Historic performance includes a couple of songs (5,6)
I believe the answer is:
track record
'historic performance' is the definition.
'track record' can be an answer for 'performance' (I have seen 'Previous performance' mean 'track record' so perhaps 'performance' could also mean 'track record'). I am unsure of the 'historic' bit.
'a couple of songs' is the wordplay.
'a couple of songs' means two substitutions for 'song'.
'song' becomes 'track' (I've seen this before).
'song' becomes 'record' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'track'+'record'='TRACK RECORD'
'includes' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for track record that I've seen before include "Sum of recognised accomplishments" , "Background" , "Previous achievements" , "List of past achievements and failures" , "History" .)