Now, I am a real fan of fantasy novels. However, I have heard of this new trend called “Non-fiction” writing. There are non-fiction books, non-fiction comic strips, and even non-fiction movies. How would have thought of such a thing!
Now, I was listening to an interview with Arlo Guthrie a little while ago, and he mentioned that all the events of the song “Alic’s Resturant” actually happened. The garbage dumping, the sheriff, etc. This makes me wonder, what other songs actually make reference to things that actually happened?
There are lots of songs with at least parts that are based on identifiable, real world events. To wit, “The Ballad of John and Yoko”, which contains references to actual events:
Standing in the dock at Southampton,
Trying to get to Holland or France.
The man in the mac said, “You’ve got to turn back”.
You know they didn’t even give us a chance.
In this case, they weren’t allowed to go to France because of Lennon’s earlier drug conviction, IIRC. But that’s not a non-fiction song along the lines of “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”.
Are you interested in both types, or just purely “documentary” songs?
Jimmy Buffett has a song called “Jamaica Mistake” which tells the true story of how Jamaican authorities shot at his seaplane (which he was piloting at the time) because they mistook it for a drug-running plane. His wife, kids, and a friend were with him at the time.
Creeque Alley by the Mamas and the Papas was the story of the group’s formation. Joe Hill, the old labor organizing song sung by Joan Baez at Woodstock, is based on a real person. Money for Nothing by Dire Straits was based upon an actual overheard conversation.
Bob Dylan: “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.”
Paul Kelly took the music from this song and wrote his own song “From little things big things come” about an Australian land dispute between indigenous miners and the mine owners. (IIRC)
