Songs that tip the hat to earlier songs

Submitted by ShortBusRide t3_yh18q9 in Music

At least three landmark songs from the 1960s ended unexpectedly on non-tonic chords: And Your Bird Can Sing (Beatles 1966), Sunshine of Your Love (Cream 1967), Pinball Wizard (Who 1969). The latter appear to be nods to the earlier songs. What are other examples of groups of songs that contain unusual surprises which appear to be references to earlier songs?

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RubiksSugarCube t1_iubl87w wrote

Bruce Springsteen released Born to Run in 1975. In 1984, Springsteen released Born in the USA which contains the lyric: "I'm ten years burning down the road/nowhere to run, ain't go nowhere to go"

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reesesbigcup t1_iubrnqa wrote

Destroyer by The Kinks references back to Lola, "Met a girl called Lola and I took her back to my place ... "

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JaymesGrl t1_iublp4l wrote

Rammstein with Deutschland. The first two words are the name of what is probably their biggest hit Du Hast. The music video also finishes with a piano rendition of their other biggest hit Sonne.

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Fleaslayer t1_iubnyk5 wrote

Sweet Home Alabama has the verse:

>Well I heard Mister Young sing about her, Well I heard ol' Neil put her down, Well I hope Neil Young will remember, A southern man don't need him around anyhow

Which is a reference to Southern Man, by Neil Young.

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BishopGrisha t1_iucwy8b wrote

There’s a fun chain here.

  1. Neil Young writes “Southern Man”.
  2. Skynyrd writes “Sweet Home Alabama” in partial retaliation (though Van Zant said he harbored no resentment).
  3. Warren Zevon writes “Play It All Night Long” about how only rednecks listen to Skynyrd (chorus starts “Sweet home Alabama, play that dead band’s song”)
  4. Kid Rock samples Zevon’s “Werewolves of London” for that song that fetishizes “Sweet Home Alabama”, a move that’s too spot on to be unintentional, even for someone like Rock.

Which means that, ultimately, Neil Young is responsible for Kid Rock’s comeback as a “country” artist.

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Fleaslayer t1_iue2mjw wrote

That's funny, though you might be giving kid rock too much credit

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Fleaslayer t1_iubnlsk wrote

American Pie, about the plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and The Big Bopper, keeps repeating the line "This'll be the day that I die," which is obviously a reference to "That'll be the day (that I die)," a Buddy Holly song.

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ImGumbyDamnIt t1_iuc2dnk wrote

The song is full of throwbacks:

"Did you write the book of love?" - Who Wrote the Book OF Love, Monotones 1954

"The jester sang of the King and Queen, in a coat he borrowed from James Dean" - Bob Dylan had a coat from James Dean. The King and Queen were Elvis and Aretha.

"with the jester on the sidelines in a cast" - Dylan had a near fatal motorcycle accident, and he withdrew from the music scene for several years.

The lines about Lennon and the quartet in the park are probably about the Beatles, just like moss growing fat on a Rolling Stone is about the Rolling Stones. The Stones show up later in the Jack Flash and Fire is the Devil's Only Friend lyrics. The girl who sang the blues was Joplin.

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Fleaslayer t1_iuc3oz4 wrote

Yeah, I didn't include stuff like that because most of them are references to artists, not to songs. I didn't know the Who Wrote The Book of Love reference.

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ImGumbyDamnIt t1_iuc4lwf wrote

Fair enough. "Jack be nimble, jack be quick, jack Flash sat on a candle stick" is a reference to the Stones song "Jumping Jack Flash" and "fire's the devil's only friend" is to "Sympathy for the Devil". "Helter Skelter in a summer swelter", Beatles, "Helter Skelter". "Eight miles high and falling fast" is for The Byrds song "Eight Miles High".

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Monsieur_Moneybags t1_iuc2yg2 wrote

"Splish Splash" by Bobby Darin references "Lollipop" (Ronald & Ruby), "Peggy Sue" (Buddy Holly) and "Good Golly Miss Molly" (Little Richard).

"Yer Blues" by The Beatles references "Dylan's Mr. Jones" from "Ballad of a Thin Man" by Bob Dylan. On the same album (the "White Album") the song "Glass Onion" refers to earlier Beatles songs (e.g. "Strawberry Fields Forever", "I Am the Walrus").

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Cake-Over t1_iuboclj wrote

Major Tom popping up in a few David Bowie songs count?

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cerebral_grooves t1_iubpzxk wrote

I watched a documentary on the Beatles and it had a section on Dylan's "subterranean homesick blues". It had a huge influence on a lot of peoples writing because it was not easily interpreted.

The doc said that Norwegian wood was a direct influence of that.

Also referenced by Ray Manzerik in the Doors. Essentially saying if he can get by with that then Morrison's lyrics will thrive.

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MissAngela66 t1_iubq2xs wrote

Ghetto Superstar . . . used music from Islands in the Stream which was written by the Bee Gees. On a Bee Gees compilation album; Number 1's I think, Robin Gibb sings the song as an R&B style song (which sounds amazing and I think was the original intention for the song) and does a sample of the sample singing a Ghetto Superstar verse towards the end of the song. It was great!!

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SirDrexl t1_iubu7xe wrote

The Chi-Lites remade some of their songs. On the 1980 version of "Have You Seen Her," there's a bit where he acknowledges it's a remake by going "and it's 1980, still lookin' for my baby."

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ToPimpAYeezy t1_iubuuc4 wrote

I’d say a solid 25% of hiphop songs do this lol

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iowaman79 t1_iubuucm wrote

Eddie Van Halen took the final guitar riff from Jump and turned it into the opening riff for Top of the World a decade later

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joshykins89 t1_iuceprs wrote

That song also happens to sound exactly like Dance the Night Away lol. Can't unhear it.

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ryuundo t1_iucb8ar wrote

Orange Juice used the main two note solo riff and some of the lyrics from Buzzcocks' Boredom from 1977 in their 1982 song Rip It Up.

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7676meandyou t1_iucxdc0 wrote

The end of Pink Floyd's 'Shine on You Crazy Diamond Part 6-9' has the beginning notes of 'See Emily Play' which was the bands first single

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boneman429 t1_iuejd2m wrote

Tom Petty in Runnin Down a Dream: Me and Del (Shannon) were singin a little Runaway.

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thndrstrk t1_iuboqxd wrote

That new Tim McGraw song has a lot of callbacks to his older stuff. I know Reddit isn't a big fan of pop country, or whatever it's called, but it's fun too hear some callbacks.

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cerebral_grooves t1_iuboz4x wrote

Rap is phenomenal at lyrically nodding old songs but a favorite would be Biggie with Who Shot Ya continuing the Ten Crack Commandments with an 11th

"Slip and break the 11th Commandment Thou shalt not fuck with nor see Poppa"

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raginghappy t1_iubrgio wrote

All By Myself Eric Carmen / Rachmaninoff. Maybe not exactly what you're looking for but it's always cracked me up

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reesesbigcup t1_iufrafa wrote

Every Day I Write The Book - Elvis Costello, 1983 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ekrzLtCKMJg

Chapter One we didn't really get along / Chapter Two I think I fell in love with you / You said you'd stand by me in the middle of Chapter Three / But you were up to your old tricks in Chapters Four, Five and Six

Who Wrote The Book Of Love - The Monotones, 1958 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-xDwq8NM9G4

Chapter one says to love her, you love her with all your heart / Chapter two you tell her you're never, never, never, never, never gonna part / In chapter three remember the meaning of romance / In chapter four you break up but you give her just one more chance

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FrivolousPositioning t1_iuchhzd wrote

Tribute by Tenacious D actually tips the hat a couple times to the greatest song in the world

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TheWiez97 t1_iue4j6a wrote

All pop-punk bands mentioning older bands in every song

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