# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/61 "2019-08-03T00:33:59Z")
More Bob Dylan “From a Buick 6”: She walks like Bo Diddley and she don’t need no crutch “Outlaw Blues”: Ain’t gonna hang no picture, ain’t gonna hang no frame Well I might look like Robert Ford, but I feel just like Jesse James “As I Went Out One Morning”: Just then Tom Paine himself came running from across the field “Black Diamond Bay”: I was sitting home alone one night In L.A. watching old Cronkite On the seven o’clock news “Black Diamond Bay” ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/62 "2019-08-03T01:15:50Z")
**Cowboy Junkies - Sun Comes Up, It’s Tuesday Morning (John Coltrane)** Lunchtime. I start to dial your number then I remember so I reach for something to smoke and anyways I’d rather listen to Coltrane than go through all that shit again **Paul Simon - Take Me To the Mardi Gras (Jelly Roll Morton)** Take your burdens to the Mardi Gras Let the music wash your soul You can mingle in the street You can jingle to the beat Of Jelly Roll **Paul Simon - That Was Your Mother (Clifton Chenier)** Well, I’m standing on the corner of Lafayette State of Louisiana Wondering what a city boy could do To get her in a conversation Drink a little red wine Dance to the music of Clifton Chenier The King of the Bayou \*\* Tom Petty - Runnin’ Down a Dream (Del Shannon)\*\* It was a beautiful day, the sun beat down I had the radio on, I was drivin’ Trees flew by, me and Del were singin’ little Runaway I was flyin’ ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/63 "2019-08-03T01:22:50Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > Coincidentally, I’m listening to Pink Floyd today. > > _Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?_ I wouldn’t call that “in passing”. The song is specifically about her. It’s called “Vera”. Three of the four lines either mention her by name or use a pronoun that refers to her. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/64 "2019-08-03T02:32:33Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > It is actually Brenda Lee. Yep. My error. ---
**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 3, 2019, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/65 "2019-08-03T03:16:52Z")
“It’s Still Rock & Roll to Me”, Billy Joel _How about a pair of pink sidewinders And a bright orange pair of pants? Well, you could really be a Beau Brummel, baby If you just give it half a chance_ ---
**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 3, 2019, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/66 "2019-08-03T06:27:05Z")
_R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A. (A Salute to 60’s Rock)_ by John Mellencamp _There was Frankie Lyman-Bobby Fuller-Mitch Ryder (They were Rockin’) Jackie Wilson-Shangra-las-Young Rascals (They were Rockin’) Spotlight on Martha Reeves Let’s don’t forget James Brown Rockin’ in the U.S.A. Rockin’ in the U.S.A. Hey!_ ---
**Author:** ![RobotDevilDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@RobotDevilDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobotDevilDog)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/67 "2019-08-03T07:46:09Z")
Since _R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A._ was already mentioned, here are a few more from John Mellencamp. _Ain’t Even Done with the Night_ - You got your hands in my back pockets, and Sam Cooke’s singing on the radio _Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)_ - This loud Cuban band is crucifying John Lennon _Eden Is Burning_ - Diane and Jack went to the movies, they went to see Richard Pryor _Peaceful World_ - Racism lives in the U.S. today, better get hip to what Martin Luther King had to say ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Sudan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chad_sudan/32/4509_2.png) [@Chad\_Sudan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_Sudan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/68 "2019-08-03T09:08:14Z")
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions’ debut LP **"Rattlesnakes"** is full of such name-checks… https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=OLAK5uy_mVzy-N2rEKo2xH5K8_EzLdV3DaVgTJ314&wmode=transparent&rel=0&autohide=1&showinfo=1&enablejsapi=1 … because it’s an aspiring intellectual’s wry commentary on all the other aspiring intellectuals around him. **"Four Flights Up"** “You can drive them back to town in a beat-up Grace Kelly car/ Looking like a friend of Truman Capote, looking exactly like you are” **"Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?"** “Looking like a born again/Living like a heretic/ Listening to Arthur Lee records” “Read Norman Mailer/Or get a new tailor.” **"Rattlesnakes"** “She looks like Eve Marie Saint/In ‘On the Waterfront’” “As she reads Simone de Beauvoir/In her American circumstance.” \*\*“Perfect Skin” \*\*“At the age of ten/She looked like Greta Garbo/ And I loved her then/but how was she to know” ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/69 "2019-08-03T09:55:37Z")
“Let 'Em In” - Wings Sister Suzy (Linda McCartney) Martin Luther (John Lennon) Phil and Don (Everly) Uncle Ernie (Either Keith Moon or Ringo - I’ve heard it both ways) ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/70 "2019-08-03T12:24:39Z")
Country music fan weighing in: **"I Feel Lucky" Mary Chapin Carpenter** “Dwight Yoakam’s in the corner trying to catch my eye Lyle Lovett’s right beside me with his hand upon my thigh” **"Here I Am" Lyle Lovett** “If Ford is to Chevrolet What Dodge is to Chrysler What Corn Flakes are to Post Toasties What the clear blue sky is to the deep blue sea What Hank Williams is to Neil Armstrong Can you doubt we were made for each other?” **"If I Had a Boat" Lyle Lovett** "If I were Roy Rogers I’d sure enough be single I couldn’t bring myself to marrying an old Dale Well, it’d just be me and Trigger We’d go riding through them movies Then we’d buy a boat and on the sea we’d sail **Alan Jackson "Gone Country"** “Some of these folks don’t sound much different than Dylan.” **Alan Jackson "Don’t Rock the Jukebox"** “Don’t rock the jukebox, I wanna hear George Jones My heart ain’t ready for the Rolling Stones” ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2019, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/71 "2019-08-03T12:30:59Z")
**"You Get What You Give" New Radicals** “Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson You’re all fakes, run to your mansions Come around, we’ll kick your asses!” Told THEM, huh? ---
**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 3, 2019, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/72 "2019-08-03T16:08:13Z")
Horatio Hellpop’s post reminded me of one: Dixie Chicks, “[Long Time Gone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2c5b8ZtjwwY)” Now they sound tired but they don’t sound Haggard They’ve got money but they don’t have Cash They got Junior but they don’t have Hank ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2019, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/73 "2019-08-04T16:46:37Z")
A snippet from Detention’s [Dead Rock n’Rollers"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB_qbfbmT_s) \*Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin And Keith Moon and Elvis Presley Are dead, dead, dead Pulled the plug on themselves Dead rock n rollers they were outta-conrtollers Played the drug game but they couldn’t maintain And now they’re dead, dead, dead Offed themselves for the big buzz Jimmy Morrison and Sid Vicious And John Belushi and John Bonham Were weak, weak, weak Couldn’t take it at the peak Dead rock n rollers they were outta-controllers I guess they felt lame so they snuffed their brains And now they’re dead, dead, dead Why couldn’t it be Barry Manilow? I mean I was never crazy about John Lennon But at least he didn’t drown to death in his own puke And what about you, Jim Carroll? All your friends have What are you waiting for? Do it!\* Some fine lads from Wisconsin known as Killdozer, and this is a section from their tribute to Irwin Allen in [Man vs Nature](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xy-kUckbTw) _On the television, a ship was sinking It seemed so real, but it was just a movie Made by Irwin Allen (my, what a relief) And on this ship was Ernest Borgnine Brave in the face of certain death He played a cop on a pleasure cruise Along with his wife, an ex-prostitute Shelley Winters, she was on the ship She was good, too- but she died As did Gene Hackman, a preacher Who gave his life so that others could live He died shouting “how many more lives?!” On the screen, the city crumbled So realistic, but but yet another film By the master of realism, mr. Irwin Allen No less a man than Lorne Green, and mr. George Kennedy Risked their lives to save the lives of strangers Their selflessness was moving Chuck Heston was in the movie too- but he was just a ham On the tv, a building in flames It was “Towering Inferno” by Irwin Allen O.J. Simpson led the cast In a man-against-nature fight-for-survival_ Monty Python tip their hats to Kant, Heidegger, Hume, Hegel, Wittgenstein, Schlegel, Nietzcshe, Mill, Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Descartes, and Socrates in [Bruce’s Song](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b7r5jIEe9s%22https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6b7r5jIEe9s) There’s the stupid git Sir Walter Raleigh in The Beatles’ “I’m So Tired” and Chairman Mao in “Revolution”; Edgar Allen Poe and [Semolina Pilchard](http://onabbeyroad.com/feature0306.htm) in “I Am the Walrus”\*. \*The Egg Man is Eric Burdon, who apparently had a thing for covering groupies in raw eggs. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2019, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/74 "2019-08-04T16:55:02Z")
Tom Paxton’s “I Lost My Heat on a 747”: There in the middle of a spicy movie Starring Natalie Wood. We made our vows together. Cutting our steaks the best we could. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2019, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/75 "2019-08-05T23:48:45Z")
More Bob Dylan “Desolation Row”: Einstein disguised as Robin Hood… Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot fighting in the captain’s tower… “Only a Pawn in Their Game”: A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Evers’ blood “Billy” They say Pat Garret’s got your number “Jokerman” Michelangelo himself could’ve carved out your features “High Water (for Charley Patton)”: Big Joe Turner lookin’ east and west… Well, George Lewis\* told the Englishman, the Italian, and the Jew… They got Charles Darwin trapped out there on Highway 5… \*There’re lots of [George Lewises](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Lewis); which one is this? I’m guessing the New Orleans clarinetist. Or maybe the actor who played Don Alejandro de la Vega on _Zorro_. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/76 "2019-08-06T02:40:35Z")
Pencil Thin Mustache by Jimmy Buffett “I wish I had a pencil thin mustache The ‘Boston Blackie’ kind A two-toned Ricky Ricardo jacket And an autographed picture of Andy Devine I remember bein’ buck-toothed and skinny Writin’ fan letters to Sky’s niece Penny Oh I wish I had a pencil thin mustache Then I could solve some mysteries too” ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/77 "2019-08-06T08:14:37Z")
Kim Carnes in Bette Davis Eyes: She got Greta Garbo’s standoff sighs, she’s got Bette Davis eyes Jona Louie, Stop the Cavalry: Hey, Mr. Churchill comes over here To say we’re doing splendidly ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/78 "2019-08-06T08:46:51Z")
> [@FastDan1](#): > > Sweet Home Alabama: > I hope Neil Young will remember, > Southern Man don’t need him around anyhow. That’s not in passing, given the story behind the song. _La puerta de Alcalá_, Ana Belén: _…una mañana llegó Carlos III, con aire insigne se quitó el sombrero…_ …one morning Carlos III arrived and with a grand gesture doffed his hat… _La puerta de Alcalá_, the Alcalá gate, is the monument which marks what used to be the road between Madrid and Alcalá de Henares. Replacing an older gate, it was built by Carlos III to celebrate his arrival to Madrid to be crowned king of Spain (well, of Castille and Navarre, his daddy having been legally unable to unify both into a single realm :p); he’d previously been king of Two Sicilies. A 16th-century foundation\*, Madrid never had walls but only gates marking the main roads. - There’s people who claim there was all sorts of townships there before Felipe II chose a tiny village as the placement point for his new capital. Proof is thin on the ground, being polite. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2019, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/79 "2019-08-06T09:54:48Z")
Neil Sedaka, Betty Grable: [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3AQNKUZkMPo/hqdefault.jpg "Neil Sedaka - Betty Grable") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AQNKUZkMPo) ---
**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 6, 2019, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065/80 "2019-08-06T11:14:37Z")
That Don’t Impress Me Much - Shania Twain So, you’re Brad Pitt [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/song-lyrics-that-mention-famous-people-in-passing/838065.md?page=5)