# 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:** 4
**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, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/61 "2011-06-21T21:02:42Z")
In his song “ABM Machine”, Ed Sanders asks the musical question: \*Are you a vampire, Melvin Laird, are you a va-ham-pire? Are you caught in the Transylvanian transvestite time trap, Melvin Laird?.. \* He also did a song called “Henry Kissinger”, and wrote a song about a yodeling robot who was in love with Dolly Parton. Dolly Parton is also mentioned in “Walk the Dog” by Laurie Anderson. ---
**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, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/62 "2011-06-21T21:04:43Z")
[Even more name dropping.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiLNCJdXmX0) ---
**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, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/63 "2011-06-21T21:26:06Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > And yet, you didn’t mention “Freebird,” where they refer to Neil Young. That was “Sweet Home Alabama,” which **Dio** eventually quotes from in Post #58. ---
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/64 "2011-06-21T21:37:51Z")
Simon & Garfunkel “So Long Frank Lloyd Wright” Jimmy Buffett’s “Incommunicado” mentions both John D McDonald and John Wayne. The Kingston Trio’s “Remember the Alamo” includes Santa Anna, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, and [William] Travis. ---
**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, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/65 "2011-06-21T21:48:38Z")
[“You Get What You Give”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL7-CKirWZE) by the New Radicals mentions Beck, Hanson, Courtney Love, and Marilyn Manson. Nerf Herder has recorded songs about Courtney Love (“Courtney”) and Jenna Bush (“Jenna Bush Army”). ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/66 "2011-06-21T22:09:26Z")
Does first name only count? If so, Prince’s “Ronnie, Talk to Russia” is directed at Ronald Reagan. Also, at least one of the songs on Roger Waters’ _Radio K.A.O.S._ also mentions Reagan. The morse code open and close mentions Sylvester Stallone, according to Wikipedia. ---
**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 22, 2011, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/67 "2011-06-22T00:15:58Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > 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? I’m not sure Abraham is actual. Achilles gets mentioned in a title also. Now, Abraham Lincoln is mentioned in Talkin’ WW III Blues - and I have versions using Donovan and Carl Sandberg. And George Lincoln Rockwell is mentioned in Talkin’ John Birch Society Blues. ---
**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 22, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/68 "2011-06-22T00:21:03Z")
> [@Disgruntled\_Penguin](#): > > 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. A slightly more obscure one - the version of “Who’s Next” used in Tomfoolery used Jerry Falwell getting the bomb instead of Alabama. And of course there is Lobachevsky from the song of the same name, as well as Doris Day as part of hypotenuse - and a few other stars in other versions. ---
**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 22, 2011, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/69 "2011-06-22T00:24:17Z")
> [@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 You forgot one - Albert refers to Albert Grossman. And of course Bob Dylan could probably be included as the person the singer intends instead of Dylan Thomas. ---
**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 22, 2011, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/70 "2011-06-22T00:47:40Z")
Weird Al Yankovic trots out Elvis (his ghost) and Hitler (his brain) to take a bow in _Midnight Star_. ---
**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 22, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/71 "2011-06-22T01:23:17Z")
Some more: Leonard Peltier in Toad the Wet Sprocket’s “Crazy Life” Chico Mendes in Living Colour’s “Sacred Ground” Nelson Mandela in Special AKA’s “Free…” Bob Marley in RHCP’s “Give It Away” Otis Redding in The Police’s “When The World Is Running Down…” Julian Cope (supposedly) in Blur’s “Pressure on Julian” Bruce Willis and Langston Hughes in Gang Starr’s “DWYCK” Margaret Thatcher in The Beat’s “Stand Down Margaret” and Morrissey’s “Margaret on the Guillotine” ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/72 "2011-06-22T04:17:57Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > The Kinks’ “Celluloid Heroes”: > > Greta Garbo > Rudolph Valentino > Bela Lugosi > Bette Davis > George Sanders > Mickey Rooney > Marilyn Monroe Another Kinks song, “Mr. Churchill Says” references Winston Churchill, Lords Beaverbrook and Mountbatten, General Montgomery, and Vera Lynn. “Harry Truman”, Chicago “Marie Prevost”, Nick Lowe “Roy Rogers” and “I Feel Like A Bullet (In The Gun Of Robert Ford)”, Elton John “Vera Lynn”, Pink Floyd ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/73 "2011-06-22T11:59:22Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > How about some obscure ones? > > … a DJ -Producer … Along that same line, The Specials’ _Gangsters_ starts with a line about Bernie Rhodes, [their manager](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Rhodes#Reputation). > [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > James Dean… David Essex’s _Rock On_ too. > [@NDP](#): > > … James Brown. The Tom Tom Club’s _Genius Of Love_ too, as well as (George) Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Smokey Robinson, Bob Marley, Sly (Dunbar) & Robbie (Shakespeare), and Kurtis Blow. My favorite, ‘cause it’s a weird tribute, Louis Armstrong added Lotte Lenya to the list of \*Mack the Knife’\*s female victims. :eek: (She was in the studio when Armstrong recorded it, as well as having been the star of both the original 1928 German production and the 1954 Broadway version, and was the wife of Kurt Weill who, along with Bertolt Brecht, wrote the opera _Die Dreigroschenoper_ (_The Threepenny Opera_) that the song was translated from. (I love long, comma filled, run-on parentheticals.)) 😃 CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/74 "2011-06-22T12:39:14Z")
Lyle Lovett name-checks a lot of real people: Roy Rogers and Dale (Evans) in “If I Had a Boat,” Neil Armstrong and Hank Williams in “Here I Am,” and Wim Wenders in “The Truck Song.” ---
**Author:** ![Crawlspace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Crawlspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crawlspace)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/75 "2011-06-22T13:02:09Z")
John Sinclair - song of the same name by John Lennon Frank Sinatra - song of the same name by **Cake** Rick James - _Meanwhile Rick James_ . . . by **Cake** ---
**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 22, 2011, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/76 "2011-06-22T13:53:55Z")
Frank Mills from Hair: He was last seen with his friend, A drummer, he resembles George Harrison of the Beatles ---
**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 22, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/77 "2011-06-22T14:03:13Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Along that same line, The Specials’ _Gangsters_ starts with a line about Bernie Rhodes, [their manager](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernie_Rhodes#Reputation). Concrete Blonde’s “It’ll Chew You Up and Spit You Out” has a spoken word part at the end that mentions Miles Copeland (IRS Records) and his brother Stewart (The Police). ---
**Author:** ![J-P\_L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/j-p_l/32/3156_2.png) [@J-P\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J-P_L)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/78 "2011-06-22T14:04:39Z")
Tim Mcgraw’s [Southern voice](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dryqg9gyj2g) > [@](#): > > Tim McGraw - Southern Voice > > Hank Williams sang it, Number 3 drove it > Chuck Berry twanged it, Will Faulkner wrote it > Aretha Franklin sold it, Dolly Parton graced it > Rosa Parks rode it, Scarlett O. chased it ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/79 "2011-06-22T14:11:24Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Steve McQueen – Sheryl Crow > [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > 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”). R.E.M. - Electrolite: “Hollywood is under me. I’m Martin Sheen I’m Steve McQueen I’m Jimmy Dean” ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2011, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289/80 "2011-06-22T14:43:31Z")
Some country songs about country singers - Hank III’s _Country Heroes_ : > [@](#): > > I’m drinkin’ some George Jones, > and a little bit of Coe > Haggard’s easin’ my misery > and Waylon’s keepin’ me from home > Hank’s givin’ me those high times - > Cash is gonna sing it low > I’m here gettin’ wasted - > here with my country heroes The Dixie Chick’s _Long Time Gone_ > [@](#): > > Now they sound tired but they don’t sound Haggard > They’ve got money but they don’t have Cash > They got Junior but they don’t have Hank > I think, I think, I think > > The rest is a long time gone Johnny Cash’s _Backstage Pass To The Willie Nelson Show_ mentions many of the above, plus Kris Kristofferson, Shooter Jennings, and Connie Francis. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actual-people-named-in-songs/586289.md?page=5)