Not to mention his song CNR, which is about Charles Nelson Reilly.
Also, a song by the Eagles from On the Border.
The worn out tape of CHRIS LEDOUX lonely women and bad booze.- Garth Brooks (Much Too
Young)
Both of those songs sound the same to me. I hate that band. But thanks for the correction. I should have known it.
Has anyone mentioned “Vogue” by Madonna? She mentions (right off the top of my head): Greta Garbo, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean (I assume she means James Dean, and not the sausage king), Grace Kelly, Jean Harlow, Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, Bette Davis, and Rita Hayworth. Well, she mentions more, but only by one name.
As much as I hate to admit that I know the song, Nickleback’s “Rock Star” mentions “somewhere between Cher and James Dean.”
I’m sure I’ll think of more.
Simon and Garfunkel’s Dangling Conversation mentions Emily Dickenson and Robert Frost.
Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott? - Statler Brothers
Tex Ritter
Disney
Randolph Scott
Durango Kid
Alan Rocky Lane
Lash LaRue
Smiley Burnette
Tim Holt
Gene Autry
Plus a few more by first names or roles.
Weird Al’s “Frank’s 2000-inch TV” mentions Robert DeNiro’s mole.
Elton John’s “Candle in the Wind” mentions both Norma Jean (omitting her surname) and Marilyn Munroe. 
The Clash’s The Right Profile is all about Montgomery Clift, and mentions him several times.
“They say Ms. J’s big butt is boss
Kate Moss can’t find a job”
“You learn cool from magazines
You learned love from Charlie Sheen”
-Jewel, “Intuition”
Woody Guthrie—“Miss Pavlichenko” (Soviet sniper who took out 309 Nazis)
Beatles—B.B. King and Doris Day in “Dig It” and Peter Brown in “The Ballad of John and Yoko”
Plastic Ono Band—Angela Davis
Bob Dylan—George Jackson
Indigo Girls—Fay Tucker
Candy Darling is the subject of The Velvet Underground’s song “Candy Says”. Lou Reed mentioned her again in Walk on the Wild Side, along with a bunch of other Warhol/Factory people. That song also mentions James Dean, who must be mentioned in more songs than anyone else that ever lived.
Waylon Jennings sings “Bob Wills is Still the King”
James Taylor sang about his friend Suzanne Schnerr in “Fire and Rain”
Science Fiction Double Feature mentions:
Michael Rennie
Claude Rains
Fay Wray
Anne Francis
Leo G. Carroll
Janette Scott
Dana Andrews
George Pal
Anne Francis
Is Jud Fry real? 
Jonathon Coulton has a few; there’s a novelty song where he lists off all the presidents in order and gives each of them a one liner (he’s probably added a verse for Obama now); there’s also Tom Cruise Crazy and Mandelbrot Set and probably others I haven’t thought of.
Paul & Storm have a song in honor of Robert C. Baker, the man who invented the chicken nugget.
Michael Caine by Madness…
**They Might Be Giants’ **“James K. Polk.”
Besides Polk, they also name check Martin Van Buren, James Buchanan, and Louis Cass.
Joey Ramone wrote a song about his favorite CNN financial reporter, Maria Bartiromo.
Carol Burnett first rose to prominence in the 1950s singing a novelty song, “I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles”, who was then US Secretary of State. More recently, Gil Scott Heron commented “John Foster Dulles ain’t nothing but the name of an airport now” in the song “B-Movie.”