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

if the entire song is a reimagination of another it's not really a 'brief' musical reference

― dyl

Fair enough.

But when I try to think of a brief one, all I can come up with is the Dead Milkmen on "Bottomless Pit", quoting the intro to "Ballroom Blitz". And I try my best these to forget that I was ever into the Dead Milkmen.

And come to think of it, the Dead Milkmen quote from "Love Me Two Times" during the spoken intro to "Bitchin Camaro". God, that band is awkward adolescence personified.

just noticed that tom d mentioned that nilsson cover a while back

oops

I feel like these have surely come up elsewhere (ancient posts by electricsound perhaps, given it's Aus indie) but:

Smudge's "Don't Want to Be Grant McLennan" suddenly becomes The Go-Betweens' "Bye Bye Pride" for the bridge to the final chorus.

The Cat's Miaow's "The Phoebe I Know"/"Phoebe" closes with the "together, forever..." section of "Say a Little Prayer"

No Ramones yet?!

Two off the top of my head:

"Judy Is a Punk" quotes Herman's Hermits "I'm Henry the Eight I Am" (Second verse/same as the first)

The bridge melody of "It's Not My Place (in the 9 to 5 World)" is The Who's "Whiskey Man"

I’m pretty sure that White Fang interpolate a bit of Umberto Tozzi’s “Gloria” around 1:00 into “Grateful to Shred”; though I’ve never been positive that’s what they’re actually playing:

https://gnartapes.bandcamp.com/album/grateful-to-shred

Also reasonably certain the Fiery Furnaces reference “Billie Jean” in their song “Oh Sweet Woods” (maybe because the lyrics involve “mistaken identity?); though I suppose the musical similarities could also be coincidental.

(Would be surprised if this is the only example of the FFs pulling such a move, but can’t immediately think of another instance...)

Cornershop's "England's Dreaming" is another containing a direct quote, of Morrissey and (presumably) PE: "I was was happy in the haze of a drunken hour... Fight the power!"

and the title is a sex pistols hat-tip!

Does This is why I’m hot fit here?

― ƒ©˙∆˚¬ (Whitey on the Moon), Wednesday, February 7, 2018 1:54 AM (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

came here to post this! and yes it does, there are quotes from Jesus Walks, Shook Ones, Nuthin But a G Thang, Front 2 Back, and Tell Me When To Go

The oooooh's in the beginning of "Womantown" by Gang of Four seem to allude to "Mannequin" by Wire, but I cannot confirm that's intentional.

nelly's "ride wit me" borrows a line from debarge's "i like it": i like the way you comb your hair / i like those stylish clothes you wear (he replaces 'comb' w/ 'brush')

sometimes i think the "you got me singing oh-oh-oh-oh"-etc. line from justin timberlake's "until the end of time" is an intentional reference to the similar bit toward the end of mint condition's "what kind of man would i be" but it could just be a coincidental similarity

well of course there's the "7 Rings" / "My Favourite Things" lift

^a “briefer” example would be the NSYNC melody in “Break Up With Your Girlfriend...” (but I feel like cleared & credited samples or interpolations shouldn’t really “count” for this thread?)

beyoncé's first line in "party" ('i may be young but i'm ready...') seems to be a clear reference to the first line from keith sweat's "right and a wrong way" ('you may be young but you're ready...')

shows how much crediting references and interpolations has changed in just a few years that that particular interpolation, tho brief, wasn't listed in the credits for that album -- the only sample listed for that song is for doug e. fresh's "la di da di" -- yet lemonade gave songwriting credits to animal collective b/c of the phrase 'material things' appearing in "6 inch"

The “Blurred Lines” case happened in the interim.

Also it looks like Beyoncé and her team were insanely liberal (or conservative, in terms of risk avoidance) when it came to doling out credit: https://www.stereogum.com/1873310/beyonce-producer-boots-explains-animal-collective-credit-on-6-inch/news/

I think it's the trumpet line that's similar but I wouldn't claim it's a direct reference.

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, March 18, 2019 4:02 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

like, it does that same octave jump and descending notes...

― Jersey Al (Albert R. Broccoli), Monday, March 18, 2019 4:02 PM (three days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OK I had to listen to The Lion Sleeps Tonight and forgot about that main vocal melody that comes after the titular lyric. Yeah, it is pretty close, though How Bizarre's trumpet has more trills.

(but I feel like cleared & credited samples or interpolations shouldn’t really “count” for this thread?)

― What's that Phish song that goes "Bag it, Tag it"? (morrisp), Tuesday, March 19, 2019 10:52 PM (two days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

idk i feel like Prince inserting Joni's "Help Me" into the middle of "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" is the ne plus ultra of this

One of the more improbably affecting examples of this is Jamila Woods - Lonely, which interpolates the Dawson's Creek theme song.

jamila does that sort of thing all the time--she can wring pathos out of miss mary mack, fergodsake.

"Push It" by Garbage repeatedly invokes "Don't Worry Baby" by the Beach Boys.

ariel pink - time to live references video killed the radio star

I don't think that's a reference so much as a straight-up steal

still tight tho

another rip/reference on that album is "Bubblegum Dreams" which is just "Son of a Gun" by the Vaselines

Or 'Bend Me, Shape Me' by Amen Corner on 'I Think I'm Paranoid' ...

Hatfield and the North "Shaving Is Boring" (on side 2 of the record) has a segment with the sound of footsteps running over to open doors, and each door opening sound reveals a snippet of a song previously heard on side one.

"Push It" by Garbage repeatedly invokes "Don't Worry Baby" by the Beach Boys.

― Good morning, how are you, I'm (Doctor Casino), Wednesday, June 5, 2019 10:50 AM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Garbage also directly quote the Pretenders' "Talk of the Town" near the end of their track "Special".

Also, the chorus of Catherine Wheel's "Delicious" (".........YOU EAT!...YOU SLEEP!...YOU BREATHE!") shares the melody and rhythm of the "Talk of the Town" chorus (or is it a post-chorus? There's so many hooks and sections of that tune, no wonder it's so prolific at inspiring other songs), when Chrissie sings "....YOU'VE CHANGED!..."

And I swear I've heard another song that reminiscent of the "...MAYBE TOMOR-OR-OR-OR-OR-OR-OR-OW-OWW!...Maybe SOME-DAY!!!" chorus (or it could just be another example of the descending major scale that occasionally sneaks into pop music, although the only such song I can remember right now is Pink Floyd's "Apples and Oranges").

i figured the various occurrences of 'sexy sexy sexy' in odb's "got your money" were a reference to rick james's "cold blooded" but i didn't realize until now that he did a version of that whole song on the same album -- the track directly preceding "got your money" in fact!

Spiritualized's "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space" ending with Elvis' "Can't Help Falling in Love"

god i had a great one a few days ago and couldn't find the darn thread

reference was to "lonely woman" ... hold on

Harvey Milk's "The Anvil Will Fall" using Gustav Holst's "Jupiter: Bringer of Jollity" to perfection

"Mutiny!" on Motorpsycho's Death Defying Unicorn has a jam section which suddenly morphs into "Changes" by Yes

Beck "Halo of Gold"/Skip Spence "Furry Heroine"

references Johnny Cash's "Walk the Line" with Beck's version imitating a classic country arrangement for that one line

The intro to “Diamond Bollocks” is a paraphrase of “Girotondo” from Vergogna Schifosi

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

The intro to “Flaming” references “Later During a Flaming Riviera Sunset”

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

And there’s a bit of “I Ain’t got Nobody” in “The Four Mills Brothers”. The original versions of both songs by Roaring Lion are on the Folkways Real Calypso comp.

I could be pedantic here and point out the originals of "Bing Crosby" and "The Four Mills Brothers" by The Lion reference "Pennies From Heaven" and "I Ain't Got Nobody" and all VDP did was cover the original songs. But I wouldn't do that.

Especially as I've just noticed you mentioned the originals! I suspect there's other references in "Bing Crosby" which I can't work out.

Another Christmas one: Nina Simone's Little Girl Blue quotes Good King Wenceslas.
Another Beatles one: It's All Too Much quotes Sorrow by the Merseybeats.

someone upthread mentioned the Velvets borrowing Marvin Gaye's Hitch Hike for There She Goes Again; to be specific, I think they borrowed the Stones' version.

Towards the end of The Church's cover of "It's All Too Much" they work in one line of Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue"

This live version of Carboforce by Trans Am lifts a whole chunk of the vocal line (played on guitar) of a Qawwali song, that I heard Nusrat perform on one of his more well-known records but cannot seem to lay a hand on annoyingly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdFQELWES9o

(John Wesley Harding) Wes Stace’s, Cathy’s New Clown has a musical reference to the Everly Bothers song at the very end. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiLdU2jBb2o

In the middle of "The Electric Co." on U2's Under A Blood Red Sky, Bono starts singing "Send In The Clowns." U2 never cleared or paid royalties to Stephen Sondheim (who subsequently sued) which results in this long note on the Wikipedia entry for the album.

At the very end of "Shine On You Crazy Diamond pt. 6-9" Richard Wright plays the "Soon after dark, Emily cries" melody from "See Emily Play"

XP - Ian McCulloch was especially prone to doing this, thinking of the Dion quote in Over The Wall, and he would throw in lots of quotes in live performance.

The main piano riff in Coldplay’s “Trouble” is the exact same riff note-for-note as the synth/vocal riff in “Love Will Tear Us Apart” (F#, G, F#, D, B).

Volcano Girls by Veruca Salt. A musical quote from Seether followed by a nod to Glass Onion with "Here's another clue if you please, The Seether's Louise..."