# Song lyrics that mention famous people in passing **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [August 2, 2019, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065 "2019-08-02T15:40:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FastDan1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fastdan1/32/427_2.png) [@FastDan1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FastDan1)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/21 "2019-08-02T16:48:41Z")
Tal Bachman - _She’s So High_: 'Cause she’s so high High above me, she’s so lovely She’s so high Like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, or Aphrodite ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/22 "2019-08-02T16:52:00Z")
Smithereens- Behind the Wall of Sleep She had hair like Jeannie Shrimpton back in 1965 She had legs that never ended I was halfway paralyzed Well she held a bass guitar and she was playing in a band And she stood just like Bill Wyman Now I am her biggest fan ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/23 "2019-08-02T17:01:00Z")
Liz Phair’s [Stratford on Guy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56vkjzu6nEw) name drops both a band and a famous celeb in one verse. “And I was pretending that I was in a Galaxie 500 video The stewardess came back and checked on my drink In the last strings of sunlight, a Brigitte Bardot” ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/24 "2019-08-02T17:13:00Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > McCartney & Wings : “Rock Show” > > “Who’s that man up upon the stage? > It looks a like the one used by Jimmy Page!” He’s also mentioned in Neil Young’s (together with Pearl Jam) [Downtown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo-4viCN_w4)(just like Jimi Hendrix): _Jimi’s playin’ in the back room Led Zeppelin on stage There’s a mirror ball twirlin’ And a note from Page Like a water-washed diamond In a river of sin Goin’ down like a whirlpool When you get sucked in_ ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/25 "2019-08-02T17:21:25Z")
“It’s the End of the World as We Know It”, REM _That’s great, it starts with an earthquake Birds and snakes, and aeroplanes And Lenny Bruce is not afraid_ … “Don’t Stand So Close to Me”, The Police _It’s no use He sees her He starts to shake he starts to cough Just like the old man in That book by Nabakov_ … “My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue)”, Neil Young _The king is gone but he’s not forgotten This is the story of Johnny Rotten_ ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/26 "2019-08-02T17:22:31Z")
Jimmy Page seems like a popular subject. He’s also mentioned in moe.'s _Threw It All Away_: Crouched in the corner of your filthy cage Lookin’ like a rocker just like Jimmy Page. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/27 "2019-08-02T17:24:40Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Jimmy Page seems like a popular subject. He’s also mentioned in moe.'s _Threw It All Away_: > > Crouched in the corner of your filthy cage > Lookin’ like a rocker just like Jimmy Page. “The New Style”, Beastie Boys _If I played guitar I’d be Jimmy Page The girlie’s I like are underage (Check it!)_ … and … _Down with Adrock and Mike D. and you ain’t And I got more juice than Picasso got paint_ ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/28 "2019-08-02T17:28:27Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Jimmy Page seems like a popular subject. He’s also mentioned in moe.'s _Threw It All Away_: > > Crouched in the corner of your filthy cage > > Lookin’ like a rocker just like Jimmy Page. Beastie Boys, “New Style” If I played guitar I’d be Jimmy Page The girlies I like are underage ---
**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:** [August 2, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/29 "2019-08-02T17:32:34Z")
_Slow Turning_ by John Hiatt. _Now I’m in my car I got the radio down An’ I’m a’yellin’ at the kids in the back ‘Cause they’re bangin’ like’a Charlie Watts_ ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/30 "2019-08-02T17:44:06Z")
Electric Light Orchestra, “[Rockaria](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfK8t4j7I64)”: She’s sweet on Wagner I think she’d die for Beethoven She loves the way Puccini lays down a tune And Verdi’s always creeping from her room Murray Head, “[One Night in Bangkok](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnqj31VPNoE)”: The creme de la creme of The chess world in a show With everything But Yul Brynner and… Tea Girls Warm and sweet Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/31 "2019-08-02T17:55:50Z")
So “Say Hey” Willie, tell the Cobb, and Joe DiMaggio Centerfield by John Fogerty ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/32 "2019-08-02T18:00:32Z")
Thunder Road - Springsteen “Roy Orbison singing for the lonely…” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/33 "2019-08-02T18:01:08Z")
> [@FastDan1](#): > > Tal Bachman - _She’s So High_: > 'Cause she’s so high > High above me, she’s so lovely > She’s so high > Like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, or Aphrodite I love that song! The Pretenders, “[Message of Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL8Dj5xOjm0)”: When love walks in the room Everybody stand up Oh it’s good, good, good Like Brigitte Bardot ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/34 "2019-08-02T18:11:46Z")
“Radar Love” – Golden Earring: “Peggy Lee’s comin’ on strong.” ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/35 "2019-08-02T18:12:37Z")
Celebrity-Brad Paisley I’ll get to cry to Barbara Walters when things don’t go my way And I’ll get community service no matter which law I break I Lost On Jeopardy-Weird Al Art Fleming gave the answers, Oh, but I couldn’t get the questions right-ight-ight Well, I’m givin’ up. Don Pardo, Just tell me now what I didn’t win, ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/36 "2019-08-02T18:15:46Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I love that song! > > The Pretenders, “[Message of Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL8Dj5xOjm0)”: > > When love walks in the room > Everybody stand up > Oh it’s good, good, good > Like Brigitte Bardot Another Brigitte Bardot reference (and a whole lot others): Bob Dylan - [I Shall Be Free](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Cv3EQXwNVc) **[Well, my telephone rang it would not stop It’s President Kennedy callin’ me up He said, “My friend, Bob, what do we need to make the country grow?” I said, “My friend, John, Brigitte Bardot Anita Ekberg Sophia Loren” (Put ’em all in the same room with Ernest Borgnine!)](Well, my telephone rang, it would not stop It’s President Kennedy calling me up He said, “My friend, Bob What do we need to make the country grow?” I said, “My friend, John, Brigitte Bardot Anita Ekberg Sophia Loren” Country’ll grow)** […] [IOh, set me down on a television floor I’ll flip the channel to number four Out of the shower comes a football man With a bottle of oil in his hand Greasy kid stuff What I want to know, Mr. Football Man, is What do you do about Willy Mays Martin Luther King Olatunji \* […] _Well, they ask me why I’m drunk all the time It levels my head and eases my mind I just walk along and stroll and sing I see better days and I do better things I catch dinosaurs Make love to Elizabeth Taylor Catch hell from Richard Burton)_ And there are tons more of Dylan songs to mention famous people, as well as Van Morrison’s. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/37 "2019-08-02T18:22:21Z")
Werewolves of London by Warren Zevon mentions “Lon Chaney walking with the queen”, and in some versions seeing “Jack Nicholson drinking a pina colada at Trader Vic’s”. His hair was perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/38 "2019-08-02T18:24:50Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Another Brigitte Bardot reference Heck, there are a lot of them. There’s one in the Bad Examples song “[She Smiles Like Richard Nixon](https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&ei=k3xEXem4JZHaswXnz524AQ&q=she+smiles+like+richard+nixon&oq=she+smiles+like+richard+nixon&gs_l=psy-ab.3..0i22i30.685192.692954..693261...0.0..1.274.3132.16j12j1......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i71j0i67j0i131j0j35i39j0i273j33i299j33i160..11%3A1j12%3A24j13%3A0.sARFeQkmKzg&ved=0ahUKEwipzo2v5OTjAhUR7awKHednBxcQ4dUDCAo&uact=5)” (“She smiles like Richard Nixon / Walks like Brigitte Bardot”) ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/39 "2019-08-02T18:25:28Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > **[Well, my telephone rang it would not stop > It’s President Kennedy callin’ me up > He said, “My friend, Bob, what do we need to make the country grow?” > I said, “My friend, John, Brigitte Bardot > Anita Ekberg > Sophia Loren” > (Put ’em all in the same room with Ernest Borgnine!)](Well, my telephone rang, it would not stop It’s President Kennedy calling me up He said, “My friend, Bob What do we need to make the country grow?” I said, “My friend, John, Brigitte Bardot Anita Ekberg Sophia Loren” Country’ll grow)** Sorry, fucked that quote up, I foolishly copied the lyrics from the official Boby Dylan website, and this is the most unreliable source for Dylan lyrics you will find, ironically. Here’s how it’s sung on “Freewheelin’”: _Well, my telephone rang, it would not stop It’s President Kennedy calling me up He said, “My friend, Bob What do we need to make the country grow?” I said, “My friend, John, Brigitte Bardot Anita Ekberg Sophia Loren” Country’ll grow_ ---
**Author:** ![Royal\_Nonesutch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecb155/32.png) [@Royal\_Nonesutch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Royal_Nonesutch)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2019, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/40 "2019-08-02T18:36:05Z")
Counting Crows “Mr. Jones” mentions Bob Dylan and Picasso. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065.md?page=3)