List of musical medleys

Look up medley in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

In music, a medley is a piece composed from parts of existing pieces, usually three, played one after another, sometimes overlapping. They are common in popular music, and most medleys are songs rather than instrumental. A medley which is a remixed series is called a megamix, often done with tracks for a single artist, or for popular songs from a given year or genre.

Examples of medleys

Medleys that have reached the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart include:

• "Devil with a Blue Dress On"/"Good Golly Miss Molly" by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels. (1966) No. 4
• "Goin' Out of My Head" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" by The Lettermen. (1968) No. 7
• "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In", a medley of two songs from the musical Hair by the Fifth Dimension. (1969) No. 1
• "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" by Paul and Linda McCartney. (1971) No. 1
• "Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band" by Meco. (1977) No. 1
• "Working My Way Back to You/Forgive Me, Girl" by the Spinners. (1980) No. 2
• "Cupid/I've Loved You For a Long Time" by the Spinners. (1980) No. 4
• "Stars on 45 Medley" by Stars on 45. (Several other medleys by Stars on 45 were also released.) (1981) No. 1
• "Hooked on Classics" by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. (1981) No. 10
• "The Beach Boys Medley" by The Beach Boys. (1981) No. 12
• "The Beatles Movie Medley" by The Beatles. (1982) No. 12
• "Baby, I Love Your Way/Freebird Medley (Free Baby)" by Will to Power. (1988) #1^[1]
• "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)/I Want You" by Robert Palmer. (1991) No. 16

Medleys that have reached the UK Top 40 singles chart include:

• "Beach Boys Gold" by Adrian Baker. (1981) No. 11
• "Seasons of Gold" by Gidea Park. (1981) No. 28
• "The Official BBC Children in Need Medley" by Peter Kay's Animated All Star Band. (2009) No. 1

Other medleys

• The Grateful Dead played many covers as well as their own songs as medleys, most notably in the live setting. Examples include a medley of their covers of Not Fade Away and Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad and a medley of their original China Cat Sunflower with a cover of I Know You Rider. Some of their original songs were written as or consistently performed as medleys, such as Help on the Way > Slipknot > Franklin's Tower and Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One. In addition, the band would perform songs as medleys in a live setting by creating a segue between songs that were not originally recorded as such, with examples being Playin' In The Band > Uncle John's Band as well as Eyes of the World > Estimated Prophet among many others. (The > symbol denotes a musical segue from one song to the next)
• Victoria Justice and Max Schneider has also made two medleys, first off is a medley of Maroon 5's catchy hits, mashing up the lyrics of Moves Like Jagger, Makes Me Wonder, Payphone (song), She Will Be Loved, Sunday Morning (Maroon 5 song), Won't Go Home Without You, Misery (Maroon 5 song), and This Love (Maroon 5 song). The second is a Bruno Mars medley mixing the songs: Just the Way You Are (Bruno Mars song), It Will Rain, Marry You, Grenade (song), Nothin' on You, Lighters (song), The Lazy Song, and Young, Wild & Free.
• Bruce Springsteen has made a number of medleys, most notably Detroit Medley and Twist and Shout, Do You Love Me.
• "GWAR" has recently released a medley on their newest album Bloody pit of horror. It is the last song on the album entitled Hell-O Medley which is their entire first album into one
• "Kumikyoku Nico Nico Douga" by Shimo (2007)
• "Acoustic Medley" by Bob Marley
• "Don't Pull Your Love/Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye" by Glen Campbell (1976)
• "Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World" medley (1993) released by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole
• "Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon" (1970) from Chicago's double album Chicago II
• "The Abbey Road Medley" (1969) by The Beatles; the climactic medley which last for ten minutes and three seconds (beginning with "You Never Give Me Your Money" and concluding with "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window") that takes up a majority of side two of the original LP.
• "The Golden Slumbers Medley" (1969); this medley which comes after the 10-minute long "Abbey Road medley". It begins with "Golden Slumbers" and concludes with "The End". (the ending track of the album; despite the reason that "Her Majesty" is the last track to be played on the album)
• "Beatles Medley" by Tommy Emmanuel
• "My Generation" by The Who from their album Live at Leeds (1970)
• Disco Gold (1978) album by Biddu
• Death Mix (1983) album by Afrika Bambaataa
• "Ageless Medley (EP)" (1983) by Amy Grant.
• "Antakshari" (1989) by Lata Mangeshkar and S. P. Balasubrahmanyam for the film Maine Pyar Kiya, based on the Antakshari game.
• "The Grease Megamix" (1991) by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John.
• "Purple Medley" (1995) by Prince.
• "Never Too Far/Hero Medley" (2001) by Mariah Carey.
• "Medley" (2003) by Five Iron Frenzy from their live album The End Is Here.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic has had a polka medley on most of his albums. Most often, Yankovic's polka medleys feature snippets of hit songs that are popular at the time he records an album, though he sometimes chooses songs of a similar genre (and in one case, different songs recorded by a single group) for a themed medley.
  • "Polkas on 45" (1984) from his album In 3-D.
  • "Hooked on Polkas" (1985) from his album Dare to be Stupid.
  • "Polka Party!" (1986) from his album Polka Party!.
  • "The Hot Rocks Polka" (1989), a medley of The Rolling Stones songs, from his album UHF.
  • "Polka Your Eyes Out" (1992) from his album Off the Deep End.
  • "The Alternative Polka" (1996) from his album Bad Hair Day.
  • "Polka Power" (1999) from his album Running With Scissors.
  • "Angry White Boy Polka" (2003) from his album Poodle Hat.
  • "Polkarama!" (2006) from his album Straight Outta Lynwood.
  • "Polka Face" (2011) from his album Alpocalypse.
• "The Queen Is Dead" by The Smiths.
• "Instrumedley" (2002) by Dream Theater from their live album Live at Budokan. Dream Theater frequently performs medleys of other bands live. In various medleys, Dream Theater has covered works by Pink Floyd, Yes, Genesis, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Journey, Elton John, Queen, Kansas, and Dixie Dregs, occasionally using some of their own work to smooth the transition between bands.
• "Imma Be Rocking That Body" is a music video by The Black Eyed Peas, featuring two of their singles "Imma Be" and "Rock That Body".
• Green Day wrote two medleys on their acclaimed American Idiot (2004) album – "Jesus of Suburbia" and "Homecoming". The former was released as a single and was considered one of their best works ever.
• Metallica did a medley of Mercyful Fate songs on their album Garage Inc.
• Metallica did a medley of "A National Acrobat" and "Sabbra Cadabra" of Black Sabbath on their 1998 covers album Garage Inc.
• Metallica did a medley of "Orion", "To Live Is to Die", and "The Call of Ktulu" (all composed primarily by late bassist Cliff Burton) at 1993 concerts. These were all songs that were rarely or never played live.
• Metallica did a medley of songs from the 1988 album ...And Justice for All while on tour from 1991 to 1993. The medley was called the Justice Medley and included parts of Eye of the Beholder, Blackened, The Frayed Ends of Sanity and ...And Justice for All.
• Metallica performed a medley of Ride The Lightning, No Remorse, Hit The Lights, The Four Horsemen, Seek And Destroy and Fight Fire With Fire. This was called the Kill/Ride medley and can be seen on the Cunning Stunts (video) DVD.
• Black Sabbath performed a medley on their album Past Lives, consisting of "Wicked World", "Supernaut", "Sometimes I'm Happy", and "Into the Void", along with a guitar and drum solo.
• Black Sabbath performed a medley of "Heaven and Hell", "Sign of the Southern Cross" and "Paranoid" live during the recording of the Live Evil album, featuring guitar solo and additional lyrics.
• Bon Jovi will also do a lot of medleys during live concerts usually "Bad Medicine" and a cover song "Shout" or "Pretty Woman." They also will play "I'll Sleep When I"m Dead" with "Jumping Jack Flash" or "Papa was a Rolling Stone."
• Meat Loaf has performed many medleys live during his career. Most notable is during his tours from 1987 to 1992 he'd do a "Rock & Roll Medley" as a finale which would include "Johnny B. Goode", "Jail House Rock", "Slow Down", "Blue Suede Shoes", "Roll Over Beethoven", and "Around And Around". A version of this medley was released on Live at Wembley album, which omits "Roll Over BEethoven" and "Around And Around". During his 2011 Guilty Pleasures Tour he did medleys of "Hot Patootie" / "The Time Warp" and "Boneyard"/ "Freebird"/ "All Revved Up With No Place To Go". Meat Loaf's also done Medleys of his hits on shows such as Wetten, dass..? and at the 2011 AFL Grand Final. In 1994 it wasn't uncommon for Meat Loaf to end his shows with a medley of just "Johnny B. Goode" and "Roll Over Beethoven". During his 2008 tour, a common finale to Meat Loaf's set consisted of a medley which included "Roadhouse Blues" / "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?".
• Rage & Prague Symphonic Orchestra – Medley – Don`t Fear the Winter (instrumental), Black in Mind, Firestorm (instrumental), Send by the Devil, Lost in the Ice (instrumental)
• Die Ärzte often do medleys on their concerts. One medley was also released as a single.
• UK pianist Colin Keyes performed his 'TV Themes Medley' on his first album 'The Magic of Piano', consisting of arranged versions of the themes from Cheers, L.A. Law and Cagney & Lacey.
• Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Tarkus Medley
• The Who at Super Bowl xlii
• Goodbye, My Coney Island Baby-1948 by Les Applegate. The short songs "Coney Island Baby" and "We All Fall" were first combined as a medley by Les Applegate in 1924 for the musical comedy "No, No, Nanette".
• Children of Bodom did a medley of Bodom after Midnight and Bodom Beach Terror on their live album Stockholm Knockout Live.
• Paula Abdul's "1990 Medley Mix" (a medley of her first 6 singles) was popular in 1990 from her "Shut Up and Dance – The Mixes" album. It was also used in a TV commercial by L.A. Gear.
• "Thank ABBA for the Music" – a 1999 British charity single produced by Pete Waterman. It featured 4 ABBA songs covered by Tina Cousins, Billie Piper, Steps, and girl-groups Cleopatra and B*Witched.
• Beyoncé did a Destiny's Child medley covering most of Destiny's Child popular songs during her worldwide tour The Beyoncé Experience in 2007.
• George Michael performed a medley of "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" and "Killer" in 1992.
• Guns N' Roses did a medley of their own song "Patience" and John Lennon's "Imagine" in 1993. It was unplugged version.
• "Brain Stew/Jaded", a medley of two songs from the album Insomniac by Green Day. "Are We the Waiting" and "St. Jimmy" from the American Idiot album can also be considered a medley.
• Sabaton (band) made a medley of their two tracks: Metal Machine and Metal Crüe. It's only played during live gigs.
• Foo Fighters does some medleys live, featuring songs like "Head Like a Hole" by Nine Inch Nails, "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback, "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin, along with other from bands like Soundgarden, The White Stripes and Blur.
• FOX TV Series Glee has done a medley from Journey, singing "Faithfully", a mash-up of "Any Way You Want It" and "Lovin' Touchin' Squeezin'", and "Don't Stop Believing".
• Kanye West did a medley, containing his whole record named "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Memory", which was listed into the "most epic music videos of all time".
• Michael Jackson did, in all his world tours, a medley of the highest hits of the Jackson 5, with the songs: "I Want You Back", "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There"
• At the WWE pay-per-view event WrestleMania XXV, Kid Rock performed a live medley of his songs "Bawitdaba", "So Hott", "All Summer Long", "Rock N Roll Jesus", and "Cowboy".
• David Bowie – Sweet Thing – Candidate – Sweet Thing (reprise)
• Paul Williams – Give A Little Love is a sort of medley/reprise of Bad Guys (changed to Good Guys) and Give A Little Love
• Anniversary Waltz (1989) by Status Quo
• Lady Gaga performed a medley of Heavy Metal Lover, Marry The Night and Born This Way at the New Year's Eve festival of 2011.
• Justin Timberlake Featuring T.I. performing Medley: Let Me Talk To You/My Love. (C) 2006 Zomba Recording, LLC
• Whenever Heartbreaker by Led Zeppelin plays on the radio, it's usually part of a medley with Living Loving Maid (She's Just a Woman).
• Toto did two medleys in 2003. tour, first one consits of: Girl Goodbye, Goodbye Elenore, Child's Anthem and I'll Supply The Love. Second one includes: Waiting For Your Love, Georgy Porgy, Lion, Hydra, English Eyes and Till The End
• Linkin Park - Ballad Medley is a medley of Shadow of the Day, Leave Out All The Rest and Iridescent (song) and is played at live performances (never been recorded in a stuido)

See also

• Wiktionary:medley
• Segue, a term for the transition between songs
• DJ mix
• Mashup (music)
• Potpourri (music)
• List of Genesis medleys
• Judson Laipply, dance medley
• Instrumentals

References