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Tribute tunes...

Bryan Burnett | 20:03 UK time, Friday, 7 October 2011

Thanks for all your contributions across the week and we had some good songs with a few firsts for GIO.

On Monday we are going to do songs which were written in tribute to other artists. Soul singers seem to be the object of affection for many songwriters with tracks like Jackie Wilson Said and When Smokey Sings looking good for Monday night. Your suggested tracks don't have to name check the artists as there are many songs that were done as a subtle homage.

As always, I am sure the blog will come up with a few surprises.

Comments

  • Comment number 1.

    Blame it on The Stones - Kris Kristofferson




    DC

  • Comment number 2.

    I'm sure #1 wasn't to do with KK's trip to the lavvy.............

  • Comment number 3.

    When Johnny Strikes Up The Band - Warren Zevon - Warren's Beatles tribute and not, as some spuriously claim, a reference to Jonny Spielt Auf, Ernst Krenek's opera about a jazz violinist which typified the cultural freedom of the 'golden era' of the Weimar Republic.

  • Comment number 4.

    Sorry for being obvious but I have asked before

    Life in a Northern Town - Dream Academy

    or

    Life in a Northern Town - Sugarland

    Al

  • Comment number 5.

    Sugarland - Steve Earle

  • Comment number 6.

    This is a wonderful song and a heartfelt tribute to his friend:

    Jackson Browne - Of Missing Persons

    written to the daughter of his friend Lowell George. I cannot think of anything better.

  • Comment number 7.

    Bruce Springsteen - The Last Carnival, for Danny Fedirici. Again a superb track.

  • Comment number 8.

    I would rock my soul in the bosom of Abraham
    I would hold my life in his saving grace.
    I would walk all the way from Boulder to Birmingham
    If I thought I could see, I could see your face.


    Emmylou Harris - Boulder to Birmingham (for Gram Parsons - see also Hard Bargain)

  • Comment number 9.

    There'll be some sweet sounds comin down on the

    Nightshift / Commodores

  • Comment number 10.

    Tribute (Right On) / The Pasadenas

  • Comment number 11.

    Empty Garden (Hey hey Johnny) / Elton John

    for John Winston Ono Lennon

  • Comment number 12.

    Nils Lofgeen - Keith (Don't Go)

  • Comment number 13.

    Caption:

    "Well, you can't have him."

  • Comment number 14.

    Arthur Con'ey - Sweet Soul Music
    Stevie Wonder - Sir Duke

  • Comment number 15.

    'me & Del were singin', little Runaway....'

    Running Down a Dream - Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers

    phew, just bought ticket for Joe Bonamassa, Usher Hall next March. No Glasgow dates. Time to head to the pawn shop again.

    Henri, Nitin whatsit's on Janice tomorrow morning

  • Comment number 16.

    Caption:

    "Well take thae specs aff Elvis. And ye dinnae even look like Elvis so chynge yer name"

  • Comment number 17.

    "BUD!!!!! Get im telt!!!"

  • Comment number 18.

    'Wild As The Wind' a tribute to Rick Danko of The Band by Steve Forbert.



    explains it all...a bit more info but as Steve explained it at one gig I was at! Great song, Been played on GIO before but deserves another play!

  • Comment number 19.

    Think the shoo-in will be the song that reminds us of 'the day the music it died' remembering Buddy, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper.

    American Pie - Don McLean

    Still find it amazing that this song was eachy peachy with Harry Nilssons Without You for top spot when it was out.
    For two songs of that calibre to be out at the same time really was special.

    Al.

  • Comment number 20.

    Alfae, I thought I'd hae a wee look online to see what other songs were out at the same time (1972) and the first google search (other web engines are allegedly available) was the 'Wedding Central Australia' site.

    At the top of the list is 'Alone again naturally'

    So much for marital harmony doon under



    DC

  • Comment number 21.

    Buddy Holly - Weezer



    Man on the Moon - R.E.M (I believe was their tribute to Andy Kaufman)

    Aimee Mann – Just Like Anyone

    Written about Jeff Buckley kind of sad really when you read what she says about the circumstances of it.

    "This is a song I wrote when Jeff Buckley died...I hadn't known Jeff extremely well, but we kept bumping into each other here and there. One night we met for a drink at a pub in NYC, and started writing messages to each other on a paper place mat that was there, instead of talking, because the music in the bar was really loud or something. An interesting effect of that was that we found ourselves writing things that we would never would dare to say to each other out loud. I remember thinking that he seemed to be sort of lost and sad although he outwardly was very funny and lively and confident, and wrote something about that, among another things. I didn't talk to him for a long time after that-I went to England to live for a while and we talked once or twice and then nothing for over a year. Then one night I got a voice mail message from him that said, "I just realized what you were trying to tell me that night". I tried to call him back but the number I had for him was old, and then I got his new number but I was out of town again and it was difficult to call, and then I heard that he was missing, and presumed dead."

  • Comment number 22.

    last song above should be typed

    Just Like Anyone - Aimee Mann

    Typing to early in the morning for my own good >_

  • Comment number 23.

    Poison Prince / Amy McDonald for Pete Docherty
    American Idiot / Green Day for George Dubya
    Ain't wastin Time no More / Allman Brothers for Duane allman
    Back in black / Ac/Dc for Bon Scott
    An Original man / yardbirds for Keith Relf
    Back on the Chain Gang / Pretenders for James Honeyman scott
    Being Boring / Pet Shop Boys for the Pet Shop Boys
    Boulder to Birmingham / Emmylou Harris for Gram Parsons

  • Comment number 24.

    Has Anyone ever written anything for you / Stevie Nicks

    This song was written as a tribute to Joe Walsh of the Eagles.
    In the liner notes of her TimeSpace album, Stevie explained:
    "I guess in a very few rare cases, some people find someone that they fall in love with the very first time they see them... from across the room, from a million miles away. Some people call it love at first sight, and of course, I never believed in that until that night I walked into a party after a gig at the hotel, and from across the room, without my glasses, I saw this man and I walked straight to him. He held out his hands to me, and I walked straight into them. I remember thinking, I can never be far from this person again... he is my soul. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, though hid it well. But finally, a few days later, (we were in Denver), he rented a jeep and drove me up into the snow covered hills of Colorado... for about 2 hours. He wouldn't tell me where we were going, but he did tell me a story of a little daughter that he had lost. To Joe, she was much more than a child. She was three and a half, and she could relate to him.

    I guess I had been complaining about a lot of things going on on the road, and he decided to make me aware of how unimportant my problems were if they were compared to worse sorrows. So he told me that he had taken his little girl to this magic park whenever he could, and the only thing she EVER complained about was that she was too little to reach up to the drinking fountain. As we drove up to this beautiful park, (it was snowing a little bit), he came around to open my door and help me down, and when I looked up, I saw the park... his baby's park, and I burst into tears saying, 'You built a drinking fountain here for her, didn't you?' I was right, under a huge beautiful hanging tree, was a tiny silver drinking fountain. I left Joe to get to it, and on it, it said, dedicated to HER and all the others who were too small to get a drink.

    So he wrote a song for her, and I wrote a song for him... 'This is your song, ' I said to the people, but it was Joe's song. Thank you, Joe, for the most committed song I ever wrote. But more than that, thank you for inspiring me in so may ways. Nothing in my life ever seems as dark anymore, since we took that drive.

  • Comment number 25.

    I remember Elvis Presley / Danny Mirror

    The worse tribute song of all time









    unless you know different






    as Esther used to say

  • Comment number 26.

    #24 Actually
    Song for Emma / Joe walsh
    Has anyone ever written anything for you / Joe walsh

    would be a great two in a row. Not that I'm trying to annoy Scotch but he's no here anyway.

  • Comment number 27.

    dammit
    Song for Emma / Joe walsh
    has anyone ever written anything for you / Stevie Nicks

    Why would Joe Walsh....Ach time I was at my work

  • Comment number 28.

    #24

    Could you expand a little?

  • Comment number 29.

    David Bowie - Song For Bob Dylan

  • Comment number 30.

    Rikki Nelson - Garden Party ('Yoko brought her Walrus, there was magic in the air' - about a famous gig at Madison Sq Garden)

    regardez youse

    henri

  • Comment number 31.

    #28
    sorry mate its copied and pasted. Cant you tell?
    This one fingered typist doesnt have time to write all that over his oat crunchies and caffeine. Speak to Stevie.

  • Comment number 32.

    Giving it all away / Roger Daltrey for Gerald Ratner
    Torn between two lovers / mary mcgregor for Nick Clegg
    The drugs dont work / the verve for conrad murray
    Suicide blonde /inxs for paula yates
    Have a cigar / pink floyd for monica lewinsky

  • Comment number 33.

    Yipee!

    Henri's morning. The Leisure Society and Nitin Sawhney on Janice's show.

    Janice loves The Leisure Society. What's up with GIO?

    Has she been reading this blog?

    regardez youse:-))

    henri

  • Comment number 34.

    #25

    Heinz - Just Like Eddie

    Ex- Tornados bassist's tribute to Eddie Cochrane

  • Comment number 35.

    Sonny - Bobby Hebb - Bobby was a big fan of the world's greatest slide guitarist Sonny Landreth

  • Comment number 36.

    # 20 Annura good song DC

    Clearly it was a good year......think that was when the charts used to be announced on Tuesday lunch times, used to sneak a radio into our Techy Drawin class to hear the countdown. Johnny Walker I'm sure......

    Get some Gilbert on Get It On I say

    #23 Paolo
    - big second for Back on the Chain Gang / Pretenders, top song

    Al.

  • Comment number 37.

    Fire and Rain / James Taylor

    'Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you'

    In tribute to a childhood friend who had passed away

    Al.

  • Comment number 38.

    #37

    Is it 'people' or 'artists'?

    If it's people/famous people then I suggest:

    So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright - Simon & Garfunkel

    Paul Simon's tribute to the archietect as 'artist'. I love the line 'architects may come and architects may go and never change your point of view'. I used to sing it to my children, who still quote it now when the conversation starts going nowhere.

    reagrdez youse

    henri

  • Comment number 39.

    #38 Good shout h, I was going off track there, think it's artists....

    Al.

  • Comment number 40.

    Cowboy Junkies - Blue Moon Revisited (Song for Elvis)

  • Comment number 41.

    One that I know a few fellow bloggers wouldn't mind hearing:
    Oi Va Voi Yuri
    About Mr Gagarin, the first human to journey into outer space.

    I know this one gets played plenty, but it's a fantastic song, so where's the harm?
    Stevie Wonder Sir Duke
    Mentions loads of jazz legends. Including Duke Ellington.

    Just a flying mention, but there, nonetheless:
    David Bowie China Girl
    ("I feel tragic like Marlon Brando")
    Remember staying up late with my sister to watch the unveiling of the video on the Old Grey Whistle Test. It was considered a little bit raunchy at the time. Pretty tame by today's standards.

    Won't ask for Elton's obvious one/ two. He mangled a beautiful song when he rewrote it. Tacky.

  • Comment number 42.

    I've asked for this before but it's perfect for this theme.

    Great story on the album notes about how he came to own Booker Whites resonator guitar, the one he's playing. It's recounted on the YT notes.

    Bookers Guitar - Eric Bibb

    Enjoy

  • Comment number 43.

    Ben Folds - 'Late' (speaks to Elliott Smith)

  • Comment number 44.

    Theres nothing quite like being a bit of a tease. Write a song about someone and then tell them its about someone else

    Diamonds and rust / Joan Baez

    About Bob Dylan. Just dont tell him.

  • Comment number 45.

    Maybe more of a menshie song than a tribute song but Van the man gives a shout out to his influences leadbelly jimmy rodgers blind lemon et al in

    Cleaning windows / Van Morrison

  • Comment number 46.

    well, i huess this is the klaxon track that inspired the theme, but I really like Maroon 5, so here goes:

    Move Like Jagger - Maroon 5

    regardez youse

    henri

  • Comment number 47.

    Keith Le Blanc recorded a wonderful tribute at a time when most on this blog might have been making up bottles and washing nappies...

    Malcolm X - No Sell Out

    Please Get It On & give this place something new to chew on!

  • Comment number 48.

    MONDAY


    Mac Rebennack's Visit to Blairgowrie
    - Michael Marra ~ Smashin' wee tribute to Dr. John

  • Comment number 49.

    - Paul Rodgers and Buddy Guy

    Bob Dylan in

    Yer Blues -
    The Trip - Donovan

  • Comment number 50.

    i heard this 40 years ago in a small club in amsterdam.....i loved it then and have never heard it on radio.....not once...................c'mon now all the gether....

    ......in the middle of the night.......

    'oh yoko'.........................john lennon

    and how about this cheeky wee wan....... ah last heard this on the radio sittin' @ broomhill X....wit a cheek, singing aboot yersel'

    'man in black'.....................cash

    cheers frae the dale

  • Comment number 51.

    ... or you've got Pride in the Name of Love by U2 or Happy Birthday by Stevie Wonder for MLK stick-ons, shame they're so boring!

  • Comment number 52.

    @ ya 50. "My Way" By Sid Vicious, guess he was singing about himself also!

  • Comment number 53.

    MONDAY


    Reflections
    - Charlie Daniels Band ~ Elvis, Janis & Ronnie Van Zant

  • Comment number 54.

    #51 YOYO, there. You can only blame yourself if any of those get played.

    Not got much respect for her political "points of view", lately - doesn't make her a bad person, right enough. Misguided, or possibly just one who lost her way, along the way, somewhere.... or mebbe she just didn't get her
    Dinner With Gershwin Donna Summer

  • Comment number 55.

    'Hey Hey, My My' ~~ Neil Young

    About the alternatives of continuing to produce similar music, but written with 'Johnny Rotten' specifically in mind ...

    "This is the story of a Johnny Rotten,
    It's better to burn out than it is to rust,
    The king is gone but he's not forgotten ..."

    ... play it loud ...

  • Comment number 56.

    @ ya Disco Dolly.
    I won't but the majority hereabouts seem to blame Callers, Texters, Facebookers, Tweeters for those kinda shouts!

    Doctor, doctor, I keep thinking I'm a yo-yo.

    Are you stringing me along?

  • Comment number 57.

    #56

    Nothing wrong with disco dollies.Donna Summer reminds me of my mother.

    My Maroon 5 shout above has Christine Alligator on vocals. Fantastic singer. Jack Bruce says he would love to work with Christine Alligator.

    I'd love to hear that: Christine Alligator sings Jack Bruce.

    regardez - youse

    henri

  • Comment number 58.

    MONDAY


    When You Got Good Friends
    - ~ from the Legend compilation album.

    Willie, Waylon, Marshall Tucker Band, Charlie Daniels et al.

  • Comment number 59.

    So...in case the GIO team change their minds and veer away from the wording at the top of the page...

    'Up To The Moountain' - Solomon Burke or Patti Griffin...re Martin Luther King

    Sometimes good what songs Simon Cowell can remind you about...yes been watching. X Factor USA!

  • Comment number 60.

    @ 57 ya Head Prefect.

    Of course there isn't but to see ones mother in such a light is surely a little strange, what did your father think about your thoughts/feelings?

  • Comment number 61.

    Surely this is the night for Van the man and:

    Van Morrison - In The Days Before Rock n Roll

  • Comment number 62.

    #60

    A complex question...

  • Comment number 63.

    If you say so..

  • Comment number 64.

    How could I have forgotten

    Up All Night (Frankie Miller Goes to Hollywood) - Counting Crows

  • Comment number 65.

    House of Jansch - Donovan

  • Comment number 66.

    #60

    Basically, he understood where I was coming from, and he could see the similarity.

    He particularly liked 'Love To Love You, Baby' and asked for it to be played at his funeral.We were a bit doubtful about it, but carried out his wishes, however, the mourners were horrified, particularly by the volume and my mother singing along.Still, the purvey was good.We forgot to collect his ashes for over twenty years and when I went to get them they'd been lost. I think he ended up int he Clyde courtesy of the Co-Op who do that with all the unclaimed ashes from time to time.

    Not only does my mother have a strong physical similarity to Donna Summer but that extraordinary long note that Donna sings as the beat intensifies on 'Dim All The Lights' is reminiscent of my mother banging on her tabla and making one of her long vocal notes to wake us up in the morning, kind of like a call to prayer, but quite a bit sexier. That Donna should sing like my mother in the morning is unsurprising, in one sense, since Donna did her fair share of gospel singing as a youngster and my mum did a bit of warbling in the local temple.

    regardez youse

    henri

  • Comment number 67.

    A difficult theme (for me anyway). As such, just: Listen to the radio - Nanci Griffith


    Joe
    Llinlithgow

  • Comment number 68.

    A tribute to well.... just good songs

    Live Those Songs / Kenny Chesney

  • Comment number 69.

    It wouldn't be difficult to have a "few firsts for GIO" every week

  • Comment number 70.

    Paolo's almost got them all but there's still

    King Of The Mountain - Kate Bush (Elvis)

  • Comment number 71.

    @ ya 66.
    You've been truly blessed Henry and I'm pleased that you ain't some latter day Oedipus.

    No mentioned The Clash here so far... "The Right Profile" and Montgomery Clift!

  • Comment number 72.

    * Billy Bragg - Levi Stubbs' Tears (also namechecking the 4 Tops generally & the amazing Motown songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland)
    * Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here (Syd Barrett)
    * The Who - Real Good Looking Boy (Elvis)
    * The Who - Old Red Wine (John Entwhistle)
    * The Fratellis - For the Girl
    She was into the Stones/But I was into the Roses - great line

    #4
    *Big* second for
    * Dream Academy - Life in a Northern Town (Nick Drake)

  • Comment number 73.

    * Dean Owens - Raining in Glasgow
    I could be at the Barrowland
    Watching Elvis Costello and the Attractions


    * Barclay James Harvest - Titles
    I was searching for this for Friday's show, as it's a great download that I bought after hearing it on this very show back in late October 2008. It is of course a weaving together of lots of Beatles lines to form something new.

    * The Sawdoctors - Tommy K
    Tribute to a local DJ from when they were growing up, and access to popular music was limited to say the least.

    Has the secondary advantage of not being gentle, laid back and nostalgic in tone. Not that that's A Bad Thing per se, but a whole show of it's going to be a bit much.

  • Comment number 74.

    MGMT - Brian Eno

    Scritti Politti - Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)

  • Comment number 75.

    Where Do You Go To My Lovely - Peter Sarstedt

    Lots of name checks of artists / celebs of the time and was rumoured to have been written about Sophia Loren

    Al.

  • Comment number 76.

    Ìý
    I would rather see Sophia Loren's head from the outside.

  • Comment number 77.

    Christy Moores tribute to Rory Gallacher
    "Rory Is Gone"
    or
    The Dream Academy tribute to Nick Drake
    "Life in a Northern Town"

  • Comment number 78.

    Rodney Crowell - First Time I Heard Johnny Cash Sing I Walk the Line

  • Comment number 79.

    MONDAY


    Written for drummer Chuck E. Weiss, but we can adjust the lyrics to namecheck our own drummer.

    ALTOGETHER NOW... Frankie's in love, yeah yeah!


    Chuck E.'s in Love - Rickie Lee Jones


    P.S. Frankie's fae Denny.

    Chuck E.'s fae Denver.

    Coincidence?

  • Comment number 80.

    Sounds like we're building up quite a head of steam for The Dream Academy, no?

  • Comment number 81.

    #80 Well, what a surprise!

  • Comment number 82.

    Be My Yoko Ono, Barenaked Ladies

  • Comment number 83.

    Capn Real Good Looking Boy is a great track. Great suggestion.

  • Comment number 84.

    Nuttier tubes...

  • Comment number 85.

    #79 I know what you Idi Amin Amin I know what you Idi Amin.

    BILL’S CORPSE from TROUT MASK REPLICA by CAPTAIN BEEFHEART AND HIS MAGIC BAND about ZOOT HORN ROLLO.

    BLIND WILLIE MCTELL from THE BOOTLEG SERIES VOLUMES 1–3 (RARE & UNRELEASED) 1961–1991 by BOB DYLAN

  • Comment number 86.

    but it's return

  • Comment number 87.

    Turin Butts!

  • Comment number 88.

    In celebration of Sir Paul McCartney's third marriage I would like to hear his song Rocky Raccoon from the white album which name-checks his future bride.

    " her name was MacGill and she called herself 'Lil'
    but everyone knew her as Nancy"

    regardez - youse

    henri

  • Comment number 89.

    #88 well he is a bad neighbour, I'm glad I do not live beside him.

  • Comment number 90.

    Aye thr first sign of the polis and they turn the music down.
    Rock and Roll or what?

    I'd a friend some years ago who moved into a new build in a half built scheme and mistakenly thought he was the first one in. At a very drunk housewarming him and his mates decided to give his new hifi laldy and see how far they could walk before they couldn't hear it anymore. When he got back half the county constabulary were waiting on him. Turns out he wasn't the first one in the new estate....or 2nd or 3rd or 4th.....

    Wouldn't it be nice to get on with your neighbours!

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