Kid Rock’s All Summer Long not only samples (if that’s the right word) Sweet Home Alabama, but is also largely about singing and listening to that song as a young lad.
What are some other songs that reference other songs? By “reference” I mean that the vocalist specifically mentions or alludes to the other song; I don’t just mean sampling.
Don McLean’s American Pie refers to approximately a crapton of other songs: Eight Miles High (the Byrds,) Helter Skelter (Beatles,) Like a Rolling Stone (Dylan,) etc.
The Reunion’s one-hit wonder song “Life Is A Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me)” mentions the Locomotion, Satisfaction, Gimme Shelter, Good Vibrations, Help Me Rhonda, Surfer Girl, Little Honda, Sugar Sugar, Yummy Yummy, as well as many more names of artists and bands.
Sweet Soul Music by Arthur Conley mentions:[ul]
[li]Going To A Go Go by Smokey and the Miracles[/li][li]Love’s A hurtin’ Thing by Lou Rawls[/li][li]Hold On, I’m Comin’ by Sam and Dave[/li][li]Mustang Sally by Wilson Pickett[/li][li]Otis Redding [/li][li]James Brown [/li][/ul]
Then there’s the Barclay James Harvest song Titles, with lyrics mainly based on titles of Beatles songs such as Lady madonna, The long and winding road, Here comes the sun, Let it be, Something and many more.
Also in Sparks’ “Rockin’ Girls” (“You’re the only girl I ever met who hates ‘Hey Jude’”).
The album *The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway *by Genesis is riddled with references to old songs, including “On Broadway,” “In the Mood,” “Runaway,” “It Won’t Be Long,” “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,” and “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll” (the last of which was actually a current hit when the album was recorded).
And, conversely, the Traveling Wilburys (of which Orbison was a member) did a song, “Tweeter and the Monkey Man”, which was an homage to Springsteen. The song’s lyrics contain the names of a bunch of Springsteen songs, including “Thunder Road”, “Jersey Girl”, “Stolen Car”, and “The River”, among others.