# Songs that reference other songs
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 27, 2010, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622 "2010-02-27T05:19:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/1 "2010-02-27T05:19:29Z")
I have my car radio on a newer station in Atlanta. It’s platform is essentially Top 40, but it has older songs on heavy rotation.
Tone Loc has two of his songs in the rotation.
I was listening to Funky Cold Medina, and it comes to a verse talking about his dog.
“…and he did the _ **WILD THING** _ on my leg…”
Obviously there is a certain extent that both songs are going to sound the same. It is just, Tone Loc went out of his way to reference his earlier work.
Wild Thing
Which talks about … what you would expect it to be.
* * *
Are there any other examples, where there is no doubt that a verse is talking about one other specific song? Songs from other artists would also count.
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### Author:  [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/2 "2010-02-27T05:48:09Z")
Sting incorporates bits of his lyrics from older songs into his newer songs … or are you looking for one song that references the title of another song?
_Love Is the Seventh Wave_ has lyrics from _Every Breath You Take_
_Seven Days_ has lyrics from _Every Little Thing She Does_
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### Author:  [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/3 "2010-02-27T06:01:35Z")
**Sweet Home Alabama**
\*Well I heard mister Young sing about her
Well, I heard ole Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow \*
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### Author:  [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/4 "2010-02-27T06:07:05Z")
From “The Deadbeat Club,” by B-52s…“and the jukebox playin’ real loud, ‘96 Tears.’”
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### Author:  [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/5 "2010-02-27T06:31:21Z")
Umm Johnny Rivers references Sgt Pepper in “Summer Rain”…
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/6 "2010-02-27T06:55:20Z")
> [@Meeko](#):
>
> Tone Loc has two of his songs in the rotation.
>
> I was listening to Funky Cold Medina, and it comes to a verse talking about his dog.
>
> “…and he did the _ **WILD THING** _ on my leg…”
>
> Obviously there is a certain extent that both songs are going to sound the same. It is just, Tone Loc went out of his way to reference his earlier work.
>
> Wild Thing
>
> Which talks about … what you would expect it to be.
Tone Loc also references the Stones’ \*Satisfaction \*in the song and includes a snippet of its distinctive drum break.
The Beatles did this often. _Glass Onion_ is full of references to earlier Beatles songs (_Strawberry Fields Forever, I am the Walrus, Fool on the Hill, Lady Madonna_, and _Fixing a Hole_).
_Come Together_ references Chuck Berry’s _You Can’t Catch Me_ (“Here come a flat top…”). Springsteen also refers to part of the song in _State Trooper_. T. Rex’s _Bang a Gong_ has a shout-out to Berry’s _Little Queenie_ at the end (“Meanwhile, I was still thinkin’”). The structure of his _Too Much Monkey Business_ was used by Bob Dylan in _Subterranean Homesick Blues._
Getting back to Springsteen, \*Thunder Road \*mentions Roy Orbison’s _Only the Lonely_ (“As the radio plays/Roy Orbison singing for the lonely”).
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/7 "2010-02-27T14:18:15Z")
Elvis Costello, “American Without Tears #2”: _He packed up the casino chips, the IOUs, and the abacus/And switched off the jukebox in “A Fool Such as I”_
Jaime Brockett’s “Legend of the USS Titanic” quotes Dylan’s “Bob Dylan’s Dream #115”: _Like all tough sailors do when they’re far away at sea!_
Yes’s “I’ve Seen All Good People” refers to an “Instant Karma” and has backing vocals chanting “All we are saying is give peace a chance.”
The “She Gives Me Love” section of Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe’s “Quartet” mentions the titles of several Yes songs: “Long Distance Runaround,” “South Side of the Sky,” “The Gates of Delirium,” and “Roundabout.”
Jethro Tull’s “Like a Tall, Thin Girl,” which sounds suspiciously like their much older song “Fat Man,” includes the line “Well, I may not be a fat man.” Two songs on Tull’s _Warchild_ album, “Sea Lion” and “Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day,” refer to a “Passion Play,” which was the title of their previous album.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/8 "2010-02-27T14:34:24Z")
Eddie Money’s Take Me Home Tonight is a pretty obvious one. I’m also thinking you’re not including any hip hop samples like T.I. and Rihanna’s Live Your Life which lifts from Dragostea Di Tei.
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### Author:  [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/9 "2010-02-27T15:14:46Z")
Beatles’ _All You Need Is Love_ references _She Loves You_ in the fadeout as well as samples _Greensleeves_ and Glenn Miller’s _In the Mood_ (for which they were apparently sued).
The Great Grandaddy of them all has to be _American Pie_ with numerous examples ("…this’ll be the day that I die…", “Did you write _The Book of Love_…”, “…if _The Bible Tells [You] So_…”, “…with a _Pink Carnation_ and a pickup truck…”, “\*Helter Skelter \* in a summer swelter…”, “_Eight Miles High_ and falling fast…”, “…the _Sergeants played a marching tune_…”, “…_Jack Flash_ sat on a candlestick…”), not to mention referencing numeous rockstars.
Don’t forget about all the “answer songs” that came out as well, since they directly reference other songs by their sheer existence:
_It’s My Party_/ _Judy’s Turn to Cry_ (Leslie Gore),
_Eve of Destruction_ (Barry McGuire) / _Dawn of Correction_ (The Spokesmen),
_King of the Road_ (Roger Miller) / Queen of the House (Jody Miller),
_A Thousand Miles Away_ The Heartbeats / _Daddy’s Home_ (Shep and the Limelites)
…there are numerous examples, and I could be here all day writing them out.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/10 "2010-02-27T16:59:22Z")
Kid Rock pretty much recycled all of _Werewolves of London_, and bits of \*Sweet Home Alabama \*and pieces of Bob Seger in “All Summer Long.” At least, musically, if not lyrically.
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### Author:  [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/11 "2010-02-27T18:44:26Z")
Aerosmith’s “What It Takes” has the line, “Girl, before I met you, I was F.I.N.E. fine,” a reference to their own earlier song F.I.N.E. (Someone once told me, “That doesn’t make the line any less stupid.”)
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### Author:  [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/12 "2010-02-27T18:54:08Z")
_Major Tom_ by Peter Schilling
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/13 "2010-02-27T19:00:03Z")
Madonna references “Into The Groove,” on “Causing a Commotion”
George Harrison references “Imagine” and "All You Need Is Love " on his tribute song to John Lennon “All Those Years Ago.”
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### Author:  [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/14 "2010-02-27T20:42:04Z")
Peter, Paul and Mary did one a few years back called _Old Enough_ that references both their song _I Dig Rock and Roll Music_ and Woody Guthrie’s _Talkin’ Union Blues_.
In a classic country vein, _Tennessee Waltz_ makes a circular reference to itself.
The Oak Ridge Boys’ _Y’all Come Back Saloon_ references the song _Faded Love_.
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### Author:  [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/15 "2010-02-27T20:47:18Z")
In the first verse of “Runnin’ Down a Dream” Tom Petty has “the radio on” in the car and “Me and Del were singing/Little Runaway”. Petty is a fan of Del Shannon.
The Beatles’ “Glass Onion” references some earlier songs (“I told you 'bout Strawberry Fields” … “I told you 'bout the Fool on the Hill”) and also the cryptic line “Here’s another clue for you all/The walrus was Paul”
At the end of “Now I’m Here,” Queen sings “Go, go, go little queenie” a reference the much-covered Chuck Berry tune.
In the opening lines of “The Joker,” Steve Miller references two of his earlier songs, “Space Cowboy” and “Gangster of Love”
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### Author:  [@palindromemordnilap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palindromemordnilap)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/16 "2010-02-27T20:58:08Z")
In Springsteen’s “Thunder Road,” “…as the radio plays/Roy Orbison singing for the lonely/hey that’s me and I want you only” a reference to “Only the Lonely”
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/17 "2010-02-27T21:02:31Z")
Bowie’s _Ashes to Ashes_ is about Major Tom from _Space Oddity_.
_Peggy Sue Got Married_ by Buddy Holly, about . . . _Peggy Sue_.
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### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/18 "2010-02-27T21:14:26Z")
Rick Nelson’s [_Garden Party_](http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/r/ricky_nelson/garden_party.html) references several other songs: _I Am the Walrus_, _Johnny B. Goode_, and his own _Mary Lou_. (He also mentions “a song about a honky-tonk,” but I don’t know what that is, and there may be some other cryptic references to other songs.)
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/19 "2010-02-27T22:12:01Z")
> [@palindromemordnilap](#):
>
> The Beatles’ “Glass Onion” references some earlier songs (“I told you 'bout Strawberry Fields” .. “I told you 'bout the Fool on the Hill”) and also the cryptic line “Here’s another clue for you all/The walrus was Paul”
My favorite Veruca Salt song “Volcano Girls” does a [homage to Glass Onion](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seether_(song)) by having a line that proclaims “Seether’s Louise”: “Seether” was one of Veruca Salt’s earlier hits.
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### Author:  [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2010, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-reference-other-songs/530622/20 "2010-02-27T22:39:04Z")
Pearl Jam references The Beatles’ “All you need is love” in [Love Boat Captain](http://www.pearljam.com/song/love-boat-captain)…
> [@](#):
>
> Love boat captain
> Take the reigns and steer us towards the clear,… here.
> It’s already been sung, but it can’t be said enough.
> All you need is love
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