BorrowedLyrics

Worship And Tribute: 12 Songs With Lyrics From Other Songs

There are blatant ways a band can wear its influences (think cover songs and copycat designs), but there's a subtler method that gets the point across to those in the know. We're talking about songs where an old familiar lyric (or title, in a few cases) is snuck in there. Think of them as the Easter eggs of music, and we've compiled a dozen of them below.


BORROWING PARTY: Jimmy Eat World — “Kill”
BORROWED LYRIC: “Like your favorite Heatmiser song goes/It's just like being alone”
SOURCE: Heatmiser – “Half Right”
 
 

BORROWING PARTY: Crime In Stereo — “I Stole This For You”
BORROWED LYRIC: “Now we're all former friends/Treated like guests in our very own home/As we stare and wonder/How someone so young/Could get any dumber than you”
SOURCE: Milhouse – “Welcome Back Fucker”
 
 

BORROWING PARTY: Texas Is The Reason — “Back And To The Left”
BORROWED LYRIC: “I will always worry about you/I will always stick up for you”
SOURCE: Gameface – “Three”
 
 

BORROWING PARTY: Gameface — “Laughable”
BORROWED LYRIC: “It costs so much/I know/But I guess I need to know/What it would have felt like/To be right”
SOURCE: Texas Is The Reason – “Back And To The Left”
 
 

BORROWING PARTY: No Warning — “Short Fuse”
BORROWED LYRIC: “Everybody knows/Everybody talks/Everybody sees/But no one's saying nothing”
SOURCE: Oasis – “My Big Mouth”
 
 

BORROWING PARTY: Emmure — “R2 Deepthroat”
BORROWED LYRIC: “I bet you think this song is about you/Don't you”
SOURCE: Carly Simon – “You're So Vain”
 
 

BORROWING PARTY: Ace Enders And A Million Different People — “When I Hit The Ground”
BORROWED LYRIC: “Just come down/I'm always around/So if you fall down/I'm always around”
SOURCE: Days Away – “Stay The Same”
 
 

BORROWING PARTY: Head Automatica — “The Speed Of A Yellow Bullet”
BORROWED LYRIC: “I see the smoke and fire/And the market burning down”
SOURCE: The Mothers Of Invention – “Trouble Comin' Every Day”
 
 

BORROWING PARTY: The Forecast — “Kisses”
BORROWED LYRIC “It's just a quiet evening/With Lifetime playing”
SOURCE: Lifetime – “Just A Quiet Evening”
 
 

BORROWING PARTY: Motionless In White — “Puppets (The First Snow)”
BORROWED LYRIC: “I've never had the words to say/But I can quote them all/I am human and I need to be loved/Just like everybody else does/So, Morrissey please sing me to sleep (sing me to sleep)/As I live and breathe/You have killed me/You have killed me”
SOURCE: The Smiths – “How Soon Is Now?” // The Smiths – “Asleep” // Morrissey – “You Have Killed Me”
 
 

BORROWING PARTY: The Promise Ring — “Things Just Getting Good”
BORROWED LYRIC: “The big bright lights take Manhattan/And I take to Berlin”
SOURCE: The Big Bright Lights – “Take Manhattan”
 
 

BORROWING PARTY: The Hold Steady — “We Can Get Together”
BORROWED LYRIC: “There's a girl on heaven hill/I come up to her cabin still”
SOURCE: Hüsker Dü, “The Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill”