Music can be funny sometimes because songs can be about anything - including other songs. Some songs can serve as a source of inspiration for other songs, and much of that influence is expressed in the record itself (whether that influence is positive or negative). Sometimes, the songs at the center of one song may not even exist, which is a whole other strange phenomenon in itself.
At the end of the day, musical artists and songwriters are storytellers and thus might make up a song at the center of the one they are playing to tell a story. It’s somehow even more meta than a song referencing a song that actually exists. In either case, such a meta scenario has opened the door some of the best songs in music history. Here are just a few examples of such great songs that are about other songs, existing or otherwise.
10Tribute - Tenacious D
Album: Tenacious D (2001)
Tenacious D’s onscreen songs are hilariousevery single time that Jack Black and Kyle Gass join forces, but"Tribute" is, for many people, their best collaboration yet. It’s all about how the duo recall a time when they met a demon who demanded that they played the best song ever. Instead, Black and Gass could only bring themselves to play the first song that came to their minds … which just so happened to be the best song ever by coincidence.
It’s heavily implied that the song they played for the demon was “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin, to the point that “Tribute” even uses the same chords. Even if not, Tenacious D make it clear in “Tribute” that the song that they ended up playing for the demon"didn’t sound anything like this song."
9Best Song Ever - One Direction
Album: Midnight Memories (2013)
Any song calling itself the “Best Song Ever” comes with heavy expectations - that is, if the song is actually trying to be the best song ever. In this case,One Direction’s pop hit is about the best song ever and the joy that comes with listening to it without actually boasting itself to be such a song.
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The song describes a chance encounter with a woman wherein they spent the night dancing to the best song ever. The woman herself and the meeting was unforgettable, even if the song itself was harder to remember. The protagonist recalls singing to every line with her, but the lyrics themselves are a blur to him. “Best Song Ever” is more about an experience than an actual song. Even if he never remembers a line from that song again, the protagonist won’t forget the woman he sang and danced with on that fateful night.
8Perfect - Ed Sheeran
Album: Divide (2017)
While “Best Song Ever” is about a woman who a man never saw again, “Perfect” is about cherishing every moment with the love of one’s life. The song was written about and dedicated to his wife Cherry Seaborn. The song professes his love for her, what he admires about her, and the general excitement he carries about building a future with her.
The hook in particular sees Sheeran thinking about them dancing barefoot together in the grass at night, all while listening to their favorite song. The song is never mentioned or even alluded to, but even then, the hook is less about what song they were dancing to and more about Sheeran whispering to her how perfect she is to him when she expresses that she"looked a mess.“Like “Best Song Ever,” it’s less about the song and more about the experience shared between two people who care deeply about each other.
7Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
Album: Wild Cherry (1976)
Funk music was all the rage back in the 1970s. It was also a genre that was created and often performed by black people. Artists like James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic, and The Isley Brothers dominated the genre, all black artists, so it wasn’t common to see non-black performers work within the genre at the time. Rob Parissi wrote “Play That Funky Music” with that self-awareness in mind.
As the hook goes, it’s about someone pleading with the"white boy"to"play that funky music till you die.“The music in question isn’t necessarily the central “Play That Funky Music” record, but nonetheless is pleading for Wild Cherry to sing and dance to the sound of funk.
6Monster Mash - Bobby Pickett
Album: The Original Monster Mash (1962)
This might blow some readers' minds, but “Monster Mash” isn’t about the “Monster Mash.” Not in the way that some may think, at least, especially when reminded that the “Monster Mash” is a dance and not a song in this record.The record in question is about Bobby Pickett recalling having seen a select few monsters doing the “Monster Mash.”
Those monsters aren’t even dancing to the Pickett song in question, as the lyrics mention the monsters dancing to a vocal group called The Crypt-Kicker Five. Pickett is merely recounting a recollection as a bystander who saw The Crypt-Kicker Five (which, at the time, was not a real band) perform a jam so powerful that it had the entire monster community in an uproar, doing the same dance.
5Not Like Us - Kendrick Lamar
Single: 2024
Diss tracks in general are good material for a list like this, as diss records are direct responses to other songs that the rapper is feuding with. The Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar beef is just the most recent example. Both men have lyrics in their respective songs directly referencing lines in their opponents records. As fun of a song that “Not Like Us” is, that song is a direct response to Drake’s “Family Matters,” specifically Kendrick’s final verse.
In “Family Matters,” Drake makes fun of Kendrick for"always rappin' like you ‘bout to get the slaves freed.“In response, Kendrick’s third verse opens with,“Once upon a time, all of us was in chains / Homie still doubled down callin’ us some slaves"before explaining the history of slavery in Atlanta, comparing it to Drake’s collaborations with Atlanta artists.Drake accused Kendrick of exploiting his audience, so Kendrick accused Drake of exploiting the Atlanta community like how slavers exploited the black community.
4Party In The U.S.A. - Miley Cyrus
Album: The Time of Our Lives (2009)
The beauty of music is that in uncomfortable moments, music can change anyone’s negative mood into a positive one.“Party in the U.S.A.” is one such song, but it’s a song that describes the feeling perfectly.The former Hannah Montanaexpresses being nervous to the point of having a turning stomach, but everything feels better and she’s sprung in a joyous mood the moment that her taxi driver plays"the Jay-Z song.”
It’s not clear what that song could be exactly - by 2009, the year “Party in the U.S.A.” came out, Jay had already released 11 albums, so there are dozens of options - and when Miley says they’re"playing my song,“it may not even still be the same Jay-Z song. In fact, the song she’s talking about keeps switching throughout the record, as by the second verse, she’s celebrating the fact that the"Britney song was on"now.
3Favorite Record - Fall Out Boy
Album: American Beauty/American Psycho (2015)
“Favorite Record” is very similar to “Best Song Ever,” with the sentiment of “Perfect.” It’s about someone speaking to the love of their love, asking if they remember dancing and driving along to their favorite records. Audiences never long what specifically these records were, butthe lyrics do namedrop the bands Danzig and Rancid.
As to which songs from each respective band, that’s anyone’s guess as there are no hints as to which songs were specifically played, but it doesn’t matter. Like with “Best Song Ever,” the song choice isn’t important. It’s the experience of spending time with someone who the lyricist cares deeply about that resonates. That’s the beauty of many of the songs mentioned thus far, they use the reference of another song that everyone knows to catapult into a telling a story about a one-of-a-kind experience with a one-of-a-kind individual by their side.
2BOOM BAP - Doechii
Album: Alligator Bites Never Heal (2024)
This is the only song on this list that is actually about another song that the artist previously made. Doechii is a rapper currently enjoying a breakout year in 2024, weaving her way into the mainstream thanks to recent collaborations with the likes of Tyler, the Creator and Katy Perry. One of her biggest solo hits to put her on the map was “What It Is (Block Boy),” but because the song is more pop-centric than her spoken words in her underground days, her core audience complained that she wasn’t rapping enough.
This prompted Doechii to release “BOOM BAP,” which is partially parodying the hysteria around complaints of her not rapping enough, but is also her making sense of the criticisms in the wake of the newfound success that she has acquired.
I just can’t sang a lil' bit? I mean, that s*** was a hit
You know exactly what it is, the choir gon' sang “What It Is”
Top 100, what it is? Número uno, what it is?
Favorite song, what it is? Turn me on, what it is?
Even the moms know what it is, but y’all n***** can’t see what it is
1The Greatest - Lana Del Rey
Album: Norman F***ing Rockwell! (2019)
Lana Del Rey croons heavily about a more carefree time of partying and merryness, one that even included frequenting “the bar where the Beach Boys would go.” Now, though, that time and period are missed, along with the friends made and the rock ‘n’ roll sound heard in that period. In the end, the mourning for the time lost is replaced by mourning for the current times. Times where"Kanye West is blond and gone"and”‘Life on Mars’ ain’t just a song / Oh, the livestream’s almost on.”
More than anything, Lana Del Rey’s “The Greatest” is about a changing of the times, referencing a time long gone and a yesteryear that may never return. It’s a somber song on that accord. Much of that reminiscent feel is personified by “Life on Mars” by David Bowie, an existential song pondering a reality beyond reality. Even though the song is never outright referenced until the very end, it’s a prime example of how one song inmusiccan inspire another.
