Rock Songs Referencing Each Other

I decided to write an article of songs which reference another song. When I say referencing, I mean the lyrics include the title of another song in it. I made it a point to not feature any songs which reference another song by the same artist. I focus on classic rock music. A few songs may not fully classify as rock, but all the artists featured are rock artists. I would imagine that these references are purely coincidental. Some of the songs it’s referencing came out several years later.

I’m starting with the band Journey’s energetic rocker “Just the Same Way” sung by both their keyboardist Gregg Rolie and lead singer Steve Perry. Gregg sings “it’s after midnight” in the second line. This brings to mind the song “After Midnight”. While that song is a J.J. Cale original, the version I like the best and am referring to is the Eric Clapton version. These songs are quite different, yet are both melodic rock songs featuring piano. Just the Same Way has a hard rock feel, while “After Midnight” has both a southern rock and a blues rock feel.

In Elton John’s country rock song “Birds”, Elton sings “these days are different than the past” in the first verse bringing to mind Jackson Browne’s “These Days”. Jackson’ song is a ballad, but it has a somewhat similar musical style including the rock guitar playing by David Lindley which is comparable to Rusty Anderson’s playing in “Birds”. In the Eagles song “Lyin’ Eyes”, Glenn Frey sings at the end of the last verse “you’re still the same old girl you used to be”. Glenn’s friend Bob Seger would have his own hit “Still The Same” three years later. Both songs are similar 70s ballads. Lyin’ Eyes also sings of “hands as cold as ice”. That leads us to the great Foreigner rocker “Cold As Ice”. This song really rocks and has a great piano part.

In Jackson Browne’s rocker “The Fuse” he sings “there’s a fire high in the empty sky”. Empty Sky is the first song and title track of Elton John’s debut album. They are both long rock songs with a prominent piano part. Elton’s song is even longer and is a product of the late 60s with Jackson’s song a product of the mid 70s. Empty Sky seems to be psychedelic rock and folk rock while “The Fuse” seems to be heartland rock. In Jackson’s song “Looking Into You” he opens with “Well I looked into a house I once lived in”. Elton would sing a song “House” a few decades later. Both songs are ballads with Jackson’s song having a country rock feel and Elton’s song having a pop feel.

In Jackson Browne’s midtempo rocker “Fountain of Sorrow”, he sings “it’s good to see your smiling face tonight” a few times. This brings to mind James Taylor’s hit “Your Smiling Face” a few years later. They both have a similar 70s soft rock sound. James'es song is short and simple, while Jackson’s song is long and epic. In Jackson Browne’s first hit “Doctor My Eyes”, he sings “to awaken from these dreams”. This leads us to the song “These Dreams” by Heart. Doctor My Eyes is a piano driven midtempo rock song from the early 70s. These Dreams is so different being a synth driven mid 80s song. Doctor My Eyes sounds like an Elton John song with its piano which Jackson himself plays and Bernie Taupin (Elton John’s songwriting partner) wrote the lyrics for “These Dreams”.

We’re now moving to the late 80s with Bruce Hornsby’s “The Valley Road”. Bruce opens the song with “sometimes I lead, sometimes I follow”. This references Bob Seger’s song “Sometimes” which came out a few years earlier. They are both rock songs that were products of that time except Bruce’s song is soft while Bob’s song rocks so hard. The Valley Road has elements of heartland rock which is part of Bob’s music. Bruce’s piano is prominent in his song and while Bob’s song is guitar driven, the piano player Bill Payne has a solo.

We’re now going into Bob Seger’s heartland rocker “Even Now”. It was a hit in the US, but the song unfortunately isn’t remembered as one of his classics as it should be. I discussed the song in my previous blog post “Russ Kunkel’s Drumming for Bob Seger”. Bob sings “deep inside, it still amazes me”. This leads to Elton John’s “Amazes Me”. Bob’s song came out in the early 80s while Elton’s song came out in the late 80s. Their style of rock in each song is quite different. Elton’s song is slower and has soul influences. Both of them are melodic rockers featuring great piano and powerful expressive singing by Bob Seger and Elton John.

Billy Joel’s “She’s Right on Time” opens with him singing “turn on all the Christmas lights”. This brings to mind Journey’s “Lights”. She’s Right on Time isn’t a full on rock song, but it is probably soft rock. It’s a slowish melodic song showcasing Billy’s strengths as a singer-songwriter. Lights really rocks and touches me with its melody, piano, guitar solo, organ and Steve Perry’s vocals. It’s a song about their hometown San Francisco. You may have noticed that we both started and ended with a song by the band Journey. This represents the musical journey we’ve been on going from song to song.

List of Articles Featuring these Songs

The following is a list of articles of mine which have featured songs discussed above. I’m not including articles where I discussed the song without including a paragraph on it or described an alternate version of the song I’d like to see e.g. cover or live version.

Birds by Elton John

Birds - Elton John (2001)

Ten Great Elton John Songs by Ten Different Guitarists

Birds - Elton John (2001)

Ten Great Jackson Browne Songs by Ten Different Piano Players

These Days - Jackson Browne (1973)

Fountain of Sorrow - Jackson Browne (1974)

Ten Great Universal Music Group Songs

Still The Same - Bob Seger (1978)

Ten Great Non-Relationship Rock Songs

Doctor My Eyes - Jackson Browne (1972)

Sometimes - Bob Seger (1986)

Ten Great Capitol Records Songs

These Dreams - Heart (1985)

Highlights from my Bob Seger Blog Posts

Even Now - Bob Seger (1982)

Ten Powerful Rock Ballads by Elton John

Amazes Me - Elton John (1989)

Audio Embeds

To conclude, I’m embedding five songs which I’ve never embedded before below.

After Midnight - Eric Clapton (1970)

The Fuse - Jackson Browne (1976)

Cold As Ice - Foreigner (1977)

The Valley Road - Bruce Hornsby (1988)

Amazes Me - Elton John (1989)

Ten Great Elton John Songs by Ten Different Guitarists

I decided to post a collection of Elton John songs whose main guitar part is played by ten different guitarists. These songs showcase the mix of guitar and piano where you hear how well Elton plays piano with many guitarists. Elton’s lyricist Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics for six of the songs. We’re beginning with one of Elton’s most popular songs.

Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting - Davey Johnstone (1973)

It opens with Davey Johnstone’s charging guitars. It’s mainly guitars you hear at the start. Elton soon brings in his piano with a glissando just before the chorus. This glissando is repeated at the same spot throughout the song. Davey really rocks powerfully with all the guitars he plays on this song. Elton’s piano playing supports Davey well. Right at the end of the song, his rock & roll piano parts offer a good contrast with Davey’s guitars.

Street Kids - Caleb Quaye (1975)

Caleb Quaye & Davey Johnstone both play rhythm guitars. Davey also plays slide guitar. It opens with a guitar effect and then all the instruments come in including Elton’s piano which is mixed in well. Elton is singing aggressively. There are these strong guitar riffs throughout the song I’m assuming is played by Caleb. Caleb gives us a long creative guitar solo. The solo is so rock sounding yet it seems like he’s taking inspiration from jazz the way he changes notes so fast. This is a hard rocking guitar & piano song.

Earn While You Learn - Tim Renwick (1978)

Though this song appears as a bonus track on 1983’s “Too Low For Zero” album due to being a B-Side from that time, it was recorded during the sessions for the 1978 album “A Single Man”. This instrumental is written solely by Elton. It opens with “Earn While You Learn” (the song title) spoken by someone and then Tim’s guitar riff before being joined by all instruments.

When all instruments come in, we get Elton’s keyboards. Elton’s keyboards include prominent organ and synth parts with his piano underneath everything. At about the two minute mark, Tim plays his riff again with Elton’s piano coming in louder and Tim giving a guitar solo. This happens again later on without another guitar solo. This is powerful melodic instrumental rock. Elton gives good rock piano parts including a glissando in the last quarter of the song.

Two Rooms At The End Of The World - Steve Lukather (1980)

The guitar is played by Toto guitarist Steve Lukather. Steve’s guitar matches well with Elton’s electric piano. The drums drive this song as there are brief moments of just drums and Elton’s vocals. Just before the one minute mark, horns come in. The horns give a musical presence throughout the song. It’s nice how Steve’s guitar doubles with the horns and there is a section of good back and forth between guitar & horns. Elton gives an interesting electric piano solo. During Elton’s solo, the guitar & horns come in and out of it. Bassist Reggie McBride does some slap bass playing making his instrument more noticeable.

Dear John - Richie Zito (1982)

This song features another Toto member which is their late great drummer Jeff Porcaro. The lyrics are written by Gary Osbourne who Elton had written with during this period. This is a rock & roll song featuring guitars by Richie Zito. Richie played guitar in Elton’s band in the brief period in the early 80s when Davey Johnstone wasn’t in the band. There is a piano solo featuring synth flourishes by James Newton Howard. Richie’s guitars give a driving energetic presence.

Runaway Train - Eric Clapton (1992)

Elton & Bernie co-wrote this song with Olle Romo who plays drums on it. Eric plays lead guitar and sings this duet with Elton John. Elton’s piano is low in the mix. The rhythm guitar is played by Elton’s guitarist Davey Johnstone. The song has a guitar opening which is soon taken over by Eric’s aggressive lead guitar part. The singing goes back and forth between Elton and Eric. Eric then plays a guitar solo in the middle of the song which is followed by Elton’s organ solo. Eric adds guitar flourishes to the organ solo. There are other similar organ parts in the song. I’m not sure if Elton is playing them. The last chorus is sung by Elton. Eric brings his signature blues rock sound to this song.

If You Were Me - Chris Rea (1993)

After so many intense rock songs, we’re now going to something gentle. This is a duet with singer Chris Rea who wrote the song, produced it and played the guitars & keyboards alongside Max Middleton. The song opening is keyboards which includes electric piano. There are subtle guitars. After Elton & Chris sing, Elton’s piano comes in. Chris’ guitar parts are both acoustic & electric. This seems to be a pop song with blues elements. Chris gives a blues vibe with his guitar playing including his solo.

Birds - Rusty Anderson (2001)

I had written a blog post about this song three years ago. This country rocker opens with drumming following the mix of Elton’s piano and Rusty Anderson’s guitar riff. Once Elton starts singing, the guitar stops and we can make out harmonium which Elton plays in addition to his piano. Just before the chorus, David Channing’s dobro (a type of acoustic guitar) comes in which remains for the song. Rusty’s guitar comes in throughout the song including a rocking solo. Elton also provides a piano solo. Rusty concludes the song with good rock guitar playing.

Rock This House - B.B. King (2005)

This song is another duet with a singer-guitarist. Unlike the previous two who are English, the late B.B. King is American, specifically African-American. This song was recorded with the Elton John Band. Davey Johnstone plays the rhythm guitar and B.B. King plays the lead guitar. The song opens with Davey’s guitar riff before all the instruments come in. B.B.’s guitar is in the right speaker. This is a cover song by blues singer Jimmy Rogers which gives off a blues rock vibe. Both B.B. and Elton give solos. They sound like they’re having so much fun rocking this house. I like how there are horn parts in this song.

Take This Dirty Water - Doyle Bramhall II (2013)

This is an americana song primarily in the gospel genre with some country, soul and blues elements. In this song, the guitar has a supportive role. Elton’s piano opens the song. Doyle soon gives his guitar flourishes. Elton sings “in and out of everything” which reflects how Doyle’s guitar keeps coming in and out of the song. Around the three minute mark, Doyle gives a short guitar solo. I like the optimistic feel of this song. Elton sings so soulfully with good gospel sounding backing vocals.

Many of these songs are guitar driven and have a harder rocking sound. They show how great a rock performer Elton John is. In addition to rock there are also elements of pop, blues, gospel, soul and country. Interestingly, the duets all go in a blues direction. The Elton John Band guitarists who played on these songs are Davey Johnstone, Caleb Quaye, Tim Renwick & Richie Zito. Davey is the only guitarist who also plays rhythm guitar on some tracks as he’s Elton’s original and long-time guitarist. I hope to hear more rocking songs like this from Elton in the future.

The Making of Elton John's Songs From The West Coast - 20 Years On

This month marks the 20th Anniversary of Elton John’s 2001 studio album “Songs From The West Coast” which was released in October 2001. This was a comeback album that had a back to the 70s

approach. The album was produced by Patrick Leonard. It featured a mix of session musicians and

Elton John’s original band members Davey Johnstone and Nigel Olsson on it. According to Jennifer

Hilliard, one of the album’s assistant engineers, the musicians who played on the album were chosen

by Elton John and producer Patrick Leonard. 

The songs were written by Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin. Arranger Paul Buckmaster, who had done arrangements and conducting for Elton in the 1970s, worked on this album arranging and conducting strings on four songs & horns on the opening track. I consider “Songs From The West Coast” to be one of Elton John’s best albums. I decided to write an article about the making of the album for its 20th anniversary. I had previously written a blog post about the song “Birds” from this album. 

The songs alternated with guitar and drums played by Rusty Anderson & Matt Chamberlain and Elton’s band members Davey Johnstone & Nigel Olsson. There was an interesting contrast in the playing of these two groups. Rusty & Matt’s playing was more modern and Davey & Nigel’s playing was more traditional. There were some other guitarists on this album, but Rusty & Davey were its main guitarists. Interestingly, Rusty & Davey played together on the two tracks “Dark Diamond” and “Mansfield”. Matt also played percussion on one of the seven tracks he was on which was the song “Birds”. I was wondering what percussion part he played. According to recording engineer Brian Scheuble, “he has a large array of percussion. I’m not sure exactly what he played on Birds other than some shakers & a few odd percussion. All combined to make a sound that would work for the song.”

The album was recorded mostly in Los Angeles and began its recording from September to October 2000 at Cello Studios with another set of recording sessions from January to February 2001 at Sony Studios. There were other recordings carried out during the first half of 2001 in Los Angeles with Elton’s vocals recorded at The Townhouse in London. According to Jennifer Hilliard, most of the album was recorded at the initial 2000 sessions, probably about three quarters of the album. 

According to tracking and mixing engineer Joe Chiccarelli, “the songs were built from piano and guide vocals on up. The band was added after the initial songwriting piano/vocal tracks were recorded.” The guide vocals are the vocals Elton initially uses alongside his piano playing while recording. Brian Scheuble says the following on how the songs were recorded, “Elton recorded with the band. Elton was in the piano booth and would play and sing live with the band. We would do a few takes of the song & pick the best take.” 

Jennifer Hilliard pointed out that each day could be very different. She says “from recording the main part of the songs on some days and then recording orchestras on some other days. When we were recording the main part of the songs it was usually a few songs a day. It was honestly the most amazing session I worked on in regards to how fast we would get songs recorded.” She further says the following of the songwriting process: “Bernie Taupin would bring in a stack of lyrics, Elton John would go through them and pick a song. Then he would sit behind the piano and play and then they would record it. 20 minutes later we’d have a mostly completed song.” 

When it came to Elton’s vocals, Joe Chiccarelli mentioned that Elton provided great guide vocals in Los Angeles. He says “We all felt the initial vocals were exceptional and passionate and exciting but Elton wanted to try and beat them. He wanted to fix the little idiosyncrasies in the guide. He wanted to go back home to London. We worked at Townhouse Studios in Shepherd’s Bush near his London home.” As Elton is known to work fast, that was also the case with recording his vocals. Joe Chiccarelli who recorded them states “they were only one or two takes with some touch ups. He would then go about adding double tracks or harmonies to the vocal. It would never take more than an hour to record one song. ... He knows what is a great vocal take and is very hyper focused on achieving that quickly so he doesn’t lose the inspiration by over thinking.” 

It’s interesting to note that Elton John wanted to feature banjo on this album. Joe Chiccarelli elaborates “I think he wanted to regain some of the character of the “Madman Across the Water” album. We tried overdubbing banjo on several songs on the record but none of it ever made the final cut. It just didn’t seem like the appropriate texture for the songs. Eventually one day I found the banjo in the dust bin with a note on it saying that it had 'outlived its usefulness'.” Brian Scheuble has this interesting story: “I would say the one thing that was pretty cool & I’ll never forget was that Pat the producer always wanted Elton to feel at home & inspired. So everyday there would be a new huge arrangement of flowers. One arrangement was flowers all around a bicycle & a bike basket full of flowers. Another day there was an Elton John pinball machine with flowers all around it.” 

Contributors to the album have very positive experiences of working with Elton John. Joe Chiccarelli says “Elton is a true pro, focused, passionate and an absolute pleasure to work with. Always funny, in great spirits and excited to go about the process of recording.” Jennifer Hilliard had similar experiences saying “Elton John was great to work with. He was very nice and generous with everyone that worked on the session.” She also says of working on the album: “this session was such an amazing experience. ... It was truly amazing to see such high levels of talent by everybody on that album.”

The album’s singles were the songs “I Want Love”, “Original Sin” and “This Train Don’t Stop There Anymore”. I Want Love is the most popular song from the album which is famous for having the video of Robert Downey Jr. lip-synching the lyrics while walking around a house. I Want Love has the signature Elton John rock ballad sound featuring Davey Johnstone and Nigel Olsson. Davey delivers a powerful guitar solo on it. Personal highlights for me include the intense country rock song “Birds”, the blues rocker “The Wasteland” about Robert Johnson, the ballad “Dark Diamond” featuring Stevie Wonder on clavinet & harmonica and the upbeat pop rock song “Look Ma, No Hands”. 

The pop rock song “Look Ma, No Hands”

Video of “I Want Love” featuring actor Robert Downey Jr.

Thank you very much to Joe Chiccarelli, Jennifer Hilliard and Brian Scheuble for your contributions to this article. You helped me to learn and write about how this album was made. Patrick Leonard did a great job with the production. He made an album that sounds fresh, doesn’t date, is unlike any other Elton John album yet so faithful to the Elton John sound. The album has an organic sound with all its different instruments mixed well into a cohesive whole and does rock. I would like to see Elton make an album with producer Patrick Leonard again. Songs From The West Coast showcases Elton’s strengths as a singer, songwriter and piano player.

Birds by Elton John

I decided to write a post giving my thoughts on a great Elton John song. I wanted to showcase one

of his lesser known songs, that beings “Birds” from his 2001 album “Songs From The West Coast”. I

consider it to be one of Elton’s best albums and it was a comeback album for him. I have covered a

song from this album in my previous posts “Sci-Fi Elton John Songs” and “Ten Powerful Rock

Ballads by Elton John”. The music of the song is written by Elton John and the lyrics are written by

his songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. I’m embedding the official audio from YouTube below which

you can listen to as you read this post.

The song opens with soft drumming. Four seconds in it’s joined by piano and electric guitar. After the

electric guitar riff is played a few times, it goes away and we can hear a harmonium that’s also

played by Elton in the background. The soft drumming continues. The chorus is joined by dobro (a

form of acoustic guitar) and the guitar riff from the start of the song comes back. In the second verse,

Matt Chamberlain’s drums are louder and he gives a modern touch with his playing. The song is

faster in the second verse, and the second chorus rocks harder with the drumming and its electric

guitar parts. Elton then delivers a piano solo which is followed by Rusty Anderson’s country rock

sounding guitar solo. We then have the chorus again and the song is closed by Rusty’s guitar work

which Elton accompanies well with his piano playing. 

Bernie Taupin’s lyrics are smart and thought provoking dealing with a person who has personal

issues that he doesn’t talk about. I like it how the chorus compares the situation of birds with the

narrator, pointing out why birds don’t fall from the sky when they die. Listening to the song makes me

wonder that myself. Feel free to discuss this issue in the comments. 

This Elton John rock song has country, americana and to me, some alternative rock elements. While

alternative rock isn't my kind of music, I hope some of its fans will check out this song due to its

similarities with their music. It gives them an introduction to Elton John and they could become

interested in his other work. The alternative elements have been incorporated into Elton’s music in

this song without changing of taking away from his sound. They come most prominently with the

drumming, some of the lyrics and Elton’s vocal delivery. At the end of the day it is an Elton John

song coming from an album which had a back to the 70s approach. It has a great melody and is a

good example of Elton’s songwriting, piano playing and vocal skills. This is my last blog post for this

year. I’ll be back next year and month with my 50th blog post which will coincide with the fourth

anniversary of this blog.