06/04/2007
Mix Disc Monday Home / Music Home / Bullz-Eye Home
Lots of musicians admit to their influences, but how many actually take the time to write a song about them? Well, we've got at least 15 for you. There are, of course, plenty of others – two that didn't make the cut were Local H's "Eddie Vedder" and Fatboy Slim's "Michael Jackson," mostly because I don't actually own either of them – and there are lots more once you start bringing in song titles that aren't just the name of a singer (like, say, the Television Personalities' "I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives"), but being specific like this proved more challenging…and, therefore, more fun.
"Jeff Lynne," Paul Melancon
(Camera Obscura)
We'll start off
with a song that demonstrates that if you're going
to pay tribute to an artist by titling a song after
them, the least you can do is actually make the song
sound like their work. Melancon succeeds so ridiculously
well at this task that you'd like to think that,
someday, Lynne will reunite ELO and cover the song.
Hey, come on, it's possible: if the guy had the ego
to think that his band could still fill stadiums
as recently as 2001, surely he's got enough of an
ego to sing a song that someone else wrote about
him.
"John Lennon," The Outfield
(Diamond Days)
A caveat to the
above comment: if you're going to try and make
a song sound like the artist you're titling it
after, try not to make it suck. Personally, I'm
not one of the people who spews venom at this track
– it just strikes me as a well-intentioned, if
slightly overdone, tribute to Lennon's more psychedelic
era – but, man, there are a lot of people who really
loathe it! But it could be worse, you know. If
I'd been more lenient with the concept, the Cranberries'
"I Just Shot John Lennon" could've been in contention
for inclusion.
"Paul McCartney," SR-71
(Now
You See Inside)
I know our senior editor, David
Medsker, well enough to know that he can't possibly
read this piece without thinking, "Whatever, dude,
but if it were me, I'd have gone with the Scissor
Sisters' ‘Paul McCartney' instead." Suffice
it to say that this isn't the only place where
our tastes diverge.
"Joe Strummer," Cowboy Mouth
(Voodoo Shoppe)
Maybe this, then, will help redeem me in Herr
Medsker's eyes, given that he's a longtime fan
of these guys, who put on a notoriously phenomenal
live show. Plus, what obsessive music fan can't
relate to a song about a guy who's going to break
up with his girlfriend because she doesn't know
who Joe Strummer is?
"Alex Chilton," The Replacements
(Pleased To Meet Me)
I don't think there's any point in being embarrassed
by the fact that I knew this Replacements song
before I knew who Alex Chilton was. If I'm gonna
be embarrassed, it's gonna be because I had Chilton's High
Priest album for almost a decade before I
ever got around to checking out Big Star.
"Buddy Holly," Weezer (Weezer a.k.a.
The Blue Album)
I love the song. I love the video. And I don't
think I was the only one who was shocked when the
kids went crazy for Weezer. I mean, God bless ‘em,
but they look like a bunch of geeks! It just goes
to show you that, once in a blue moon (or a Blue
Album), good tunes win out over good looks.
"Johnny Cash," Carter the Unstoppable
Sex Machine (A World Without Dave)
There
are a lot better songs in the Carter USM discography
than this tribute to the Man in Black, but the
last lines of this track are what sealed its
inclusion: "Now in the chapel there's a
preacher / With a porno star's moustache / He's
gonna send my soul to Jesus / With a song by Johnny
Cash."
"Frank Sinatra," Cake (Fashion Nugget)
"While Frank Sinatra sings ‘Stormy Weather,'" sings
John McCrea, "the flies and spiders get along
together." I'm sure Ol' Blue Eyes would've
been glad to know that his voice has had such a
profound effect on the insect and arachnid communities.
Ultimately, though, he probably would've been more
impressed that the song was used to close an episode
of "The Sopranos."
"Phil Ochs," Josh Joplin Group (Useful
Music)
Josh and his group didn't get near enough love
with their fantastic "Camera One" single from this
album, but farther into the record lies a brilliantly
bitter song about musical trends. "Fifty fans
can't be wrong, can they?" asks Joplin, in
a clever reference to Phil Ochs' attempt to spread
his politically-charged folk by sporting a gold
lame suit, a la Elvis Presley. "Our surveys
say what the kids want today is Sugar Ray," Josh
goes on to sneer, "but, Phil, you can't be
killed." Let us hope the same goes for Mr.
Joplin as well.
"Ray Charles," the Old 97s (Early
Tracks)
All I'm saying is, I don't want to live in a world
where we can't have a good chuckle about the fact
that a song called "Ray Charles" features the lyric,
"Love is blind."
"Grant Hart," the Posies (Amazing
Disgrace)
A pretty decent punk-pop song from the Posies
album so good that it got the band dropped from
DGC Records. Apparently, a band called Kpop wrote
a song for Bob Mould as well. Why no love for Greg
Norton, people? I mean, come on: you could write
an entire concept album around the guy's mustache
alone!
"Lightin' Hopkins," R.E.M. (Document) I almost hate to include this song, mostly because it's easily the weakest song on Document…but, still, just about any R.E.M. song from the IRS Records years is worth including on a mix disc. Yes, even "Underneath the Bunker."
"Bob Dylan," Nine Days (Madding Crowd)
You probably haven't thought much about these
guys since they had their one massive hit in 2000
with "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)," but if you
liked them enough back then to own their album,
you might remember this song. Or you might remember
the very brief flurry of angry discussion amongst
Dylan fans over the fact that Nine Days somehow
managed to score permission to use actual samples
from "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" within their
tribute to the man and his music. But, realistically,
you probably only remember the aforementioned hit.
(If you should happen to be curious what the band's
been up to, though, just click here.)
"Johnny Rotten," William Pears (William
Pears)
William Pears are French – why do you think they
have that outrageous accent? – but please don't
hold that against them. Besides, if you're really
looking for a reason to dislike them, you'll sooner
fall back on the fact that, as pop bands go, they're
pretty damned twee at times. Still, you have to
admire a band that pays tribute to the lead singer
of the Sex Pistols via a song that's about as close
to the antithesis of punk rock as you can get.
"Brian Wilson," Brian Wilson (Live
at the Roxy Theater)
You probably spent this entire list looking for
Barenaked Ladies, but, honestly, how can you beat
the concept of Brian Wilson actually singing "Brian
Wilson"?