List of answer songs Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description

An answer song is a song that refers directly or indirectly to another song, or is meant as a reply to another song: these are not songs which simply refer to other artists or to songs in general, or include samples or riffs from other songs. The lyrics refer directly to another particular song. Songs are listed in alphabetical order.

Songs that refer to themselves should be listed at List of self referential songs.

A

• "Achy Breaky Song" by Weird Al Yankovic is a song-length rant about Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart".

• "Amsterdam" by Guster contains the lyrics "From your red balloon you were / a super high tech jetfighter," a reference to "99 Luftballoons" by Nena.

• "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" by Eric Bogle, about a young Australian who comes of age in the Battle of Gallipoli, refers to the Banjo Paterson song "Waltzing Matilda".

• "The Answer Is Clear" by Peter Murphy is an answer to former Bauhaus bandmate Daniel Ash's song "The Movement of Fear" (recorded by Ash's side project Tones on Tail), which was a song written in second person to Murphy.

• "At The Darktown Strutter's Ball" by Shelton Brooks makes reference to "The Original Jelly Roll Blues" by Jelly Roll Morton.

"We'll dance off both our shoes,

When they play those Jelly Roll Blues"

• "Ashes To Ashes" by David Bowie makes reference to the character of Major Tom from his earlier "Space Oddity"

B

• "The Ballad of Dorothy Parker" by Prince includes the line "'Oh, my favorite song,' she said / And it was Joni singing 'Help Me, I Think I'm Falling.'"

• "The Best Song In the World" (aka "Tribute" in the album version) by Tenacious D refers obliquely to "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin; the stage version contains lots of Stairway riffs; the album version, for legal reasons, contains much less

C

• "The Chelsea Hotel Oral Sex Song" by Jeffrey Lewis refers to "Chelsea Hotel #2" by Leonard Cohen.

• "Complete Control" by The Clash begins "They said, release 'Remote Control', but we didn't want it on the label," referring to CBS Records releasing their song "Remote Control" as a single against the band's wishes.

• "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" by The Spinners refers to their song "I'll Be Around".

"If you need me, I'll be around."

• "Creeque Alley" by the Mamas and Papas (a song whose title does not appear in the lyrics) refers to their earlier song "California Dreamin'"

D

• "Daddy's Home" by Shep & the Limelites; refers to "A Thousand Miles Away" by The Heartbeats, for whom the self-same Shep was also the lead singer.

Daddy's home - to stay

I'm not a thousand miles away

• "Danny Says" by The Ramones refers to their earlier "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker", their only U.S. hit single of the 1970s:

Listening to Sheena on the radio,

oh, oh, oh

• "Dawn of Correction" was a minor hit for a group called The Spokesmen; it was an answer song to "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire.

• "The Drinking Song" by Moxy Früvous contains a segment from Huddie Ledbetter and John A. Lomax's "Good Night Irene".

E

• Exile in Guyville (the album) by Liz Phair is generally considered to be a song-by-song response to The Rolling Stones' classic Exile on Main Street.

• "Extraordinary" by Better than Ezra includes the following lines, each at the end of one of its two verses:

Just like that AC/DC song

Come on, baby, shake me all night long

. . .

But just like that Barenaked Ladies song

I'm hot like wasabi

When I'm next to your body

F

• "F.U.R.B. (Fuck U Right Back)" by Frankee answers Eamon's "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)".

G

• "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson is a rueful comment on the audience at a Madison Square Garden show that booed him when he played some of his new songs:

"Played them all the old songs, thought that's why they came

"No one heard the music, we didn't look the same

"I said hello to "Mary Lou", she belongs to me

"When I sang a song about a honky-tonk, it was time to leave"

• "Glass Onion" by The Beatles repeats lyrics from and makes reference to "Strawberry Fields Forever", "I Am the Walrus", and "The Fool on the Hill"

"I told you about strawberry fields

you know the place where nothing is real"

. . .

"I told you about the walrus and me, man

you know we're as close as can be, man

Well here's another clue for you all,

The walrus was Paul."

. . .

"I told you about the fool on the hill

I tell you man he's living there still"

• "God, Pt 2" from U2's Rattle and Hum uses the same lyrical structure as John Lennon's "God".

• "God Save The Queen" by the Sex Pistols refers to "God Save The Queen", naturally.

H

• "He'll Have to Stay" Jeannie Black answers "He'll Have To Go" by Jim Reeves.

• "Hey, Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had A Deal" by They Might Be Giants refers to their previous songs "The World's Address", "Rabid Child", and "Chess Piece Face", using an "I told you 'bout" construction similar to the inter-song references in The Beatles' "Glass Onion".

• The title of "How He Wrote Elastica Man" by Elastica, featuring guest Mark E. Smith on vocals, refers to the song "How I Wrote Elastic Man" by Smith's band The Fall. (Note that "Elastic Man" is not actually the title of a song Smith ever wrote.)

I

• "If You Want To Sex Me Up" by TCF Crew is an answer song to "I Want To Sex You Up" by Color Me Badd.

• "(I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May" by Suzanne Vega is (obviously) an answer song to Rod Stewart's "Maggie May".

• "I'm Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee)" by Ben Vaughn refers, of course, to Brenda Lee's "I'm Sorry"

• "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels" by Kitty Wells is an answer song to "The Wild Side of Life" by Hank Thompson.

• "It's My Life" by Bon Jovi refers to Frank's Sinatra "I Did It My Way" in the line "like Frankie said I did it my way".

J

• "Jet Boy, Jet Girl" by Captain Sensible and the Softies inludes the line "We made it on a Ballroom Blitz," referring to the Sweet hit "Ballroom Blitz."

• "Judy's Turn To Cry" by Lesley Gore refers to "It's My Party" ("It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...") also by Lesley Gore:

"'Cause now it's Judy's turn to cry, Judy's turn to cry, Judy's turn to cry-y-y-y-y-y, 'cause Johnny's come back (Johnny's come back, come back) to me."

• 'Julian Cope Is Dead' from the 1986 Bill Drummond album 'The Man' is an answer to the song 'Bill Drummond Said' from Julian Cope's 1984 album 'Fried'.

K

L

• • "London Boys" by Johnny Thunders, putting down the Sex Pistols. is an answer to the Sex Pistols' "New York"

putting down the New York Dolls. Interestingly, Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols plays guitar on the Thunders song.

M

• "Major Tom" by Peter Schilling refers to "Space Oddity" by David Bowie

• "Mathematics" by Mos Def refers to "You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson

"I guess, Michael Jackson was right, "You Are Not Alone""

• "Memories" by Leonard Cohen refers "Jezebel" by Frankie Laine and to "Stardust" by Hoagy Carmichael

"Frankie Lane, he was singing 'Jezebel', I pinned an Iron Cross to my lapel"

"So we are dancing close, the band is playing 'Stardust', balloons and paper streamers floating down on us"

N

• "The Night I Fell in Love" by Pet Shop Boys is a parody of Eminem's alleged homophobia and refers to his song Stan (itself referring to a Phil Collins song, see above).

"Then he joked 'hey man,

your name isn't Stan, is it?

We should be together!'"

• "No Pigeons" by Sporty Thieves is an answer song to "No Scrubs" by TLC.

O

P

• "Peggy Sue Got Married" by Buddy Holly and the Crickets refers to their hit "Peggy Sue." In the later song, Holly relates a rumor that the girl who was once the object of his affections has wed someone else.

• "Play It All Night Long" by Warren Zevon is about living in the rural South and includes the line "Sweet Home Alabama / Play that dead band's song." This refers to "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd (see below) and the plane crash that killed Ronnie VanZant and two other band members.

Q

• "Queen of the Hop" by Bobby Darin refers to Duke Ellington's "Yellow Dog Blues"

R

• "Rabid Child" by They Might Be Giants refers to their previous song "Chess Piece Face"

• "Radar Love" by Golden Earring refers to Brenda Lee's "Coming on Strong":

"Radio's playing some forgotten song, Brenda Lee's 'Coming on Strong'"

• "Roll With Me, Henry" (also known as "The Wallflower") by Etta James is a reply to "Work With me, Annie" by Hank Ballard; it was covered for the pop market by Georgia Gibbs as "Dance With me, Henry". Ballard also recorded his own answer with "Annie had a Baby".

• "Runnin' Down A Dream" by Tom Petty refers to "Runaway" by Del Shannon:

"It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down, I had the radio on, I was drivin'. Trees flew by, me and Del were singin' little 'Runaway', I was flyin'."

S

• "Shooting Star" by Bad Company refers to "Love Me Do" by The Beatles:

"Johnny was a school boy when he heard his first Beatles song. 'Love Me Do', I think it was and from there it didn't take him long. Got himself a guitar, used to play every night. Now he's in a rock & roll outfit, and everything's all right."

• "Stan" by Eminem refers to an urban legend concerning Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight"

"It's like that Phil Collins song, y'know, 'In the Air Tonight', you could've saved me from drowning"

• "Stephen, It Was Really Something" by The Associates was a riposte to The Smiths' "William It Was Really Nothing", which was allegedly about Associates singer Billy Mackenzie.

• "Street Fighting Man" by the Rolling Stones was recorded as an answer song to "Revolution" by The Beatles.

• "Suit And Tie" by Suzzy Roche alludes to "Down The Dream" by Maggie & Terre Roche;

• "Summer Rain" by Johnny Rivers, quotes the lyrics and riff from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (and the rising tone from "A Day in the Life"):

All summer long we were grooving in the sand

Everybody just kept on playing "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

• "Superstar" by Lydia Murdock answers "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, and is written from Billie Jean's perspective.

• "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, answers Neil Young's statements in his song "Southern Man":

Well I heard Mr. Young sing about her

Well I heard old Neil put her down

Well I hope Neil Young will remember

A Southern man don't need him around anyhow

T

• "Taxman Mr. Thief" by Cheap Trick refers to "Taxman" by The Beatles

• "Take Me Home Tonight" by Eddie Money refers to "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes

Just like Ronnie said, "Be my little baby"

• "This Land Is Your Land" was written by Woody Guthrie as a socialist response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America".

• "Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen refers to "Only the Lonely" by Roy Orbison

"Roy Orbison singing for the lonely. Hey that's me and I want you only"

U

• "The Universal Coward", a pro-Vietnam War song by Jan and Dean, was written in response to Donovan's anti-war

song "The Universal Soldier"

V

• "Van Halen" by Nerf Herder refers to several different Van Halen albums and songs by name.

• "Vera" by Pink Floyd refers to "We'll Meet Again" by Vera Lynn (a song which appears in Dr. Strangelove):

"Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn? Remember how she said that we would meet again some sunny day. Vera! Vera! what has become of you? Does anybody else in here feel the way I do?"

• "Volcano Girls" by Veruca Salt refers to "Seether" by Veruca Salt, and mimics the "Glass Onion" reference to "I am the Walrus":

"I told you 'bout the seether before

You know, the one that's neither or nor

Well here's another clue if you please....

The seether's Louise"

W

• "Walkin' To New Orleans" by Fats Domino refers to his earlier hit "Ain't That A Shame".

• "Where Are You Tonight?" by Cowboy Junkies opens with a reference to Patsy Cline's "Crazy".:

"There's a young man in the corner playing "Crazy" all night long"

• "(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" by The Clash refers to "Midnight To Six Man" by Pretty Things.

• "Why Must I Be Sad?" by They Might Be Giants, apparently a song about an Alice Cooper fan, has the titles of nine Cooper songs and three albums in it (plus one more that was the title of both a song and an album). It also states that the narrator "understand[s] what Alice said".

• "Writing To Reach You" by Travis refers to Oasis's "Wonderwall".:

"The radio is playing all the usual

What's a Wonderwall anyway?"

X

Y

• "Yarra Song" by Billy Bragg contains a short section from Jean Kenbrovin and John Kellette's "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles".

• "You Should Really Know" by The Pirates is an answer to "I Don't Wanna Know" by Mario Winans. Both tracks feature heavy sampling from the same Enya track

Z

See Also

• List of songs by name
• List of songs whose title includes geographical names
• List of songs whose title includes personal names
• List of songs whose title appears more than twenty times in the lyrics
• List of songs whose title does not appear in the lyrics
• List of songs that retell a work of literature

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