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Last Man Standing: Song Titles That Play Off Preexisting Song Titles
05/01/08 | by Mr. Moderator
In the '80s, Shonen Knife released a song that held immediate appeal to me based solely on the song's title, "Making Plans for Bison". Would this somehow be a response to XTC's "Making Plans for Nigel"? I bought the record, which was pretty cool on its own merits, and realized that not only the title played off the XTC song, but one of the lyrical hooks also was carried over. Satisfying.
Today's Last Man Standing seeks Song Titles That Play Off Preexisting Song Titles. Richard Thompson's "Roll Over Vaughn Williams" is another example that comes to mind. Posting one title (and the original song title on which it's based, if it's not totally obvious) per Comment, show us what you've got!
51 comments
Comment from: Oats [Member]
Wilco, "Bob Dylan's 49th Beard" (most likely taking off "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream").
05/01/08 @ 13:23
The Rutles "Blue Suede Shubert"
05/01/08 @ 13:36
Comment from: Oats [Member]
Blur, "Charmless Man" (from The Smiths' "This Charming Man")
05/01/08 @ 13:47
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
Ben Vaughn Combo, "I'm Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee)"
05/01/08 @ 13:52
Comment from: mockcarr [Member] 
Bill Lloyd "Dr. Robert's Second Opinion".. The same album that's on ends with the song "Turn Me On Dead Man", which I believe could be how he hears Number 9 off of the White Album when you play it backwards. I always thought it was "turn me on madman."
05/01/08 @ 14:06
"Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken." Camera Obscura's 20-year belated answer to Lloyd Cole's question.
05/01/08 @ 14:13
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member]
"The Happy Song (Dum Dum)" -- Otis Redding's answer to his own "Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa (Sad Song)"
05/01/08 @ 14:25
Comment from: BigSteve [Member]
Bob Dylan & the Band "See You Later Allen Ginsberg."
05/01/08 @ 15:18
Comment from: the great 48 [Member]
Half Man Half Biscuit: "We Built This Village On A Trad. Arr. Tune"
05/01/08 @ 15:43
Comment from: saturnismine [Member]
oops... hit 'send' accidentally:
Sweet Leaf became Sweat Loaf in the hands of the Butthole Surfers.
Sweet Leaf became Sweat Loaf in the hands of the Butthole Surfers.
05/01/08 @ 20:51
Comment from: hissing fauna [Member]
It probably wouldn't count, but Wilco's "Outtasite (Outta Mind)" and "Outta Mind (Outta Sight)" (both different arrangements of the same song from the same album)
05/01/08 @ 22:02
Comment from: general slocum [Member]
Joe Genaro's "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" is noteworthy in that the title is identical, but the song bears no resemblance whatsoever to the Johnny Mathis hit.
05/01/08 @ 22:18
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
Pince Nez: General, how does the Johnny Mathis hit compare with the Tony Bennett one by that title? That's what you meant, right?
I always figured Soul Assylum's "Somebody to Shove" was a play on the Jefferson Airplane song of similar title.
I always figured Soul Assylum's "Somebody to Shove" was a play on the Jefferson Airplane song of similar title.
05/01/08 @ 23:01
Comment from: saturnismine [Member]
...but i suppose we could just dispense with the whole parody category, into which most of the weird al catalog falls, eh?
05/01/08 @ 23:32
Comment from: cherguevara [Member]
On the same Wilco album mentioned above is the song "Hotel Arizona".
05/02/08 @ 08:53
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
Saturismine asks if we could dispense of the parody category. I think that's a good idea. It would be poor sportsmanship to pile on like that. To be honest, when I first posted this I wasn't even thinking of response songs, which are valid. I was thinking of the kind that Wilco seems to have specialized in, when the song title alone is play off an earlier song title, maybe for no other reason than to giggle at the twist. Keep 'em coming!
05/02/08 @ 09:21
Comment from: alexmagic [Member]
Wizzard's "Bend Over Beethoven"
I think this could spin-off into a Battle Royal for the best "meta-song" about other songs, or about the song itself.
I think this could spin-off into a Battle Royal for the best "meta-song" about other songs, or about the song itself.
05/02/08 @ 09:46
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
Alexmagic wrote:
Go for it! With the new software upgrade I think the site could handle such a monumental development.
I think this could spin-off into a Battle Royal for the best "meta-song" about other songs, or about the song itself.
Go for it! With the new software upgrade I think the site could handle such a monumental development.
05/02/08 @ 10:13
Comment from: cdm [Member]
Is this limited to songs? What about Metaphysical Graffiti by the Dead Milkmen?
05/02/08 @ 10:28
Is this limited to songs? What about Metaphysical Graffiti by the Dead Milkmen?
I know we're technically not allowing parodies here, but because of the mention above, I feel compelled to mention "If You Love Somebody, Set Them on Fire" from that album.
05/02/08 @ 10:38
Comment from: general slocum [Member]
The Johnny Mathis was the one on WPEN all the time, back when. And Joe did do a sound sculpture of playing the lp and fucking with the turntable or something. A long, nightmare soundscape of Mathis. Who's voice always kind of creeped me out to begin with.
05/02/08 @ 10:45
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
We can allow album titles as well as song titles, OK? In that case, The Undertones' More Songs About Chocolate and Girls, which is a play on the Talking Heads' second album.
My Pince Nez has been retracted, General. Sorry.
My Pince Nez has been retracted, General. Sorry.
05/02/08 @ 11:02
Comment from: cdm [Member]
As long as we're not just limited to songs, how about Men Without Hats, who I assume were playing off of Men at Work.
05/02/08 @ 11:09
Comment from: cdm [Member]
And if we are just limited to songs, how about Roll with Me Henry by Etta James, which was a play on Work With Me Annie by Hank Ballard (I think).
05/02/08 @ 11:12
Comment from: mac [Member]
1. "Caroline, Yes" off "Employment" by the Kaiser Chiefs (Obvious)
2. "A House is Not a Home" off "Tones of Town," by Field Music ("A House is Not a Motel" off "Forever Changes" by Love)
3. "Sidewalk Surfer Girl," off "Rings Around the World" by Super Furry Animals (obvious)
2. "A House is Not a Home" off "Tones of Town," by Field Music ("A House is Not a Motel" off "Forever Changes" by Love)
3. "Sidewalk Surfer Girl," off "Rings Around the World" by Super Furry Animals (obvious)
05/02/08 @ 11:31
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
Good one, cdm! My uncle, who's a piano player, used to play "Roll With Me Henry" for our youngest son, when he was about 4. Our boy loved the song so much that for a few months he told us he wanted his nickname to be Henry.
Mac, welcome to the fray! Actually, "A House Is Not a Home" is a song title by Burt Bacharach that precedes the Love song. Is the Field Music song a cover? I'm not familiar with that one. Your examples are spot on. Keep the good stuff coming!
Mac, welcome to the fray! Actually, "A House Is Not a Home" is a song title by Burt Bacharach that precedes the Love song. Is the Field Music song a cover? I'm not familiar with that one. Your examples are spot on. Keep the good stuff coming!
05/02/08 @ 11:50
Comment from: BigSteve [Member]
A House Is Not A Home was a Burt Bacharach/Hal David song from 1964, made famous by Dionne Warwick and also sung by Dusty Springfield (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6C4xn_5YGQ). I assume the Love song A House Is Not a Motel was actually a play on that. Field Music just wrote a new song called A House Is Not a Home, presumably knowing about the previous one.
And btw in fact checking this, I discovered an unofficial Bacharach page (http://www.bacharachonline.com/) called A House Is Not a Homepage.
And btw in fact checking this, I discovered an unofficial Bacharach page (http://www.bacharachonline.com/) called A House Is Not a Homepage.
05/02/08 @ 12:27
Comment from: cdm [Member]
That's a decent idea for another Last Man Standing: Different Songs With the Same Title.
05/02/08 @ 13:03
Comment from: cherguevara [Member]
Somebody needs to write a song called, "there will always be another you".
Album titles - Clam dip and other delights, Hairway to Steven.
Album titles - Clam dip and other delights, Hairway to Steven.
05/02/08 @ 13:21
Comment from: BigSteve [Member]
In trying to come up with examples, I keep running up against songs that refer to other songs but not explicitly in their titles. For example, the great doo-wop song Daddy's Home by Shep & the Limelites is an 'answer song' to the slightly less great A Million Miles Away by the Uniques, but you wouldn't know it from the title. In trying to recall who did A Million Miles Away, I discovered that there are quite a few songs called that by different writers (Peter Case, Rhianna, Rory Gallagher, etc.), but I don't think these songs refer to each other. It just happens to be a great song title, like A House Is Not A Home.
05/02/08 @ 13:46
The fact that Yo La Tengo covered "A House is Not a Motel" early on reminds me that they also recorded a song called "From a Motel 6" (obviously a take on Dylan's "From a Buick 6).
05/02/08 @ 14:51
Graham Parker - "And It Shook Me" (a play on Van Morrisson's "And It Stoned Me")
05/02/08 @ 16:49
Comment from: hissing fauna [Member]
A couple of other examples I thought of:
Not Given Likely - Chris Knox (a play off the lyrics for Venus in Furs, by the Velvet Underground.
and also
Vegan in Furs - Of Montreal (not a parody, named after the same song)
Not Given Likely - Chris Knox (a play off the lyrics for Venus in Furs, by the Velvet Underground.
and also
Vegan in Furs - Of Montreal (not a parody, named after the same song)
05/02/08 @ 20:32
Comment from: sammymaudlin [Member]
Starland Vocal Band's "Afternoon Delight" from The Kinks "Afternoon Tea".
05/03/08 @ 11:43
Comment from: cherguevara [Member]
Atom and his package: it's a mad mad mad mad mad mad mad lib.
05/03/08 @ 12:53
Not Given Likely - Chris Knox (a play off the lyrics for Venus in Furs, by the Velvet Underground.
Umm that's "Not Given Lightly" (sorry for the pince nez), but I'm wondering exactly what lyrics this is a play on. I'm pretty intimately familiar with both songs but never noticed that resemblance. Similarly, I never noticed the "Charmles Man" thing and I've been listening to it for a decade and to that Smiths song for half of my life at this point. Good one Oats. However, I fail to see the connection between "Afternoon Delight" and "Afternoon Tea". I think tha't just wishful thinking.
Nevertheless, "Not Given Lightly" was also covered by J Church at ome point in the mid '90s. Great song!
05/05/08 @ 12:09
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