# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/41 "2013-04-09T16:35:23Z")
Lots and lots of people are not reading the OP. This is supposed to be about people who were still alive when the song was written, people. “The Death of Suzzy Roche” by the Roches. ---
**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, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/42 "2013-04-09T16:42:49Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Lots and lots of people are not reading the OP. This is supposed to be about people who were still alive when the song was written, people. > > “The Death of Suzzy Roche” by the Roches. Well, not really. > [@](#): > > And if not, who were some famous folk, **living or dead** and OTHER THAN JESUS, whose deaths were mentioned in songs? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/43 "2013-04-09T17:15:42Z")
Blue Oyster Cult - “Joan Crawford has risen from the dead.” ---
**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, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/44 "2013-04-09T17:21:50Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Well, not really. Yeah, it’s even in the thread title. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/45 "2013-04-09T17:52:53Z")
The Righteous Brothers released an updated version of “Rock and Roll Heaven” in 1992. I can’t find the lyrics online, but they mention Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Roy Orbison, Jackie Wilson, and Rick Nelson in the first verse, and the second verse goes on to mention Dennis Wilson, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, “Mama” Cass Elliot, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. ---
**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, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/46 "2013-04-09T18:21:07Z")
Semi-nitpick: Some of these songs mention dead people but do not specifically mention their deaths. ---
**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, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/47 "2013-04-09T18:24:33Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > “The Death of Suzzy Roche” by the Roches. John Fahey did a song called “The Assassination of Stephan Grossman”; Stefan Grossman replied with a song called “The Assassination of John Fahey”. Both, however, are instrumentals. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/48 "2013-04-09T18:28:56Z")
“We Hung John Brown Body from a Sour Apple Tree” “That Dirty Little Coward That Shot Mister Howard (and laid poor Jessie in his Grave)” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/49 "2013-04-09T19:08:59Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Well, not really. OK, my bad–I missed the “if not” and thought we wanted strictly the situation(whether the subject is _currently_ living or dead) as described in the previous two lines. Thanks for the correction. ---
**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, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/50 "2013-04-09T19:29:45Z")
> [@Meltdown](#): > > 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): That song crushes me everytime I hear it. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Edie Brickell did a song, [Little Miss S.](http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/3530822107858650005/), about Edie Sedgwick, in which her death is mentioned. The same subject: Edie (Ciao Baby) by The Cult ---
**Author:** ![Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc8723/32.png) [@Levolor\_the\_Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Levolor_the_Blind)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/51 "2013-04-09T19:51:11Z")
JFK in “[Tomorrow Wendy](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZBQGCI2hm0)”: _Underneath the chilly gray November sky We can make believe that Kennedy is still alive and Were shooting for the moon and smiling Jackie’s driving by_ ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/52 "2013-04-09T19:53:04Z")
Jonathan Coulton’s “Mandelbrot” had the line “Mandelbrot’s in heaven - or he will be when he’s dead. For now he’s alive and teaching math at Yale.” Don’t know what he changed the lyrics to. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/53 "2013-04-09T20:00:36Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > (That will probably be an awkward moment next time it plays in the show.) They asked the audience to vote on whether the song should be sung, and [the audience voted to keep it](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/margaret-thatcher/9980646/Margaret-Thatcher-Billy-Elliot-audience-vote-to-keep-death-song.html). ---
**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, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/54 "2013-04-09T20:48:44Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Semi-nitpick: Some of these songs mention dead people but do not specifically mention their deaths. How specific does it need to be? If it describes someone as “living it up to die,” or as “pushing up the daisies,” or “let him die,” I’m counting it, but others might not. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2013, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/55 "2013-04-09T22:44:17Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > John Denver discussed his simple funeral needs in _Forest Lawn_… [Tom Paxton](http://www.mydfz.com/Paxton/lyrics/fl.htm) did it first, having written the song. Paxton also wrote [Crazy John](http://www.mydfz.com/Paxton/lyrics/cj.htm) about John Lennon in 1972. When you wade in the water, the people can’t see the old reflections. When you stand in the road, the people can’t read the old directions. When the people get lost, they start building a cross. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2013, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/56 "2013-04-09T22:46:44Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Paxton also wrote [Crazy John](http://www.mydfz.com/Paxton/lyrics/cj.htm) about John Lennon in 1972. Lennon himself declared “They’re gonna crucify me!” in the Beatles’ “Ballad of John & Yoko.” ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/57 "2013-04-11T15:43:33Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > How specific does it need to be? If it describes someone as “living it up to die,” or as “pushing up the daisies,” or “let him die,” I’m counting it, but others might not. I was thinking about songs like “Nightshift” or “Rock and Roll Heaven”. They’re about people who are dead, but I’m not sure they qualify for the OP’s specification of “_deaths_ mentioned in a song”. ---
**Author:** ![Renifer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Renifer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renifer)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2013, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177/58 "2013-04-11T16:00:26Z")
This little ditty was popular among older kids in the 90s: I hate you, you hate me We shove Barney up a tree With a gun and a knife, we shot him in the head Aren’t you glad that Barney’s dead [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-people-living-or-dead-whose-deaths-are-mentioned-in-a-song/655177.md?page=2)