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

Listen carefully to the line "And Dan came in from Jersey" in Aimee Mann's "I've Had It" and you can hear a celeste or some such tinkly instrument play a motif from Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run".

Frank Zappa "Flakes" has Adrian Belew doing a great Bob Dylan impression (complete with harmonica solos) but no idea what Dylan song it is parodying if any specifically (my knowledge of '70s Dylan is far from comprehensive)

dean wareham's "emancipated hearts" references "the little drummer boy"

Frank Zappa "Flakes" has Adrian Belew doing a great Bob Dylan impression (complete with harmonica solos) but no idea what Dylan song it is parodying if any specifically (my knowledge of '70s Dylan is far from comprehensive)

― AdamVania (Adam Bruneau)

he quotes lionel hampton's "midnight sun" in "nanook rubs it" though

Sonic Youth's "Winner's Blues" has a shoutout to Carole King's "Sweet Seasons" ("sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes you got still the blues") and of course the whole song pretty much has the same melody

The Beatles' "Paperback Writer" has John and George singing "Frère Jacques" behind Paul's lead vocals during the last verse

"Jingle Bells" has been mentioned already, but it's also a popular coda to other Christmas songs including Nat King Cole's take on "The Christmas Song" and Springsteen's "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Snippets of classic xmas songs seem to show up frequently in newer ones in general.

Yeah, and "Lonely This Christmas" too.

Joni Mitchell's Chinese Café completely interpolates Unchained Melody into, even crediting it as a medley.

Is the coda to Love Will Tear Us Apart a quote from Then He Kissed Me?
I noticed it was the bit that the Swans cover left out

XTC's Leisure quotes from Hoagy Carmichael/Johnny Mercer's Lazybones

just posted in the roland kirk thread, he does a bit of "hey jude":

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

the Four Seasons cover of Jake Holmes' "Genuine Imitation Life" also incorporates the entire "Hey Jude" long fadeout. Didn't bother John Lennon who praised the album it was from.

"Fifty Cents" by Dios (Malos) segues into the "i wanna cry" end second of the Beach Boys' "You Still Believe In Me" for 35 seconds before reverting to the 3rd verse

Aimee Mann again from "Whatever:" first track "Long Shot" has a little guitar bit with a quote from "Up the Junction." Think Tilbrook played it!

usher's "u got it bad" briefly interpolates maxwell's "fortunate"

"williams blood" by grace jones goes into "amazing grace" at the end... i feel there must be a load of songs that do this one.

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'

also uses the piano part from the hook of Spandau Ballet's "True"

Tori Amos - caught a lite sneeze with the NIN reference

"Made my own pretty hate machine"

It's been posted on ILM before but the main melody for Kraftwerk's Tour de France is lifted wholesale from the beginning of Paul Hindemith's Sonata For Piano and Flute.

First thing I thought of was the bridge on FKA Twigs' "Two Weeks", which lifts the chorus from "All out of Love" by Air Supply.

Destroyer to thread. Let's begin with "The Bad Arts-" 'You've got the spirit - don't lose the feeling' from Joy Division's "Disorder"

"Adam's Song" by blink-182 references "Come As You Are" in one of the verses ("I took my time, I hurried up / the choice was mine I didn't think enough")

the dirtbombs' version of 'no expectations' throws in some 'sympathy' and some 'hey jude'

"Hollaback Girl" has that brief lyrical and melodic reference to "Another One Bites The Dust".

Ben Folds Five - 'Philosophy' incorporates Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue in the solo near the end of the track

Joni also sings the first line from the US national anthem during the title track from Don Juan's Reckless Daughter.

Is the coda to Love Will Tear Us Apart a quote from Then He Kissed Me?

'Submarine' by Black Grape references the Beatles' 'A Day In The Life' in the 2nd verse

I don't know if it's on purpose but Siobhan Donaghy's "Medevac" quotes "Running Up That Hill" near-exactly (the "if I only could" part before the chorus)

Yet another Aimee Mann: "Could've Been Anyone," includes a musical quote from the beginning of The Byrds' version of "Mr. Tambourine Man." And it is, of course, played by McGuinn.

Swing out sister breakout --> West End Girls bassline at the beginning

Didn't Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" have a bit of Hendrix's "Third Rock From the Sun" in it, or am I thinking of another song? I know someone included Third Rock somewhere.

The Amboy Dukes quoted it in "Journey to the Center of the Mind", and I seem to recall Santana quoting it on some live album. And the Replacements did the same during their 2013 Toronto reunion set.

_Is the coda to Love Will Tear Us Apart a quote from Then He Kissed Me?_
How did I never notice this before? :0

Ah, it was also foregrounded on earlier Isley’s studio version.

Back to that other recent birthday boy who also liked lightning bolts who was mentioned in the OP: In “The Jean Genie” David Bowie does a “Ooh-wooh” reminiscent of Howlin’ Wolf in “Smokestack Lightning.”

El perro del mar - walk on by quotes massive attack - unfinished sympathy

"Like a soul without a mind, in a body without a heart, I'm missing every part"

The part in Big Boi's Shutterbug where the music stops and everyone starts singing "BACK TO LIFE, BACK TO REALITY" is great

Did we mention the snippet of "In the name of love" in "Love on your side" ?

I love the 'Silent Night' phrasing in the flute solo to 'Holes' by Mercury Rev.

_Is the coda to Love Will Tear Us Apart a quote from Then He Kissed Me?_
How did I never notice this before? :0

Me neither. Good catch.

Wow, me either.

'cherub rock' by the smashing pumpkins has a couple: the opening E octave vamp is a rip from the middle of rush's 'bytor and the snow dog,'

!

There's a hook in the "Hummer" coda that sounds a bit like a reference to Rush's "In the End", from the same album.

Scott Walker is good at this, but sometimes the references are so cryptically buried as to not be noticed:

- Intro to 'Jesse' is the same opening chords as 'Jailhouse Rock'
- 'The Psoriatic' contains elements of the jazz standard "Ja-Da (Ja Da, Ja Da, Jing, Jing, Jing!)"
- The sound effect at the beginning of 'The Escape' is a riff on the start of the Looney Tunes Merrie Melodies theme

"Ja-da" writer is credited on the album

There's a hook in the "Hummer" coda that sounds a bit like a reference to Rush's "In the End", from the same album.

― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, January 11, 2018 5:11 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wow, good catch! the acoustic bit in the beginning is very similar to the main chord progression in 'hummer' (D-G/B-C). also when the electric guitars kicked in on 'in the end,' i immediately thought of 'snail.' but yeah that riff at 4:34 in the rush song is identical to the coda of 'hummer.'

'rocket' has one, but no one knows the source. in the 2011 reissue of siamese dream, billy wrote in the liner notes that he lifted the guitar lead line at the end of the song (when everything drops out) from someone/somewhere he "can never reveal." i'm assuming it's rush

"Back on the Chain Gang" brings in the "ooh! ahh!" backing vocals from the original "Chain Gang."

De La Soul's "Ego Trippin' Part Two" quotes (lyrically and melodically) from like a dozen classic rap tunes

"Back on the Chain Gang" brings in the "ooh! ahh!" backing vocals from the original "Chain Gang."

I wonder what is the most quoted/referenced classic rap song... "Top Billin'," maybe?

"La Di Da Di" maybe

There seems to be a couple of references to Scott Walker in Kid A/Amnesiac era Radiohead, an obvious one is that static string chord at the beginning of How To Dissappear.. which is voiced very similarly to the first chord of Sleepwalker's Woman.

The most referenced hip-hop song might still be Rapper's Delight tbh

'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

“Mind on my money, money on my mind” from Snoop’s “gin and juice” (is this actually the origin?) referenced in like 1,000 hip hop songs.

The origin of that phrase was recently an answer to a question on HQ Trivia

One of my favourite recent instances of this is when Perfume Genius sings "you can 'say a little prayer for me'" on "Go Ahead"

I like it when this stuff happens in classical music most of all. I love when Debussy starts mocking the opening of "Tristan And Isolde" in the middle of "Golliwog's Cakewalk". The intro to Beethoven's 5th pops up all over the place in Ives' "Concord Sonata" like a persistent catchphrase.