# Best "Ripped From The Headlines" Songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 29, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ripped-from-the-headlines-songs/522858 "2009-12-29T00:11:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ripped-from-the-headlines-songs/522858/41 "2009-12-30T16:21:37Z")
I just checked. I was off by three years; the “battle” took place in 1958. And Maxton is not a county; it is a town in Robeson County. And the words as listed in Wikipedia are slightly different from the ones I remember. But apart from that, I was 100% accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ripped-from-the-headlines-songs/522858/42 "2009-12-30T16:41:17Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > [I Don’t Like Mondays](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Don%27t_Like_Mondays) When I first heard about this song, I actually didn’t. Let me Explain; Years back, the song [“Manic Monday”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manic_Monday) came on. My Mom told me that this song inspired a Columbine\* style attack. She even said that the shooter wrote a note, saying they didn’t like Mondays. Come to find out years later, that “I Don’t Like Mondays” was the actual song in question. \*I believe this was around the same time, but I think the conversation was before the actual [Columbine] shootings. I can’t remember one way or the other now, but I associate the two to each other. I heard from my step dad, that the Police song [“Don’t Stand So Close To Me”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Stand_So_Close_To_Me) deals with a Male Highschool Teacher getting arressted on a false charge of sexual harassament from a female student. He also added that it was autobiographical to one of the singers.\*\* \*\* Wikipedia adds this: The song deals with the mixed feelings of the teacher (lust/guilt/fear), and inappropriateness leading to confrontation. The music and lyrics of the song were written by the lead singer of The Police, Sting, who had previously worked as an English teacher. In a 2001 interview for the concert DVD …All This Time, Sting denied that the song is autobiographical. I’m batting a thousand here. Ok, what about [We Didn’t Start the Fire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_didnt_start_the_fire) Too much of a cop out? But man, do we need an updated version. ---
**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:** [December 31, 2009, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ripped-from-the-headlines-songs/522858/43 "2009-12-31T04:18:56Z")
[Jena](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6flvlq7xjdg&feature=PlayList&p=58030BBE274CEB35&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=2) by John Mellencamp. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ripped-from-the-headlines-songs/522858/44 "2009-12-31T05:30:51Z")
Does “The Ballad of John and Yoko” count? It’s autobiographical but it’s also “ripped from the headlines”. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ripped-from-the-headlines-songs/522858/45 "2009-12-31T05:38:46Z")
[Right Here, Right Now](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5x67Wu46L4w) - Jesus Jones (about the fall of Communism in eastern Europe) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-ripped-from-the-headlines-songs/522858.md?page=2)