Songs which reference other songs

[Pothole]

Was listening to Dire Straits' Romeo and Juliet the other day and realised that the lyrics reference two other songs (at least).

As well as My Boyfriend's Back by The Angels (and The Chiffons, of course) there is also a line from "Somewhere" (West Side Story) - "There's a place for us...you know the movie song"

I'm sure there are lots of others. Hit me!

[craigjm]

Castle on the Hill by Ed Sheeran references Tiny Dancer by Elton John

Fairytail of New York by the pogues references Galway Bay and The Rare old Mountain Dew

All summer long by kid rock mentions sweet home Alabama

Don’t stop the dance by Brian ferry mentions Lena hornes stormy weather

Night shift by the commodores references Marvin Gaye what’s going on

Edited by craigjm on Tuesday 29th December 22:44

[gazza285]

Haven't we had this thread before?

Brenda Lee's Coming On Strong was my reply last time, from Radar Love.

[Andy 308GTB]

Sugarhill Gang - 'Rapper's Delight' references The Barkays 'Holy Ghost'

[Nickp82]

‘Let’s dance to Joy Division’ by Wombats - references ‘Love will tear us apart’ .

[Fastchas]

Ed Sheehan listened to ‘Tiny Dancer’.

Edit. Whoops, sorry - beaten to it.

[HighwayToHull]

"The Walrus was Paul"

"We know Major Tom's a junkie"


The only one's I can think of.

[GT6 Jonsey]

Writing to reach you by Travis, “what’s a Wonderwall anyway”

Sweet home Alabama references Neil Youngs Sourhern Man

[GT6 Jonsey]

“The walrus was Paul”

Also in glass onion they mention strawberry fields, lady Madonna, fool on the hill and fixing a hole

Edited by GT6 Jonsey on Wednesday 30th December 04:17

[MikeT66]

Probably hard to beat this one for the number of references:
Barclay James Harvest - Titles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRS10BeQOz0

"The long and winding road that leads to your door
Here comes the sun it's alright people shout for more
But were you trying to deceive telling me
All you need is love to succeed
Lady Madonna let it be
Something in the way you moved me yesterday
All you need is love so they say
Across the universe one after nine 'o' nine
I got a feeling for you blue and I feel fine
I tried so hard to make believe that I'd see
All you need is love to succeed
Lady Madonna let it be
Something in the way you moved me yesterday
All you need is love so they say..."

Roxy Music's "Oh Yeah" manages to reference itself...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGftnl0KtUY

"Driving alone to a movie show
So I turn to the sounds in my car
There's a band playing on the radio
With a rhythm of rhyming guitars
There's a band playing on the radio
And it's drowning the sound of my tears
They're playing Oh Yeah on the radio"

Edited by MikeT66 on Wednesday 30th December 08:29

[Pothole]

craigjm said:

Castle on the Hill by Ed Sheeran references Tiny Dancer by Elton John

Fairytail of New York by the pogues references Galway Bay and The Rare old Mountain Dew

All summer long by kid rock mentions sweet home Alabama

Don’t stop the dance by Brian ferry mentions Lena hornes stormy weather

Night shift by the commodores references Marvin Gaye what’s going on

Edited by craigjm on Tuesday 29th December 22:44

All Summer Long is a mashup of SHA and Werewolves of London.

[Walter Sobchak]

Californication references David Bowies Station to Station, I know it’s an album not a song but guess it counts.

[P5BNij]

Lennon's 'How Do You Sleep' references McCartney's 'Yesterday' (which none of the other Beatles played on).

[TwigtheWonderkid]

A great quiz question:

Which 1975 No1 hit features, in it's lyrics, the name of another 1975 No1 hit?

[HighwayToHull]

Bo Rap mentions Mamma Mia, but that wasn't a hit till 76.

And I bet several 1975 no 1s contained the word 'if'.

That's all I can think of!

[TwigtheWonderkid]

HighwayToHull said:

Bo Rap mentions Mamma Mia, but that wasn't a hit till 76.

That's the one, thought both were 1975.

Another good quiz question is the only palindromic band to have a palindromic hit.

[HighwayToHull]

ABBA, SOS.

Here's one then, which ABBA song contains the name of a band that hadn't even been formed yet?

[droopsnoot]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

A great quiz question:

Which 1975 No1 hit features, in it's lyrics, the name of another 1975 No1 hit?

Year aside, I'd heard that question as "which No1 hit does not include it's own name in the lyrics, but does include the name of the song that replaced it at No 1?" I guess it would need to be qualified now - I first heard it before it was No1 a second time.

Stranglers "Rok it to the Moon" (b-side of "Five Minutes") contains the line

"No more heroes, no more T-bone steaks"

and "Dagenham Dave" contains

"I guess he lost control, and welcomed in the night"

which contains "Lost Control", a track from a much later album, and "In the Night", which was the name of the first album after Hugh Cornwell left.

Edited by droopsnoot on Thursday 31st December 10:16

[Wacky Racer]

Titles by Barclay James Harvest.

[selym]

Wacky Racer said:

Titles by Barclay James Harvest.

Yes! This is the first one that came to mind for me.