# Songs That Reference Other Songs (Not Sampling) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2020, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234 "2020-01-30T18:14:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/61 "2020-02-04T21:41:21Z")
_“Well I heard Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young sing about her”_ ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2020, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/62 "2020-02-04T22:32:46Z")
> [@Esprise\_Me](#): > > . > > Bon Jovi recalls the couple from _Livin’ on a Prayer_ in his later recording _It’s My Life_: > _This is for the ones who stood their ground > For Tommy and Gina, who never backed down_ In the same song, Bon Jovi also reference Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”: \* My heart is like an open highway Like Frankie said I did it my way \* ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/63 "2020-02-06T11:29:28Z")
What about referencing a couple albums, with one of the albums also being a song? If that counts, The National "Don’t Swallow The Cap’ - And if you want (dead seriously) To see me cry (don’t swallow the cap) Play “Let It Be” (pat yourself on the back) Or “Nevermind” (dead seriously) ---
**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:** [February 6, 2020, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/64 "2020-02-06T12:05:11Z")
Mott the Hoople’s “Drivin’ Sister” starts out with a reference to the own earlier song:." Eight track machine playing ‘Half Moon Bay.’" ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/65 "2020-02-06T12:30:07Z")
This is stretching it… At the end of The Twelve Days of Christmas by Doug and Bob McKenzie they talk about the song. Boy, that song was a beauty. It moved me. Yeah, I think it ranks up there with Stairway to Heaven. ---
**Author:** ![Dave.B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9f8e36/32.png) [@Dave.B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dave.B)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/66 "2020-02-06T13:46:50Z")
I just heard Communication by Spandau Ballet on the radio: Dictate or relay, I could send it to your home, “Return to Sender” - I could sing it down the phone! ---
**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:** [February 11, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/67 "2020-02-11T14:22:24Z")
The first six words of Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn are “Put on my Blue Suede Shoes.” I think that might maybe be a reference to some song. ---
**Author:** ![LoneRhino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lonerhino/32/1311_2.png) [@LoneRhino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoneRhino)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2020, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/68 "2020-02-24T18:05:03Z")
Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving With a Pict by Pink Floyd ends with the line “And the wind cried Mary” ---
**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:** [February 24, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/69 "2020-02-24T18:19:15Z")
And people came from miles around, everyone was there Yoko brought her walrus, there was magic in the air An’ over in the corner, much to my surprise Mr. Hughes hid in Dylan’s shoes wearing his disguise I said hello to Mary Lou, she belongs to me When I sang a song about a honky-tonk, it was time to leave Someone opened up a closet door and out stepped Johnny B. Goode Playing guitar like a-ringin’ a bell and lookin’ like he should Rick Nelson “Garden Party” ---
**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:** [February 24, 2020, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/70 "2020-02-24T18:47:19Z")
In the song _Killing me Softly with His Song_, first recorded by Lori Lieberman but more famously covered by Roberta Flack, the he is Don McLean and his song is “Empty Chairs.” I’m not sure that should count, since it’s not obvious from the lyrics which song “Killing me” is referring to. ---
**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:** [February 25, 2020, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/71 "2020-02-25T14:23:13Z")
Simon & Garfunkel’s A Simple Desultory Philippic (Or How I Was Robert McNamara’d into Submission) is basically a list of names, but it includes the line “Andy Warhol, won’t you please come home?” In the same notes as Bill Bailey. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/72 "2020-02-25T16:12:32Z")
Rocket-Def Leppard ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/73 "2020-02-25T16:54:35Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > In the same song, Bon Jovi also reference Frank Sinatra’s “My Way”: > \* > My heart is like an open highway > Like Frankie said I did it my way > \* “I Don’t Want To Die In This Town” by Old 97s: _There was a highway Frank singing “My Way” Or maybe it was Sid._ ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2020, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234/74 "2020-02-25T17:09:33Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > In the song _Killing me Softly with His Song_, first recorded by Lori Lieberman but more famously covered by Roberta Flack, the he is Don McLean and his song is “Empty Chairs.” I’m not sure that should count, since it’s not obvious from the lyrics which song “Killing me” is referring to. I’m not sure how strong the evidence is for this. Supposedly there’s evidence that the composers of the song confirmed it in the past; however, in later years they denied that there’s any truth to it. Below is a snippet of an interview with Charles Fox, the lyricist. > [@](#): > > **Songfacts** : Now, another song that you’re famous for is “Killing Me Softly.” > > **Charles** : Uh-huh. > > **Songfacts:** Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but was that inspired by Don McLean? > > **Charles** : The answer is no. I think that story is called an urban legend or something. > > **Songfacts** : Oh, is it? Okay. > > **Charles** : Yeah, it really didn’t happen that way. Norman Gimbel and I wrote that song for a young artist whose name was Lori Lieberman. It was the tenth song we were writing for her _A Thousand Dreams_ album - it was going to be released on Capitol Records. And Norman had a book where he would write titles of songs - song ideas and lyrics or something that struck him at different times. He pulled out the book and he was looking through it, and he says, “Hey, what about a song title, ‘Killing Me Softly with His Blues’?” Well, the “killing me softly” part sounded very interesting, “with his blues” sounded old fashioned in 1972 when we wrote it. So he thought for a while and he said, “What about ‘killing me softly with his song’? That has a unique twist to it.” So we discussed what it could be, and obviously it’s about a song - listening to the song and being moved by the words. It’s like the words are speaking to what that person’s life is. > > Anyway, Norman went home and wrote an extraordinary lyric and called me later in the afternoon. I jotted it down over the phone. I sat down and the music just flowed right along with the words. We got together the next morning and made a couple of adjustments with it and we played it for Lori. She loved it; she said it reminded her of being at a Don McLean concert. So in her act, when she would appear, she would say that. And somehow the words got changed around so that we wrote it based on Don McLean, and even Don McLean I think has it on his Web site. But he doesn’t know. You know, he only knows what the legend is. > **[Charles Fox : Songwriter Interviews](https://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/charles-fox)** > > After studying in Paris with a famous composition teacher, Charles became the most successful writer of TV theme songs. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs-not-sampling/847234.md?page=3)