Historical events most people only know of because a song was written about them

[Olentzero]

@silenus

I remember him! I saw him last night, in fact.

Alive as you and me.

[Nava]

@Peter_Morris

@Nava

I may have heard The Royal Guard, but don’t recognize the name at all.

You may have heard the song, though. The chorus, at least, is pretty well-known.

*Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty or more
The bloody Red Barron kept rolling up the score
Eighty men died trying to end the spree
Of the bloody Red Baron of Germany.
*

I had heard the tune (and that, only recently), but not the song.

[Telperion]

I would never have heard about the Good Ship Venus if it hadn’t been for the Sex Pistols. I suspect the song might not be historically accurate, however.

[casdave]

I should imagine that few folk would have heard about Buffalo Soldiers were it not for the song.

Buffalo Soldier

[Skywatcher]

I only heard of The Wreck of the Old 97 because The Blues Brothers didn’t know it.

[Freddy_the_Pig]

@silenus

Truth be told, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that the majority of Americans had never heard of the French Revolution at all, much less from a song.

That’s ridiculous. We know the whole story from History of the World, Part I.

[Oakminster]

@RandMcnally

I learned that in the year of 1941, when the war had just begun, that the Germans had the biggest ships and they had the biggest guns. The Bismark was the fastest ship to ever sail the seas, with guns as big as steers and shells as big as trees.

All thanks to Johnny Horton.

Hit the decks a-runnin’ boys and spin those guns around
When we find the Bismark we gotta cut her down*

That one and the one about the Battle of New Orleans are the only two Johnny Horton songs I know.

I mentioned this is another thread recently, but I suspect that most people of my generation can sing the Preamble to the United States Constitution largely due to the classic Schoolhouse Rock spot.

[Two_Many_Cats]

@Oakminster

@RandMcnally

All thanks to Johnny Horton.

Hit the decks a-runnin’ boys and spin those guns around
When we find the Bismark we gotta cut her down*

That one and the one about the Battle of New Orleans are the only two Johnny Horton songs I know.

Oh, come on. Surely you’ve heard of North to Alaska?

“When it’s springtime in Alaska, it’s forty below…”

[An_Gadai]

The Springhill, NS Mining Disaster of 1958.

[msmith537]

I learned most of my history from Iron Maiden songs:
2 Minutes to Midnight
Aces High
Alexander the Great
Flight of Icarus
The Trooper
Powerslave
Run to the Hills
Ryme of the Ancient Mariner

[BrainGlutton]

@Telperion

I would never have heard about the Good Ship Venus if it hadn’t been for the Sex Pistols. I suspect the song might not be historically accurate, however.

Except for the part about Tommy Loy the cabin boy.

[Sampiro]

Stars Fell on Alabama is a 1930s standard based on an old poem and redone by Jimmy Buffett, but it refers to an actual event in November 1833 when the Leonid meteor shower was so strong and so visible (remember there was no ambient light at the time) that many people supposedly thought it was the end of the world. I suspect the story grew with each retelling, but according to lore there were all manner of gamblers and drunks and thieves who came into churches begging for forgiveness thinking that it was their last shot at heaven.
For a while “Stars Fell on Alabama” was on the state’s license tags for some reason or other, but I doubt most know of the historical event. I learned of it through the song.

The Yellow Rose of Texas is, according to oral history and legend, a reference to Emily Morgan, a mulatto slave who became Santa Anna’s mistress. By said legend, it was his dalliance with her that caused him to be too preoccupied to rally his troops and thus cost him the victory at San Jacinto.

[mascaroni]

Scott Walker’s “The Ballad Of Sacco and Vanzetti” was the first time I’d heard of the case.

[Oredigger77]

While I vaguely remember the riots and the video of Rodney King there is no way I’d know the date if it wasn’t for Sublime. April 22, 1992 and I bet people much younger then me wouldn’t even know that much.

[In_Winnipeg]

@An_Gadai

The Springhill, NS Mining Disaster of 1958.

We learned The Ballad of Springhill in music class at school about Grade Five or so.
(And for An Gadai: We also learned Alive, Alive Oh! in Grade Two, as I recall.)

[Morbo]

I only know about Nero fiddling while Rome burned because of Bugs Bunny.

Be it ever so crumbly, there’s no place like Rome
Nero he was the emperor and the palace was his home
But he liked to play with matches and for a fire yearned
So he burned Rome to ashes and fiddled while it burned

[Ellis_Aponte_Jr]

Nobody is admitting that they learned of Waterloo from ABBA?

[astorian]

Six men raised the flag at Iwo Jima, but only one of them tends to be remembered by name, because he was the subject of a popular folk song:

“The Ballad of Ira Hayes”

[AWB]

“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”

[multimediac17]

I wouldn’t have known about Frances Farmer if it wasn’t for Culture Club and their 1984 single ‘The Medal Song’.