"Nervous children making millions: you owe it all to them"-- Favorite tribute songs?

[Rae]

I was listening to "Grant Hart" by the Posies this morning (MONSTER jam, by the way) and thinking that one of my favorite microgenres is songs that are written as tributes, testaments, or love letters to artists that influenced the songwriters. This particular one features the boys doing a spot-on impression of the Hüskers (although almost more in a Bob Mould style, I'd argue) while paying homage to the ground paved by the seminal trio and its drummer in particular:

I can't cry, I can't apply a word to sum it up
Under stress I can't repress the moment it erupts
Hear the sound of paper drums and shredded paper voice
Got to turn up "Keep Hanging On" as if I had a choice

Prairie fires and pitchfork choirs inspire as they create
Turn it up, it's too far down, until we can relate
Minnesota, New Day Rising first day in the store
Take the couch at someone's house and wait around to score

Nervous children making millions: you owe it all to them
Power trios with big-ass deals: you opened for it then
I can see it all with my one good eye
For a start take two Grant Harts & call me when you die

A few more off the top of my head:

The Replacements - "Alex Chilton" (Paul Westerberg dreaming of an alternate reality in which the Box Tops/Big Star rocker is as huge a star as he deserves to be)
Peter Gabriel - "Solsbury Hill" (a little more oblique, although I've always been told that this song is about Gabriel's experience seeing Bruce Springsteen in concert and being moved to renounce the formal stylings of prog)
Jonathan Richman - "Velvet Underground" (especially the bridge in which he drops doo-wop backing vocals over the riff from "Sister Ray")
Stevie Wonder - "Sir Duke" (duh)

There are lots more of course, but I'll leave 'em for you guys to suggest.

~Rae

[Rae]

Ahh, one more: "Ms. Williams' Guitar" by the Jayhawks. I don't know if that song was written before or after Mark Olson married Victoria Williams (it was certainly released after) but I like to think it's the song that won her.

"I remember watching her play / and the whole damn crowd seemed so far away..."

~Rae

[Stone]

Ahh, one more: "Ms. Williams' Guitar" by the Jayhawks. I don't know if that song was written before or after Mark Olson married Victoria Williams (it was certainly released after) but I like to think it's the song that won her.

"I remember watching her play / and the whole damn crowd seemed so far away..."

~Rae

I love that tune.

Probably the most obvious one:

Don Maclean - "American Pie"

Pretty much drawing a blank right now, but there is this:

Mr. T Experience - "The End of the Ramones"

[Luvin Da Blues]

.....Probably the most obvious one:

Don Maclean - "American Pie"......


Or possibly EJ's 'Candle In The Wind'

[ForeverAutumn]

The most recent one that I can think of is Ray LaMontagne's "Meg White".

I don't know if she influenced his songwriting (I doubt it), but she inspired him to write a song about her. I hope that she, at least, agreed to have dinner with him afterwards.

Meg White, you're alright
In fact I think you're pretty swell, can't you tell.
Meg White, such a pretty thing,
I saw your face on the cover of a magazine.

Not his best work. LOL!

[Swish]

George Harrison - All Those Years Ago (John Lennon)
Elton John - Empty Garden (another tribute to John Lennon)
Queen - Life is Real (John Lennon)
The Kinks - Killer's Eyes (John Lennon)
Jackson Browne - Of Missing Persons (Lowell George)
Waylon Jennings - Old Friend (Buddy Holly. He was supposed to be on that plane ya' know?)
Warren Zevon - Porcelain Monkey (Elvis Presley)
The Righteous Brothers - Rock and Roll Heaven (numerous, but hated the song lol!)
U2 - Angel of Harlem (Billie Holiday)
R.E.M. - Man on the Moon (Andy Kaufman)
pj harvey - Memphis (Jeff Buckley)
Duncan Shiek - A Body Goes Down (Jeff Buckley)
Aimee Mann - Just Like Anyone (Jeff Buckley)

[Rae]

Did anyone on this forum ever figure out who "Dynamic Calories" was about? Totally prescient in retrospect, BTW...

~Rae

[MasterCylinder]

SWLABR

Love this song (and it rocks).
Years ago, I interviewed Ginger Baker for a local magazine article............when I asked about the title of this song, I got something similar to the following explanation :

Firstly, Disraeli Gears is a corruption of "derailleur gears", which many of us had on our racing bikes in those days. Yes, Disraeli was a UK prime minister in the Victorian era, but the album name was just a play on words. And it came from "Mick the roadie". Secondly, S.W.L.A.B.R . stands for She Walks Like A Bearded Rainbow. According to Pete (who after all, was the lyricist), the song title came from an incident when flowers were delivered one day to his flat. Jack Bruce had ordered them for his then girlfriend, but hadn't specified the type of flower. When the bouquet arrived, the chemically-enhanced pair of songwriters were impressed. Pete was particularly taken by the way the long stems of the flowers swayed around. He told Jack that the flowers reminded him of the way girls walk. The flowers turned out to be Irises - a variety known as "Bearded Rainbow". The rest is in the song.

[Swish]

Did anyone on this forum ever figure out who "Dynamic Calories" was about? Totally prescient in retrospect, BTW...

~Rae

I realize he wasn't touring with Pavement (or anyone else) in 1983 because he was only 17 at the time, but that date may be irrelevant. The lyrics pretty much describe an indie rock musician, so I'm thinking it's about himself. Otherwise, I have no effing clue.

[Rae]

I realize he wasn't touring with Pavement (or anyone else) in 1983 because he was only 17 at the time, but that date may be irrelevant. The lyrics pretty much describe an indie rock musician, so I'm thinking it's about himself. Otherwise, I have no effing clue.

Yeah, but I think he was talking about someone toiling in the era when indie rock was known as "college rock" and mostly in the underground ("Left of the Dial," so to speak)-- although Pavement was never selling out arenas, they were recording at a time when bands like Sonic Youth had moved that type of music solidly out of the shadows. And the references to 80s production techniques don't sound all that much like them either ("vocal panache, specializing in drama / jangly guitars, angular chops, and those wet, wet drums").

~Rae

[jonnyhambone]

Sonic Youth (and friends) Ciccone Youth project, esp. their "Into the Groove(y)" tune, all an odd ode to Madonna.
in a similar vein, Pussy Galore's first release was their f'd-up, sloppy take on Exile on Main Street and they continued a handful of Stones-honoring releases, either outright or at least in spirit.