Songs where other artists are imitated (or: The Other Artists Have it!)

[dtuba]

Has no one mentioned the band America? Horse With No Name is clearly an imitation of Neil Young.

[CTListener]

Has no one mentioned the band America? Horse With No Name is clearly an imitation of Neil Young.

The band's lead singer sounds a bit like Neil Young on that song, but he does so on "Sandman" and "Tin Man," too. It's just his singing voice. I don't think there was any intention to mimic Young, especially on songs like "Tin Man" that are totally unlike anything Young would ever sing.

[jfrancispastirchak]

"Uptown Girl," Billy Joel very obviously pays tribute to the Four Seasons.

"Lies," Knickerbockers, sounded more like the Beatles than any other group, except for the Beatles themselves.

In the '80s, I actually thought UPTOWN was a Four Seasons comeback tune.  And, being the archiver I claim to be, I was red-faced embarassed to lose a bet over LIES, standing my ground that the Beatles sang this.  And that happened just last month!

[jfrancispastirchak]

Long Tall Ernie and the Shakers, "Do You Remember?" and "Golden Years of Rock and Roll" both paid tribute to, and impersonated, many of the stars of the '50s and early '60s.  On the first Stars on Long Play (Stars on 45) album.

Bowser and SHA NA NA made a career out of doing the same thing.

[jfrancispastirchak]

Suspicion--Terry Stafford (imitating Elvis)

Ah yes....also I think Casey Kasem said that when Stealers Wheel's Gerry Rafferty performed "Stuck in the Middle with You," he was trying to imitate Bob Dylan....but nobody (including me) really noticed....

cd

I didn't either.

Nor did I...

[firepoint525]

When Dylan sang his part on "We Are the World," some folks thought he sounded like Sonny Bono!  (Although Bono had, by that time, been out of the music biz for quite a while.)

[jfrancispastirchak]

A whole slew under this category:

1) Everyone that Barry Gibb produced sounded like the BeeGees.

Yes, they did.  Anyone remember TIN-TIN, "Toast and Marmalade for Tea" in 1971?  Wikipedia credits Maurice, not Barry Gibb, for helping secure that recording deal.

[KeithE4]

A whole slew under this category:

1) Everyone that Barry Gibb produced sounded like the BeeGees.

Yes, they did.  Anyone remember TIN-TIN, "Toast and Marmalade for Tea" in 1971?  Wikipedia credits Maurice, not Barry Gibb, for helping secure that recording deal.

When I first heard that song, I thought it was the Bee Gees.  And how many people do remember Tin Tin and that medley of their greatest hit?

[firepoint525]

Kind of a funny one here.  "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" by Michael Jackson.  A then co-worker thought that it was a woman singing that one, and was later amazed or amused to find out that it was Michael Jackson.  Of course, there actually was a woman (Siedah Garrett) singing on that one with him.  Maybe the co-worker couldn't tell Michael's vocals apart from Siedah's, which, I suppose, is understandable.

[firepoint525]

"Uptown Girl," Billy Joel very obviously pays tribute to the Four Seasons.
"Lies," Knickerbockers, sounded more like the Beatles than any other group, except for the Beatles themselves.

In the '80s, I actually thought UPTOWN was a Four Seasons comeback tune.  And, being the archiver I claim to be, I was red-faced embarassed to lose a bet over LIES, standing my ground that the Beatles sang this.  And that happened just last month!

Got to see Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons at TPAC here in Nashville a couple of years ago, and when he started doing a couple of cover songs, I was actually hoping that he would bust out "Uptown Girl."  I was kinda disappointed that he didn't.

Billy Joel's "Tell Her About It" is supposedly a tribute to the Supremes, and "An Innocent Man" has a Drifters vibe to it.