# Celebrities in pop songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2001, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804 "2001-10-22T04:10:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/61 "2001-10-23T02:58:38Z")
> [@](#): > > that song by Donovan (?) “Where so you go to My Lovely” whivh mentions Picasso, Marlene Dietrich, and a load of French sounding names that I cant remember. That would be Peter Sarstedt, rather than Donovan. Some of the French names (no guarantees on spelling) are Zizi Jeanmaire, Belmond, and also a mention for the Aga Khan. ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/62 "2001-10-23T03:04:46Z")
And if we allow Vincent (which is most definitely about Vincent van Gogh rather than referring to him, see the OP), there is also: Biko - Peter Gabriel Mandela - Sinnead O’Connor Rene Margritte and his wife before the war - Paul Simon (not 100% sure about the title) Free Nelson Mandela - ? I shot John Lennon - Cranberries The ballad of John and Yoko - Beatles and many many more… ---
**Author:** ![Geek\_Mecha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecae2f/32.png) [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/63 "2001-10-23T06:20:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Superdude \* > \*\*My mistake, **Audrey**. I glossed right over that. \*\* Quite all right. 🙂 “OW” came to mind first, but I thought some of the other mentions, especially Seal’s, were better. Funnier, at least. Third Eye Blind: “Horror Show”-- Lou Reed (Various Artists): “On And On”-- Bob Marley ---
**Author:** ![Dirty\_Earthworm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Dirty\_Earthworm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dirty_Earthworm)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/64 "2001-10-23T06:46:26Z")
“Sweet Home Alabama” by Lynyrd Skynyrd not only mentions Neil Young, but it makes reference to Young’s song “Southern Man”: “I hope Neil Young will remember/A southern man don’t need him around anyhow.” -Syko “My cat’s breath smells like cat food.” - Ralph Wiggum ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/65 "2001-10-23T07:16:33Z")
Savage Garden’s “Santa Monica”–Norman Mailer Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”–Nabakov Better Than Ezra: “Under You”–Leonard Cohen “Extraordinary”–Bobby Fischer, Madonna, the Barenaked Ladies, AC/DC “Lifetime”–REM ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/66 "2001-10-23T09:01:18Z")
Was _Russians_ by Sting alreday mentioned? Khruschov, Reagan, Oppenheimer. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/67 "2001-10-23T11:53:48Z")
The Tractor’s “Baby Likes To Rock It” includes the line “Got Brother Jimmy on the TV – Killer on the stereo”, which was a reference to TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart and his cousin, singer Jerry “The Killer” Lee Lewis. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2001, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/68 "2001-10-23T12:37:54Z")
After rereading this thread, I can’t believe no one mentioned “Buddy Holly” by Weezer. “I look just like Buddy Holly And you’re Mary Tyler Moore” ---
**Author:** ![Ivar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ivar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ivar)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2001, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/69 "2001-10-23T19:19:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by blur \* > \*\*A couple of more I remembered > In California uber Alles, by the Dead Kennedys, California Governer Pete Wilson is mentioned. > \*\* Sorry Blur, they mention Jerry Brown, not Pete Wilson Also Mojo Nixon has a song about Martha Quinn, of early MTV fame called “Stuffin’ Martha’s Muffin”. I know I dreamt about doing that, too. Then, of course, there is “Don Henley must die!” and “Bring Me the Head of David Geffen”. Apparently Mojo has a dislike for the Eagles. (Apparently, Geffen was involved in resurrecting the Eagles in the early '90s) Then there is the classic by Thelonious Monster entitled “Sammy Hagar Weekend” ---
**Author:** ![Skijumper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3e96dc/32.png) [@Skijumper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skijumper)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/70 "2001-10-24T03:46:11Z")
Sheryl Crow’s Run Baby Run - Aldous Huxley 10,000 Maniacs’ Hey Jack Kerouac - Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg Indigo Girls’ Virginia Woolf The Smiths’ Cemetry Gates - John Keats, William Yeats, Oscar Wilde The Cranberries’ Yeats Grave - William Yeats ---
**Author:** ![Nocturne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9fc348/32.png) [@Nocturne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nocturne)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/71 "2001-10-24T07:16:45Z")
Crash Test Dummies: “Afternoons and Coffeespoons”–Sartre, T. S. Eliot “When I Go Out with Artists”–David Byrne Van Morrison: “Summertime in England”–Coleridge, Wordsworth, William Blake, T. S. Eliot, Mahalia Jackson, Yeats, Lady Gregory, James Joyce “Cleaning Windows”–Kerouac, Jimmie Rodgers, Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Muddy Waters, Christmas Humphreys “Jackie Wilson Said”–Jackie Wilson “Saint Dominic’s Preview”–Edith Piaf, Hank Williams “Fair Play”–Oscar Wilde, Thoreau “The Eternal Kansas City”–Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Young, Witherspoon, Jay McShann, Billie Holliday “Foreign Window”–Rimbaud, Lord Byron ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/72 "2001-10-24T18:36:32Z")
Ray Davies was great at dropping historical celebrities into his songwriting. To whit: (Damn! Got to use _ **whit** _ in a sentence!) Queen Victoria: _ **Victoria** _ Anthony Eden: _ **A Hat Like Princess Marina’s** _ Winston Churchill: Can’t recall the title, but it was a recitation of the Prime Minister’s "We shall fight them…"speech Quasi ---
**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:** [October 24, 2001, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/73 "2001-10-24T18:56:32Z")
Martin Sexton has a line in his song _Diggin’ Me_: “You be who you want, I’ll be who you want I’ll be your Ray Liotta” ---
**Author:** ![Scribe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Scribe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scribe)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/74 "2001-10-24T20:30:13Z")
British pop singer Dickie Pride, in his 1960 song “Betty, Betty, Go Steady with Me”, sings about the object of his affections… “She wears her hair like…Brigitte Bardot” There are lots of songs of that era that mention Elvis, or the Beatles in some way, where the singer’s girl is besotted with them, and he doesn’t know what to do. Or, if a girl singer or group, she’s a huge huge fan. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/75 "2001-10-25T01:05:37Z")
I just wish I could go through my collection and try to do this justice, esp. since this is my VERY FIRST POST! Legomancer mentioned M. Sweet’s “Winona”; Mojo Nixon [with Skid Roper?] did one about her also. And another tasteless masterpiece about Debbie Gibson. Legomancer also caught a TMBG reference to Kurtis Blow; so did Tom Tom Club so long ago… XTC has cited the now-dead Brit political crank, Screaming Lord Sutch. And in their “Then She Appeared,” Andy P. references Fox Talbot [photography pioneer], Edward Leer, and the doomed crew of the Marie Celeste [a recent SD question!]. Dead Milkmen hissed, “You’ll dance to anything, by Book of Love/Depeche Mode.” Joe Strummer mentions Cannonball Adderly and Perry Como in “Sikorski Parts,” the title referencing the helicopter pioneer. Bauhaus’ “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” remains a classic; King Missile’s “Martin Scorsese” is just creepy. The Mekons did “John Barry,” but I don’t think that’s about the soundtrack composer. They’ve also referenced John Wayne and Sir Isaac Newton. And, tossing all this street cred away, [Bob Seger?] sang about “Bogie and Bacall” in “Key Largo”. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/76 "2001-10-25T01:16:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by The Scrivener \* > \*\* > And, tossing all this street cred away, [Bob Seger?] sang about “Bogie and Bacall” in “Key Largo”. \*\* Bertie Higgins, actually, but let me be among the first to welcome you to the **Society**! This is a fun part of the SDMB if you like the arts, and I hope you’ll enjoy yourself here! Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/77 "2001-10-25T02:14:34Z")
John Cale’s **Cordova** mentions “a William Burroughs playing for lost time”. The Velvet Underground’s live version of **New Age** has the great couplet: “… it would be my fancy To make it with Frank and Nancy” (presumably about the Sinatras) Simon Bonney’s **White Suit In Memphis** is about Johnny Cash, although it doesn’t mention his surname (only first name). There’s also the reverse of the OP - the Blackeyed Susans have a song called **Smoking Johnny Cash** where the great man’s name is rhyming slang for hash. There’s lots more, but these are all I can think of at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![TeaElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@TeaElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TeaElle)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/78 "2001-10-25T05:33:01Z")
I’m ashamed to mention that bubblegum thing by O-Town that names Destiny’s Child and Janet Jackson, amongst others, women they want their girl to be like or something Sheryl Crow’s “Do What You Can” mentions jazz great Stan Kenton Elton John’s "Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny) is about John Lennon and his duet “Wrap Her Up” with George Michael names about twenty women from the Mona Lisa to Doris Day to Joan Collins to Kiki Dee The Commodores’ “Nightshift” is about Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson and mentions both Marc Cohn’s “Walking in Memphis” mentions W.C. Handy and Elvis Eminem’s “The Real Slim Shady” mentions Britney Spears, Carson Daly, Fred Durst, Tom Green and, notoriously, Christina Aguilera Duran Duran’s “Friends of Mine” mentions Georgie Davis, a noted prisoner in the UK in the 70s who did something or other really stupid I get this feeling that I’m ignoring some other really obvious examples, and that’s without even delving into the world of hip-hop/rap. Blah. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/79 "2001-10-25T09:34:46Z")
Talking about Eminem, “The Way I Am” mentions Marilyn Manson. ---
**Author:** ![justinh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@justinh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justinh)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804/80 "2001-10-25T15:30:30Z")
Neil Young mentions Nixon on “Ohio”, and “Campaigner”. He also mentions Marlon Brando in Pocohantus. “maybe Marlon Brando will be there by the fire, singing songs about Hollywood and the good things there for hire” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/celebrities-in-pop-songs/88804.md?page=5)