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{{trope}}
The answer song is, simply put, [[Exactly What It Says
The tradition of poetry written in the form of a song contest or struggle, in which one speaker answers the other, dates back to the very beginnings of recorded literature, back to Sumerian times, and was a popular form in Classical pastoral poetry (as in the ''Idylls'' of Theocritus and [[The Aeneid
In modern times, the
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
* Woody Guthrie's famous "This Land Is Your Land" was written as an answer to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America."
* One of the longest answer record cycles was started by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters' 1954 R&B hit "Work With Me Annie", and its [[Sequel Song]] "Annie Had a Baby". Answer songs include "Annie's Answer" by the El-Dorados, "Annie Pulled a Humbug" by the Midnights, "Roll With Me Henry" by Etta James, and "I'm the Father of Annie's Baby", by Danny Taylor.
* "Sweet Home Alabama" is [[Lynyrd Skynyrd]]'s defense of the South, in response to [[Neil Young]]'s criticism of racism in "Southern Man" and "Alabama." (Unfortunately, its rebuttal of Young basically amounted to "so what?" Not exactly the best way to sell your point, guys.)
** [[Joni Mitchell]]'s "The Circle Game" is an answer to [[Neil Young]]'s "Sugar Mountain".
** Also, Warren Zevon wrote a pretty savage response to "Sweet Home Alabama", "Play It All Night Long".
* "Yes, I Am Experienced" by [[The Animals
* Barry McGuire's 1965 left-wing protest hit "Eve of Destruction" was answered by the conservative, [[Vietnam War]]-defending "Dawn of Correction" by The Spokesmen. Both songs were hits.
* Smokey Robinson & the Miracles' "Got a Job" was a response to The Silhouettes' "Get a Job".
* [[
* [[
* Reba McEntire's "Whoever's in New England" was a response to Barry Manilow's hit "Weekend in New England."
* Jody Miller's "Queen of the House" was a response to Roger Miller's song "King of the Road."
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** The band Napalm Death released the song "It's a M.A.N.S World!"
* "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down" by Alicia Keys, was an answer to Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind", which Keys featured on, singing the chorus. The song uses original verses by Keys but re-uses the chorus and bridge.
* In 2009 the band [[They Might Be Giants]] released an answer song -- "Why Does the Sun Really Shine? (The Sun is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma)"
* The Satintones "Tomorrow and Always" answers The Shirelles "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?"
* [[
* [[Liz Phair]] has claimed in interviews that her ''Exile in Guyville'' album was a song-by-song response to ''[[The Rolling Stones|Exile on Main Street]]''.
* The sentimental "Irish" ballad, "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" (1875) by Thomas P. Westendorf was written as a reply to the earlier "Barney, Take Me Home Again" by George W. Persley.
* Claude King's "Wolverton Mountain" was answered with Linda Gail Lewis's "The Girl From Wolverton Mountain."
* Travis Tritt's "Strong Enough to Be Your Man" is a response to Sheryl Crow's "Strong Enough."
* [[Older Than Steam]]: Sir Walter Raleigh and [[
* Screeching Weasel's song "I Wrote Holden Caulfield" was a response to the [[Green Day]] song "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?"
* Everybody Was in the French Resistance...Now!, led by Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos, do nothing but answer songs. "Billie's Genes", for instance, is a response to [[Michael Jackson|"Billie Jean"]] from the point of view of the bastard son, while "G.I.R.L.F.R.E.N. (You Know I've Got A)" is a response to [[Avril Lavigne]]'s "Girlfriend" from the very frustrated boy Avril was trying to catch the attention of.
* [[Katy Perry]] said that "California Gurls" is her answer to [[Jay
* Bob Luman's 1960 hit "Let's Think About Livin'" was one of these, written as a kind of [[Take That]] to the many [[Teenage Death Songs]] of that era.
* Music/Madness lead singer Suggs has claimed that the band's hit song "Baggy Trousers" (which is about fond memories of school) was a response to "Another Brick In the Wall" by [[Pink Floyd]].
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* In the Nineties, Italian pop group 883 topped the charts for months with their hit [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAidIdAKAYM "Hanno ucciso l'Uomo ragno"] ("Someone killed Spider-Man"). Some time later, obscure comedy band Tretriti recorded their answer, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkRRgYE7q-o "È vivo l'Uomo ragno"] ("Spider-Man Lives").
* Eamon was very successful in 2004 with his ''Fuck It (I Don't Want You Back)'', about a failed relationship. Interestingly, an unknown singer named Frankee answered right away with her ''F.U.R.B. (Fuck U Right Back)'', pretending to be Eamon's past girlfriend (it wasn't true, of course). She had a moderate success with her song but wasn't heard again since then.
** Though [[One
* The Pirates' "I Already Know" (feat. Enya, Shola Ama, Naila Boss & Ishani) is an answer to "I Don't Wanna Know" by Mario Winans feat. Enya and P. Diddy.
* Obscure as it is, Napoleon XIV's novelty song "They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haa" had '''two''' answer songs, "I'm Happy They Took You Away Ha-Haaaa" by Josephine XV and ""They Took You Away, I'm Glad, I'm Glad"" by Teddy & Darrel.
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* REM's "Me in Honey" is a response to 10,000 Maniacs' "Eat for Two."
* "Hot Rod Lincoln" is a response to "Hot Rod Race," and arguably the more well known of the two songs.
* [[Pulp (
* Done within the same band with Sloan: Chris Murphy's song "Ready for You" was answered by Jay Ferguson's b-side "I Thought That I Was Ready For You".
* [[Taylor Swift]] 's "Better Than Revenge" is an answer to [[The Jonas Brothers]] 's "Much Better" which may have been an answer Swift's "Forever and Always".
* [[Timbaland]], [[Justin Timberlake]], and [[Nelly Furtado]]'s song "Give It To Me" was one big answer where each artist attacks another. Furtado:[[Fergie]] Timbaland:Scott Storch Timberlake:[[Prince]]
* Hip-hop group Sporty Thievz sometimes did answer songs to female-sung R & B songs, providing the male point of view - the best known example is "No Pigeons" ([[TLC]]'s "No Scrubs"), but they also did two [[
* [[Bob Dylan]]'s "Clothes Line Saga", a parody of Bobbie Gentry's "Ode To Billie Joe" was originally titled "[[Lampshaded Trope|Answer]] to 'Ode'".
** Also, "Fourth Time Around" is an answer to "[[The Beatles (
* Kitty Wells' "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" is equal parts
* The Roxanne Wars, which spawned possibly the most Answer Songs in history. The U.T.F.O. song "Roxanne, Roxanne", an insult track about a woman who wouldn't accept their advances, was responded to with "Roxanne's Revenge", in which a fourteen-year-old using the stage name Roxanne Shanté, claiming to be the Roxanne in the song, insulted U.T.F.O. The Real Roxanne's track "The Real Roxanne" also appeared, and this started a massive outpouring of songs from other Roxannes, Roxanne's friends, Roxanne's family members, etc.
* In response to [[Jay
* [[Billy Joel]]'s ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eAQa4MOGkE It's Still Rock 'n' Roll To Me]'' was a very deliberate response to the then-emerging [[Punk Rock]] and [[New Wave]] movements. In fact, the same can be said for ''Glass Houses'', the album it came from.
* Shortly after the release of Annie's single "Anthonio", an artist claiming to be Anthonio Mendes, who was really Sebastian Muravchik of the British synthpop group Heartbreak, released an answer song titled "Annie".
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Music Tropes]]
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