"Sly" or hidden music references

[Don R Brown]

Last night my wife and I were watching "Pinkertons", a show set in the wild west. The detectives were told the bad guy had been turned over to a U.S. Marshall. When introductions were made, they were told "And this is Marshall Tucker". The script writer must have had a chuckle wondering how many people would "get it".

It made me wonder if there are other movie or TV episodes which include a veiled reference to musicians or songs which would not be obvious to everyone. (No particular point to this, just curious)

[Ken Pippus]

In Blazing Saddles, the behemoth bad guy was named Mongo. People thought this was a politically incorrect reference to Down syndrome, when in fact it was a setup for someone to exclaim “Mongo! Santa Maria!” In reference to the Latin percussionist.

[Joachim Kettner]

The Youngbloods in Hippie From Olema: we still strangers if their Haggard.

[Jack Hanson]

Not dialog or lyrics (and hardly "sly"), but what immediately came to mind is the little snippet of Day Tripper that E.C. sneaks into What'd I Say on the Bluesbreakers album at about the 3:32 mark, following the tedious drum solo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKN-xWSNpl0

[Mike Auman]

Not dialog or lyrics (and hardly "sly"), but what immediately came to mind is the little snippet of Day Tripper that E.C. sneaks into What'd I Say on the Bluesbreakers album...

Speaking of Clapton, his guitar solo on "Sunshine of Your Love" with Cream opens with the melody from "Blue Moon." https://youtu.be/f3y8jf01UY8?t=120