Songs which directly cite other songs by title

James McMurty - Levelland

I can hear the marching band
Doing the best the can to play
Smoke on the Water
And Joy to the World

 

'My Boy Elvis' by Janis Martin


'Heartbreak Hotel' and 'Blue Suede Shoes' - he walks away with all my blues
Take my trouble, take my pain, and load 'em on that 'Mystery Train'

 

Quartet by Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe cites about half a dozen Yes songs in its lyrics.

 

The majority of latter day Beach Boys efforts written by Mike Love cite previous Beach Boys lyrics and song titles. It's self referentialism at it's worst.

 

Nice, I've never heard The Divine Comedy but they're right. The divine Blue Monday was often last at the Camden Palace club in ancientesque times (35 - 30 years ago). I was used to its brilliant thump in the house from 1983 when my older sister brought it home. But the club system thump later on was something else entirely!

 

Nope, it's real. A quick googling turned up versions by:

Rock Creek Jug Band
Delta Generators
Nolan Patton

(The correct spelling is actually Johnstown)

 

Ian Dury & The Blockheads - Reasons To Be Cheerful (Pt.3) from 1979, mentions Little Richard's Rock'n'Roll classic:

'Summer, Buddy Holly, the working folly
Good Golly Miss Molly and boats'.

 

Wesley Stace 'When I Knew'

"I met her in my bedroom
At a party, Halloween
She was wearing a pair of dungarees
So I sang "Come on Eileen"
(I was being slightly mean)"

 

Likewise the opening song of Street Hassle, Gimme Some Good Times, both quotes the song Sweet Jane and refers to Reed’s earlier live album RnR Animal.

Hey, if that ain't the rock'n'roll animal himself, what you doing bro.
(Standing on the corner)
Well, I can see that, what you got in your hand
(Suitcase in my hand)
No, s***, what's this
(Jack is in his corset, Jane is in her vest)
F***ing f****t Johnson
(Jack, sweet Jane, I'm in a rock'n'roll band)
Well, I can see that

 

Also there track
from Divine Comedy - Something fo the Weekend....



Lyrics are always amusing as well.




Music1 songs

Something For The Weekend by Ben Westbeech
There’s More To Life Than This

 

Suprisingly, The Motown Song by Rod Stewart does not cite any other song.

 

Haha, good times! That song definitely has a great bass thump!!
I never went to any indie discos myself - indie music was all Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs type stuff when I was of age - but I do love synth pop

 

Heaven & Hell

 

Are you sure? I looked up "Summer of '69" on two lyrics sites and there's no mention of "Love Me Do."

 

You're right. I don't know why I thought that! I've deleted my post.

 

And “Free Bird” on another one (can’t remember the title!)

 

The (pre-Turtles) Crossfires' Follow The Rock is virtually a list of song titles strung together.

 

Jawbreaker's "Pack It Up" mentions a bunch of their own song titles (e.g., ""Equalized" is overrated")

 

Mott The Hoople - ‘Drivin’ Sister’ from their sixth album… references a deep-cut song from their first album.

“Eight-track machine playing 'Half Moon Bay'…
Drivin' in my Volks down on Hampstead Way.”

 

Chuck Prophet - ‘Summertime Thing’

“Go ask your dad for the keys to the Honda…
Can your sister come along, how could she not wanna?
Put the Beach Boys on, wanna hear ‘Help Me Rhonda.”

 

He also references "Blue Jean Bop" in "Sweet Gene Vincent", on New Boots and Panties.

 

Just as a bad movie should never reference a good movie, a bad song should never reference a good song, lest the listener realize, “I could be listening to a good song!”

 

Here's a weird one - Manhattan Transfer's Bodies And Souls contains a song called "Soldier Of Fortune", that drops the Ramayana Monkey Chant in the middle of it. It's an iconic Balinese/Indonesian dance/chant. Whahhhh...?
Sorta off-topic, but sorta isn't for the song's subject matter. Forward to 2:30

 

Are album titles allowed? Probably not but FWIW anyway..

"Dirk Wears White Sox!"
Adam Ant repeatedly yells this title of his first very strange album during his second massively successful album, on the track Don't Be Square Be There (1980).

"Soundtracks... Soundtracks..[..] may we go back to days pre-Virgin? Cannot get on... clear vinyl.."
Mark E Smith namechecks Can's 2nd LP Soundtracks during The Fall: I Am Damo Suzuki (1985).

 

Harry Chapin's title song on Dance Band On The Titanic name-checks "Nearer My God To Thee", which is what the musicians onboard were instructed to play that night to calm the passengers.
No clue as to whether Musicians Union regulations guaranteed them life vests.