Songs that pay homage to deceased artists, no covers

[DennisN]

U2 - Angel of Harlem (a homage to Billie Holiday)

 

[DaveE]

someone still alive

Nope.

 

[pinball1970]

A tribute to someone still alive, but in bad health:

He was out of the public eye for a long time. He died in 2006.

 

[pinball1970]

I always liked this track by Heinze, a tribute to Eddie Cochran. Richie Blackmore is playing guitar on the track, he would have been 18 at the time.

 

[pinball1970]

This song is dedicated to a lighting engineer who was killed after a fall during the Kate Bush tour of 1979, but there are references to some deceased artists all the way through the track.

Minnie Riperton
Keith Moon
Sid Vicious
Buddy Holly
Sandy Denny
Mark Bolan

 

[pinball1970]

I thought Bowie just made Ziggy up, then I found out (years ago) it was about Hendrix (played it left hand, Voodoo reference)
After reading the wiki page it has multiple possible references to different artists
Hendrix is probably in there, he died less than two years before the release/writing so I will stick with him.

 

[pinball1970]

A tribute to Elvis. The song is absolutely awful but it is tribute non the less.

 

[pinball1970]

We have had a Beethoven reference so I am putting this one in, hopefully @fresh_42 will allow it.
This is Monty Python so you think it will be ridiculous but it is actually nicely put together and a touching if tongue in cheek tribute.
Michael Palin wrote it and the main tune is over Pachelbel canon but lots of other snippets in there.

 

[jack action]

A tribute to Elvis. The song is absolutely awful but it is tribute non the less.

THIS is a tribute to Elvis ... and a mighty good one!

​

 

[fresh_42]

We have had a Beethoven reference so I am putting this one in, hopefully @fresh_42 will allow it.

Are you kidding? Never ever would I delete a Monty Python post.

My sister used to quote "Are you lonesome tonight" by "Bist Du langsam heut' nacht" so I'm rather tolerant. I had been quite slow on a night when I thought "Amadeus" was about Falco and not about Mozart and thought the song was meant as a tribute for Falco which would have been against the intention of this thread. It took me a while to identify Mozart as the musician who was meant. I like his G-minor symphony and Die Zauberflöte, but that's basically it. No wonder, I thought it was about Falco. I wonder if there is a tribute to him?

 

[pinball1970]

. I wonder if there is a tribute to him

The tributes tend to be about the big hitters. I will have a look though.

 

[pinball1970]

THIS is a tribute to Elvis ... and a mighty good one!

​

I like the track. Drunken Karaoke ladies tend to go for it which is a downside.
I had no idea it was about Elvis, probably never paid attention to the words.

 

[pinball1970]

Stevie Nicks lost her uncle and John Lennon died in the same week. This is a tribute to them both.

I thought it was about teenage innocence but the "White wing dove" was Lennon. He stood for peace.

This is as also T.I.L. but better here.

 

[fresh_42]

The tributes tend to be about the big hitters. I will have a look though.

I found an explicit tribute (screen on the stage) by Fettes Brot (2017) but they covered a Falco song.

 

[pinball1970]

Written about Gram Parsons after his death

Never heard that track and only discovered ELH fairly recently. Lovely tribute to her friend.

 

[BWV]

Still hard to believe we lost Will Machaut, only 77 years old




;) this is the first example I am aware of - written in 1377 to commemorate the death of Guillaume de Machaut

 

[jack action]

I wonder if there is a tribute to him?

There is an album called Tribute to Falco by The Bolland Project ft. Alida. The Bolland brothers produced and co-wrote half of Falco' songs and I couldn't find any other recording from Alida. But here are Tribute to Falco and We Say Goodbye:

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[robphy]

(2023) Benjamin Scheuer - SEE MY HEROES (Live at RAK Studios, London)

SEE MY HEROES. In this song, I talk directly to my guitar playing hero, Eddie Van Halen, who died of an illness that I managed to survive: Cancer. My dad introduced me to Van Halen when I was a kid; Eddie's death made my father's death come roaring back to me.

Here, he explains the backstory behind the song
Benjamin Scheuer performs his song "See My Heroes" at the Eighth Annual Harvard-Yale Cantata

 

[difalcojr]

Tex Ritter: Hillbilly Heaven

 

[difalcojr]

"Janis." One more from the Country Joe and the Fish second album in '67.

From https://www.songfacts.com/facts/country-joe-the-fish/janis is this:

Joe McDonald wrote this song for Janis Joplin when they were living together in 1967. According to Joe, she was upset with him for breaking up with her to be with Robin Menken, whom he subsequently married, but asked him to write a song for her, and this was the song.

Here it is from the studio album of '67 (which I like best) and a '73 MacDonald poignant, acoustic version. She died in '70.

 

[pinball1970]

Gram Parsons, Emmy Lou still going

 

[Hornbein]

"Janis." One more from the Country Joe and the Fish second album in '67.

From https://www.songfacts.com/facts/country-joe-the-fish/janis is this:

Joe McDonald wrote this song for Janis Joplin when they were living together in 1967. According to Joe, she was upset with him for breaking up with her to be with Robin Menken, whom he subsequently married, but asked him to write a song for her, and this was the song.

Here it is from the studio album of '67 (which I like best) and a '73 MacDonald poignant, acoustic version. She died in '70.

The second album I ever bought. I'd completely forgotten about this tune. I like the way he uses out-of-tuneness in his singing. It makes it more touching.

Later in his career he felt trapped in a contract. "I thought I would never get free." So he produced very bored sounding albums. He wouldn't even smile for the camera.

 

[difalcojr]

Interesting. Here's photo of of Robin Menken from a 1970 album without the Fish. From wiki:

McDonald was married to Kathe Werum from 1963 to 1966. On 31 March 1968, McDonald married Robin Menken, a year after his divorce from Werum. In 1968, Menken gave birth to the couple's first daughter, Seven Anne McDonald, in San Francisco. McDonald has four other children, Devin (b. 1976) and Tara (b. 1980) from his marriage to Janice Taylor, and Emily (b. 1988) and Ryan (b. 1991) from his marriage to Kathy Wright

Still not smiling. Had a good voice. He was best with the Fish, I thought. If someone asked you to name one psychedelic (acid rock) album of that era, one of their first 2 albums would surely come up. Also, in addition to "Janis" tribute, the 2nd album had maybe the most effective anti-war song of all time, following the fine tune of "Muskrat Ramble."

 

[Hornbein]

It was 40 years later I realized it was Muskrat Ramble.

 

[difalcojr]

Eric Clapton. Tribute to Elmore. James.

 

[difalcojr]

John Mayall for J.B. Lenoir, Chicago bluesman, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._B._Lenoir, died just 38 in a car crash in '67. Two songs, first in '67 album, second on Turning Point album in '70, and a live version here. I like the first tribute song and distinct voice Mayall had. Line in the song: "When I read the news, night came early in my day."

 

[jack action]

“Something to Believe In” by Poison​

[...]

The song is about two people in Bret Michael’s life. The first is his personal friend and bodyguard, James Kimo Maano or Kimo. Kimo got hooked up in the rock & roll lifestyle and with his abuse of drugs and alcohol, his life tragically ended early. When Bret found out, he was inspired to write this song as a tribute to his friend. When you watch the video of this song, you see an emotional Bret Michaels reacting to pictures that showed up on the TV of his friend. The Director of the video didn’t tell him the pictures were being used and it took Bret by surprise. It was a cruel trick, but it captured a real moment.


The other person is Bret’s cousin Bob who had been wounded in Vietnam and the song talks about his struggles mentally with what happened as well as the loss of so many of his cousin’s friends in the way. It paints a stark reality of the damage war can have on a person.

​