this song there was a lyrics page of some sort with a completely different song.. now I cant find it… ugh.. Ok, so maybe it IS the same song. My other example however is valid for what I was thinking about… ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/30 "2013-06-03T20:18:06Z")
> [@White SIFL](#): > > Zep does this. Do you mean Robert Plant’s solo stuff from the 90s where he samples lyrics and guitar rifs from Black Dog and The Ocean? ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/31 "2013-06-03T20:22:46Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Could you be thinking of him singing “every breath you take” (along with “every move you make” and “every cake you bake”) at the end of “Love Is the Seventh Wave” (from his first solo album)? Don’t forget “Every leg you break” - I think that’s in there, too. The Thompson Twins single _Love On Your Side_ got a lot of MTV airplay in 1983. At one point the lyric goes, “I played you all my favorite records,” which is followed by a quick instrumental phrase from their song _In The Name Of Love_, which topped the US dance charts in spring 1982. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Surb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@The\_Surb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Surb)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/32 "2013-06-03T20:48:11Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Blue Oyster Cult had two different songs with identical lyrics. > > Seriously, their song “I’m On the Lamb, But I Ain’t No Sheep” has exactly the same lyrics (all about the Canadian Mounties) as “Heavy Metal: The Red and the Black,” but the two songs have different music. And one of their songs on Imaginos is the same with a different title. I like BOC they’re one of my favorites, but they are the kings of recycling. Don’t they have 5 studio albums and 10 Greatest Hits/Best Of/Live Rehashed albums? ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/33 "2013-06-03T21:06:20Z")
On the Bad Religion song 21st Century Digital Boy there is a lyric in the bridge that says “I tried to tell you about no control” Which is the title of an earlier album with a song called No Control on it. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/34 "2013-06-03T21:23:53Z")
“I sang ‘Do What You like’, and in case you missed it, I’m the one that said 'Just grab ‘em in the biscuits.’” - Humpty Dance, Digital Underground. “In February 1985 Pato became a winner. Because I did a tune called ‘Hello Tosh’ gotta Toshiba?” - Don’t Sniff Coke - Pato Banton. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/35 "2013-06-03T21:41:21Z")
Would Leslie Gore’s “Judy’s Turn To Cry” count? It’s sort of the sequel to “It’s My Party and I’ll Cry If I Want To.” ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/36 "2013-06-03T21:50:01Z")
Alice Cooper’s “Elected” includes the line: _I never lied to you, I’ve always been cool, I wanna be elected, I gotta get the vote, and I told you 'bout school,_ which is a callback to “School’s Out” Nice one **Ranger** , there’s also Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue Got Married” ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/37 "2013-06-03T21:59:47Z")
> [@tullsterx](#): > > I’ve yet to locate a Golden Earring song called “When the Bullet Hits the Bone”. . . what album is that on? Everything I’ve found suggests that Twilight Zone is sometimes referred to as “Bullet Hits the Bone”. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/38 "2013-06-03T22:29:59Z")
In John Lennon’s _God_ there is the line, “I was the Walrus, but now I’m John.” ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/39 "2013-06-03T22:47:34Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Nice one **Ranger** , there’s also Buddy Holly’s “Peggy Sue Got Married” Thanks. And how did I forget that one! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030/40 "2013-06-03T22:51:16Z")
I just recently mentioned this in a similar thread, but, well, here ya go: From **Bob Dylan** ’s _Sara:_ > [@](#): > > I can still hear the sounds of those Methodist bells > I’d taken the cure and had just gotten through > Staying up for day in the Chelsea Hotel > Writing “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” for you. mmm [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-who-recycle-or-call-back-lyrics-from-previous-songs/660030.md?page=3)