It’s time for digging into popular music history with tracks from my music library! I have selected twenty-eight songs with musical referrals, so prick up your ears …
| Title | Artist | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Sweet Soul Music | Arthur Conley | “Sweet Soul Music” by Arthur Conley was released in 1967 and recorded at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. This was originally written by Sam Cooke as “Yeah Man”. the opening riff is a quote from Elmer Bernstein’s score for the 1960 movie The Magnificent Seven. Arthur Conley and Otis Redding updated it as a tribute to various Soul singers, referring to the songs “Going to a Go-Go”, by the Miracles, although the group is not explicitly mentioned, “Love Is a Hurtin’ Thing”, by Lou Rawls, “Hold On, I’m Comin'”, by Sam & Dave “Mustang Sally”, by Wilson Pickett, “Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)”, by Otis Redding. James Brown is described as “the king of them all”. |
| Hold On! I’m Coming | Sam & Dave | “Hold On! I’m Coming” by Sam & Dave was released in 1966. While the title is something often heard in the bedroom, the song lyrics are actually quite innocent, with the duo offering emotional support to help the lady through some tough times. The story goes that writer David Porter was in the toilet and responded “Hold on man, I’m coming.” when his songwriting partner Isaac Hayes yelled at him to hurry up, which inspired him for a great title for a song. The song was recorded at the Stax Studios, a converted movie theater, located at 926 E McLemore Ave in Memphis. |
| Mustang Sally | Wilson Pickett | “Mustang Sally” by Wilson Picket, released in 1966, was written by Bonny Rice, also known as Sir Mack Rice and recorded at FAME studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. |
| Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song) | Otis Redding | Otis Redding wrote this with Steve Cropper, the guitar player for Stax Records, where Redding was signed. David Porter, a producer-songwriter at Stax, sang the harmony vocals with Redding. |
| Love is a Hurting Thing | Lou Rawls | “Love Is a Hurtin’ Thing” by Lou Rawls, released in 1966, was written by Ben Raleigh & Dave Linden (pseudonym used by David J. Luff). Marcia Hines covered the song in 1977 |
| Twistin’ the Night Away | Sam Cooke | “Twistin’ The Night Away” by Sam Cooke, released in 1962, was written after seeing TV footage of wealthy old women dancing at the Peppermint Lounge, a New York City nightclub. The Twist was a huge dance craze in the late ’50s and early ’60s. |
| Peppermint Twist | Joey Dee & The Starliters | Joey Dee & The Starliters recorded “Peppermint Twist” in 1961 live at the Peppermint Lounge. The group from New Jersey performed as the house band of the Peppermint Lounge, a New York City nightclub that received worldwide attention when celebrities were photographed doing the popular dance at the venue. It inspired Sam Cooke to write “Twistin’ The Night Away”. |
| The Twist | Chubby Checker | “The Twist” by Chubby Checker, released in 1960, was written by Hank Ballard, who originally recorded it in 1959 with his group The Midnighters. The Twist (Chubby Checker explained it as “like putting out a cigarette with both feet and coming out of a shower and wiping your bottom with a towel to the beat”) |
| Let’s Dance | Chris Montez | “Let’s Dance” by Mexican American singer Chris Montez, released in 1962, was written by Jim Lee and refers to dance steps that were popular with teenagers in the Sixties, such as The Twist, The Stomp, and the Mashed Potato. |
| The Loco-motion | Little Eva | “The Loco-motion” by Little Eva, released in 1962, was written by husband-and-wife songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Little Eva (born Eva Boyd) was their daughter Louise’s nanny. |
| Hardrock Cafe | Carole King | “Hardrock Cafe” by Carole King, released in 1977, is a shameless song-ad for the local Hard Rock Cafe in the US. In London, The Hard Rock Cafe was opened on June 14, 1971, by Americans Peter Morton and Isaac Tigrett. |
| La Grange | ZZ Top | The Chicken Ranch, or Miss Edna’s Boarding House in La Grange, Texas |
| Sultans Of Swing | Dire Straits | “Sultans Of Swing” by Dire Straits, released in 1998, was written by group leader Mark Knopfler who got the idea from watching a mediocre band closing out the night to an audience in a club in Ipswich on a rainy night. The “Guitar George” is George Young, AC/DC Angus Young’s older brother and “Harry” is Harry Vander, both were guitarists in the band The Easybeats. |
| All the young dudes | Mott The Hoople | “All The Young Dudes” was written and produced by David Bowie. Besides producing the track, Bowie played guitar, sang backup, and clapped. Mott The Hoople had a cult following in the UK and Bowie was a big fan. The lyrics were inspired by Bowie’s vision of Mott the Hoople as a Clockwork Orange-style street gang. Even though the band was heterosexual, this became a gay anthem, at least in America, thanks to lyrics like “Lucy looks sweet ’cause he dresses like a queen.” |
| Ziggy Stardust | David Bowie | “Ziggy Stardust” by David Bowie, released in 1972, is about the character Ziggy Stardust growing too conceited: “Making love with his ego, Ziggy sucked up into his mind.” Ziggy Stardust is a character Bowie created with the help of his then-wife, Angela. Iggy Pop (note the name: zIGGY), Lou Reed, Marc Bolan, Gene Vincent and Jimi Hendrix (“He played it left hand, but made it too far” – Hendrix was left-handed), were all likely influences on the character Ziggy Stardust, but the only musician Bowie admits was a direct influence is Vince Taylor, an English singer who took the “rock star” persona to the extreme, calling himself Mateus and declaring himself the son of God. Taylor was popular in France in the early ’60s, and Bowie met him in 1966, after his popularity had faded. |
| Sweet Gene Vincent | Ian Dury | “Sweet Gene Vincent” by Ian Dury, released in 1977, is a tribute song to the American rock n’ roller Gene Vincent. Dury was a massive fan of Vincent with whom he shared a disability. Dury was crippled by childhood polio; Vincent smashed his left leg in a 1955 motor accident. Iggy Pop was diagnosed with scoliosis, with one leg being one and a half inches shorter than the other. |
| Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band | The Beatles | Paul McCartney wrote this and sang lead. After recording it, he had the idea of doing the whole album as if Sgt. Pepper was a real band. It became the title track of what was considered a “concept” album, with the songs running seamlessly together on the record. The title is a parody of American bands who were choosing ridiculously long names for their groups. |
| Bennie And The Jets | Elton John | “Bennie And The Jets”, released in 1973, by Elton John, is about a fictional band. The song was recorded in the studio, with live sound effects added in later like from a 1972 performance of Elton John in the Royal Festival Hall and a 1970 Jimi Hendrix concert at the Isle of Wight. |
| Down On The Corner | Creedence Clearwater Revival | “Down on the corner”, released in 1969, by Creedence Clearwater Revival, is about a fictional band Willy and the Poor Boys, and how they play on street corners to cheer people up and ask for five-cent coins. |
| The Guitar Man | Bread | “The Guitar Man”, released in 1972, by American band Bread, written by frontman David Gates, is a song about performers. |
| One Man Band | Leo Sayer | “One Man Band” was first recorded by The Who’s frontman Roger Daltrey in 1973 and co-written by English-Australian singer Leo Sayer, who recorded it in 1974. |
| Jackie Wilson Said | Van Morrison | “Jackie Wilson Said (I’m in Heaven When You Smile)”, released in 1972, written and performed by Van Morrison, was “particularly inspired” by a line in Jackie Wilson’s song “Reet Petite”. |
| Reet Petite | Jackie Wilson | “Reet Petite (The Sweetest Girl in Town)” (originally subtitled “The Finest Girl You Ever Want to Meet”), released in 1957 by Jackie Wilson, written by Berry Gordy, Gwen Gordy Fuqua, and Wilson’s cousin Roquel “Billy” Davis, its title was taken from the 1948 Louis Jordan song “Reet, Petite and Gone” (“reet” meaning in jazz lingo, “fantastic”). |
| Marvin Gaye (ft. Meghan Trainor) | Charlie Puth | “Marvin Gaye”, released in 2015, by Charlie Puth, featuring his friend Meghan Trainor, uses ‘Marvin Gaye’ as a euphemism for sex. |
| D.A.N.C.E. | Justice | “D.A.N.C.E.”, released in 2007, by French electronic music duo Justice, consisting of Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay, is dedicated to Michael Jackson, of which the duo are huge fans. The song includes a number of references to Jackson’s songs like “Beat It”, “Black Or White,” “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”, “Workin’ Day and Night” as well as the Jackson 5 hit “ABC” and album Music and Me. Inspired by Larry Levan’s disco mix of “Stand on the Word,” a 1985 song by the Joubert Singers, the vocals were provided by the London-based Foundation for Young Musicians choir. |
| The Songs That We Sing | Charlotte Gainsbourg | “The Songs That We Sing” by Charlotte Gainsbourg is written by Jarvis Cocker and Neil Hannon. Singer and actress Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg (born 21 July 1971) is the daughter of English actress Jane Birkin and French singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. |
| This Is the Life | Amy MacDonald | “This Is The Life”, released in 2007, written and performed by Amy MacDonald, is about how great it is to be a musician. |
| When We Was Fab | George Harrison | “When We Was Fab”, released in 1987, by George Harrison, is about the days of Beatlemania, when the group was known as “The Fab 4”, featuring Ringo Starr as the drummer. George Harrison plays at the end a bit of sitar and his friend Gary Wright, whom he had in 1972 invited on a trip to India, plays piano on the track. |
Sources
The information sources of the song facts include, but are not limited to, Wikipedia, songfacts.com, discogs.com, secondhandsongs.com, YouTube and artists’ related websites.
