# Songs that reference other songs
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 10, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080 "2006-04-10T14:40:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/1 "2006-04-10T14:40:36Z")
Inspired by the innuendo thread…something made me think of ‘Volcano Girls’ by Veruca Salt which includes this reference to their first hit:
> [@](#):
>
> I told you 'bout the Seether before
> You know that it was either or not
> Well here’s another clue if you please
> The Seether’s me!
So to celebrate that free association let’s toss out other songs that refer to songs by the same or other artists.
There’s all the ‘Annie’ songs from way back when, of course. Those are good.
And Sting is exempt. I’ve never before seen anyone who can make an easy joke fall flat like he can.
So do it…for the children.
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### Author:  [@The\_Punkyova](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Punkyova)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/2 "2006-04-10T14:48:36Z")
“Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd (sp?) refers to “Southern Men” by Neil Young.
Weird trivia - growing up in Alabama, I had never heard of the Neil Young song. I remember being at a party in high school, and SHA was played (as usual). Someone asked about the lyrics, and no one knew what that verse was talking about. The class know-it-all insisted that Neil Young (of whom we had heard) had written a song about the civil rights movement which was the referrent. No one believed him.
When I went to college in the midwest, Neil Young got played at parties. I remember the first time I heard “Southern Men,” and was impressed. “Hey! That must be what Lynyrd Skynyrd was going on about!” Everyone else laughed at me because it was common knowlege. They figured SM must have been banned in Alabama, because there is no other way it wouldn’t have been in heavy rotation on every 60s music playlist.
Just the first of many cultural clashes.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/3 "2006-04-10T14:54:35Z")
And Warren Zevon wrote “Play it all Night Long” about “Sweet Home Alabama.”
My favorite was Matthew Fisher’s “Going for a Song.” It does not refer to any song by name, but he sings about not wanting to play a particular song again, but that he always has to. Fisher performed with Procul Harm, and, in “Going for a Song,” he plays a few notes from the organ part from “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/4 "2006-04-10T14:58:09Z")
Mott the Hoople’s “Driving Sister” start out with the line: “Eight-track machine playing ’Half Moon Bay’,” a song off their first album.
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### Author:  [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/5 "2006-04-10T15:07:09Z")
The Beatles’ _Glass Onion_ includes references to numerous other Beatles songs.
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/6 "2006-04-10T15:12:54Z")
When come back, bring “American Pie”
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### Author:  [@Guy\_Incongnito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incongnito)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/7 "2006-04-10T15:19:15Z")
Fall Out Boy - Calm Before The Storm:
“There’s a song on the radio that says, ‘Let’s get this party started,’
So let’s get this party started.”
The Game ft. 50 Cent - Hate It Or Love It:
"My favorite rapper used to sing “ch-check out my melody”
(A reference to Rakim’s “My Melody”)
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### Author:  [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/8 "2006-04-10T15:21:33Z")
> [@The Punkyova](#):
>
> “Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd (sp?) refers to “Southern Men” by Neil Young.
"The version I listen to even has a cut of Neil Young singing the words “Southern Man” in it. Maybe they all do?
“I’ve seen all good people” by Yes mentions Instant Karma by John Lennon. It’s clearer after they have them in the background singing “all we are saying is give peace a chance.”
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### Author:  [@dinahmoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dinahmoe)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/9 "2006-04-10T15:22:22Z")
“Frank Sinatra” by CAKE mentions Frank singing “Stormy Weather.”
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### Author:  [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/10 "2006-04-10T15:25:20Z")
Tom Petty’s “Running Down a Dream”
_Trees flew by
Me and Del (Shannon) were singin’
Little **Runaway**
I was flyin’_
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### Author:  [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/11 "2006-04-10T15:39:21Z")
Quicksilver’s “Doing Time in the USA” sings the title line of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. Similarly, Blue Oyster Cult’s “Burnin’ for You” has the Stones “time is our side” as a line.
The Guess Who did “Lightfoot” on their first album, a tribute song to Gordon Lightfoot that mentions several of his songs.
Paul Simon’s “A Simple Desultory Philippic” mentions bunches of people and mocks Dylan with a sarcastic:
> [@](#):
>
> But it’s alright, ma,
> Everybody must get stoned.
.
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### Author:  [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/12 "2006-04-10T15:54:15Z")
Every Bloodhound Gang song, ever.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/13 "2006-04-10T15:57:18Z")
I’ll toss another one out there:
Cowboy Mouth: Joe Strummer references several songs by the Clash ‘Rock the Casbah’, ‘London Burning’, and others.
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### Author:  [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/14 "2006-04-10T16:04:30Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> \
>
> My favorite was Matthew Fisher’s “Going for a Song.” It does not refer to any song by name, but he sings about not wanting to play a particular song again, but that he always has to. Fisher performed with Procul Harm, and, in “Going for a Song,” he plays a few notes from the organ part from “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”
Must be an occupational handicap for musicians who’ve been on the road a long time, remember James Taylor’s “That’s Why I’m Here”:
Fortune and fame’s such a curious game. Perfect strangers can call you by name.
Pay good money to hear “Fire and Rain” again and again and again.
Some are like summer coming back every year,
got your baby got your blanket got your bucket of beer.
I break into a grin from ear to ear and suddenly it’s perfectly clear.
That’s why I’m here.
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### Author:  [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/15 "2006-04-10T16:48:31Z")
Alice Cooper (real name Vincent Furnier) has done this on the last couple of albums…
the song “Disgraceland” is a homage/parody of Elvis songs, “The Ballad of Jesse Jane” is a homage/parody of Johnny Cash songs
he’s also self-referential
From “It’s the Little Things”
“I’m on some thin ice
You push me too far
Welcome to my nightmare
No more Mr. Nice Guy”
From “Gimmie”
“There is one thing
I mean everything has a price
I really hate to repeat myself
But nothing’s free **(Nothing’s Free)**”
From “Dragontown” (one of the most self-referentially-dense Alice songs)
“Open any door
Remember everyone you met before
Oh. There’s a wicked young man **(Wicked Young Man)**
Cooking slowly the frying pan
And the family of bones\*\* (Pick up the Bones)\*\* are back together sleeping all alone
Then there’s Alice, dear
And all the little things \*\*(It’s the little things)\*\*that got him here
Now you’re here”
They Might Be Giants “Why Must I Be Sad” is chock full of Alice song references;
"No More Mister Nice Guy
I Love the Dead
I’ve been thinking about it
Now I understand what he said
Ask me now
I understand the words that Alice said
I kick the rocks beneath me
I squint at the sun
Sad, sad, sad, sad
Why must I be sad?"
"No More Mister Nice Guy
I Love the Dead
I’ve been thinking about it
Now I understand what he said
Ask me now
I understand the words that Alice said
I kick the rocks beneath me
I squint at the sun
Sad, sad, sad, sad
Why must I be sad?
The rows of dandelions growing all around me
Why must I be sad? (Welcome to My Nightmare / Dead)
Why must I be sad? (Babies / Raped and Freezin’ / You)
Why must I be sad? (Drive Me Nervous / Elected /)
Why must I be sad? (Generation Landslide / Un)
Why must I be sad? (der My Wheels / Muscle of Love /)
Why must I be sad? (School’s Out / Only Women Bleed /)
Why must I be sad? (Billion Dollar Babies)"
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### Author:  [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/16 "2006-04-10T17:07:21Z")
The band Anything Box referenced a song that the vocalist did on his solo record (the song was called “All Dreams Must End”). In a later song, he said:
“I used to think not long ago
All dreams must end
How could I be so wrong?”
Needless to say that this album was a lot more optimistic than the solo effort.
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### Author:  [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/17 "2006-04-10T17:09:35Z")
_Luckenbach, Texas_ specifically mentions _Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain_
_If That Ain’t Country_ ends with references to _The Great Speckled Bird_ and _Honky Tonk Angels_
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### Author:  [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/18 "2006-04-10T17:15:12Z")
Bruce Springsteen in Thunder Road sings about “Roy Orbison singing for the lonely”, a reference to “Only The Lonely”
Hootie and the Blowfish mention Bob Dylan in one of their songs and then quote a few lines from “Idiot Wind”
Johnny Rivers sings about “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” in Summer Rain
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/19 "2006-04-10T17:25:24Z")
“Grand Ol’ Opry Song”, starting off the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s (and many country legends’) “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”? is almost nothing \*but \* references to other songs.
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### Author:  [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2006, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/352080/20 "2006-04-10T17:27:27Z")
A bunch [more](http://www.amiright.com/real/songartist/)
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