Song within a Song Mix
November 24, 2009
While it’s fairly common for artists to perform a cover every once in a while, it’s much rarer (and more interesting) for a band to incorporate a cover into one of their own songs. The “song within a song” is cool for a number of reasons. It’s much harder to pull off then just sampling the track in your song, and if done right it can add weight / resonance to the song and reinforce it’s meaning (see “Happy Hippo”, “John Allyn Smith Sails”). It also can be used to pay tribute to the original artist (”First Love”, “Rip It Up”), or they could just be doing it for the hell of it (”Praise Chorus, “Philosophy”). In most cases, it makes a good song even better. Here are some songs within songs that I enjoy. If you can think of any more, put them in the comments!
MP3 Emmy the Great – First Love (Leonard Cohen – “Hallelujah”)
MP3 Cloud Cult – Happy Hippo (Neil Young – “Hey Hey, My My”)
MP3 Jimmy Eat World – Praise Chorus (Tommy James – “Crimson & Clover”)*
MP3 Islands – In The Rushes (The Who – “A Quick One While He’s Away”)
Y2B Sufjan Stevens – All Delighted People (Simon & Garfunkel – “Sound of Silence”)
MP3 Orange Juice – “Rip It Up” (The Buzzcocks – “Boredom”)
MP3 Ben Folds Five – “Philosophy” (Gershwin – “Rhapsody in Blue”)
MP3 Okkervil River – John Allyn Smith Sails (Beach Boys – “Sloop John B”)
*Also contains references to “Our House” by Madness, “Why Did We Ever Meet” and “All Of My Everything” by The Promise Ring, “Rock n’ Roll Fantasy” by Bad Company, “Don’t Let’s Start” by They Might Be Giants, and “Kickstart My Heart” by Mötley Crüe.
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Tags: Beach Boys, Ben Folds Five, Cloud Cult, Emmy The Great, Gershwin, Islands, Jimmy Eat World, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Okkervil River, Orange Juice, The Buzzcocks, The Who, Tommy James and the Shondells
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I absolutly love it!
content rss
November 24th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
another one:
walking the dog – fun. (boys of summer – don henley)
November 24th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
So I believe it’s called a parody (a word which originally referred, in the early modern period, to songs taking a melody from other songs and changing the words in whatever way), because the words are changed, but the last bit of “Tell The King” by The Libertines features a parody of “Puff The Magic Dragon” by Peter, Paul and Mary.
November 25th, 2009 at 5:13 am
M.I.A. – $20 (Pixies – Where is my Mind?)
November 25th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
the M.I.A is a Blue Monday sample isnt it?
November 25th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Joni Mitchell’s “Chinese Cafe” uses lyrics from the Righteous Brothers’ “Unchained Melody”
November 26th, 2009 at 6:37 am
The live version of Faith No More’s ‘We Care A Lot ‘ they drop in a few verses of ‘The Right Stuff’, and in ‘Epic’ they drop in some of ‘Pump Up the Jam’
November 27th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Animal Collective- The Purple Bottle (Stevie Wonder- I Just Called To Say I Love You)
but it has to be the version on the White Label 7″ because due to copyright issues they weren’t allowed to include the Stevie Wonder part on the album version
November 29th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Andrew Jackson Jihad – “People II: The Reckoning” (Simon & Garfunkel – “Mrs. Robinson”).
November 29th, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Radiohead – Paranoid Android
An epic song. More like 3 songs within a song actually.
November 29th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
Opps misunderstood the post, didn’t ready the actual article ahaha. Paranoid Android is still a great song nonetheless.
December 5th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Mos Def – Brooklyn – opening lines are from Under the Bridge by Red Hot Chili Peppers
December 7th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Sublime_DJs_40 oz. to Freedom – The Specials_Message to You Rudy_S/T
December 12th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Josh Ritter tends to do it a lot when he plays his song “Harrisburg.” I’ve heard both Modest Mouth’s “Tiny Cities Made of Ashes” and the old Motown song “Papa was a Rolling Stone.” Both work really well… I know there are mp3s of the Papa was a Rolling Stone one online if anyone wants to hear them