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
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
Liz Phair’s Stratford on Guy 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”
He’s also mentioned in Neil Young’s (together with Pearl Jam) Downtown(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
“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
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
Beastie Boys, “New Style”
If I played guitar I’d be Jimmy Page
The girlies I like are underage
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
Electric Light Orchestra, “Rockaria”:
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”:
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
So “Say Hey” Willie, tell the Cobb, and Joe DiMaggio
Centerfield by John Fogerty
Thunder Road - Springsteen
“Roy Orbison singing for the lonely…”
I love that song!
The Pretenders, “Message of Love”:
When love walks in the room
Everybody stand up
Oh it’s good, good, good
Like Brigitte Bardot
“Radar Love” – Golden Earring:
“Peggy Lee’s comin’ on strong.”
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,
Another Brigitte Bardot reference (and a whole lot others):
Bob Dylan - I Shall Be Free
[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.
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.
Heck, there are a lot of them. There’s one in the Bad Examples song “She Smiles Like Richard Nixon” (“She smiles like Richard Nixon / Walks like Brigitte Bardot”)
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
Counting Crows “Mr. Jones” mentions Bob Dylan and Picasso.