# What was the first hit song that contained a recognisable sample? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255 "2009-07-16T19:45:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/1 "2009-07-16T19:45:07Z")
I’m aware of the novelty tune from the '50s, “[The Flying Saucer Parts 1 & 2](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oxx8WZZD0Q)” by Dickie Goodman and Bill Buchanan. This contained a string of samples from hits of the day but isn’t much of a song, more a 4 minute gag track. What was the first hit song in the US or the UK that contained a recognisable sample of another song? I know prior to recorded music existing that composers often “sampled” refrains from others but I’m talking about a sample being used from an actual previous record. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/2 "2009-07-16T19:56:37Z")
The Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” was backed by a band playing Chic’s “Good Times” but it’s rumored that it was actually sampled. It came out in 1979. > **[Rapper's Delight](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapper%27s_Delight#Predecessors)** > > "Rapper's Delight" is a 1979 hip hop track by the Sugarhill Gang, produced by Sylvia Robinson. Although it was shortly preceded by the Fatback Band's "King Tim III (Personality Jock)", "Rapper's Delight" is credited for introducing hip hop music to a wide audience, reaching the top 40 in the United States, as well as the top three in the United Kingdom and number one in Canada. It was a prototype for various types of rap music. The track interpolates Chic's "Good Times", resulting in Chic's Ni ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/3 "2009-07-16T20:38:00Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > The Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” was backed by a band playing Chic’s “Good Times” but it’s rumored that it was actually sampled. It came out in 1979. > > [Rapper's Delight - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapper%27s_Delight#Predecessors) The Sugarhill Gang definitely sampled The Incredible Bongo Band’s version (1973) of [Apache](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apache_(The_Shadows_song)#Sugarhill_Gang:_.22Apache.22_.281981.29); that was in 1981. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/4 "2009-07-16T21:49:52Z")
In the early 1940s Glenn Miller recorded several versions of \*\*Juke Box Saturday Night \*\* which “samples” other big bands of the period including Harry James, The Ink Spots, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/5 "2009-07-16T22:15:18Z")
After re-reading the OP, I think I may have misunderstood the word “samples” in my first response. Glenn Miller’s \*\*Jukebox Saturday Night \*\*did not actually use the music of the groups mentioned, they were imitated by his band members. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Shroud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/439d5e/32.png) [@The\_Shroud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Shroud)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/6 "2009-07-17T00:59:27Z")
I was recently introduced to Serge Gainsbourg’s [Bonnie and Clyde](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Papy-TKj-2U&feature=related) from 1967, and wondered if the howling in the background was a sample. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/7 "2009-07-17T02:22:35Z")
I came in to add [Tone Loc - Wild Thing](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=387ZDGSKVSg) sampled Van Halen but finding out that was 1989, could have sworn it was much earlier… ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/8 "2009-07-17T02:32:10Z")
[Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(music)#Early_cases) says the Beatles used sampling in Yellow Submarine. But I think that was using spoken dialogue, not other people’s music tracks. ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/9 "2009-07-17T02:44:03Z")
It’s possible that The Jackson Five used a sample in there 1970 hit, “ABC” taken from The Temptations 1969 hit, “I Can’t Get Next to You”. It’s that little part that goes, “Aaaaaah yah!” Or maybe they just copied the bit from their older Motown peers. Sounds the same though. ---
**Author:** ![jormundgondir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@jormundgondir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jormundgondir)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/10 "2009-07-17T04:16:36Z")
Revolution Number 9? They use a number of orchestral samples I think… ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/11 "2009-07-17T05:18:38Z")
Although it almost certainly doesn’t qualify as a hit song, the first composition to feature a recording of another sound was Ottorini Respighi’s [Pini di Roma](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pini_di_Roma), which premiered in 1924. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/12 "2009-07-17T15:30:40Z")
IIRC Louis Prima used a sample from sputnik on “Beep Beep.” Can’t seem to find a cite though. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/13 "2009-07-17T15:45:25Z")
1961 Collage no.1 and 2 It sampled Blue Suede Shoes by Elvis. It was by James Tenner. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/14 "2009-07-17T17:03:17Z")
1812 Overture > **[1812 Overture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1812_Overture)** > > The Year 1812, Solemn Overture, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture, is a concert overture in E♭ major written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The piece commemorates Russia's successful defense of the French invasion of the country by Napoleon in 1812. > The overture debuted in Moscow on 20 August \[O.S. 8 August\] 1882, conducted by Ippolit Al'tani under a tent near the then-almost-finished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, which also memorialised the 1812 defense of... “Sampling” is hardly new. (Yes, I know that wasn’t “a sample being used from an actual previous record” but they didn;t have records back then. ) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/15 "2009-07-17T17:12:46Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > IIRC Louis Prima used a sample from sputnik on “Beep Beep.” Can’t seem to find a cite though. It sure didn’t sound like it. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-first-hit-song-that-contained-a-recognisable-sample/503255/16 "2009-07-17T17:42:32Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > (Yes, I know that wasn’t “a sample being used from an actual previous record” but they didn;t have records back then. ) Thanks, but I was specifically looking for the first hit song with a recorded sample rather than a replayed part or riff.