18 Songs That Sample Other Songs 

The whiplash of going from NWA and Public Enemy to Ed Sheeran and the Powerpuff Girls is hilarious!

That Fatboy Slim JBL Sessions sample is absolutely killer, what an insane and unique session recording and sample.

the amen break was sampled so much it created its own genre EDIT: apparently i was wrong. it created SEVERAL genres.

the entirety of Ghosts I-IV by NIN is part of a Creative Commons licence to be used by other artists so it's always nice to see an artist make a big song with one of those tracks

To be fair, the entirety of Ghosts I-IV was released under a Creative Commons open license with the express intent to allow its use in other works. So Lil Nas X sampling from it is about as fair game as you can get. Heck, even Trent Reznor himself reused parts of Ghosts to create the Academy Award-winning soundtrack for The Social Network.

One of the most impressive feats of sampling I know of is “Face to Face” by Daft Punk and Todd Edwards. God knows how many songs were incorporated into it; I’ve seen a breakdown that showed 19 different samples, but there could be more. Great song, too.

Chas n Dave's careers were just extraordinary. Played as touring backing bands and studio musicians for some of the biggest names in rock n roll before taking the pub rock and Tottenham Hotspur cup final songs path. I loved and deeply miss them.

I'm french and the way you said "Parce que tu crois" is hilarious🤣

Another well-known artist that used sampling is MIA, who used the intro of Straight to Hell by The Clash for the main part of her song Paper Planes

One song that always slips under the radar is Steal My Sunshine by Len, the whole song is based on a small snippet of More More More by Andrea True Connection, 2.20 into the song if anyone's interested.

'I Got The' Labi Siffre song is an awsome musical journey with lots of different parts. Recomended for a listen (the Chaz and Dave connection just makes it better)

I agree with the idea. Chucking samples of older songs into new ones isn't necessarily a lack of creativity, but finding a new way to use an existing thing: Innovation. And I always love hearing an older song for the first time and going, "Oh my god, that's from such and such a song!" Or, in reverse, finding out that a song has a sample in it and then seeking out said old song. It's no different to rehashing old songs into new media (such as movies or video games), there's no reason to deny people of the past, just because they weren't there at the time

I tend to believe that the difference between good sampling and bad sampling is how lazy they were with it. For the good stuff, either new elements are grafted on top, like a lot of the hip-hop and rap songs, or it's 'chopp'd and screwed' like the Fatboy Slim example, samples tweaked to the point where they are unique in of themselves. And we wouldn't have mashups without it. Lazy sampling changes basically nothing. But it's really rare.

I also realise "Breathe" by Sean Paul featuring Blu Cantrell also sampled "What's the Difference" by Dr. Dre as well as sampling Charles Aznavour's 1966 song "Parce Que Tu Crois".

Face to Face by Daft Punk is like a masterclass in sampling

Whoa, that *Amen, Brother* drum beat is so famous that I used to play it back in middle school as a warmup with my classmates

The drums from When the Levee Breaks has also been sampled a lot

I love that breakdown of Praise You by Fatboy Slim. I admire the skill and work it takes to make a quality song out of mainly samples.

The Fugees' Ready or Not (a huge hit from 1998) uses a sped-down sample from Enya's Boadicea (a song with hummed vocals). I was very much surprised when I found that out.

Didn't expect to go from Public Enemy to Powerpuff Girls!

Chas & Dave weren’t only the session musicians on Siffre’s album, they also came up with the sampled riff.

Fittingly enough, the fact that a song featuring Chas & Dave being sampled by Eminem has thrown me through an absolute loop.

Hands down the best samplers of our time is Daft Punk. They made songs that sounded nothing like the original from only sampling a single song. Their song Face to Face has 19 different samples from several different artists and songs, almost all of them only 1 second or less, arranged in a way that I can only describe as the funky predecessor to dubstep (I'm pretty certain Skrillex got a large amount of inspiration from Daft Punk).

The fact that Futurama sampled the same beat as NWA's Straight Outta Compton blows my mind. Also the 90's hit Playas Club by Rappin 4Tay used a sample of Judy Clay and William Bell's 1968 hit "Private Number". Also a group called Nightmares on Wax sampled this song for You Wish. There are others that sampled Private Number.

Over the years I have created a "Salute the Sample" Playlist. It is full of all the original recordings that were sampled to create a new form or expression. This help add a couple of new tracks to the playlist. It's very eclectic but it somehow works as something to put on and listen to. Here's about 1/3 of the list. Amen Brother The Winstons I Keep Forgettin' (Every Time You're Near) Michael McDonald Woman To Woman Joe Cocker Ready or Not Here I Come (Can't Hide from Love) The Delfonics Sho' Nuff Sly, Slick & Wicked Apache Incredible Bongo Band I've Got a Woman Ray Charles I Got The... (2006 Remaster) Labi Siffre Upside Down Diana Ross Grandma's Hands Bill Withers Footsteps in the Dark, Pts. 1 & 2 The Isley Brothers The Edge David McCallum Music: A Bit More Of Me Lowdown Boz Scaggs I'm Coming Out Diana Ross Take Yo' Praise Camille Yarbrough Between the Sheets The Isley Brothers Got To Give It Up Marvin Gaye Think (About It) Lyn Collins Parce que tu crois Charles Aznavour Funky Drummer James Brown

Haha, I never realized Futurama used the Amen Break too. Finding that Praise You piano sample was probably some incredible coincidence, but any musician who had heard it would've said "I gotta make a song out of that".

DJ Shadow’s album “Endtroducing” was the first album created entirely out of samples. He spent MONTHS scouring record shops and what not collecting a massive number of records, then pulled out what he wanted, plus some samples from a few films as well. I think Fat Boy Slim did something similar.

Amen Break and Funky Drummer was basically the main part of the soundtrack to my entire time in the Rave scene as a jungle dj. lol

Shout out to The Avalanches!

The drum groove of “Stupid Girl” by Garbage is sampled from the drum groove of The Clash song, “Train In Vain”

One of my favorite songs "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye also samples another song, "Seville" by Luiz Bonfá!

0:30 I immediately knew what song used that sample when I heard the first bars. I never would've known the song used samples without hearing that.

Man this video made me re-evaluate my opinions on some of the pop songs I hear “ripping off” older songs. Would love to see a few of Dua Lipa’s songs in some of your future comparison videos, since I feel like every second song she puts out sounds like something else I’ve heard before.

David McCallum - The edge which the same album you mentioned chronic 2001 uses his sample on the song the next episode by Dr. Dre. He's infamous for going the crates of old songs and turning them into hip hop hits because no one can tell.

I still think Portishead is the best: writing and recording lounge music and having it pressed to vinyl so they could sample/scratch it into their music, even scratching their own name into one track 🤣

Chas & Dave on an Eminem song. That's one for a pub quiz!

sampling can also be found in dance/electronic music (mainly the underground/indie dance scene from the UK during the late 80s to 90s) Art Of Noise, RSW & Bomb The Bass, The KLF, The Orb, Orbital, 808 State, FSOL, & few other techno artist/groups that incorporates sampling techniques are pretty good examples. they have some good & familiar or interesting samples in their tunes

Great breakdown. There's just one point of contention, and that's that the recording artist usually isnt the producer that made/mixed/sampled the beats.

Stings 'Shape of my heart' is deff worth an honourable mention. Juice worlds - Lucid Dreams would not be half the song without the guitar sample

Notorious B.I.G.'s sample of Herb Alpert's "Rise" is masterful. The original song has a killer bassline and really cool effects on guitar, and Biggy Smalls had a blast with them :)

The list of samples that have been lifted from Lavi Siffre's "I Got The..." would fill a video on their own. I think he's credited on at least 30 songs.

Alright, the Futurama clip got me. Kudos sir

The outro music is so beautiful! Very good job composing it, David!

Some of these facts are just mind blowing, good job 👏🏻

I love the fact you revealed about the origin of Break Beat. I didn't realise the whole genre was based on those drum breaks. So cool

Bravo, Bravo! What an amazing video! Thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing and kept wanting for more after it ended.

Love the editing in the funky drummer segment👍

I love finding out tracks I've loved for decades are samples. I also love it when a new track comes out and samples something i grew up with.

I think Moby’s album Play is pretty cool when it comes to use of samplings.

Another super popular drum break is Ashley's Roachclip by The Soul Searchers. It was especially popular in the late 80s and early 90s.

Great Materials and great Video !!!!

3:30 Fun Fact, Dre's sample of Aznavour was sampled by Koxie, a French singer in her song "garçon" De rien et au revoir!

I like that u put in the cartoon intro songs as well

Sampling, as you said, if done cleverly, is not just, but another way of composing. Transferring old sound contents into a new context, and many times new background sounds, lift these good old classics into a new living. This also transfers and credits a lot of old music. Time passes by, and cultures change. Life is movement, duration is death.

*RESPECTFULLY PRODUCED* sampling just reads as the music version of fanart, it's quite a cute thing to do if you think about it that way

As soon as you played the Amen Break, I head Prodigy's "Mindfields" crazy to think it can be found in so many places.

That Parce Que Tu Crois sample also reminds me of the orchestral backing of Indila's Derniere Danse, which also made it to popular radio around the world a decade ago or so, but never picked up on it in What's The Difference.

I have an assignment due tomorrow on this topic. Thank god for David

The chas and dave fact blew my mind

This was so good! I am learning a lot here!

I just looked at your subscribers count, damn, congratulations, well deserved man

Can't believe I missed the Fat Albert callback! Thanks for all of this.

Of everything I’ve heard on this video, your closing music remains the most moving, David.

It's amazing. I've never heard 34 Ghost IV before and immediately had to think NIN.

Amazing video! Great work!

Your videos are always amazing David! Thanks 🤗

The amount of James Brown sampling is astronomical. In an interview he said he would tell his grandkids to listen to hip hop songs for his music in it. If they found one, he'd see if he got paid. If he wasn't, he'd sue and get paid. He said he made a lot of money doing that.

My favorite sample whenever i hear is Herb Alpert - Rise (1979) which has a sound that has been sampled by Biggie in Hypnotize and also other artists through the years.

Some great samples here, I hope you do a speacial vid on samplers who make an entire song from samples...The Avalanches are an awesome example of this.

Two samples that are often heard but rarely mentioned are 'UFO' by ESG and 'Close (To The Edge)' by The Art Of Noise. Weirdly enough both were cuts from fun improvised sessions, the former being a random jam the group made when they had a couple of minutes left of studio time and the latter from when one of the members was asked to make random shouts into a mic for sampling in later tracks (found more prevalent in their song 'Beatbox').

I'd love to see more videos delving into the topic of sampling, because its such a broad and in my opinion important topic to cover, especially if one was to look into the Beastie Boys album Paul's Boutique.

08:57. And this is why Norman Cook is a certified musical genius. Also, to come from the pop group “The House Martins” and then morph into “Beats International” and then to be a world renowned Dance Music artist and incredible DJ..Incredible.

The 1996 song “6 Underground” by The Sneaker Pimps samples the horns and harp from John Barry’s “Golden Girl” from the soundtrack to the James Bond movie Goldfinger.

I was listening to Poe, and I was reminded of how hers song Wild includes a sample from her song Hello. That made me wonder what other cases there are of this "self sampling". I can't think of any offhand, but I can think some examples of songs that reference another song by the same musician or band in other ways. Like how the movie version of Pink Floyd's Another Brick In The Wall references the lyrics of Money.

Love this. My fave example will always be the roger Sanches and toto one. Never knew it was a cover and introduced me to the original which is now one of my favourite songs of all time.

¡Thank you for introducing me to Labi Siffre! I love your dives into different music not just for your content itself but also for the new songs I discover. And just for the record, I've heard the entire JBL album, but it was years ago and I don't remember much about it.

What Fatboy Slim did was to genuinely create new music from obscure samples. Puff Daddy's Police sample is a guy singing while his stereo plays a song.

Interesting material as usual David! I really liked the outro tune you used. Is it your creation?

Hip-hop is filled with so many great samples. One of my favorite ones has to be a sample from Bernard Wright - Spinnin'. Skee-Lo took a sample from it for his track I Wish. Btw, Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim is an absolute genius with all the samples he has used to create his records.

Your conclusion was perfect. Bravo!

My all-time favorite sampling must be Pizzicato Five with A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular. They also borrow not from a song, but from an old demo recording, and it adds a lot to that retro-futurism vibe.

Loved this one David! The 'sampling is cheating' argument is so lazy, sampling can unlock so much inspiration. I like to find a good sample and then layer my own instruments on top of it, using it as the 'foundation' - it's lots of fun, highly recommend

cheers David

Love these videos great work. The only problem I have with samples is that some "artist" try claim them as there own. As u said not so much these days but 20 odd plus years ago I think people were using samples and hoping people never found out

The Parce Que Tu Crois was also (and in my mind it’s the first song that springs up) sampled on Blu Cantrell hit Breathe lol also on the pint of Amen brother REALLY NOT SURE but I’m getting two songs to mind, right here right now by the Fatboy slim (Norman Cook) but also weirdly Brimful of Asha by Corner Shop but maybe it was the Norman cook remix I dunno… just popped into my head. Very interesting video though.

Really liking this series-might be cool to also dig into the adjacent topic of collage music and/or musique concrete, plenty of examples with artists like The Beatles and Pink Floyd for example, and also gotta shout out The Books as one of the best to do it

Dr. Dre famously didn’t use samples for most of 2001. He found the sections he wanted to sample, then had live musicians play it. That’s why it sounds so clean.

There are so many you could do a part 2... I think Groovejet certainly deserves a mention

Sample from Charles Aznavour is also in Blu Cantrell - Breathe

The whole concept of sampling is so cool to me.

Great video, David. How are you not at 1M subs yet?

great content! love to see it.

I’m surprised that the opening drums 🥁 on the Hendrix song “Little Miss Lover’ hasn’t been ’sampled’ because it’s a SICK BEAT !!

How many people have built songs on the backing track of "Genius of Love" by the Tom Tom Club?

funnily enough that Moby just reversed the song Fight for Survival by Ernest Gold, for Porcelain and created an iconic smash hit. Another good example for many samples in one song is Rob Dougan - Clubbed to death. A German RU-vidr called Marti Fischer did a brief reconstruction of this song.

I was hoping you'd thrownin the Powerpuff girls for the funky drum beat and then you actually showed it. I love this video❤

I was expecting/hoping the Amen Break would be mentioned. I saw a video about it years ago and it explained just how many songs use it.

Every time I watch your videos, I just know I'm gonna find some cool new music!

Thanks for some new song added to my playlists 😊

From a musician's pov, wouldn't you prefer if instead of sampling a funky drum loop, they actually hired a human drummer to recreate it?