Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

[Crusoe]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

Low, Hatchet

You be my Charlie and I can be your George
Let's bury the hatchet
Like the Beatles and the Stones

[Crusoe]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

CSS, Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above

(Sorry if already posted.)

[Furtho]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

evilC wrote: Momus - 'The Madness Of Lee Scratch Perry'

Momus' The Most Important Man Alive references - and indeed is about - "Howard Devoto, the singer from Magazine."

[Furtho]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

evilC wrote: My Little Airport - 'When I Listen To The Field Mice'

One of Bobby Wratten's post-Field Mice groups, Trembling Blue Stars, have a song called Abba On The Jukebox.

[Crusoe]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

On an Abba tip:

Let's Wrestle, Song For Abba Tribute Record

[Furtho]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

Doesn't seem to be online anywhere, but punishingly obscure acoustic minimalists Empress - also known as New North Wales - have a lovely song called Vodka And The Verlaines.

[Heatwaving Not Drowning]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

I Can't Get Bouncing Babies by the Teardrop Explodes" by The Freshies
Iggy Pop's Jacket-Those Naughty Lumps
Julian Cope Is Dead-Bill Drummond

[evilC]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

I forgot about this recent gem:

Blancmange - 'The Fall'

[Uncle Ethan]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

Roy Orbison singing for the Lonely - Bruce Springsteen
Marvin, he was friend of mine - The Commodores

[Geoffrey de Ste. Croix]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

A few from from Belle and Sebastian.

From 'Seymour Stein':

'I heard dinner went well
You liked Chris's jacket
He reminded you of Johnny [Marr]
Before he went Electronic'

From 'I Love My Car':

'I love my Carl
I love my Brian my Dennis and my Al
I could even find it in my head to love Mike Love'

From 'Expectations':

'And the head said that you always were a queer one from the start
For careers you say you went to be remembered for your art
Your obsessions get you known throughout the school for being strange
Making life-size models of the Velvet Underground in clay'

[jameswba]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

And the major remembering Roxy Music in '72 in Me and the Major.

[Jimski]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

Etienne wrote: Helen Love also reference Joey Ramone in Girl About Town. As well as Atari Teenage Riot, Kula Shaker and Bush in Does Your Heart Go Boom

Helen Love also get in mentions of Shed Seven, The Longpigs, the Bluetones, Ocean Colour Scene and Gina G in Long Live The UK Music Scene.

[Jimski]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

And of course Debbie Harry and (yet again) Joey Ramone in Debbie Loves Joey.

And Joey Ramone (yes, again) as well as MC5 and Joan Jett in Girl About Town.

And the Ramones as a whole get a mention in (The Continuing Adventures Of) Girl About Town.

And Status Quo in Ahead of the Race.

And Huggy Bear in Formula One Racing Girls.

And Billy Joel and Michael Bolton in Diet Coke Girl.

And John Cale in Matthew Kaplan Superstar.

And Leonard Cohen, Stone Roses, Beach Boys and (yes) Joey Ramone in Happiest Time of the Year.

And Thurston Moore in So In Love With You.

And The Human League in We Love You.

And MC5 in Yeah Yeah We're Helen Love.

And MC5, Suicide, Nancy Sinatra, Neil Young, Heavenly, Peggy Lee, Captain Beefheart, The Vaselines, Bikini Kill, the Marvelettes, Undertones, Rolling Stones, and (yes) Joey Ramone in Rollercoasting*.

* That's the Rollercoasting off Radio Hits, not the one off Radio Hits 2.

[Jimski]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

Basically let's just call this the Helen Love thread and be done with it.

They're bloody fantastic after all.

[Furtho]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

In Fountains of Wayne's Someone To Love, Seth Shapiro "...puts Coldplay on, pours a glass of wine, curls up with a book about organised crime..."

[treibeis]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

In 'Interlude/Chilinism', Mark E. Smith sings about both The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd being short.

[jameswba]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

Another Belle and Sebastian one is in 'The Boy with the Arab Strap' which was apparently about both a sex device and the band Arab Strap.

The prepositions are important :

'You were laid on your back with the boy WITH the Arab Strap.'

But in the next line :

'You were laid on your back with the boy FROM the Arab Strap.'

These lines are also said to be about the Arab Strap singer :

'We all know you're soft 'cause we've all seen you dancing,
We all know you're hard 'cause we've all seen you drinking,
from noon until noon again.'

The first 3 B&S albums plus the early EPs are glorious stuff.

[evilC]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

tone_burst wrote:

Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - 'Are You Ready To Be Heartbroken' ("...Listening to Arthur Lee records...")

(Damn it! I just smiled at a Lloyd Cole record! Curse that never-smiling old hipster-come-lately/early!)

- talking of which, the the fab "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken" by Camera Obscura deserves a mention here.

Strange what sad news you can come across whilst surfing the internet.

[David Agnew]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

Serge Gainsbourg wrote: John Lennon mentions The Beatles, Elvis and Dylan (via Zimmerman) in 'God'.

And The Brotherhood of Man in 'Imagine'.

[Jah Womble]

Songs that reference other bands in their lyrics

...the spotting of which won my team some serious pointage at our pub quiz t'other night.

There are so many thousands of examples for this thread, however, that I think it could last indefinitely.