Rob Hutton started this list with “Thunder Road”, in which Bruce Springsteen is listening to Roy Orbison singing “Only The Lonely”. Mutablejoe objected that the lyric is: “‘Roy Orbison singing for the lonely.’ It’s pure speculation on your part that the song is ‘Only The Lonely’. This is typical of today’s MSM.” While the committee retired to considered its ruling, it approved 10 more, in no particular order.
1. “We Belong Together”, Mariah Carey, cites Bobby Womack’s “If You Think You’re Lonely Now”. Nominated by Esther Webber.
2. “I Want To Wake Up”, Pet Shop Boys. They sing: “My radio played / Songs like ‘Tainted Love’ and ‘Love Is Strange’.” Thanks to Darren Campbell and Wibblewobble.
3. “Play it all Night Long”, Warren Zevon, refers to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” – “Play that dead band’s song/ Turn the speakers up real loud; play it all night long.” “Sweet Home Alabama” in turn mentions hearing Neil Young sing “Southern Man”. Nominated by Francis Wheen, Ben Stanley and Tim Hailstone.
4. “Creeque Alley”, the Mamas & the Papas. Ends by mentioning their first hit, “California Dreamin’”: “And ‘California Dreamin’’ is becomin’ a reality.” Henry Peacock and Graham Fildes.
5. “Castle on the Hill”, Ed Sheeran, refers to singing along to “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John while driving. Thanks to Faye Harland and Neil Taylor.
6. “Hands Open”, Snow Patrol, mentions “Chicago” by Sufjan Stevens. Nominated by Matt Gillespie and Robertson Barley.
7. “Ballad of Dorothy Parker”, Prince. “‘Oh, my favourite song,’ she said/ And it was Joni singing, ‘Help me, I think I’m falling.’” From Robert Wright, Jason Brautigam, Daniel Jackson and Danny Roca.
8. “Fairy Tale of New York”, the Pogues. “The boys of the NYPD choir / Were singing ‘Galway Bay’.” It also mentions “an old man” singing “The Rare Old Mountain Dew”, which makes two references to other songs in one song. Thanks to William French and Alan Beattie.
9. “The President Sang Amazing Grace”, Joan Baez. An Obama-themed song on her latest album, nominated by William French.
10. “Barfruit Blues”, the Hold Steady. Mark Hobbs said: “I think nearly 50 per cent of their output probably qualifies for this. I’ll go for this one to keep up the Bruce connection: ‘Half the crowd is calling out for “Born to Run” and the other half is calling out for “Born to Lose”. Baby we were born to choose.’”
A lot of nominations this week.
Honourable mention for Robert Wright, who said: “Possibly the best song that’s about listening to other songs is Billy Bragg’s ‘Levi Stubbs’ Tears’, a moving masterclass in concise storytelling.” As he admitted, though, “perhaps it doesn’t belong on this list because it’s generally about listening to the Four Tops, not one song”. And “Levi Stubbs’ Tears” has already featured in Top 10 Song Titles That Refer to Other Artists.
And another honourable mention for Jonathan Isaby, who said: “While it is not a reference to the song of that name, it’s too good a piece of trivia not to mention that ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ includes the lyric ‘Mamma Mia’, which was not only an Abba song, but the very Abba song that knocked ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ off the top of the UK chart in January 1976.”
Next week: More Twitter jokes.
Coming soon: Consequential ministers who never made it to one of the great offices of state (prime minister, deputy prime minister, first secretary, chancellor, foreign secretary or home secretary).
Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
