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Song of Song Titles

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A song whose lyrics contain Shout-Outs to multiple other song titles.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 
    Alternative Rock 
  • Barenaked Ladies' album Gordon contains several songs referential to the music industry and specific artists and songs.
  • Fall Out Boy's song "What A Catch, Donnie" references lyrics to several of their previous hits, including "Grand Theft Autumn," "Sugar, We're Going Down," "Dance, Dance," "This Ain't A Scene, It's An Arms Race," "Thanks Fr Th Mmrs," and "Growing Up." Other lyrics (and the song title) refer to the songwriter/singer duo Donnie Hathaway and Roberta Flack.
    • And, of course, a song title made out of two titles: Fall Out Boy's "A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More Touch Me," referencing Sixteen Candles and "Touch Me" by Samantha Fox.
  • Green Day's "21st Century Breakdown" has one with two songs the band covered: "My Generation is zero / I never made it as a Working Class Hero".
  • Jimmy Eat World's song "A Praise Chorus" has a final, pre-chorus verse composed of nothing but lines (almost all of them titles) from other songs. They are: "Crimson and Clover" by Tommy James and The Shondells, "Our House" by Madness, "Why Did We Ever Meet?" by The Promise Ring (Davey van Bohlen of The Promise Ring actually appears on the song), "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy" by Bad Company, "Don't Let's Start" by They Might Be Giants, "All of My Everything" by The Promise Ring (again), and "Kickstart My Heart" by Mötley Crüe.
  • Way too many Oasis songs to list here have featured obvious references to a Beatles song.
  • R.E.M. references several of their song titles in "Sing for the Submarine".
  • They Might Be Giants:
    • "Hey Mr. DJ, I Thought You Said We Had A Deal" references some of their earlier songs: "The World's Address", "Rabid Child", and "Chess Piece Face".
    • "Why Must I Be Sad?" has Alice Cooper song titles.
  • Thrice's "Anthology" is largely made up of lyrics borrowed from their other songs. Fittingly, it was the final song played on their farewell tour, and it provided the title for the live album from that tour, which also serves as a sort of Greatest Hits collection.
  • Weezer's "Heart Songs" is little more than a list of songs and artists important to Rivers Cuomo. It's roughly chronological, starting around 1976 with Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald" and ending in 1991 with Nevermind, which leads into him starting Weezer itself.

    Blues 
  • Jimmy Reed has "Honey, Don't Let Me Go", where he tries to convince the woman that he loves not to leave him by referencing other songs of his — including "High and Lonesome", "Roll and Rhumba", "Boogie in the Dark", "Ain't That Lovin' You Baby", and "Rockin' with Reed".

    Country 

    Electronic 
  • The Eurobeat song "Cantare Ballare" ("Happy Eurobeat") drops the titles of various Eurobeat hits:
    Suck A Bazooka, No One Sleeps in Tokyo
    Din Don Dan, Money Go
    Night of Fire, Bandolero Comanchero
    Boom Boom Girl, Virtual Love
    Go Go Dance, Technotronic Flight
    Shadows in the Night, Telephone
    Try Me, Ike Ike
    Dancing in the Jungle, Dancing in Maharaja Night
    • Same for "Bazoocow" by Franz Tornado:
      Mad Cow Mad Cow
      Go Round and Round
      Discow Moscow
      Caballero with Sombrero
      I'm On Fire
      Bad Desire
      Back to the fight, come on now, Lady Night
  • The lyrics to Datarock's "True Stories" are entirely made up of Talking Heads song names. Also the song name itself is a reference to one of their albums.
  • Christian rap group dc Talk drops a lot of their older song titles in the final verse of "Word 2 the Father".
  • "When The Summer Dies" by Deadmau5 & Lights has "Hang the DJ, play Pretend, Burn the City, Fuck Your Friends".
  • Italian dance group Eiffel 65 (you know, the guys who did "I'm Blue") made a song, "Voglia di Dance all Night", whose refrain is made of popular disco song titles:
    Last night a DJ saved my life,
    Singing "Ah-ah-ah-ah, Stayin' Alive",
    'cause You make me feel,
    like That's the way (uh-huh, uh-huh) I like it
    Voglia di dance all night.
  • "Turn It Up" by Robots In Disguise references pretty much everything from Teaches of Peaches to Strange Fruit to Hatful of Hollow.

    Filk 

    Folk 
  • One of Cat Stevens' last hit songs released before he became Yusuf Islam was "(I Never Wanted) To Be a Star" from 1977. In it he mentions four songs from his early years: the title track and "I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun" from Matthew and Son, "A Bad Night" from New Masters, and "I Think I See the Light" from Mona Bone Jakon.
  • Eric Bogle:
    • "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda..." obviously refers to "Waltzing Matilda".
    • "Plastic Paddy" name-checks a dozen or so Irish folk songs.
  • "Who Put the Mush" by The McCalmans, a folk music parody of "Who Put the Bomp", references "Whiskey in the Jar", "The Rambling Rover", "Doon in the Wee Room", "Leezie Lindsay", "Don't Get Married Girls", "Domeama", "The Mingulay Boat Song", "Santianna", "Skip to My Lou", "Bonnie Charlie", "The Irish Rover", "Maids, When You're Young" and "Roll Me Over". As well as naming Eric Bogle, Tom Paxton, Dolores Keane, Dick Gaughan, The Pogues and The Chieftains. And on the rock side, references to Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson and "Tell Me More".

    Funk 

    Hip-Hop 
  • Every verse of Aste's song Sekopää is a string of references to earlier Finnish pieces ranging from Schlager to classic Suomirokki to then-recent pop songs. May of these references are also names for the relevant songs.
  • The song 'Musigg I Dä Schwiiz' (Music in Switzerland) by Bligg is one gigantic list of well-known Swiss musicians and songs. And there's yodeling in it.
  • In a variation, the lyrics to "In My Backyard" by Dead Celebrity Status consists nearly entirely of the names of other bands and musicians, with multiple song and album titles thrown in for good measure.
  • Gym Class Heroes' song "Taxi Driver" is a Song of Band Names, referencing Death Cab for Cutie, Fall Out Boy, and Jimmy Eat World among many others.
  • "Jackin' for Beats" by Ice Cube is actually a Song of Song Beats - he raps about looking for beats to rap over, all while the music switches between different samples of famous rap songs (and the songs they sampled from, in turn.)
  • MC Hammer spends the final seconds of his song "Burn It Up" acknowledging seven of his past hits.
  • Large parts of the discography of the rap group Non Phixion, and the solo careers of its members includes allusions to various heavy metal songs and albums, but also references to each other. Closely affiliated act Jedi Mind Tricks also uses them.
  • The choruses of Zebrahead (Band)'s "We're not a Cover Band, We're a Tribute Band" are just random sentences that cram as many Guitar Hero III song titles in as possible.

    Indie 
  • The verses of Built to Spill's "You Were Right" are based around famous classic rock lyrics, the general thread being that they're all pretty pessimistic sentiments (or at least sound pessimistic taken out of context):
    You were right when you said
    All that glitters isn't gold
    You were right when you said
    All we are is dust in the wind
    You were right when you said
    We're all just bricks in the wall
    And when you said manic depression's a frustrating mess...
  • Johnny Foreigner's album Grace and the Bigger Picture is practically an album of song titles. Pretty much every song title on the album gets a mention in another song - plus several b-sides, EPs and even songs from before they were signed ("Amateur! Historian!").
  • The very title of Metric's "Gimme Sympathy", as well as its lyrics, invoke "Gimme Shelter" and "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones, and the lyrics reference "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles.
  • Okkervil River's song "Plus Ones" from their album The Stage Names references at least nine other song titles, all of which contain numbers. In the lyrics, one is added to the number in each referenced song title (for example, "the 100th Luftballoon" and "eight Chinese brothers")
    • As well as at least two non-numerical song titles: "And what's new pussycat/Is you were once a lioness".
  • Pavement's "Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence" is an ode to R.E.M.'s first few albums and several of their songs are mentioned in the lyrics:
    Flashback to 1983
    Chronic Town was their first EP
    Later on came Reckoning
    Finster's art... Titles to match "So. Central Rain"
    "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville", "Harborcoat", "Pretty Persuasion", You're born to be a "Camera".
    "Time After Time"'s my least favorite song.
    "Time After Time" was my least favorite song!!
  • The chorus of Plushgun's song "Just Impolite" references "A Day in the Life", "Walk the Line", "Stuck On You" and many others.
  • The bridge of Saint Etienne's "Popular" is a list of UK Number One singles (the song itself is about a blog which reviews every Number One single in order).

    Jazz 
  • The verses of the George Gershwin song "Bidin' My Time" list the titles of 1920s popular songs. "Singin' in the Rain" (yes, that song) is referenced in George Gershwin's music as well as in Ira Gershwin's lyrics.

    Metal 
  • Beatallica title drops various Metallica songs in their Beatles/Metallica mash-ups ("Hey, dude-it'z true not sad (...) Hey, dude, begin, don't wait for the Eye of the Beholder, you'll never know when bellz toll for you...")
  • Blue Öyster Cult's The Revenge of Vera Gemini namechecks Patti Smith's Horses.
  • Dawn of Winter's song "Titus Vanis" is composed almost entirely of Saint Vitus song titles.
  • Def Leppard's "Rocket" is full of this.
    Jack Flash, Rocket Man/ Sergeant Pepper and the band/
    Ziggy, Benny and the Jets...
  • A section of Octavarium, from Dream Theater's album of the same name, consists of numerous references to other songs and bands.
  • Finger Eleven's "Paralyzer" includes the lyric "So far has not been fun // I should just stay home // If One Thing really means one", referencing their earlier Black Sheep Hit.
  • "Hector's Hymn" by HammerFall definitely counts, its lyrics containing not just references from the band's previous singles, but also their albums. Exemplified beyond straight with the music video which features even the old album covers as well.
  • KMFDM's songs "Inane" and "Kunst" feature the titles of a lot of their songs as the lyrics.
    • KMFDM do this a lot. "Virus" references "More & Faster," "Light" references "Godlike," "Moron" references "Son of a Gun," etc.
    • If songs full of lyrical references count, "Don't Blow Your Top" is almost entirely quotes from Frank Zappa songs.
  • Jorn's "Song for Ronnie James" off of the album "Dio" is composed largely of the titles (and sometimes lyrics snippets) of songs that Ronnie James Dio wrote at various points in his career. To someone not familiar with the works in question, parts of the song may begin to sound like Word Salad Lyrics.
  • Limp Bizkit has a negative one of Nine Inch Nails titles in "Hot Dog" - primarily because Fred Durst was a fan of the band, but Trent Reznor criticized his.
    "You wanna fuck me like an animal/You wanna burn me on the inside/You like to think that I'm a perfect drug/Just know that nothing you do will bring you closer to me"
  • "Victory" by Megadeth is a song almost entirely consisting of references to their own song titles note 
  • The lyrics of Norther's eponymous song from "Till Death Unites Us" are almost entirely composed of the titles of previous Norther songs.
  • "Metal Machine" by Sabaton.
    • "Metal Ripper" quotes famous lines from other metal songs and "Metal Crüe" is made out of bandnames.
    • "Man of War" consists almost entirely of Manowar song titles. A great tribute from one warrior band to another.
  • Twilightning did this with "Into Treason" on Plague-House Puppet Show; the song's lyrics contain titles of songs from this album and the band's previous release, Delirium Veil.

    Pop 

    Progressive Rock 
  • Barclay James Harvest references The Beatles in the aptly-named "Titles":
    Lady Madonna, let it be
    Something in the way you moved me yesterday
    All you need is love to succeed
  • "The second bridge of "Your Move" (the first part of the "I've Seen All Good People" medley) by Yes has the backing vocals doing the chorus of John Lennon's "Give Peace A Chance."

    Punk Rock 
  • "Twenty-First Century Digital Boy" by Bad Religion mentions other Bad Religion songs "No Control" and "Suffer".
  • The Gaslight Anthem does this a lot, often to Bruce Springsteen (a major influence of theirs). For instance, "Meet Me By the River's Edge" references "No Surrender" ("no surrender my Bobby Jean") among others; "Wherefore Art Thou, Elvis?" has a shout out to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" ("it's a broken hallelujah and a pain in my fist").
  • "Pop 101" by Marianas Trench lampshades pretty much every music trope you can find in an early 2010s pop song, including nods to "SexyBack" by Justin Timberlake, "Shots" by LMFAO and Lil' Jon, and "Baby" by Justin Bieber, while also name-checking The Black Eyed Peas, Imogen Heap, and Mumford & Sons. It becomes Hilarious in Hindsight if you know that lead singer Josh Ramsay co-wrote, produced, and provided backing vocals for Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe," arguably one of the biggest hits of that era, so he knows exactly what he's talking about.
  • NOFX are fond of these.
    • "13 Stitches" manages to reference Descendents, The Alley Cats, DOA, Millions Of Dead Cops, Ill Repute and Suicidal Tendencies in about 4 minutes.
    • Likewise, "Jaw, Knee, Music" references Dead Kennedys, Reagan Youth, X (US Band), The Replacements, Black Flag, Anti-Flag, Adolescents, and Rancid.
    • "We Got Two Jealous Agains" uses albums, EPs and compilations - the concept is that the narrator looks through his partner's record collection, and while initially dismayed at her taste, starts finding they have more music in common than he thought (Jealous Again, for example, referring to a Black Flag song and EP)
  • Sublime has at least two. "Greatest Hits' mentions their "sister band" The Ziggens, "KRS-One" is about KRS-One.

     R&B 
  • "Lieder" from Adel Tawil paraphrases many English and German song titles in German, with occasional mentions of the artists the songs are from.
  • Larry Williams' "Short Fat Fannie" included references to "Heartbreak Hotel," "Blueberry Hill" and "Long Tall Sally," among others.
  • The Pointer Sisters have the appropriately named "Old Songs".

    Rock 
  • The Beatles' "Glass Onion" references five other Beatles song titles: "Strawberry Fields Forever", "I Am the Walrus", "Lady Madonna", "The Fool on the Hill" and "Fixing A Hole".
    • "All You Need Is Love" also has John suddenly burst into "She loves you, yeah, yeah, yeah!" during its closing.
  • Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" has two, to the band's own "Livin' On A Prayer" ("Like Tommy and Gina, who never backed down") and "My Way" ("Like Frankie said, 'I did it my way" - once Paul Anka, lyricist for "My Way", covered the song, changed to "He did it my way").
    • The Bowling for Soup song "Punk Rock 101" also includes the line "Like Tommy and Gina, they're living on a prayer."
  • "Legendary" by Bon Jovi:
    Friday night comes around like a song,
    Sweet Caroline, and we all sing along,
    Got my brown-eyed girl and she believes in me.
  • Crush 40's "Sonic Youth'' has its verses composed primarily of the names of their past songs.
  • Daughtry's song "Long Live Rock & Roll" is a tribute to the genre, with almost every line having a reference in one way or another. Seven of those references are either the title or a lyric to a rock song including: "Rock and Roll All Nite" (KISS), "Don't Stop Believin'" (Journey), "Pour Some Sugar On Me" (Def Leppard), "Summer of '69" (Bryan Adams), "Runnin' Down a Dream" (Tom Petty), "Livin' On A Prayer" (Bon Jovi) and of course, "Long Live Rock N Roll" (Rainbow).
  • The Deep Purple song "Speed King" from Deep Purple in Rock references several songs from the rock 'n' roll era: "Good Golly Miss Molly", "Lucille", "Rip It Up", "Tutti Frutti", "Rock Island Line", to name a few.
  • Dire Straits' "Walk of Life" employs this to discuss a street musician:
    Here comes Johnny singing Oldies, Goldies
    Be-bop-a-lula, baby, what I say
    Here comes Johnny singing I gotta woman
    Down in the tunnels, trying to make it pay
    (...)He do the song about the sweet lovin' woman
    He do the song about the knife
    And he do the walk, he do the walk of life
    Yeah, he do the walk of life
  • "American Pie" by Don McLean has many: "This'll be the day that I die" ("That'll be the Day", by one of the killed artists who inspired the song, Buddy Holly), "Did you write 'the Book of Love'", "I was a lonely teenage broncin' buck with a pink carnation and a pickup truck,", "Helter skelter in a summer swelter" and "Eight miles high and falling fast".
  • The unreleased Electric Light Orchestra track "Beatles Forever" rhapsodizes about the Fab Four, listing off their songs as they occur to the narrator.
  • Harry Nilsson's version of "You Can't Do That" has backup vocals singing the titles of various other Beatles songs during the verses.
  • The Hold Steady references their own song titles in most of their discography, since their music seems to feature the same set of people and locales.
  • The Mighty Weaklings' children's album You Can't Rock Sittin' Down has a song called "It's Sunny When You Share". Its lyrics include many a Shout-Out to Sonny and Cher (not that many kids would notice them right away), including their songs "The Beat Goes On", "I Got You Babe", and Cher's solo hit "If I Could Turn Back Time".
  • Pillar's song Turn It Up was written to promote Christian rock music, and lists song titles from thirty or so bands and a variety of musical styles.
  • Queen's "More of that Jazz" references most, if not all of the songs on the album which the song was on (Jazz), and includes samples of each song.
    • "Soul Brother", the B-Side to "Under Pressure", has a majority of its lyrics being many different Queen songs, including the one that it's a B-Side to!
  • The second verse of "Hearthammer" by Runrig, about listening to Radio Caroline in the late sixties, early seventies:
    Sweetheart of the Rodeo,
    Mining Heart of Gold,
    I think it was somewhere post-Rubber Soul
  • Spoon's "The Way We Get By" mentions "Some Weird Sin" by Iggy Pop, as well as "Down on the Street" and "Shake Appeal" by his band The Stooges (without mentioning either artist by name).
  • Steve Miller's "The Joker" references "Space Cowboy", "Gangster of Love" and "Enter Maurice" in the first verse, while the second verse quotes several lines from the first verse of the Clovers' 1954 single "Lovey Dovey".
  • Suede's "These Are The Sad Songs".
  • The chorus of Travis' "Slideshow" includes references to songs by Oasis, the Manic Street Preachers and Beck, of all people.
  • Van Halen's "You And Your Blues" describes - while calling out - a Wangsty woman through song titles.
    Your bad mood's permanent
    Communication breakdown
    Like watching someone reinvent
    Their 19th nervous breakdown

Other examples:

Live-Action TV

Professional Wrestling

Theater

Video Games

  • Persona: The series does this a lot, mostly in lines with Lotus Juice.
    • Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth, being a Crossover between Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5, does this multiple times in its battle themes.
      • "Remember, We Got Your Back" includes the line "we'll keep on reaching out to the truth." "Reach Out to the Truth" is the battle theme of Persona 4.
      • "Wait and See" and "Pull the Trigger" include the lyric "burn my dread", which is the name of the title theme in Persona 3.
    • Persona 4: Dancing All Night:
      • "Backside of the TV (Lotus Juice Remix)" has the lines "burn these dreads" and "baby baby baby", referencing "Burn My Dread" and "Mass Destruction" from Persona 3. There's also the lyric "believe in beauty of destiny", with "Beauty of Destiny" being a track in Persona 4: The Animation.
      • One line in "Dance!" is "ain't nobody can hold me down", which is a song from Persona 4 The Animation.

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