Tribute songs

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Tribute songs

Postby cmsellers » Sat Jun 30, 2018 8:31 pm

I've noticed that I have a weird fondness for tribute songs. This seems to be a mostly country music phenomenon (folk a bit too, but less often), wherein a country music singer who does a tribute album often writes one original song about and dedicated to the original artist, usually when it's a tribute to a founder ofa genre. For some reason it's often my favorite song on the album. This applies even when it's a country singer covering an artist from another genre, as with Merle Haggard's tribute to Elvis.

Merle Haggard — "From Graceland to the Promised Land"


Rhonda Vincent — "Is the Grass any Bluer on the Other Side?" (Tribute to Bill Monroe, "Father of Bluegrass.")


Asleep at the Wheel — "Bob Wills is Still the King" (This is actually a Waylon Jennings song, but this version is done in Western swing style.)


These three stand out as being exceptional examples of this form of song, however there are two other similar songs I think are worth mentioning. One is George Jone's "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes?" which is a tribute to several artists. (Song starts at 1:50 if you want to skip the intro, but I like the intro.)


The other is Bob Dylan's "Song to Woody," which is a tribute song but also a Bob Dylan song.
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Re: Tribute songs

Postby Marcuse » Sun Jul 01, 2018 8:49 am

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Re: Tribute songs

Postby IamNotCreepy » Sun Jul 01, 2018 1:57 pm

I love this tribute to Elvis by the Who -- Real Good Looking Boy

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Re: Tribute songs

Postby 52xMax » Sat Aug 18, 2018 7:01 am

The Replacements' song "Alex Chilton" is about the founder of Big Star and singer for the Box Tops.

Not sure if this is what you meant, but American Pie was written by Don McLean about the plane crash where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper died. He also wrote Vincent about Van Gogh, but that's not a musician.

Speaking of Don McLean, songwriters Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel say they wrote "Killing Me Softly" based on a recount from (original performer) Lori Lieberman of seeing Don McLean in concert and feeling like he had been reading her personal journeys. It was Roberta Flack who made it a hit. Many people think that "Killing Me Softly" is about either of the two previously mentioned Don McLean songs, but Lieberman herself has said in interviews that she was talking about "Empty chairs", which makes more sense as it's a song about a lover leaving and the performer being too self centered to realize that after the lover was gone.
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