# Famous people (living or dead) whose deaths are mentioned in a song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 8, 2013, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177 "2013-04-08T19:11:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/21 "2013-04-09T04:19:58Z")
“My mother cried when president Kennedy died” - Police - Born in the 50’s “We all know that Elvis died fat” - English Beat - Spar Wid Me Night Shift by the Commadores - more of a tribute song ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/22 "2013-04-09T07:17:39Z")
Guns N Roses - Civil War > [@](#): > > D’you wear a black armband > When they shot the man > Who said “Peace could last forever” > And in my first memories > They shot Kennedy ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/23 "2013-04-09T08:02:49Z")
We Didn’t Start The Fire “JFK Blown away What else do I have to say?” Candle In The Wind. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/24 "2013-04-09T12:18:53Z")
American Pie _alludes to_ the death of Buddy Holly. It does not say it directly, but I think everybody knows by now. All Those Years Ago - John Lennon (by the rest of the Beatles, but mainly George). ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/25 "2013-04-09T12:22:11Z")
_Sympathy for the Devil_, by the Stones: the Kennedys, the Tsar, his ministers, and Anastasia. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/26 "2013-04-09T12:27:15Z")
[“James Dean”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7guzEuV7j9c) by the Eagles. **[“Abraham, Martin, and John”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZfRyWPZAII)** by Dion “[Rock and Roll Heaven](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d5gzohHtYk)” by the Righteous Brothers. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/27 "2013-04-09T12:34:36Z")
“Dr. Dre said…nothing you idiot. Dr. Dre’s dead, he’s locked in my basement.” –Eminem (as Slim Shady) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/28 "2013-04-09T13:10:38Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Well, Maggie Thatcher merited a couple more death songs: [Tramp the Dirt Down](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Znn5a-88tY) by Elvis Costello and [Margaret on the Guillotine](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsq3H_6XuFA) by Morrisey. So that’s at least three songs mentioning her death long before she died. That must be a record for somebody who was never wanted for war crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/29 "2013-04-09T13:16:13Z")
> [@sinjin](#): > > “Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio?” Well he certainly wasn’t dead at the time. He died 30 years later. And it wasn’t about his death. > [@](#): > > References in the last verse to Joe DiMaggio are perhaps the most discussed. Paul Simon, a fan of Mickey Mantle, was asked during an intermission on The Dick Cavett Show why Mantle wasn’t mentioned in the song instead of DiMaggio. Simon replied, “It’s about syllables, Dick. It’s about how many beats there are.”[8] For himself, DiMaggio initially complained that he had not gone anywhere, but soon dropped his complaints after a cordial meeting with Paul Simon when he explained what the lines meant. In a New York Times op-ed in March 1999,[9] shortly after DiMaggio’s death, Simon discussed this meeting and explained that the line was meant as a sincere tribute to DiMaggio’s unpretentious heroic stature, in a time when popular culture magnifies and distorts how we perceive our heroes. He further reflected: “In these days of Presidential transgressions and apologies and prime-time interviews about private sexual matters, we grieve for Joe DiMaggio and mourn the loss of his grace and dignity, his fierce sense of privacy, his fidelity to the memory of his wife and the power of his silence.” Simon subsequently performed “Mrs. Robinson” at Yankee Stadium in DiMaggio’s honor the month after his death. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/30 "2013-04-09T13:25:05Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Well he certainly wasn’t dead at the time. He died 30 years later. And it wasn’t about his death. Excellent catch! ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/31 "2013-04-09T13:40:31Z")
Michael Jackson in “All of the Lights” by Kanye West (“MJ gone…our n\*\*\* dead”) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/32 "2013-04-09T14:41:13Z")
[Brendan Behan](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVapRXgXhi8) ---
**Author:** ![Meltdown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Meltdown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meltdown)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/33 "2013-04-09T14:51:41Z")
Warren Zevon referenced his own upcoming death (from inoperable lung cancer) all over his last album, probably most clearly in [Keep Me In Your Heart](http://lyrics.wikia.com/Warren_Zevon:Keep_Me_In_Your_Heart): > [@](#): > > Shadows are falling and I’m running out of breath > Keep me in your heart for a while > If I leave you it doesn’t mean I love you any less > Keep me in your heart for a while ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/34 "2013-04-09T14:53:11Z")
[Gary Gilmore’s Eyes - The Adverts](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Gilmore%27s_Eyes) ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/35 "2013-04-09T15:39:27Z")
Lots of folk/protest songs. Just from Bob Dylan: “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” “The Death of Emmett Till” “George Jackson” “Only a Pawn in Their Game” (Medgar Evers) Others… The Byrds’ version of “He Was A Friend of Mine” (JFK) “Joe Hill” “Michael, Andrew and James” by Richard & Mimi Farina (OK, they themselves weren’t famous, but their cause was) ---
**Author:** ![Rain\_Soaked](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@Rain\_Soaked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rain_Soaked)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/36 "2013-04-09T15:54:46Z")
Peter Gabriel’s [Biko](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biko_(song)) about Steve Biko. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/37 "2013-04-09T16:17:30Z")
_Rock and Roll Heaven_, The Righteous Brothers, mentions Jimmy Hendrix Janis Joplin Otis Redding Jim Morrison Jim Croce Bobby Darrin > [@](#): > > Jimmy gave us rainbows > And Janis took a piece of our hearts > And Otis brought us all to the dock of a bay > Sing a song to light my fire > Remember Jim that way > They’ve all found another place > Another place to play ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/38 "2013-04-09T16:24:27Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > American Pie _alludes to_ the death of Buddy Holly. It does not say it directly, but I think everybody knows by now. It does mention James Dean - “…in a coat he borrowed from James Dean” ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/39 "2013-04-09T16:27:32Z")
Man, I wanted to mention Bela Lugosi’s Dead! I’ll settle for Guy Fawkes: while he’s not mentioned in the most common couplet, [Wikipedia offers a slightly longer song](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night) > [@](#): > > The fifth of November, since I can remember, > Was Guy Faux, Poke him in the eye, > Shove him up the chimney-pot, and there let him die. > A stick and a stake, for King George’s sake, > If you don’t give me one, I’ll take two, > The better for me, and the worse for you, > Ricket-a-racket your hedges shall go. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/40 "2013-04-09T16:32:14Z")
And then, a bit of a cheater, is a song like Weird Al’s [I’ll Be Mellow When I’m Dead](http://www.metrolyrics.com/ill-be-mellow-when-im-dead-lyrics-weird-al-yankovic.html). Mentions his own death before he dies. TMBG have a similar song, and I’m sure plenty of other musicians do as well. Edie Brickell did a song, [Little Miss S.](http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858650005/), about Edie Sedgwick, in which her death is mentioned. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177.md?page=3)