# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/41 "2011-06-21T18:13:24Z")
Pontius Pilate in [Pilate](http://www.pearljam.com/song/pilate) by Pearl Jam ---
**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, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/42 "2011-06-21T18:16:01Z")
Oh, just remembered this one… My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors, by Moxy Fruvous mentions…a bunch of authors. Off the top of my head, Margaret Atwood, Robertson Davies, and Mario Puzo… And actually looking it up, add bell hooks, William S Burroughs, Michael Ondaatje, Doris Lessing, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pierre Burton, WP Cansella, Jane Rule and Daniel Richler (there are two versions of the song with slightly different lists of authors) ---
**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, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/43 "2011-06-21T18:16:54Z")
Tim Rice has mentioned quite a few, what with Jospeh, Jesus, and Evita. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/44 "2011-06-21T18:19:52Z")
James Dean - American Pie ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/45 "2011-06-21T18:23:08Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Dylan’s songs are full of people For instance, I assume Abraham (the Biblical one, who God asked to kill him a son) counts as being ‘not merely a first name’, since he only has the one. (“Highway 61”) And I don’t think Tom Thumb is anywhere but in the title of “Tom Thumb’s Blues”, so does that count? ---
**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, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/46 "2011-06-21T18:25:05Z")
Dion had a huge hit with Abraham, Martin & John, about Lincoln, King & Kennedy, and it also mentions Bobby Kennedy. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/47 "2011-06-21T18:44:02Z")
The Beatles’ “I’m So Tired” mentions Sir Walter Raleigh. John Lennon’s “Just Gimme Some Truth” attacks Richard Nixon (“Tricky Dick”). John Mellancamp’s “R-O-C-K in the USA” has Frankie Lyman, Bobby Fuller, Mitch Ryder, Jackie Wilson, Shangri-Las, Young Rascals, Martha Reeves, and James Brown. The Police’s “When the World in Running Down” also name-checks James Brown. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/48 "2011-06-21T18:50:56Z")
The Replacements’ “Alex Chilton.” The Smiths’ “The Queen Is Dead” album has several examples: The title track namechecks Her Majesty and Prince Charles. “Bigmouth Strikes Again” namechecks Joan of Arc. “Cemetry Gates” mentions Oscar Wilde, Keats and Yeats. “Some Girls are Bigger than Others” mentions Mark Anthony and Cleopatra. Morrissey namechecks the Kray twins in “Last of the Famous International Playboys.” ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/49 "2011-06-21T19:16:51Z")
Woody Guthrie, Emma Goldman, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Joe Hill are mentioned in “Christmas in Washington” by Steve Earle. Rudoph Valentino, Greta Garbo, Bette Davis, Bela Lugosi, George Sanders, Mickey Rooney, and Marilyn Monroe are all referenced in “Celluloid Heroes” by the Kinks. ---
**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, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/50 "2011-06-21T19:21:34Z")
> [@Labdad](#): > > Rudoph Valentino, Greta Garbo, Bette Davis, Bela Lugosi, George Sanders, Mickey Rooney, and Marilyn Monroe are all referenced in “Celluloid Heroes” by the Kinks. Beat you to it – see post #33. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/51 "2011-06-21T19:23:42Z")
“The Ghost of Stephen Foster” by the Squirrel Nut Zippers ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/52 "2011-06-21T19:39:27Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Beat you to it – see post #33. Whoops! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/53 "2011-06-21T19:48:47Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > \*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. And yet, you didn’t mention “Freebird,” where they refer to Neil Young. Off of _Mermaid Avenue_ (in which Wilco and Billy Bragg took lyrics by Woody Guthrie and set them to music that they wrote), there’s a song called \*Walt Whitman’s Niece," and another called “Ingrid Bergman.” Ben Folds, both solo and with the Ben Folds Five, refers to: 1. James Earl Jones (“Lullaby”) 2. Jon Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson, and Quiet Riot (“Rockin the Suburbs”) 3. Hi, **Opal**! 4. Kool Moe Dee (“Your Redneck Past”) 5. The Cure (the band, “Battle of Who Could Care Less”) 6. Axl Rose (“Julianne”) 7. Robert Sledge (who was a member of the Ben Folds Five, “Not the Same”) 8. Metallica (“Satan Is My Master”) 9. Linda McCartney (“Steven’s Last Night In Town”) 10. Alice Childress (“Alice Childress,” though he claims this is about someone he knew with the same name, and not the playwright/actress) Counting Crows: 1. Ben Folds (“Monkey”) 2. Bob Dylan (“Mister Jones”) 3. Richard Manuel (keyboard player for The Band, mentioned in “All My Love (Richard Manuel Is Dead)”) ---
**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, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/54 "2011-06-21T19:50:46Z")
Edith Sitwell, Dizzy Dean, Colin Cowdrey, Virginia Wade, John Travolta, Idi Amin were all named, along with a slew of recognizable but not full names in Tim Curry’s I Do The Rock. Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel was in Tom Lehrer’s song Alma. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/55 "2011-06-21T20:04:09Z")
[Several people](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xG4oFny2Pk) referenced in this one. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/56 "2011-06-21T20:36:16Z")
I’m pretty sure [Ray Bradbury](http:/ /www.funnyordie.com/videos/70bf2e4f05/fuck-me-ray-bradbury) is a real person… Warning: Link may be NSFW due to language, so I disabled it. Shouldn’t be too difficult to fix. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/57 "2011-06-21T20:40:50Z")
> [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](#): > > Alma Mahler Gropius Werfel was in Tom Lehrer’s song Alma. So were her various husbands. He also wrote songs about Werner von Braun, Hubert Humphrey (referencing President Johnson), and George Murphy (referencing Helen Gahagan Douglas and Ronald Reagan), and mentioned Lena Horne and Sheriff Clark in _National Brotherhood Week_. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/58 "2011-06-21T20:45:28Z")
_Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her. I heard ol’ Neil put her down, well, I hope Neil Young will remember a Southern man don’t need him around anyhow._ -Lynyrd Skynyrd _This is the story of Johnny Rotten…_ -Neil Young ---
**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, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/59 "2011-06-21T20:51:27Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > So were her various husbands. > > He also wrote songs about Werner von Braun, Hubert Humphrey (referencing President Johnson), and George Murphy (referencing Helen Gahagan Douglas and Ronald Reagan), and mentioned Lena Horne and Sheriff Clark in _National Brotherhood Week_. I knew of those. I’ve been a long time Lehrer fan. I figured I’d let someone else have a shot at referencing some. Plus, it’s cool to see who else is a fan. 🙂 Don’t forget Cole Porter and Mozart from Clementine. I don’t think Dr Samuel Gall is real though. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/60 "2011-06-21T20:53:59Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Ben Folds, both solo and with the Ben Folds Five, refers to: > > 1. James Earl Jones (“Lullaby”) > > 2. Jon Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson, and Quiet Riot (“Rockin the Suburbs”) > > 3. Hi, **Opal**! > > 4. Kool Moe Dee (“Your Redneck Past”) > > 5. The Cure (the band, “Battle of Who Could Care Less”) > > 6. Axl Rose (“Julianne”) > > 7. Robert Sledge (who was a member of the Ben Folds Five, “Not the Same”) > > 8. Metallica (“Satan Is My Master”) > > 9. Linda McCartney (“Steven’s Last Night In Town”) > > 10. Alice Childress (“Alice Childress,” though he claims this is about someone he knew with the same name, and not the playwright/actress) Also Joe Caparo (“Where’s Summer B.?”) who is a real dude. My friend lived at his place for a while and I stayed with them for a few nights. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289.md?page=4)