List of answer songs

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An answer song is a song that refers directly 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. This phenomenon was popular in blues and R&B genres, particularly from the 1930s through 1950s. Songs are listed in alphabetical order.

See the main article; Answer song, for more details.

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

Contents
0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z Top of page — See also — External links

0-9

• "1,2 Step" by Ciara makes reference to "Supersonic" by J.J. Fad, "We Will Rock You" by Queen, and the title track on the album it is from, "Goodies"

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," talking about how connection was reestablished with the wiser-for-the-wear astronaut who exiled himself in space.

B

• "Baby Bitch" by Ween is a bitter song about the same person that the earlier Ween song "Birthday Boy" was written about. The singer mentions; "Wrote 'Birthday Boy' for you, babe".

• "Baby, Hold On" by Eddie Money is a response to "Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be)" by Doris Day with the lyrics "'whatever will be, will be...the future is ours to see.'"

• "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.'"

• "Bark, Battle and Bawl" by The Platters is a response to "Shake, Rattle and Roll" by Big Joe Turner and Bill Haley and His Comets, and opens with a direct reference to the opening verse of that song.

• "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

• "Cash Car Star" by The Smashing Pumpkins refers to Grand Funk Railroad's "We're An American Band".

• "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 with a title that does not appear in the lyrics) refers to their earlier song "California Dreamin'"

D

• "Daddy's Home" by Shep and 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.

• "Don't Wanna Know Why", written by Ryan Adams, on the Whiskeytown album Pneumonia was written in response to a song called "You Never Say Goodbye" by an unnamed musician.

• "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

• "Fever of Love" by The Sweet refers to "Good Vibrations" and "God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys
• "F.U.R.B. (Fuck U Right Back)" by Frankee answers Eamon's "Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)".
• According to critics, "Fourth Time Around" is Bob Dylan's answer to The Beatles' "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)." While Dylan doesn't directly refer to the Beatles song, his song is uncannily similar in melody and subject matter.

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.

• "God Tonight (Beat Me Senseless Mix)" by Real Life contains the line "Couldn't I just send you an angel instead?", which of course refers to their hit, "Send Me An Angel". It could be a reference to the song of the same name by Scorpions.

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".

• "Hit or Miss" by The Damned refers to The New York Dolls' "Looking for a kiss": "Another hit or miss,

I was looking for a kiss"

• "Hit or Miss" by New Found Glory refers to Michael Jackson's "Thriller" with the line "Remember the time we realized 'Thriller' was our favorite song?"

• "Hope" from R.E.M.'s Up uses the same lyrical structure as Leonard Cohen's "Suzanne." Because of this, Cohen is credited as a co-writer of the song.

• "How Do You Sleep?" by John Lennon attacks Paul McCartney, saying "The sound you make is muzak to my ears" and "The only thing you done was Yesterday".

• 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

• "I Already Know" by Noelle, the first reply song to Mario Winans' I Don't Wanna Know

• "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" from The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan refers to an entire G&S operetta by title: ". . . and whistle all the airs from that infernal nonsense, Pinafore!"

• "I Feel Like Buddy Holly" by Alvin Stardust refers to "Raining in My Heart" by Buddy Holly and Yesterday by The Beatles.

• "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 an answer song to Rod Stewart's "Maggie May".

• "I'll Save The Last Dance For You" by Damita Jo is the answer song to "Save The Last Dance For Me" by The Drifters. [1] (http://www.allbutforgottenoldies.net/damita-jo.html)

• "(I'm Not Your) Wild Thing" by Dizzie Dee is a female answer version of Tone Loc's "Wild Thing".

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

• "I'm That Type Of Nigga" by Tony MF Rock is a hardcore reply to L.L. Cool J.'s track "I'm That Type Of Guy" which was deemed as too soft and radio friendly by most hardcore rappers and rap aficionados.

• "In the Springtime of His Voodoo" by Tori Amos refers to the Eagles' "Take It Easy".

• "It'll Chew You Up and Spit You Out" by Concrete Blonde has the same chorus and melody as the same band's "Still in Hollywood".

• "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 Sinatra's "I Did It My Way" in the line "like Frankie said I did it my way". It also contains the line "for Tommy and Gina, who never backed down", referring to the couple in the earlier Bon Jovi song "Living On A Prayer".

• The title, "I Wrote Holden Caulfield" by Screeching Weasel, is a reference to the title of Green Day's "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?"

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

• "Shook (The Answer)" by Keshia Chanté is the answer song to "Shook" by Shawn Desman.
• "Killing Me Softly" by Lori Lieberman (Roberta Flack, The Fugees), often thought to be the answer song to "American Pie" by Don Mclean, is actually the answer song to Mclean's lesser known song on his American Pie album: "Empty Chairs". See http://www.paulrother.com/kms/ L. Lieberman comments, Oct. 2002., http://www.lorilieberman.com/biography.html

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.

• "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division was written in response to Neil Sedaka's "Love Will Keep Us Together"

• "Long May You Run" by Neil Young refers to The Beach Boys' "Caroline, No"

• "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, sung by Groucho Marx in At the Circus includes a reference to Captain Spaulding, Groucho's character in Animal Crackers, and the subject of the song, "Hooray for Captain Spaulding."

• "Lullalby" by Mariah Carey makes references to "Melt Away" and "The Roof (Back In Time)"

M

• "Marshall Mathers" by Eminem refers to "Slim Anus" by Insane Clown Posse

"'Slim Anus', you damn right slim anus. I don't get fucked in mine like you two little flaming faggots."

• Tori Amos' "Mary" directly refers to Jimi Hendrix's song "The Wind Cries Mary" in its chorus.

• "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

• "Never Been in a Riot" by The Mekons was written in response to "White Riot" by The Clash.

• "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 below).

"Then he joked 'hey man,

your name isn't Stan, is it?

We should be together!'"

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

• "No One" by 2 Unlimited refers to "That's the Way Love Goes" by Janet Jackson:

No-one knows

YO! Will I know

Like Janet Jackson

"That's the way love goes"?

O

P

• "Paying for that Back Street Affair" by Kitty Wells is an answer to "Back Street Affair" by Webb Pierce

• "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.

• "Pull Over" by Trina refers to, and answers, a number of recent and classic "ass songs," songs that proclaim the beauty of women with large buttocks. Among these are:
  • "Thong Song" by Sisqo: "Dumps in the truck, thighs like what / Ain't nann ho' got more booty in the butt / Sisqo made that song when he seen me in a thong th-thong thong thong"
  • "Whoa" by Black Rob: "Turn on the cameras start the freak show / This ass even make Black Rob say whoa"
  • "Back That Azz Up" by Juvenile: "I got a fat ass playa n***a can't pass up / Juvenile couldn't even back this azz up"

Q

• "Queen of the Hop" by Bobby Darin refers to Duke Ellington's "Yellow Dog Blues"
• "Queen of the House" by Jody Miller answers "King of the Road" by Roger Miller

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'"

• "Real Love" by Master P refers to Missy Elliot's song "One Minute Man".

• "The Real Slim Shady" by Eminem replies to "The Bum Bum Song" by Tom Green and "The Bad Touch" by Bloodhound Gang

"But it's cool for Tom Green to hump a dead moose / My bum is on your lips, my bum is on your lips / And if I'm lucky you might just give it a little kiss"

"They got the Discovery Channel don't they? / We ain't nothin' but mammals"

• "The Return of Jackie and Judy" by The Ramones refers to their previous song "Judy Is A Punk"

• "Rock Around Stephen Foster" by Stan Freberg parodies both "Rock Around the Clock" and "Shake, Rattle and Roll" while referencing a number of Stephen Foster songs.

• "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".

• "Roxanne's Revenge" by Roxanne Shanté is a rap song replying to "Roxanne Roxanne" by U.T.F.O.

• "Roxy" by Concrete Blonde refers to Rod Stewart's "Maggie May"

"Oh, Roxy - You're my Maggie May"

• "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'."

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

S

• "Sara" by Bob Dylan refers to his own song.

Stayin' up for days in the Chelsea Hotel,

Writin' "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" for you.

• "Scars" by Hannah Fury is an answer to "Scarborough Fair" by Simon & Garfunkel, from the woman's perspective.

• "Sequel" by Harry Chapin is a literal sequel to his song "Taxi," continuing the story of the characters from the earlier song.

• "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."

• "Slim Anus" by the Insane Clown Posse is a mocking answer to Eminem's song "My Name Is." The ICP song has a response back from Eminem, see above.

• "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron", a 1966 hit by The Royal Guardsmen was followed by two sequels: "Return of the Red Baron" and "Snoopy's Christmas".

• "The Song Is Over" by The Who incorporates the chorus of their earlier song "Pure and Easy".

• "Son of a Bitch" by Lady Saw is an answer to Shaggy's hit "It Wasn't Me", and is written from the perspective of the woman being cheated on. The same backing music is used, as is the distinctive call-and-response chorus.

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

• "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"

• "Tonight" by the New Kids On The Block refers to several of their own previous hits - "Please Don't Go Girl", "I'll Be Loving You Forever", "Hangin' Tough", and "The Right Stuff."

• The main guitar riff of "Top Of The World" by Van Halen sounds like the riff heard at the end of "Jump" by the same band.

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"
• "Unknown" by Chely Wright refers to James Taylor's song "Fire and Rain"

V

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

"Tomorrow may come, tomorrow many never come again

Can't you hear Janie Crying? She's Running with the Devil, Lord."

• "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".

• "Walkin' With A Mountain" by Mott The Hoople incorporates the chorus of The Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash"

• Among the closing lines of Tori Amos' song "Wednesday" is "I started humming When Doves Cry", a reference to the song by Prince and the Revolution.

• "When Do I Get To Sing 'My Way'?" by Sparks refers to Frank Sinatra's "My Way".

• "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

• "Young Americans" by David Bowie paraphrases the line "I read the news today, oh boy" from the Beatles' "A Day in the Life" with its own "I heard the news today, oh boy".

• "You Were Right" by Built to Spill takes canonical lines from rock and roll lyrics and either says you were right or you were wrong. For example, "You were wrong when you said everything's going to be alright. You were right when you said, all that glitters isn't gold. You were right when you said, all we are is dust in the wind." Etc.

Z

See also

• List of songs which refer to other songs
• List of self-referential songs
• List of song titles phrased as questions
• Lists of songsnl:Antwoordlied