# Homage songs (which are not covers) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684 "2019-07-26T20:02:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/41 "2019-07-27T18:01:32Z")
When it comes to homages of Broadway musicals, I have two words (and a link) for you: [Forbidden Broadway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_Broadway). It does not get any better than that. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/42 "2019-07-27T21:00:31Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > I think what you are describing is pastiche. > > A good example would be Greta van Fleet, they couldn’t be any more Led Zeppelin if they were Led Zeppelin. Exactly what I came in to say. ---
**Author:** ![Peanuthead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peanuthead/32/360_2.png) [@Peanuthead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peanuthead)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/43 "2019-07-27T21:54:37Z")
Straight forward tribute for sure: **Wilson Pickett**. [Cole, Cooke and Redding](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmwM8PJ8-g8). (And even his own self. Come on in Pickett!) ---
**Author:** ![journeyman\_southpaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5e9695/32.png) [@journeyman\_southpaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/journeyman_southpaw)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/44 "2019-07-27T22:41:45Z")
Kiss - [“Hard Luck Woman”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEioRXSgdsk): depending on the telling it was written by Paul Stanley either with the intention of offering it to Rod Stewart to record, or just with Rod Stewart in mind. At any rate it’s very reminiscent of “Maggie May” and “You Wear It Well”. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2019, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/45 "2019-07-27T23:20:22Z")
I’m not sure if you’d call it a tribute or an homage or something else, but Freddie Mercury wrote “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” to honor Elvis. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/46 "2019-07-28T01:49:40Z")
I’m listening to Pink Floyd’s “Whish You Were Here”, and of course it has the great tribute to their former band mate Syd Barret, “[Shine On You Crazy Diamond](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWGE9Gi0bB0)”. One of the greatest tributes ever, and of course it has the spooky back story of when Syd walked into the Abbey Road studios when the Floyd were recording that track, a shell of his former self ([a very swollen one](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b6/Syd_Barrett_Abbey_Road_1975.jpg/220px-Syd_Barrett_Abbey_Road_1975.jpg) with shaved eyebrows), and nobody recognized him at first and everybody was shattered after having seen him in this state after years. ---
**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:** [July 28, 2019, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/47 "2019-07-28T02:04:15Z")
I still don’t see (hear) it, but supposedly **Liz Phair** ’s Exile in Guyville was a song by song homage to the Stones’ Exile on Main Street. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/48 "2019-07-28T07:05:26Z")
The Chain Gang of 1974 makes homage to the eighties sounds of bands like Simple Minds and Tears For Fears. This track below is a collaboration but you can get the basic idea. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/HM_fO7gBUl4/maxresdefault.jpg "Jai Wolf - Drive (feat. The Chain Gang Of 1974) (Unofficial Music Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM_fO7gBUl4) ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mr.Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Me)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/49 "2019-07-28T14:57:09Z")
“Well I want to say a thing or two, regarding Jimi Hendrix Seems to be a case of accidental suicide” John Mayall - [Accidental Suicide](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9bwi1Bzr4s) ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/50 "2019-07-28T22:16:30Z")
Tame Impala’s “Feels Like We Only Go Backwards” is indisputably the best John Lennon song of 2012. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/wycjnCCgUes/maxresdefault.jpg "Tame Impala - Feels Like We Only Go Backwards (Official Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wycjnCCgUes) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/51 "2019-07-29T01:20:02Z")
Willie Nelsons song “He won’t ever be gone” is about Merle Haggard. There’s about 20 songs about Hank, Sr. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/52 "2019-07-29T01:36:22Z")
Another by Pete Townshend: [God Speaks of Marty Robbins](https://youtu.be/zPRJeBM_E8Y?t=50) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/53 "2019-07-29T07:40:09Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > Apologetic OP back again. > > Yeah, it’s not so easy to define what I was getting at, and obviously I didn’t do a very good job. What I was trying to describe is a song which, whilst not covering another song, has musical (or lyrical) links to that other song, in a reverential way, which clearly marks it out as an homage. In that case, a different Billy Bragg song definitely counts.\* New England \*'s opening lines (“I was 21 years when I wrote this song/I’m 22 now, but I won’t be for long”) are the same as Simon&Garfunkle’s _Leaves That Are Green_, and Billy has said the homage was intentional, even though the songs are otherwise not much alike. ---
**Author:** ![Crotalus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crotalus/32/41_2.png) [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/54 "2019-07-29T11:18:39Z")
R.E.M’s [At My Most Beautiful](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIXs66BPooY) is an homage to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/55 "2019-07-29T13:29:06Z")
Story I read in the Detroit paper at the time said that Bob Seger wrote _Night Moves_ after hearing Springsteen’s _Jungleland_ and telling his band “I’ve got a story to tell, to. I’m going to write my own Jungleland”. ETA: Eh, that’s more “Inspired by”… ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2019, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684/56 "2019-07-29T14:17:28Z")
Jet’s [“Look What You’ve Done”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XD1cxSE25ck) is an homage to the Beatles’ “Sexy Sadie.” I vaguely remember them doing other homages, but that’s the one I remember. Madonna’s [“Cherish”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q2WS6ahCnY) was an homage to the Association’s song of the same name. Blink 182’s [“Adam’s Song”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MRdtXWcgIw) was an homage to Kurt Cobain. If these aren’t it, I may not understand the question. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/homage-songs-which-are-not-covers/837684.md?page=2)