Songs that have brief musical references to other tunes in there..

MJ « Will You Be There » : Beethoven’9th

'you were wrong' by built to spill is full of lyrical references to famous songs but afaik has no musical references

bartok's concerto for orchestra quotes/mocks a theme from shostakovich's seventh

Does it have to be two different bands? "Pop Goes The World" by Men Without Hats drops the "Safety Dance" keyboard thing in the middle.

Eddie Money "Take Me Home Tonight" and they got Ronnie Spector to sing her own reference

The Velvet Underground "There She Goes Again" plays the intro riff from Marvin Gaye's "Hitch Hike" (The Smiths copped this too for "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out")

'silence kid' by pavement has the same vocal melody as buddy holly's 'everyday.' although i don't think that's really what the thread is looking for- this is little riffs or melodies dropped or weaved in, rather than wholesale rips right? another example of that is 'i want it that way' by the backstreet boys, which is exactly the same vocal melody as bruce springsteen's 'atlantic city'

Billy Joel's "The River of Dreams" concludes with him singing a little bit of the Cadillacs' "Gloria."

Paul McCartney (feat. Stevie Wonder)'s "What's That You're Doing" ends up with some "she loves you, yeah, yeah yeah" material. His concert-warmup-track "P.S. Love Me Do" is best left forgotten.

The 'Thought you might like to know' bit in Pink Floyd's "Apples and Oranges" references Sgt. Pepper title track.

― Whiney Houston (Tom D.), Wednesday, January 3, 2018 5:33 PM (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post

Never spotted that! Yeah..

Does it have to be two different bands?

lou reed quotes "sweet jane" at the start of street hassle.

foetus does this a lot... off the top of my head:

"kid hate kid" starts with the opening of the monkees theme song.
"satan place" quotes "wipeout"

"sick man" quotes the batman tv show theme tune.

'Lucifer Over London' by Current 93 starts off with the opening riff from Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid'

yeah that one! the transition is stunning

it's the best song really

Ray Mang - Number One seems to have a bit of Turn Your Love Around by George Benson in the melody, but i'm not sure if that was intentional or not.

https://youtu.be/DN60ENBVGVw

another foetus: "enter the exterminator" quotes grieg's "in the hall of the mountain king".

Lots of Ariel Pink songs:

the chorus of "Not Enough Violence" quotes the distorted vibrato guitar that runs through "One Hundred Years" by The Cure.

"Time to Live" quotes the verse melody of "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.

"Bubblegum Dreams" quotes the melody of "Son of a Gun" by The Vaselines.

"Another Weekend" quotes the opening of "Private Line" by William Bell and Judy Clay.

"the osmonds" by denim quotes snatches of "kojak" by lee perry and "rock on" by david essex.

Oh that Dinosaur Jr Version of "Quicksand" that starts with the intro from "Andy Warhol"

mysterioso pizzicato in the intros to the sonics' "strychnine" and Kevin ayers's "don't sing no more sad songs" and surely others

toward the end there pavement's "range life" references billy squire's "everybody wants you"

"4th Time Around" by Bob Dylan is a mocking melodic and arrangement quotation of "Norwegian Wood" by The Beatles.

malkmus' "jo-jo's jacket" references dylan's "it's all right ma (i'm only bleeding)" but more lyrically than musically

Liz Phair's "Jealousy" ends with the little ~diddle-oo diddle-oo~ that similarly closes "When The Levee Breaks."

More Joni, she quotes "Do you wanna dance" in "In France They alias on the Main Street"

Lol, "In France They ***Kiss On the Main Street"

In France They Alias on Main Street is a great fucking title as well, thank you for the typo

the queens of the stone-age fortress track which has a neil young riff reference to hey hey, my my

Dave E. and the Cool Marriage Counselors' "Searching Through Sears" references Mr. Ed in the lyrics, then drops in a couple bars from the theme song.

among other can songs the fall's "i am damo suzuki" references "oh yeah"

Thompson Twins use the riff from their "In the Name of Love" in "Love On Your Side

"moonlight in vermont" by captain beefheart quotes "come out" by steve reich and "old-time religion".

"1,000 Umbrellas" by XTC quotes the strings at the end of "Glass Onion" by The Beatles.

Wilco - I'm Always In Love. The end of that song references I'm Waiting For My Man, Velvet Underground.

Neil Young & Stephen Stills - Long May You Run
Maybe the Beach Boys have got you now, with those waves singing Caroline (Oh Caroline no)

this one isn't super brief, but

lana del rey - terrence loves you

"You Only Live Twice" strings are transposed to lana's vocal melody on some of the verses

"Bing Crosby" by Van Dyke Parks interpolates "Pennies from Heaven" by Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke (made famous by Bing Crosby).

Julian Cope singing the tune from "As Tears Go By" at the end of "Passionate Friend"

Mutantes breaking into "Satisfaction" at the end of "Mágica"

Captain Beefheart, "Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones" references "Strawberry Fields Forever".

Which reminds me, it's time to break out Nilsson's version of "You Can't Do That", which, according to a guy in the YouTube comments section, and I can't be bothered to check, references (in order): She's A Woman, I'm Down, Drive My Car, You Can't Do That, You're Gonna Lose That Girl, Good Day Sunshine, A Hard Day's Night, Rain, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Day Tripper, Paperback Writer, Do You Wanna Know a Secret, Girl, Norwegian Wood, Yesterday, Strawberry Fields Forever.

https://www.you.tube.com/watch?v=Ue0Mf7_EHk8

And there's also "Buy My Album" by Nilsson, where he references himself, a good way to solve the problem of what to do for a b-side.

https://www.you.tube.com/watch?v=GrGBtWjS3o4

Another Nilsson one: his cover of "Cowboy" quotes John Barry's "Theme From Midnight Cowboy" at the end.

And, on the same album, "Dayton, Ohio 1903" references "Moonlight Serenade".

"I'm singing a borrowed tune, I took from the Rolling Stones"

"moonlight in vermont" by captain beefheart quotes "come out" by steve reich

wait what

Rush 'Spirit Of Radio' quotes Simon & Garfunkel's "words of the prophets" bit from 'Sound Of Silence'

Yes's "I've Seen All Good People" includes the chorus of "Give Peace A Chance."

(xp) There's also a Trout Mask Replica track that references a track from Sketches of Spain.

Possibly "Sugar 'n Spikes"?

Joni Mitchell's "River" makes prominent use of "Jingle Bells" in the piano part.

Stereolab's The Free Design quotes Dancing Queen, and (I maintain) Op Hop Destination quotes There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.

Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night - Stereolab

Johnny Rivers - “Summer Rain” quoting Sgt Pepper right after lyrically referencing it.

'vine street' as performed & arranged by van dyke parks on song cycle features a very obvious string quote of beethoven's 9th
Which then dissolves into a lick from "The Entertainer"! There are probably fifteen little jokes on that album

there are probably fifteen little jokes in that one song, the album is just relentless

― flappy bird, Saturday, January 13, 2018 8:10 PM (four years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I been working on Concord Sonata this week and anyone who likes this kind of shit would be wise to go deep—-there are PhDs and published books written about tracking all Ives’s nods and quotes in it— Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Wagner, spirituals— he even wrote original “folk” music (and a fake Sousa March) as source material for his collageing— it’s great

― the five French fry feeling (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, August 25, 2022 11:11 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://medium.com/@bizmarkiemoon/charles-ives-in-groucho-marxs-pajamas-5ffcd3f5597f

xps Jellyfish have a "When You Wish Upon a Star" reference too, in "Joining a Fan Club" — the strings come in with a bit of the melody after a lyrical reference to Pinocchio

At the end of "Fruits and Vegetables" by Chunky, Novi and Ernie, they interpolate melodies from at least three sources:

Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf
The Merrie Melodies theme
The Toreador theme from Bizet’s Carmen

'The Purple People Eater' by Sheb Wooley (1958) has brief quotations of 'Short Shorts' by The Royal Teens and 'Tequila' by the Champs, both of the same year, as well as Little Richard's 'Tutti Frutti', then a fairly recent hit.

Also, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway has a bit of 'On Broadway' by the Drifters.

...and there's a few bars of 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' in 'Joan Crawford' by Blue Oyster Cult

"Only Make Believing" by Junior English starts with a brief reference to "Windy" by the Association

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUXxEOVO5ms

has a bit of 'On Broadway' by the Drifters

speaking of the Drifters, i heard "Sand in My Shoes" on the radio the other day, which is a of follow-up to "Under the Boardwalk" and quotes from it. it's funny because Young/Resnick quote Goffin and King's "Up on the Roof" (also a hit for the drifters) in "Under the Boardwalk", and it's almost like with "Sand in My Shoes" they were trying to keep the momentum going but came up short. the formula's not quite right, though; a different songwriting team would've had to quote "Under the Boardwalk" -- maybe then it would've been a hit.

Art Brut - "Bang Bang Rock & Roll"

After the repeated line "I can't stand the sound of the Velvet Underground," the rest of the band sing "White light! White heat!"

"Only Make Believing" by Junior English starts with a brief reference to "Windy" by the Association

Cool!

The Avalanches have kids singing the Beatles 'Come Together' in 'The Noisy Eater'
The White Stripes throw in some 'John the Revelator' in the middle of 'Cannon'
White does this a lot live.
Here he throws in some of 'That Would Be Something' while doing 'Mother Nature's Son' during a McCartney honor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox6SWAiDGyY

That video really brings to mind Sasha Frere-Jones' quip describing Jack White: "I have large biceps but also look like Michael Jackson"

I googled that quote, and it led me to this fascinating article about the making of the cover - and the statue - for HIStory. It was sketched out by Drew Struzan, although his version made Michael Jackson look like Guybrush Threepwood from The Secret of Monkey Island.

It was an early use of mo-cap... except that it was static. But yes, they made a model first and then digitised it. "The model ... was then adorned with over four thousand lines that served to mark the topography of the model. This was then used to digitize the model and match the appropriate coordinates to the computer. It was decided that computer graphics technology would be used to create a high quality and realistic image. This would allow the designers to help fine-tune the light, textures, camera angles, and other details."

So they made an expensive and finely-detailed grey plaster sculpture of Michael Jackson, then digitised it in order to make it look like a grey plaster sculpture. Record labels had so much money back then. Apparently Michael Jackson thought that his thighs looked too fat. The sculptor was seven months pregnant - and when she gave birth she called her son Jackson.

Ye Gods:
https://www.artofdesignonline.com/uploads/1/1/7/1/117189571/history-golden-statue-dancing-diana-walczak-1995_orig.jpg

Then they made nine 10 meter statues

https://pophistorydig.com/topics/the-jackson-statues-1995/

I've long been fascinated by that musical pairing between "Up on the Roof" and "Under the Boardwalk" --- these two different forms of escape from the challenges of the city, one sensual/chthonic and the other more cerebral/skyward. And then of course, in "On Broadway," they're right there in the thick of the street. It's as if someone was consciously feeding the group 'spatial' material to go with their space-traveling name, though it's more likely they're just trying to recapture the magic. "At the Club," "Up on the Streets of Harlem," "Saturday Night at the Movies" (eventually followed up with "Kissin' in the Back Row of the Movies").