24 Times Artists Re-used Their Own Material

Sometimes bands get accused of writing the identical track again and again. But what if it is a actually good track, worthy of getting used once more in some type?

In some circumstances, the purpose of re-purposing older materials is to intentionally harken again to a earlier period of a band or artist. Take Robert Plant’s “Tall Cool One,” for instance. Released in 1988, it used bits of Led Zeppelin songs from years prior, and was particularly meant to acknowledge Plant’s previous.

Other instances, it really works as a type of reprise. Like on Bob Dylan’s 1974 album, Planet Waves, which incorporates not one however two variations of “Forever Young” — the very same track, recorded in solely alternative ways and positioned on separate sides of the album.

Whatever the rationale, it may be thrilling to listen to one thing acquainted recycled into one thing new. We’re having a look at  24 Times Artists Re-used Their Own Material.

1. “Trust Fund Baby,” Sammy Hagar (2019)
First Used: “I Got the Fire,” Montrose (1974)

Sammy Hagar was there within the formative days of Montrose, again within the early ’70s. Over 40 years later, he managed to include that interval of his life into his new music, borrowing the guitar riff used on 1974’s “I Got the Fire,” putting it on the prime of 2019’s “Trust Fund Baby” and crediting Ronnie Montrose, the riff’s authentic author.

2. “Top of the World,” Van Halen (1991)
First Used: “Jump,” Van Halen (1983)

Who higher to artistically steal from than your self? Cue up Van Halen’s 1991 track “Top of the World” and you may discover the start riff is similar one used on the finish of their `1983 observe, “Jump.” The former track wasn’t fairly as profitable because the latter, however it was nonetheless a Top 30 hit.

3. “Tall Cool One,” Robert Plant (1988)
First Used: Various Led Zeppelin Songs

For numerous years, Robert Plant purposely averted his musical previous — Led Zeppelin led to 1980, and Plant was centered on constructing his personal solo profession. But then, in 1986, the Beastie Boys sampled three Led Zeppelin songs on their debut album, Licensed to Ill. Plant was intrigued. “And I believed, ‘well that’s a good suggestion.’ You can’t get a greater drum sound,” he said in a 2020 episode of his Digging Deep podcast. So Plant decided to sample, well, himself, on 1988’s “Tall Cool One,” using Led Zeppelin songs like “Black Dog,” “Dazed and Confused,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “The Ocean” and “Custard Pie.”

4. “It’s a Boy,” The Who (1969)
First Used: “Glow Girl,” The Who (1967)

Not to be confused with their 1966 song “I’m a Boy, “It’s a Boy” appeared on the Who’s landmark Tommy album in 1969. But like a couple of different songs on the LP, it had been up-cycled from a beforehand written composition, on this case a track known as “Glow Girl,” an outtake from 1967’s The Who Sell Out.

5. “All You Need Is Love,” The Beatles (1967)
First Used: “She Loves You,” The Beatles (1963)

It’s simple to neglect that not solely did the Beatles conquer the world with their music, however they did so in lower than a decade. By the latter half of the ’60s, the Fab Four had modified a terrific deal from after they’d first started, however now and again hints of their earlier work would seem in new songs. Perhaps the very best instance of that is in 1967’s “All You Need Is Love,” by which Paul McCartney could be heard towards the top of the observe singing a part of the refrain to 1963’s “She Loves You.”

6. “U Get Me High,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (2014)
First Used: “Don’t Fade on Me,” Tom Petty (1994)

Sometimes, once you write a sure lyric, it sticks with you. And generally, it finds a brand new residence 20 years later. Such was the case with one in all Tom Petty’s traces: “I remember feeling this way / You can lose it without knowing.” Petty first used it in 1994’s “Don’t Fade on Me,” (Wildflowers) after which once more in 2014’s “U Get Me High” (Hypnotic Eye).

7. “Destroyer,” The Kinks (1981)
First Used: “All Day and All of the Night,” The Kinks (1964)

The Kinks’ “Destroyer” harkens again to a few their earlier hits. One of them is “Lola,” who makes a reappearance within the track’s lyrics. The different is “All Day and All of the Night,” the riff from which could be heard once more.

8. “Bleed to Love Her,” Fleetwood Mac (1997)
First Used: “You Do or You Don’t,” Lindsey Buckingham (1992)

The cool factor about being a solo artist and being a member of a band is that generally you will get away with re-using a few of your individual materials. This is what Lindsey Buckingham did within the ’90s. He took a verse he utilized in a 1992 solo track of his titled “You Do or You Don’t” — “Somebody’s got to see this through / All the world is laughing at you / Somebody’s got to sacrifice / If this whole thing’s gonna turn out right” — and caught it into Fleetwood Mac’s 1997 track “Bleed to Love Her.”

9. “Fly Like an Eagle,” Steve Miller Band (1976)
First Used: “My Dark Hour,” Steve Miller Band (1969)

In May 1969, not lengthy after the Beatles carried out their final public present, Paul McCartney discovered himself within the studio with Steve Miller, Reportedly labored up from an argument along with his bandmates, McCartney felt the necessity to “thrash something, to get it out of my system.” He wound up drumming on a track known as “My Dark Hour,” whereas Miller dealt with all the opposite devices and vocals. Seven years later, Miller re-used the guitar riff from the track for his hit “Fly Like an Eagle.”

10. “Somewhere They Can’t Find Me,” Simon and Garfunkel (1966)
First Used: “Wednesday Morning 3 A.M.,” Simon and Garfunkel (1964)

If among the phrases to Simon and Garfunkel’s “Somewhere They Can’t Find Me,” sound acquainted to you — notably the primary verse — that is since you may need heard them first in 1964’s “Wednesday Morning 3 A.M.” “I can hear the soft breathing of the girl that I love / As she lies here beside me, asleep with the night.”

11. “Forever Young,” Bob Dylan (1974)
First Used: “Forever Young,” Bob Dylan (1974)

Not solely did Bob Dylan re-use the very same track twice on one album, he did it again to again. After chopping two variations of “Forever Young,” one quick and one sluggish, Dylan finally selected to incorporate each on 1974’s Planet Waves, one proper after the opposite. “I been carrying this song around in my head for five years and I never wrote it down,” he reportedly advised his producer Rob Fabroni on the time, “and now I come to record it I just can’t decide how to do it.”

12. “Angels,” David Byrne (1994)
First Used: “Once in a Lifetime,” Talking Heads (1980)

Listening to David Byrne’s 1994 track “Angels,” it’s possible you’ll end up with an unshakeable feeling of deja vu. That’s as a result of Byrne basically re-used the bass half and the vocal phrasing from Talking Heads’ iconic “Once in a Lifetime.” (“Angels” was a profitable single, reaching No. 24 on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart.)

13. “Johnny 99,” Bruce Springsteen (1982)
First Used: “Atlantic City,” Bruce Springsteen (1982)

When Bruce Springsteen says he is broke, he means it. He used the identical line twice on the identical album, 1982’s Nebraska. “I got the kind of debts that no honest man can pay,” he sings in “Atlantic City.” Then he sings the road once more almost verbatim within the track that follows, “Johnny 99.”

14. “Red Money,” David Bowie (1979)
First Used: “Sister Midnight,” Iggy Pop (1977)

In 1977, Iggy Pop launched his debut solo album, The Idiot. Every single one in all its eight tracks credited David Bowie, who was additionally the LP’s producer, as a co-writer. Three years later, the start observe from The Idiot, “Sister Midnight,” could be re-cycled into one thing new for Bowie himself. “‘Red Money’ [from 1979’s Lodger] is a blatant copy of Iggy Pop’s ‘Sister Midnight,’” producer Tony Visconti mentioned for A New Career in a New Town (1977–1982), “where we took off his vocals, added more guitars and wrote an entirely different song over it…”

15. “Little Queenie,” Chuck Berry (1959)
First Used: “Run Rudolph Run,” Chuck Berry (1958)

Chuck Berry launched his Christmas basic, “Run Rudolph Run” in 1958, and it went to No. 69. The identical yr, he recorded “Little Queenie,” which used basically the identical association and melody.

16. “Train of Love,” Neil Young (1994)
First Used: “Western Hero,” Neil Young (1994)

Like Springsteen, Neil Young additionally took a chance to document a reprisal of kinds on 1994’s Sleeping With Angels. “Western Hero” seems first on the album, adopted a number of tracks later by “Train of Love” — it is the identical track, however with totally different lyrics.

17. “Rust,” Echo and the Bunnymen (1999)
First Used: “Ribbons and Chains,” Ian McColloch (1992)

Is it actually stealing for those who achieve this from your self? In 1999, Echo and the Bunnymen launched a single known as “Rust,” and it went to No. 22 within the U.Okay. — their final Top 40 hit of their residence nation. But the observe truly borrowed its melody and refrain from a solo track Ian McColloch launched in 1992, “Ribbons and Chains.”

18. “Carry On,” Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (1970)
First Used: “Questions,” Buffalo Springfield (1968)

As Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young have been nearing the top of periods for 1970’s Deja Vu, they realized they did not have a robust opening quantity. So Stephen Stills dug into his archive and pulled out “Questions,” a track he’d written and recorded with Buffalo Springfield for his or her 1968 album, Last Time Around. He pulled a couple of lyrics and different components from it and created “Carry On.”

19. “Jealous Guy,” John Lennon (1971)
First Used: “Child of Nature,” John Lennon (1968)

“[‘Mother Nature’s Son’] was from a lecture of Maharishi where he was talking about nature,” John Lennon defined in 1980, referring to the 1968 track that appeared on the White Album, “and I had a piece called ‘I’m Just a Child of Nature,’ which turned into ‘Jealous Guy’ years later. Both inspired from the same lecture of Maharishi.”

20. “Lyra,” Kate Bush (2007)
First Used: “Out of the Storm,” Kate Bush (2000)

In 1999, Kate Bush penned a track known as “Out of the Storm,” which was supposed to be used within the 2000 movie Dinosaur. But the story goes that preview audiences did not reply nicely to the track and when Bush was requested to rewrite it, she declined. She saved it although, and used its intro for a wholly totally different soundtrack track years later, “Lyra,” which appeared in 2007’s The Golden Compass.

21. “Illusions,” Keith Richards (2015)
First Used: “Baby Break It Down,” The Rolling Stones (1994)

The factor about Keith Richards is that with many years of expertise, he has discovered what works and what does not a lot, And he ‘s not afraid to revisit one thing that works. In his 2015 solo track, “Illusions,” he re-used the central riff the Rolling Stones used on 1994’s “Baby Break It Down.”

22. “Paint a Vulgar Picture,” The Smiths (1987)
First Used: “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby,” The Smiths (1987)

In February of 1987, the Smiths included a track titled “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby” on their album The World Won’t Listen, a highly regarded compilation LP. Roughly seven months later, that phrase appeared once more in a track of theirs titled “Paint a Vulgar Picture:” “And when it fails to recoup? / Well, maybe you just haven’t earned it yet, baby.”

23. “Smart Girls,” Brian Wilson (1991)
First Used: Various Beach Boys Songs

Like the Kinks above, Brian Wilson took a chance in 1991 to include some outdated hits into a brand new track. He took bits of Beach Boys songs like “I Get Around,” “When I Grow Up (to Be a Man),” “Fun, Fun, Fun” and extra and made it into one extremely eclectic “rap” observe.

24. “Seven Days,” Sting (1993)
First Used: “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” The Police (1981) and “O My God” (1983)

Sting has re-used elements of songs a handful of instances through the years. One of the strongest examples was in his 1993 solo track “Seven Days,” by which he quotes a line that has appeared greater than as soon as within the Police’s catalog. “It’s a big enough umbrella / But it’s always me that ends up getting wet,” he sings. This identical line could be present in 1981’s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” and 1983’s “O My God.”