Samples on singles that are better known than the original

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Prompted by an advert currently on TV: Weapon of Choice (Fatboy Slim) sampling Into My Own Thing (Sly and the Family Stone).

[Sits]

The Dido bit on the Eminem one?

[Auntie Beryl]

Camille Yarbrough's "Take Yo' Praise" was sent overground by Fatboy Slim (again) on "Praise You".

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Fairly open ended one this, given the nature of sampling in that finding more obscure sources (and in the early days at least, ones which were less likely to object to their use) was all part of the game.

But a classic case, and one which is obviously outside of the usual hip hop / dance area for use of samples is the use of a short refrain in a long-lost Rolling Stones b-side which in itself was an instrumental "interpretation" of the a-side which bore little resemblance to it and the band had nothing to do with, namely "Bitter Sweet Symphony" and "The Last Time (Orchestral Version)".

G-Man to thread.

[3 Colours Red]

Crazy by Gnarls Barkley might be slightly better known than Gianfranco Reverberi's Last Men Standing. Possibly. Call it a hunch.

And as much as it pains me to say it considering how much I love the original source, more people will recognise that horn fanfare from Jump Around than from Harlem Shuffle.

[Hot Pepsi]

"Shit, if it's gonna be that kinda party..."

[Gert from the Well]

The bass line on Radio Babylon by Meat Manifesto is more well known after is was samples by Future Sound of London on Papua, New Guinea. A load of other left-field techno releases from the same period (early 90s) have reused the sample.

[Gert from the Well]

And whilst on the subject of early 90s techno then how about Orbital sampling the rant from the opening track to Dehuminization by US anarcho-punks Crucifix

[Jah Womble]

I think it's safe to say that more people will likely know Beyonce's Crazy in Love than will do The Chi-Lites' Are You My Woman (Tell Me So) from which it borrows so heavily.

But, sure, there'll be hundreds of ex(s)amples of this phenomenon.

[MsD]

Ike's Mood/Rap/Tune by Isaac Hayes used on Glory Box by Portishead, Hell is Round the Corner by Tricky, and One Love by Massive Attack, amongst others.

Maybe Good Times by Chic. It is well-known but maybe Rapper's Delight is better-known.

The sample on White Lines is Cavern by Liquid Liquid.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Maybe Good Times by Chic. It is well-known but maybe Rapper's Delight is better-known.

Rapper's Delight was covered on the Speed of Sound podcase recommended by danielmak - with it being the time of relatively primitive technology they* got session musicians to cover Good Times without the vocals (and to stretch it out over 15 minutes), as they had no way of extracting the instrumental tracks from the originals without access to the tapes. They still had to credit Chic, after a bit of litigation.

*they being the record company, as the Sugarhill Gang was put purely together for the purposes of the record - the podcast also went into how they were recruited and which parts of the vocal were liberally borrowed from locally better known rappers who never got credited.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Numan's M. E. and This Wreckage on Where's Your Head At? springs first to mind.

[Eggchaser]

Although the original is pretty well known, I have smiled knowingly watching some younger people of the female persuasion getting ready to sing "Kelly, can you handle this?" and being confused when they hear "Just like the white winged dove..."

And then I cry because I am old and a withered husk of my youth.

[ale]

S Express theme use of Rose Royce Is It Love Youre After.

[Sits]

I wonder if Gangstas Paradise (Coolio) became more widely known than Stevie Wonder’s Pastime Paradise purely due to the age of the original, and the magnitude of Coolio’s hit.

[Jon]

I wonder if Gangstas Paradise (Coolio) became more widely known than Stevie Wonder’s Pastime Paradise purely due to the age of the original, and the magnitude of Coolio’s hit.

Also, Pastime Paradise was never a single so was a lesser known Stevie Wonder song than many of his others from that period.

Rick James' Superfreak was never a big hit in the UK so I instantly think of MC Hammer's 'U Can't Touch This' when I hear the intro. However, Superfreak was a big hit in the US so maybe this happens less so over there.

[Sits]

I have to admit, I knew the MC Hammer one before the original, which I only heard for the first time on Little Miss Sunshine.

[andrew7610]

I think pretty much everybody knows Prodigy's Firestarter has the 'hey hey hey' sample from Art of Noise's Close to the Edit. I imagine fewer people are aware that Close to the Edit also contains a 'tra la la' vocal which is taken from The Andrew Sisters' Beer Barrel Polka

[danielmak]

I don't know if the Lynn Collins song was a single (sample is from 1:23 of her song):

And here is the Rob Base hit:

[elguapo4]

Also, Pastime Paradise was never a single so was a lesser known Stevie Wonder song than many of his others from that period.

Rick James' Superfreak was never a big hit in the UK so I instantly think of MC Hammer's 'U Can't Touch This' when I hear the intro. However, it was a big hit in the US so maybe this happens less so over there.

Not me, one of the DJs in a place I used to go to loved " Superfreak " and played it all the time . God I hate that song.

[jwdd27]

The rather racy current number 1, "WAP" by Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion makes good use of the "There's some whores in this house" line, which comes from a track called, erm... "Whores in this House", which was a club hit for Frank Ski in 1992, although it is actually the voice of his collaborator Al "T" McLaran, who also co-wrote it (although he was and is uncredited on either track", but says that Frank will see him right for the royalties).

In the piece I read, McLaran had not yet heard the track, but had been alerted by his daughter, who he says is proud of her Daddy's connections to the whores of the world.

As is often the case in this genre, Frank Ski's track itself sampled other songs, with R Dean Taylor's "There's a Ghost in my House" from 1966 providing the original groove.

For those unfamiliar with the current number one, it is not about Wireless Access Protocol.

[Benjm]

The monkish chant on Blue Monday is sampled from Kraftwerk's Uranium.

[WOM]

Schooly D's 'P.S.K. What Does It Mean' is sampled on a ton of songs, but most recognizably Kiss Them For Me by Siouxsie.

James Brown's 'Static' is also on about a million 80s and 90s house tracks.

[Sits]

The monkish chant on Blue Monday is sampled from Kraftwerk's Uranium.

Oh that’s good. I’ll have to give those both a listen, I never knew it was a sample.

[3 Colours Red]

James Brown's 'Static' is also on about a million 80s and 90s house tracks.

Like how Funky Drummer has seemingly appeared on every rap track ever?