# Homages in popular music



## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

One of my favorite sub genres of pop songs are homages whereby one artist recognises a previous artists accomplishments by referring to them in either music or lyric. Here's a few that I have found poignant through the years.

Neil Finn - _Don't Dream Its Over_. Neil and brother Tim learned to sing harmony singing Beatles songs together. So it's not surprising that Neil's biggest hit is an ode to the Mersey Beat sound of 1964 along with a specific reference to his favorite Beatles song, _Across The Universe_.

Peter Gabriel - _Mercy Street_. This somewhat eerie and quirky song seems to capture in part the feeling of the life, times and poetry of the great confessional poet, Anne Sexton. It's a "peel back the layers song" in that the more you know of her life and work, the more the song makes sense. One of the most beautiful songs that I know.

Dream Academy (Nick Laird-Clowes and Gilbert Gabriel) - _Life in a Northern Town_. I always loved this song for the great hook that goes, "Heya' ma ma ma, into the night, Hey ma ma ma, hey, ah, life in a northern town." Almost broke down and cried when I found out what it was about. (Nick Drake). Big assist to David Gilmour who produced.

Don McLean - _Vincent_ - Most songwriters I know would give their left ear to write something this beautiful and poignant.

Neil Young - _Tonight's The Night_, the whole album. The band's out of tune, Neil sings off key and it doesn't matter. The album is a drunk and stoned wake for the loss of two friends due to heroin overdoses. We'll never know how good Danny Whitten could have been, but last year I was on the edge of civilization in Oriental Mindoro and heard _I Don't Want To Talk About It_ wafting from within a corrugated tin roof shack!

Robbie Robertson - _Fallen Angel_. When someone commits suicide friends and loved ones are left with the task of trying to make sense of it all. This song is Robertson's attempt, with a big assist from Peter Gabriel, to do just that. For Band mate Richard Manuel.

These are some of my favorites. What are yours?


----------



## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Two quick examples: _Edie_ by The Cult (Edie Sedgwick); several songs from the _Temple of the Dog _ memorial album (Andy Wood of Mother Love Bone). Chris Cornell sadly left early also.


----------



## laurie (Jan 12, 2017)

Bruce Springsteen,_ The Last Carnival _ ~ written in honor of E Street Band-mate Danny Federici; I've cried every time I've heard it.

_Black Beehive, _by Big Head Todd & The Monsters (probably the best-band-you've-never-heard-of, & one of my favorites!), about the late Amy Winehouse.

And my favorite Pink Floyd song has always been _Shine On You Crazy Diamond_, a tribute to their troubled band-mate Syd Barrett.


----------



## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Some T. Rex singles contain references to the music that Marc Bolan liked when he was younger...

_Get it On_ ends with Marc singing '...and meanwhile, I'm still thinking...' - that's from _Little Queenie_ by Chuck Berry.

_Telegram Sam_ ends with him singing 'I'm a howlin' wolf - woo-oo-hooo!' - probably a reference to the Howlin' Wolf song _Moanin' at Midnight_.

In _Sold Gold Easy Action_ Marc sings 'I can't get no satisfaction...'

In the Thin Lizzy song _Black Rose_ Phil Lynott namechecks various Irish luminaries (both Northern and Southern): footballer George Best, singer Van Morrison, literary lions W.B. Yeats, James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Brendan Behan, and John Millington Synge and also a hero of Irish mythology, Cú Chulainn.


----------



## laurie (Jan 12, 2017)

I forgot! ~ _American Pie_ by Don McLean, memorializing "the day the music died" (the plane crash that took Buddy Holly, Richie Valens & The Big Bopper).
And in U2's _Angel of Harlem,_ Bono is singing about Billy Holiday.


----------



## LezLee (Feb 21, 2014)

I'm a big fan of Australian Charles (Chuck) Jenkins. Here's his 'Shelley Winters'
Not on YouTube but you can hear it on Bandcamp:

https://charlesjenkins.bandcamp.com/album/the-blue-atlas-companion

Scroll down to track 1.


----------



## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

The Allman Brothers song, _Jessica_, written by Dickie Betts is a tribute to guitarist Django Reinhardt.


----------

