There seem to be several music related threads of late, so I thought I might throw this one out for discussion. Most have heard of the Lynard Skynard song “Sweet Home Alabama,” where they diss Neil Young for his "Southern Man"song. Can you think of any others (other then the more recent pissing match between Toby Keith and the Dixie Chicks) where one band took potshots at another in the lyrics of their songs?
Peter, Paul and Mary take a few jabs at The Mamas & The Papas, the Beatles and Donovan in “I Dig Rock and Roll Music.”
Jabs? I thought that it was an homage.
It’s Lynyrd Skynyrd. All y’s for vowels.
“My brother’s back at home
With his Beatles and his Stones.
We never got it off on that revolution stuff.
What a drag … too many … snags”
Bowie – All the Young Dudes.
Speaking of Beatles.
McCartney’s Too Many People and Lennon’s How Do You Sleep? were basically musical insults traded back and forth across the radio waves.
Hardly. They basically call R&R shallow and devoid of social commentary.
Well, there’s the obvious Beatle ones, possibly starting with “We all know ob-la-di-bla-da/But can you show me where you are” from Harrison’s “Savoy Truffle”… John contributed a couple with “I’ve seen religion from Jesus to Paul” (from “I Found Out”) and all of “How Do You Sleep”, the latter after thinking that Paul’s “Too Many People” was aimed at him and Yoko (which seems unlikely to me, but I do wonder about “Catch up, cats and kittens/Don’t get left behind” from “Monkberry Moon Delight”)… also some have said Ringo’s “Back Off, Boogaloo” was about Paul, but I think he’s stated it was about Marc Bolan.
The Clash have the lyric “Every gimmick-hungry yob digging gold from rock ‘n’ roll/Grabs the mike to tell us he’ll die before he’s old” (in “Death or Glory”), which suggests a dig at the Who’s “My Generation”.
Then there’s Mojo Nixon’s “Don Henley Must Die”, which is not too hard to figure out.
I thought that was Mott the Hoople?
I knew I was spelling Skynyrd wrong - thanks! And RIP Leonard.
Josh Rouse slams Ryan Adams in “Street Lights”
Then Ryan Adams slams Beth Orton in “English Girls Approximately”
David Bowie wrote the song, but Mott the Hoople recorded and had a hit with it. The song’s Wikipedia entry tells the story of how Bowie came to write the song for Mott the Hoople.
PUNK
The Meatmen did *One Down, Three to Go *after the murder of John Lennon.
NOFX did a mocking version of Minor Threat’s Straight Edge.
The Dickies
And Silly Love Songs was Paul’s response to John dissing his music in an interview.
I just took a look at the lyrics and you have a point. It’s more back handed compliments actually. Folk has real meaning and R&R is fun but banal. Thanks for pointing that out.
I know where you’re coming from, but…
“And when they’re really wailin’,
Michelle and Cass are sailin’,
Hey, they really nail me to the wall.”
“I dig rock and roll music,
And love to get the chance to sing…”
“The message may not move me,
Or mean a great deal to me,
But hey, it feels so groovy to say…”
Not exactly hard-hitting criticism, but more a fun, tongue-in-cheek commentary.
Being a fan of both The Mamas & Papas and PPM, this is one of my favorite tunes. They may be throwing brickbats, but they are soft brickbats, tossed with affection.
Probably not a “feud”, but…
*I asked Bobby Dylan
I asked The Beatles
I asked Timothy Leary
But he couldn’t help me either
They call me The Seeker
I’ve been searching low and high
I won’t get to get what I’m after
Till the day I die*
- The Who
Tori Amos had a song slamming Courtney Love “She’s a starf*****r…just like her daddy” called “Professional Widow”.
Rogers Waters had some nasty lines about Yoko Ono in “The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking”.
Blur vs Oasis. Not sure it ever extended to song lyrics or if it was just confined to the music press, though.
Then Warren Zevon dissed Lynyrd Skynyrd in “Play It All Night Long”:
“Sweet home Alabama”
Play that dead band’s song.
Note that these weren’t truly disses. Lynyrd Skynyrd were joking about Young (Young reportedly was amused by it was was working on a way to join the group in singing it on stage), while Zevon was dissing the characters in his song.
Not a lyrics issue, but there was some bad blood going on between The Clash, and Van Halen at the US Festival, which spurred this cheap shot.
Joni Mitchell slams Jackson Browne in You Were Not To Blame.
Your charitable acts
Seemed out of place
With the beauty
With your fist marks on her face
and
I heard your baby say
When he was only three
“Daddy let’s get some girls
One for you and one for me”
His mother had the frailty you despise
And the looks you love to drive to suicide