# 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:** 2
**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, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/21 "2011-06-21T16:32:22Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Steve McQueen – Sheryl Crow Rolling Stones: “Ali McGraw got mad at you for giving head to Steve McQueen” (“Star Star”). Leonard Cohen: “You were Marlon Brando, I was Steve McQueen” (“Is This What You Wanted”). Eric Burdon & the Animals’ “Monterey” mentions Jimi Hendrix, Ravi Shankar, and Hugh Masakela. (I’d deem the last-name-only reference to Brian Jones too vague to qualify.) ---
**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, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/22 "2011-06-21T16:44:39Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Mojo Nixon’s Elvis is Ecerywhere. Also mentions that anti-Elvis Michael J Fox And Joan Rivers (who has Elvis in her, but he’s tryin’ to get out, man! He’s tryin’ to get out!) ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/23 "2011-06-21T16:51:21Z")
Dylan’s songs are full of people In Desolation Row Ezra Pound TS Eliot Einstein Casnova I Shall Be Free Willy Mays Martin Luther King And President Kennedy calling me up, with advice to get Brigitte Bardot, Sophia Loren and Anita Ekberg to make the country grow. Plus, making love to Elizabeth Taylor and catching hell from Richard Burton. Poor old William Zanzinger and Hattie Carroll. Then there are songs about Catfish Hunter, Ruben Hurricane Carter, Joey Gallo, Lenny Bruce. Recently, name checks include Alicia Keyes and Erica Jong - and Darwin. Anthony Perkins in Motopsycho Nightmare. And plenty more. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/24 "2011-06-21T16:55:03Z")
Greta Garbo and Monroe Deitrich and DiMaggio Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean On the cover of a magazine Grace Kelly, Harlow, Jean Picture of a beauty queen Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers, dance on air They had style, they had grace Rita Hayworth gave good face Lauren, Katherine, Lana too Bette Davis, we love you -Vogue. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/25 "2011-06-21T16:56:17Z")
I heard the Jimi Hendrix song “Fire” yesterday and realized that he mentions himself several times. > [@](#): > > Oh! Move over, Rover > and let Jimi take over ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/26 "2011-06-21T17:01:07Z")
Done Too Soon by Neil Diamond. Jesus Christ and Fannie Brice, Wolfie Mozart and Humphrey Bogart, etc. [Full lyrics here](http://www.elyrics.net/read/n/neil-diamond-lyrics/done-too-soon-lyrics.html). ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/27 "2011-06-21T17:10:04Z")
Captain Smith and Pocahontas had a very mad affair in ‘Fever.’ [John Kettley is a weatherman, and so is Michael Fish.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db6WHtNV5-I) Ra-ra Rasputin, love of the Russian Queen. Galileo by the Indigo Girls, and in Bohemian Rhapsody. A couple of those are single names, but they’re either the surname or their only name. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/28 "2011-06-21T17:14:45Z")
Edmund Fitzgerald. ---
**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, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/29 "2011-06-21T17:20:44Z")
Al Stewart’s _Past Present and Future_ album is full of historical references. “Post World War II Blues” mentions: Aneurin Bevan [Winston] Churchill Louis Mountbatten Buddy Holly [Harold] Macmillan Christine Keeler Allen Ginsberg Robert Kennedy Jimi Hendrix Other songs on the same album mention Nostradamus (of course), Napoleon, General [Heinz] Guderian, Richard Coeur de Leon, Warren Gameliel Harding, and Ernst Roehm. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/30 "2011-06-21T17:33:29Z")
That reminds me of [Aneurin Bevan, your party is dead.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-8peo2N5sM) I only knew the chorus, but apparently it’s called Guy Fawkes’ Table, which is another name, and it mentions Bush. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/31 "2011-06-21T17:34:37Z")
How about some obscure ones? The Rapture “No Sex for Ben.” Though they change their victim’s surname, they _do_ refer to Arthur Baker, a DJ -Producer they like. Bard of Ely “You’re a Liar, Nicky Wire.” Nicky Wire is a member of the Manic Street Preachers. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/32 "2011-06-21T17:35:48Z")
Queen makes use of Captain Cook and Jimi Hendrix in The Miracle. Warren Zevon mentions boxers Bobby Chacon (Arturo) Frias Alexis Arguello Du Koo Kim in his song Boom Boom Mancini and Patty Hearst in another. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/33 "2011-06-21T17:38:02Z")
The Kinks’ “Celluloid Heroes”: Greta Garbo Rudolph Valentino Bela Lugosi Bette Davis George Sanders Mickey Rooney Marilyn Monroe We had a thread quite recently about songs that mention other musicians, right? So everything in there too. ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/34 "2011-06-21T17:40:40Z")
[Genghis Khan](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhqQcYYyY7I) Actually this band has a few songs about historical people. Pablo Picasso Billy The Kid Judas Mata Hari Rocky Marciano ---
**Author:** ![Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disgruntled_Penguin)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/35 "2011-06-21T17:45:08Z")
Punky Meadows from Frank Zappa’s song Punky’s Whips. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/36 "2011-06-21T17:45:26Z")
_Lenny Bruce declares a truce… Marshall McLuhan, casual viewin… Groucho with his movies trailing… Ku Klux Klan serve hot soul food… Caryl Chessman sniffs the air… There’s Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes…_ —Genesis, “Broadway Melody of 1974” ---
**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, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/37 "2011-06-21T18:04:13Z")
The Mamas and The Papas Creque Alley mentions all four members of the group, plus Zal and Sebastin of The Loving Spponful and McGuinn and McGuire of the Byrds. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/38 "2011-06-21T18:06:02Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > 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. Joel also wrote an upbeat little song about Billy The Kid. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/39 "2011-06-21T18:07:56Z")
> [@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. AND he did it in chronological order! (IMO, that was the most impressive part) ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/40 "2011-06-21T18:11:19Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Leonard Bernstein! REM again: they name check Andy Kaufman and Fred Blassie in _Man On The Moon_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289.md?page=3)