“Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing”, by the Minutemen. (Courtesy of MrWhatsit.)
Clint Black’s “Are You Sure Waylon Done It This Way?”
Oh, meee-ow.
I’ll add “Sonny Boy Blow” (about Sonny Boy Williamson), “The Death of J.B. Lenoir,” and “I’m Gonna Fight For You J.B.,” “The Bear” (about Bob “Bear” Hite), and “Mr. James” (about Elmore James), all by John Mayall.
“House of Jansch” by Donovan
“Moondog” by Pentangle
“Bob Dylan” by Nine Days
Thanks!
Do nicknames count? If so, Elvis gets namechecked in:
“The King Is Gone” - Ronnie McDowell
and
“The King Is Gone (So Are You)” - George Jones
“A Girl Named Johnny Cash” - Jane Morgan (written by Martin Mull)
Junior Brown : " My Baby Don’t Dance To Nothing But Ernest Tubb"
“We All Remember Wes” (Montgomery) by George Benson
“Song for Randy Newman Etc.”, Chills
“Hank Williams You Wrote My Life”, Moe Bandy
“Willie, Waylon, and Me”, David Allen Coe
“Patti Smith”, Half Japanese
“Lady Day and John Coltrane”, Gil Scott Heron
“David Bowie Wants Ideas”, Bongwater
“Ain’t No Woman Gonna Make a George Jones Out of Me”, Daniel Johnston
Eric Burdon & War: “The Vision of Rassan/Roll On Kirk” (i.e., Rahsaan Roland Kirk)
“Variations On The Carlos Santana Secret Chord Progression” Frank Zappa
Sons and Daughters “Johnny Cash”
Josh Joplin Group “Phil Ochs”
L.A. Style “James Brown is Dead”
Big Audio Dynamite “James Brown”, “If I Were John Carpenter”
Flight of the Conchords “Bowie”
“My Baby’s In Love With Eddie Vedder” by Weird Al Yankovic
“Jaco” by the Pat Metheny Group (Pastorius, of course)
The Late Great Johnny Ace, Paul Simon
Rock Me Amadeus, Falco
Roll Over Beethoven, the Beatles
Last Tango for Astor by Al Di Meola. (Astor Piazzolla.)
À la manière de Chabrier by Maurice Ravel
À la manière de Borodine by Maurice Ravel
Tombeau de Couperin by Maurice Ravel
Of course, there’s a whole genre of musical pastiche, where the name of the composer being imitated is usually included in the title.
A number of composers wrote pieces “on the name of B-A-C-H”, like Max Reger and Arthur Honegger and Francis Poulenc.
“Towne’s Blues”, Cowboy Junkies {Townes Van Zandt}
“Blue Moon Revisited {Song for Elvis}”, Cowboy Junkies
And his “Not John” [Lennon]
Oh yeah! “Elvis Is Dead” by Living Colour.
There’s also “I’m Glad Elvis is Dead” by Root Boy Slim