The fine line between reference & rip-off

So here's a story:

1. I am a big Metal Gear (video game) series fanboy

2. I have recently finished writing a novel inspired by the series i.e. a cyberpunk spy thriller about cyborgs and child soldiers

3. Metal Gear Solid 4 & Ground Zeroes features a song called "Here's to You" composed by Ennio Morricone and sung by Joan Baez. The song is a tribute for two Italian-American immigrants who were wrongfully accused of terrorism and executed.

4. The villain of Ground Zeroes refers to the fact that the song tells people that our society is one that murders the innocent and asks the hero whether he believes his sacrifice will change anything

5. I really love the song and the lyrics which go something like this:

Here's to you, Nicola and Bart

Rest forever here in our hearts

The last and final moment is yours

That agony is your triumph

6. At the end of my Novel, the villain is bragging to one of her many associates about how she fooled the protagonists into killing a rival and ended up working for the villain. So the villain raises a mock toast to them and utters the above lyrics but with one change:

"Your agony is my triumph" since the protags go through what could be considered multiple levels of hell only to end up working for the bad guy. In addition, any sacrifices made are made irrelevant or just make things worse.

Now that I've mentioned the above, is it okay to make a reference to the above song or will people roll their eyes if they make a connection? By itself, without knowledge of Metal Gear's existence, is it too cheesy? I'm going for fairly serious, not comedic-villainy. Nicola and Bart will be replaced with the protagonists names, at that stage, is it even a reference or should I have the villain say, "Reminds me of an old song..."

edited 31st Mar '15 7:01:37 AM by SmokingBun

Just for reference, we have a general thread about this kind of thing. Oh, two, apparently.

In your case, if your story itself is very similar to Metal Gear Solid 4 & Ground Zeroes then that paraphrase is probably pushing it. Otherwise, maybe putting it in a serious scene might make it less clear it's meant to be a reference? People usually get that joking references aren't meant to be passing off someone else's work as your own, but for a serious scene I'm not so sure. Well, that's my vague, gut feeling, anyway.