# Actual people named in songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 21, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289 "2011-06-21T14:34:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/1 "2011-06-21T14:34:18Z")
What songs contain the names of actual people . . . not merely a first name, even if we know who the person is. The one I’m thinking of is Simon & Garfunkel’s \*A Simple Desultory Philippic, \*which mentions: Norman Mailer Maxwell Taylor John O’Hara Robert McNamara Ayn Rand Phil Spector Lou Adler Barry Sadler Lenny Bruce Dylan Thomas Mick Jagger Andy Warhol Roy Hale Art Garfunkel ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/2 "2011-06-21T14:35:27Z")
Leonard Bernstein! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/3 "2011-06-21T14:39:46Z")
Marilyn Monroe in We Didn’t Start The Fire By Billy Jor-El. Brendan Behan is mentioned in Streams Of Whiskey by The Pogues. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/4 "2011-06-21T14:40:11Z")
Simon & Garfunkel are amateurs compared to Billy Joel. [We Didn’t Start the Fire](http://www.lyrics007.com/Billy%20Joel%20Lyrics/We%20Didn't%20Start%20The%20Fire%20Lyrics.html). To list all the people in that song would be a violation of the SDMB rules aabout quoting lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/5 "2011-06-21T14:42:44Z")
[Pablo Picasso](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl8sWnUZVL4). ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/6 "2011-06-21T14:43:46Z")
Joe DiMaggio ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/7 "2011-06-21T14:50:28Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Leonard Bernstein! I meant to come back and add that in _It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)_, R.E.M. also name checks Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce, and Lester Bangs. > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Simon & Garfunkel are amateurs compared to Billy Joel. At writing long lists of stuff, anyway. Not so much at songwriting. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/8 "2011-06-21T14:51:37Z")
Excuse me? Joel got the long lists to _rhyme_ and match the music. You try it with historical people and events since the song was written. ---
**Author:** ![JoseArcadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@JoseArcadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseArcadio)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/9 "2011-06-21T14:52:36Z")
Gertrude Stein in [Roseability](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sq9ja554eLg) by Idlewild ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/10 "2011-06-21T14:54:46Z")
Jean-Paul Belmondo, Mary Quant, and [Allen] Ginsberg in Donovan’s [“Sunny South Kensington.”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oqd8Ozsjvpg) . ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/11 "2011-06-21T14:58:19Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Excuse me? Joel got the long lists to _rhyme_ and match the music. You try it with historical people and events since the song was written. I think Paul Simon is a better songwriter than Billy Joel, and I’m not impressed by the fact that _We Didn’t Start the Fire_ rhymes. That being said, I’d rather we stick to the OP asked for and not turn this into an argument. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/12 "2011-06-21T14:59:13Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/13 "2011-06-21T15:00:48Z")
Does last name only count? \*“Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, We’re finally on our own. This summer I hear the drumming Four dead in Ohio.” _–Neil Young_ \*Note: I do not need Neil Young around, anyhow, and I won’t forgive him for “Southern Man” even if Ronnie and the boys did…but his song might qualify for this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/14 "2011-06-21T15:05:42Z")
Jill Sobule’s song Heroes has a lot of name check: William Faulker Dorothy Parker Paul McCartney (…jealous of John, even more so now that he’s gone) Dylan Donovan Pablo Picasso Orson Welles Babe Ruth Lewis Carroll (…I’m sure did Alice) Plato TS Elliot FDR Raymond Chandler Tennessee Williams Really, she might be the best folky style songwriter around right now. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/15 "2011-06-21T15:06:15Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Leonard Bernstein! Also, Lenny Bruce (again), Leonid Breznev, and Lester Bangs. Give Peace a Chance mentions Timothy Leary, Tommy Smothers, Tommy Cooper, Bob Dylan, Derek Taylor, Norman Mailer, and Allan Ginsberg. (Also John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Rosemary Leary, but they’re all first name only.) ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/16 "2011-06-21T15:19:30Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > What songs contain the names of actual people . . . not merely a first name, even if we know who the person is. The one I’m thinking of is Simon & Garfunkel’s \*A Simple Desultory Philippic, \*which mentions: > > Norman Mailer > Maxwell Taylor > John O’Hara > Robert McNamara > Ayn Rand > Phil Spector > Lou Adler > Barry Sadler > Lenny Bruce > Dylan Thomas > Mick Jagger > Andy Warhol > Roy Hale > Art Garfunkel Don’t forget the earlier version of the song (realeased on the Paul Simon Songbook in '65.) which also included: Lyndon Johnson (At least in the spoken subtitle) Jack Kerouac (last name only) John Birch Walt Disney Diz Disley John Lennon Krishna Menon Walter Brennan Cassius Clay James Joyce Tom Wilson and Barry Kornfeld, (Wislon Produced Sounds of Silence, and Kornfeld played gituar on Wednesday Morning 3 AM.) You can hear this version [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIFbXK0qQ4g). ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/17 "2011-06-21T15:49:17Z")
Bette Davis Eyes. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/18 "2011-06-21T15:52:02Z")
James Dean – the Eagles Steve McQueen – Sheryl Crow ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/19 "2011-06-21T15:53:40Z")
Mojo Nixon’s Elvis is Ecerywhere. Also mentions that anti-Elvis Michael J Fox ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/20 "2011-06-21T15:55:38Z")
Before it was a boat, Edmund Fitzgerald was a person. [QUOTE=Wikipedia] Northwestern named the boat after President and Chairman of the Board, Edmund Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald’s grandfather had been a lake captain and his father owned the Milwaukee Drydock Company that built and repaired ships. [/QUOTE] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289.md?page=2)