Singers That Reference Other Singers

[Des-Lab]

So I'm listening to "Sultans Of Swing" by Dire Straits and I heard the line 'He don't give a damn about any trumpet playin' band/it aint what they call rock-n-roll'. Given the date of this recording, it HAS to be a reference to the group Chicago....which was playing trumpet and other brass induced rock music in the same period.

What other references are there to other artists?

One other that comes to mind is the John Cougar Mellencamp song "R-O-C-K In The USA" where he says "There was Frankie Lyman, Bobby Fuller, Mitch Rider (they were rockin), Jackie Wilson, Shangri-Las Young Rascals, Spotlight on Martha Reevs let's not forget James Brown"

Interestingly that song is completely devoid of any reference to any of the so-called "British Invasion" acts of the time.

What others are there? I know that Skynard took a potshot at Neil Young in "Sweet Home Alabama".

[mang6669]

Neil Young-Southern Man, takes a shot at Ronnie Van Zandt (Lynyrd Skynyrd)

[stuartypoorty]

Here's a few;

01. Starz - Rock Six Times, refers to Walk This Way by Aerosmith
02. Nils Lofgren - Keith Don't Go
03. Nirvana - AeroZeppelin
04. Spandau Ballet - True, Marvin Gaye gets mentioned
05. Kirsty MacColl - There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis

[El Monte Slim]

Righteous Brothers - Rock and Roll Heaven

Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Jim Croce and Bobby Darin

[Acoustic]

Stephen Bishop- "On and On" 'puts on Sinatra and starts to cry'

[Fast Forward]

Don Mclean ,,,American Pie

[Scorpion8]

Dire Straits ~ Calling Elvis
R.E.M. ~ Losing My Religion (voice of Johnny Cash)

[Eldorado]

So I'm listening to "Sultans Of Swing" by Dire Straits and I heard the line 'He don't give a damn about any trumpet playin' band/it aint what they call rock-n-roll'. Given the date of this recording, it HAS to be a reference to the group Chicago....which was playing trumpet and other brass induced rock music in the same period.

The relevant lyric:

"And a crowd of young boys they're fooling around in the corner
Drunk and dressed in their best brown baggies and their platform soles
They don't give a damn about any trumpet playing band
It ain't what they call rock and roll"

Sorry, it's not Chicago. These guys are the audience/the punters. It's definitely in a pub. "The time bell rings", which comes up a few lines later, signifies last orders, followed by chucking-out time. "Time!" in a pub means time's up. Things have loosened up recently, but when this song was written, licensing laws were strict, and pubs opened 11 am to 3 pm, and then 5 pm to 11 pm. This was by law and there was no leeway, hence the bell.

The trumpet playing band is the same as the small-time pub band the whole song is about in the first place - the lyrics throw in a few clues to their sound, "blowin' Dixie", "swing", "jazz" and "it ain't rock 'n' roll", as well as their level of competence.

By the way, mang6669, with Lynyrd Skynyrd it's actually the other way round: Sweet Home Alabama was a response to Neil Young's two "Deep South" songs Southern Man and Alabama. Neither mentions Lynyrd Skynyrd, but Sweet Home Alabama takes a swipe at Neil Young, mentioning him by name.

Young himself mentions (praises) a few people in Downtown (album: Mirror Ball):

Jimi's playin' in the back room
Led Zeppelin on stage
There's a mirror ball twirlin'
And a note from Page
Like a water-washed diamond
In a river of sin
Goin' down like a whirlpool
When you get sucked in.

Not too long after this he played a song with Page, Plant and Jones. The video of that makes for relatively bizarre viewing, a bit of a clash of musicianly styles, and I suspect Young enjoyed himself a lot more than Zeppelin did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wCvUynhYRY

Side note: Page is credited on LZ1 for writing Dazed and Confused. Seems not though:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTsvs-pAGDc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58mQvW0ROag

Can we call that referencing?