Sorry, too late to edit, but I might’ve got it: Belle And Sebastian’s “Sleep The Clock Around” from the BBC Sessions (though it’s not at the end, but in the middle of the song).
But I’m still convinced that I know a song where the “Let’s Spend The Night Together” riff is only shortly played at the end…
“That Thing You Do” is certainly an homage to the early Beatles sound
Napoleon XIV had a novelty hit with “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haa!”
Josephine XV followed with “I’m Happy They Took You Away, Ha-Haa!”
YouTube video playing both tracks
Falco, “Rock Me, Amadeus”
Utopia’s whole album Deface the Music is a Beatles homage.
To Barney Kessell – Pete Townshend
My favorite is “Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me” which is a tribute to Jim Steinman.
Ween is another group that often does this. “It’s Gonna Be a Long Night” is their take on Motorhead.
REM’s Man on the Moon – Andy Kaufman
The Fuglees’ David Lee Roth is a tribute to David Lee Roth
Missed the edit window.
I guess Man on the Moon isn’t a tribute to a musical artist so scratch that one.
Sweet Home Alabama - Lynard Skynard
Depending on how you take it, either a homage or a kick to Neil Young’s Southern Man and Alabama
Despite rumors to the contrary, Ronnie and Neil had mutual respect for each other.
Sheryl Crow’s Light In Your Eyes was an homage to the then-recently-deceased George Harrison.
Nick Cave’s Sad Waters is an homage to* Green, Green, Grass of Home* - the opening lines as well as the prison imagery
Camera Obscura’s Lloyd, I’m Ready To Be Heartbroken is a kind of homage to*Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken* by Lloyd Cole
Billy Bragg’s Levi Stubbs’ Tears is an homage to the Four Tops singer. and Motown in general.
I wanna do it with Madonna would be okay though. However, songs *about *musical artists probably aren’t quite in the spirit of the OP.
One that is - Oasis’ Don’t Look Back in Anger. Interestingly, you usually hear more about the Beatles-influence than the Bowie-influence, title notwithstanding
Near as I can tell, this was the whole point of Billy Joel’s AN INNOCENT MAN album: doing “Uptown Girl” as an homage to Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, after doing the title track in the style of Ben E. King and the Drifters, all while doing his best to structure “The Longest Time” as Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers doo-wop…
From Liner Notes - The Very Best of The Eagles
“They stab it with their steely knives, but they just can’t kill the beast” was a little Post-It back to Steely Dan. Apparently, Walter Becker’s girlfriend loved the Eagles, and she played them all the time. I think it drove him nuts. So, the story goes that they were having a fight one day, and that was the genesis of the line, “turn up the Eagles, the neighbors are listening” in “Everything You Did,” from Steely Dan’s The Royal Scam album. During the writing of “Hotel California,” we decided to volley. We just wanted to allude to Steely Dan rather than mentioning them outright, so “Dan” got changed to “knives,” which is still, you know, a penile metaphor. Stabbing, thrusting, etc.
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. A similar (stylistic?) homage to an artist would be just as interesting.
This is a perfect example of what I was thinking about
All that said - If you have a song which is just a straightforward tribute to another song or artist, let’s have that as well. If only because of the great stuff that is being posted - I hadn’t heard Night Shift by the Commodores in years - I had forgotten just how wonderful it is.
And BTW I remembered another, slightly weird example. Barclay James Harvest - The Great 1974 Mining Disaster goes beyond homage and is more like a recreation of the Bee Gees’ New York Mining Disaster 1941.
And I suppose David Bowie’s Laughing Gnome is a tribute to Anthony Newley. But I’d rather not go there.
j
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.
Freddie Mercury always said that Somebody to Love was his attempt to be Aretha Franklin. Does that count?
Surely the classic is The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash. And it is really funny. The Pre-fab Four - Dirk, Nasty, Stig and Barry accurately capture all the varied sounds of another foursome.
By the way… If you didn’t know, my post about “stab it with their steely knives” was about Hotel California by the Eagles.
I’m still unsure, but I’ll list the three songs I have in mind:
ABC - When Smokey Sings
Mellencamp - R.O.C.K. in the USA
Jackson Browne - The Load Out/Stay
As I think about it, Stay is a cover, but I’ll leave it there for note.