How did we go so long without one of these threads?
I was listening to Queen’s We Will Rock You on my radio a while ago, which was afterwards followed by We Are the Champions. It hit me that We Will Rock you is the only song I can think of that has a sequel. Can anyone think of any others?
the only rule I will lay down in this thread is that instrumental songs listed in chronological order don’t count. So no, I don’t really consider “sounds of the rainforest 2” to be a sequel. There needs to be a distinct relationship between two songs. I’d prefer if the relationship is in the lyrics, but I suppose I could settle for a song that was created with the sole purpose of being played after the first…man, I hope that makes sense
Are you asking for songs that always follow each other on the radio as a twosome, or that actually are meant to wrap up stories told from the first one in the lyrics?
If the former, I can list quite a bunch: Heartbreaker / Livin Lovin’ Maid, This Beat Goes On / Switchin’ To Glide, No Sugar Tonight / New Mother Nature, China / Rider, etc.
If tha latter, I can’t think of a single one. In fact, I never made the connection until just now that We Are The Champions is a “sequel” to We Will Rock You.
Well, come to think of it, since it was clearly designed as one long, maybe not R. Kelly’s “Closet.” His successful collaborations with Ron Isley with the continuing Mr. Bigg saga probably counts: “Down Low,” Contagious," “Busted”, etc.
LaVern Baker: “Jim Dandy”/“Jim Dandy Got Married”
Buddy Holly: “Peggy Sue”/“Peggy Sue Got Married”
Hank Ballard & The Midnighters: “Work with Me Annie”/“Annie Had a Baby”
David Bowie: “Space Oddity”/“Ashes to Ashes”
Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party (And I’ll Cry If I Want to)” followed by “Judy’s Turn to Cry”
I think there was a singing duo that followed up something like “First Date” with “First Quarrel”
You could argue that John Lennon’s “Jealous Guy” is a sequel to “How Do You Sleep?” (well I don’t know if you could argue it, but I’ve heard that connection).
What you describe in the OP is a segue, not a sequel. There are hundreds of them, dating back to classical music (e.g., the second and third movements of the Beethovan Violin Concerto). Others:
Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding – Elton John
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help From My Friend – Beatles (Actually, this is a sequel, too – the first song mentions “Billy Shears,” the second one is supposedly a song Shears is singing).
Abbey Road Medley – Beatles
A Quick One While He’s Away – The Who (a collection of songs telling a story, all sequeing into each other).
Brain Damage/Eclipse – Pink Floyd
For sequels, there’s
Work with me Annie/Annie had a Baby – Hank Ballard and the Moonlighters
It’s My Party/Judy’s Turn to Cry – Leslie Gore
Johnny B. Goode/Bye Bye Johnny – Chuck Berry
Phil Elvrum, who made a few incredible records under the name The Microphones and now makes incredible records under the name Mount Eerie has always employed “sequel” motifs in his songs, going with straight “pt. 2’s” and so on.
In some cases, he’ll just write an entirely new song, new lyrics, new melody using the same chord progression or even the same instrumental (“Moon Sequel,” “The Blow pt. 2,” “Where it’s hotter pt. 3”), and sometimes it’s just a spiritual or thematic sequel to a previous song (“The Glow pt. 2”).
He even named his third album “The Glow pt. 2,” and inferring that this meant that the previous record “It was hot, we stayed in the water” was really “The Glow pt. 1.”
“I’m Losing You” by John Lennon and “I’m Moving On” by Yoko Ono should count, I think. It’s an odd, “He said, she said” thing, but it works really well, and they merge together seamlessly.
The Royal Guardsmen. Snoopy and the Red Baron/Snoopy’s Christmas.
Then of course, there’s the Gary Puckett trilogy: Young Girl/This Girl Is a Woman Now/Woman, Woman which may not be sequels as much as taking an idea and beating it into the gound.