Songs with lyrics that namecheck an artist other than the one singing it

[Voley]

'Higgs Boson Blues' by Nick Cave namechecks both Robert Johnson and Miley Cyrus. Can't be too many more that do that, I wouldn't have thought.

 

[planetgeli]

Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love

Clinton's musicians such as Bootsy Collins
Raise expectations to a new intention
No one can sing
Quite like Smokey, Smokey Robinson
Wailin' and skankin' to Bob Marley
Reggae's expanding with Sly and Robbie

Steppin' in a rhythm to a Kurtis Blow..
..James Brown, James Brown

Etc

 

[Maggot]

Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love

Clinton's musicians such as Bootsy Collins
Raise expectations to a new intention
No one can sing
Quite like Smokey, Smokey Robinson
Wailin' and skankin' to Bob Marley
Reggae's expanding with Sly and Robbie

Steppin' in a rhythm to a Kurtis Blow..
..James Brown, James Brown

Etc

Bohannon, Bohannon, Bohannon . . .

 

[Sea Star]

eta - deleted cos its been done

How do You Sleep? by Lennon, about McCartney

So Sgt. Pepper took you by surprise
You better see right through that mother's eyes
Those freaks was right when they said you was dead
The one mistake you made was in your head
Ah, how do you sleep
Ah, how do you sleep at night
You live with straights who tell you, you was king
Jump when your momma tell you anything
The only thing you done was yesterday
And since you're gone you're just another day
Ah, how do you sleep

Johnny Cash wrote:

Harry Truman was our president
A coke and burger cost you thirty cents
I was still in love with Mavis Brown
On the night Hank Williams came to town
I Love Lucy debuted on TV
That was one big event we didn't see
'Cause no one stayed at home for miles around
It was the night Hank Williams came to town
Mama ironed my shirt and daddy let me take the truck
I drove on out to Grapevine and picked old Mavis up
We hit that county line for one quick round
On the night Hank Williams came to town
A thousand people sweltered in the gym
Then I heard someone whisper hey, that's him
That's when the crowd let out this deafening sound
It was the night Hank Williams came to town

 

[Sea Star]

Drive in Saturday - Bowie

And try to get it on like once before
When Jagger stared in people's eyes and scored
Like the video films we saw

Go Through It - Blondie. I've always assumed Jerry Lee is Jerry Lee Lewis

But just like Jerry Lee, she's tuning in on me
And I've got no defense, but it makes no difference
'Cause just like Jerry Lee, she's tuning in on me
She does it easy, like a CB

Gary Numan - War Songs

Old men love war songs
Love Vera Lynn
Old men love war songs
Now I'm Vera Lynn…

 

[Sea Star]

Trans Europe Express by Kraftwerk: Iggy Pop and David Bowie

From station to station
back to Dusseldorf City
Meet Iggy Pop and David Bowie
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express

Bowie reprised by mentioning Kraftwerk members in somehting and for the life of me i can't remember what, apart from maybe V-2 Schneider?

 

[planetgeli]

Ebeneezer Goode - The Shamen

Anyone got any Veras?

 

[stavros]

 

[Mattym]

Edit- it's sort of singing.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Was listening to a St Etienne track yesterday that mentions Whitesnake

that seems an odd combination!

 

[stavros]

 

[Sea Star]

that seems an odd combination!

This is it:

The radio intermissions- especially the sonorous tones of Ken Bruce – provide warm solace, and after Heather we enjoy a pleasant amble to consider the state of the railways. “The buffet will be blasting Whitesnake, Fool For Your Lovin’ no more,” sighs Cracknell. A far cry from Southern Rail train strikes.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

and i'm sure we've had this thread another time, but...

"rain falls, like Elvis tears" - Hobart Paving, Saint Etienne

"But I was caught like a fleeting thought, Stuck inside of Leonard Cohen's mind" - A Drop in Time, Mercury Rev

Gene Autry's Ghost, Songdog

"Flash is fast, Flash is cool" (Grandmaster Flash) - Rapture, Blondie

"listening to Rico" ..... "sing along-a Smokie" - Reasons to be Cheerful, Ian Dury and the Blockheads

 

[Sea Star]

Hank Williams again. I wonder if there are more songs that mention Hank Williams or Elvis. I reckon it'd be a close call

I said to Hank Williams, how lonely does it get?
Hank Williams hasn't answered yet
But I hear him coughing all night long
Oh, a hundred floors above me in the Tower of Song

 

[rekil]

This is the same but newer thread.

Songs that reference other musicians.

I couldn't find it earlier cos I'm shit at internet.

 

[Saul Goodman]

B. Bumble and the Stingers
Mott the Hoople
Ray Charles Singers
Lonnie Mack
Twangin' Eddy
Poco
Deep Purple
Sam Cooke
Lesley Gore
Ritchie Valens
Mahavishnu Orchestra
Yokohama
Kama Sutra
Richard Perry
Phil Spector
Jeff Barry
The Righteous Brothers
The Archies
Harry Nilsson
Fats Is Back
Brenda & the Tabulations
Carly Simon
Noddy Holder
Rolling Stones
Johnny Cash
Johnny Rivers
Mungo Jerry
Peter, Paul and Mary
Dr. John
Doris Day
Jack the Ripper
Leon Russell
Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
Slide guitar
Fender bass
Bonnie Bramlett
Wilson Pickett
Arthur Janov
Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Dale Hawkins
Ronnie Hawkins
Kukla, Fran and Ollie
Norman, Oklahoma
John Denver
Donny Osmond
J. J. Cale
ZZ Top
L.L. Bean
David Bowie
Steely Dan
Edgar Winter
Joanie Sommers
Ides of March
Johnny Thunders
Eric Clapton
Wah-wah pedal
Stephen Foster
CBS
Warner Bros. Records
RCA
Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots
Alan Freed
Murray the K
The Fish
The Swim
Freddie King
Albert King
B. B. King
Felix Pappalardi
Laurel and Hardy
Randy Newman
Anni-Frid Lyngstad
Freda Payne
Aretha Franklin
Tito Puente
Boffalongo
Cuba
War
California
Beatlemania
New York City
Transylvania
S&G
Bobby Vee
S.R.O.
Conway Twitty

And track mentions:

"Here's my ring, we're going steady"
"Take It Easy"
"I Want to Take You Higher"
"Liar, Liar"
"The Loco-Motion"
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"
"Fujiyama"
"Rama Lama Ding Dong"
"Shimmy, Shimmy, Ko Ko Bop"
"Finger Poppin' Time"
"Mary, Mary"
"Gimme Shelter"
"DeDe Dinah"
"CC Rider"
"Camptown Races"
"Good Vibrations"
"Help Me Rhonda"
"Surfer Girl"
"Little Honda"
"Tighter, Tighter"
"Honey, Honey"
"Sugar, Sugar"
"Yummy Yummy Yummy"
"The Boston Monkey"
"Do Wah Diddy Diddy"
"Baby I Need Your Loving"
"Uptight (Everything's Alright)
"Celebrate"
"I Want to Take You Higher"

/thread

 

[existentialist]

The line "Stab it with their steely knives" in "Hotel California" is a reference to Steely Dan, in apparent "retaliation" for the line in one of their songs where they mention the Eagles. There, a cyclical reference

 

[mx wcfc]

"No Elvis, Beatles or the Rolling Stones - in 1977" 1977 by the Clash, b side of white riot
"Phil Collins, Phil Collins, how do you sleep at night
I'd like to smash your records, right over your head,
Make you choke on the words you said" Eastfield - Milton of Leys

There must be a lot more punk songs slagging off rock stars.

 

[mx wcfc]

"Then they go to Rough Trade
To buy Siouxsie and the Banshees
They heard John Peel play it
Just the other night
They'd like to buy the O Level single
or Read about Seymour
But they're not pressed in red
So they buy The Lurkers instead" TV Personalities - Part time punks.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Living in fame by The Clash mentions the Blockheads, the Sex Pistols, Generation X and the Nipple Erectors

 

[Puddy_Tat]

"Stone Roses just like angels, Heaven is this noise"

"Hooky's by the jukebox doing his splendid to entertain"

"I hear a song by Stephen Patrick"

"I see a head that flies the Happy Mondays"

all from Manchester, The Times

 

[Steel Icarus]

Have we had Bon Jovi yet?

"Like Frankie said I did it my way"

 

[keybored]

The Riders on the Storm enter with Doors open
To bring raw dosage in the form of swarm locust
Beatles and Byrds, they seem evil and absurd
Gather with The Eagles who swerve to form herds
Butterflies made of Iron ride the horizon
Giving Creedence to the Revival of Posiedon
Who feeds in the Clearwater, you fear slaughter
The Lovecraft author pens the horror for tomorrow
Zombies and walking dead stalk the Talking Heads
Insects with open legs halt with awful dread
All along the web, the thread remains red
With bloodshed that led to where the Little Feet fled
To lost places, thought lost for all ages
With Small Faces sittin in walls of tall mazes
That overlook The 13th Floor with long gazes
Connected to the earthly core through Elevators
Check, the Underground is made of Velvet
Where butter-soft brothers talk tough on wax but ain't sell shit
Every cracker that rap ain't the Elvis
My Aqualung Cult-ivates the Blue Oyster shellfish
I design my Pearls Before Swine
And form rhymes to take you to a world before time
Where living things coexisted with Crimson Kings
Who on the Moon's Dark Side painted pretty things
That illustrated lessons conceived by The Mothers of Invention
Who also built a Stairway to Heaven
It's a present only to be stolen by a thief
The Judas Priest who unleashed his devil magic
My mental fabric, too thick for Lenny Kravitz
Who imitates Jimi Hendrix in every facet
Semi-automatic rap heavy metal jackets
Kill with mathematics then build on Black Sabbath

 

[rekil]

They Might Be Giants - XTC Versus Adam Ant

Spoiler

XTC versus Adam Ant
I can't tell you why
Even the singer from Bow Wow Wow
Can't make up her mind

 

[oryx]

Little Richard, Little Nell, Kym Mazelle, Paris Grey, Charlie Parker, Mary Wilson, Di and Flo...

 

[MrSki]

"Bob Dylan sucks my dick or am I sick?"

S*M*A*S*H Another Love

 

[Wookey]

Hartman.....Sommerville.....in the house.....Dhiagalev.....Nureyev......Michael Mouse

Little Richard.....George O´Dowd.....Devine.....Cole Porter.....Say it loud !

Holly Johnson's Legendary Children

 

[D'wards]

I wish I had a thousand bucks
I wish I was the Royal Trux

Death of an heir of sorrows by Silver Jews

 

[D'wards]

Rock n Roll by Mos Def mentions loads of white artists, stating they are shit. And loads of black artists stating they are fantastic.

 

[isvicthere?]

Trans Europe Express by Kraftwerk: Iggy Pop and David Bowie

From station to station
back to Dusseldorf City
Meet Iggy Pop and David Bowie
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express

David Bowie's song about Bob Dylan on Hunky Dory.

Eta: Bowie's All the Young Dudes mentions T. Rex, the Beatles and the Stones.