# Songs about famous people **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2009, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832 "2009-01-24T21:48:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/41 "2009-01-25T08:09:13Z")
Queen in Killer Queen, name drops Marie Antoinette, Kruschov and Kennedy. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/42 "2009-01-25T08:10:05Z")
Amy Ray “Lucystoners” = Lucy Stone (influential suffragette) Bauhaus “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” The Postal Service “Clark Gable” Drive-By Truckers “Danko/Manuel” = Richard Manuel & Rick Danko (The Band) Local H “Eddie Vedder” Panic! At the Disco “I Constantly Thank God For Esteban” Kill Hannah “I Wanna Be A Kennedy” Sons and Daughters “Johnny Cash” Billy Bragg “Levi Stubbs’ Tears” (The Four Tops) Black Box Recorder “Lord Lucan is Missing” Urge Overkill “Sister Havana” = Fidel Castro Elliott Smith “Son Of Sam” Jack Off Jill “Star No Star” = Jeordie White (bassist for A Perfect Circle & Marilyn Manson) Chuck Prophet “West Memphis Moon” = [The West Memphis Three](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_West_Memphis_Three) ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/43 "2009-01-25T08:57:46Z")
Sheryl Crow namechecks The Clash in “You’re An Original.” She also namechecks Mercedes Ruehl in “A Change Would Do You Good.” The kings of this are probably Half Man Half Biscuit. On their first album, they namecheck Fred Titmus, Bob Todd, Nerys Hughes, Len Ganley, and Jim Reeves. The song “Peanuts” on The Police’s debut album is allegedly about Rod Stewart. Oasis’ “Cast No Shadow” is about The Verve’s Richard Ashcroft. U2’s “God Part II” is about John Lennon. David Essex’s “Rock On” namechecks James Dean. Tears For Fears’ “Sowing The Seeds of Love” references Paul Weller obliquely: the line “take out the style, bring back the jam” refers to The Style Council and The Jam. The Police’s “When The World Is Running Down” references James Brown appearing on the T.A.M.I. Show. The Special AKA wrote a hit song “Free Nelson Mandela.” As did Simple Minds, with “Mandela Day.” R.E.M.'s “Feeling Gravitys Pull” references Man Ray. And “Exhuming McCarthy” refers to Sen. Joe McCarthy. The Pretenders’ “Back On The Chain Gang” is about their departed guitarist, Jimmy Honeyman-Scott. Morrissey’s “The Last of The Famous International Playboys” is about the Kray brothers. As a Smith, he also wrote “Suffer Little Children,” about the victims of the Moors murderers. New Order’s “I.C.B.” supposedly stands for “Ian Curtis Buried.” Michael Hutchence is the subject of several songs: U2’s “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” Duran Duran’s “Michael, You’ve Got A Lot To Answer For,” and INXS’ “God’s Top Ten.” The Clash wrote the song “Sean Flynn” about the journalist and son of Errol Flynn. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/44 "2009-01-25T09:05:50Z")
[ul][_]Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love” namechecks James Brown, Bob Marley, Smokey Robinson, Hamilton Bohannon, George Clinton, Bootsy Collins, Sly and Robbie, and Kurtis Blow[_]Red Hot Chili Peppers talked about Bob Marley, poet and prophet in “Give It Away Now”[_]Rufus Wainwright’s “Memphis Skyline” PJ Harvey’s “Memphis” and Duncan Sheik’s “A Body Goes Down” are all about Jeff Buckley and his death[_]“Astrud” by Polish singer Basia is a paean to the mistress of samba, Astrud GilbertoCrowded House shared “Chocolate Cake” with Picasso, Tammy Faye Bakker, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Andy Warhol, Elvis Presley and Liberace[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/45 "2009-01-25T09:18:07Z")
“Smoke on the Water,” while not specifically about him, mentions Frank Zappa. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/46 "2009-01-25T09:28:13Z")
Alan Jackson’s _Five O’Clock Somewhere_ “What would Jimmy Buffett do?” ---
**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:** [January 25, 2009, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/47 "2009-01-25T10:11:56Z")
[Creeque Alley](http://www.lyrics007.com/The%20Mamas%20&%20the%20Papas%20Lyrics/Creeque%20Alley%20Lyrics.html)-The Mamas and The Papas ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/48 "2009-01-25T10:33:21Z")
Does name dropping count? In honor of this [post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10732892&postcount=28), Simon and Garfunkel’s **A Simple Desultory Phillipic** mentions Norman Mailer Maxwell Taylor John O’Hara McNamara Rolling Stones Beatles Ayn Rand Phil Spector Lou Adler Barry Sadler Lenny Bruce Dylan Dylan Thomas Mick Jagger Andy Warhol Roy Halee Art Garfunkel. Neil Diamond’s **Done Too Soon** mentions Jesus Christ Fanny Brice Wolfie Mozart Humphrey Bogart Genghis Khan H. G. Wells Ho Chi Minh Gunga Din Henry Luce John Wilkes Booth Alexanders King and Graham Bell Ramar Krishna, Mama Whistler Patrice Lumumba Russ Colombo Karl and Chico Marx Albert Camus E. A. Poe Henri Rousseau Sholom Aleichem Caryl Chessman Alan Freed Buster Keaton. OK, who is Maxwell Taylor, John O’Hara, Roy Halee, Alexander King, Patrice Lumumba and Sholom Aleichem? ---
**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:** [January 25, 2009, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/49 "2009-01-25T10:53:17Z")
Nerf Herder’s “Van Halen,” while about the band, does mention Sammy Hagar by full name and Eddie Van Halen and David Lee Roth by their first names. [“Life Is a Rock”](http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/l/lifeisarockbuttheradiorolledme.shtml) is another one loaded with famous names, among them, Lesley Gore, Richie Valens, Carly Simon, Edgar Winter, and Eric Clapton. “Rock and Roll Heaven” mentions Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Jim Morrison, Jim Croce, and Bobby Darin by first names. “Rock and Roll Heaven '92,” an update recorded by the Righteous Brothers, mentions Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Roy Orbison, Jackie Wilson, Rick Nelson, Dennis Wilson, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, “Mama” Cass Elliot, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/50 "2009-01-25T16:25:51Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Bauhaus “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” That reminds me of “Legend of a Mind” by The Moody Blues, which is about Timothy Leary and contains the line “Timothy Leary’s dead.” ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/51 "2009-01-25T16:40:44Z")
Pete Townshend wrote “Jools and Jim” about 2 journalists who had said bad stuff about Keith Moon after he died. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/52 "2009-01-25T16:49:26Z")
> [@](#): > > by **Cuckoorex** > Mojo Nixon sings “Elvis is Dead” You forgot to mention his tender and heart-warming ballad about his love for Martha Quinn. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/53 "2009-01-25T17:53:09Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > Mojo Nixon sings “Elvis is Dead” And the Dead Milkmen sang (in [Punk Rock Girl](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zc_7-EN7sJw)): _We asked for Mojo Nixon They said “He don’t work here” We said “If you don’t know ‘bout Mojo Nixon then your store could use some fixin’”_ ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/54 "2009-01-25T19:46:49Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > OK, who is Maxwell Taylor, John O’Hara, Roy Halee, Alexander King, Patrice Lumumba and Sholom Aleichem? [ul][li]Former Army Chief of Staff [Maxwell Taylor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Taylor)[/li][li]mid-twentieth century American fiction writer [John O’Hara](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_o%27hara)[/li][li]African anti-colonialist and Prime Minister of the Republic of Congo [Patrice Lumumba](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba)[/li][li]turn-of-the-(20th)-century writer of Yiddish literature, and creator of Tevye the milkman (see _Fiddler on the Roof_) [Sholom Aleichem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sholom_aleichem)[/ul][/li] As for Alexander King, note that the line in the song is “Alexanders, King and Graham Bell”. That’s two Alexanders; one of them the inventor of the telephone, and the other a king. Presumably Alexander the Great. Roy Halee is credited as the producer on the Simon And Garfunkel album _Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme_, whence comes the song “A Simple Desultory Phillipic”. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/55 "2009-01-25T20:04:48Z")
Speaking of Simon and Garfunkel, a song about the person, rather than just a name drop would be “So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright.” The Manhattan Transfer, on their album _Mecca For Moderns_ sing a song called “(Wanted) Dead or Alive” which commemorates the 1979 sackings of several world leaders, including Park Chung Hee, Idi Amin, the Shah of Iran, Anastasio Somoza, and Ian Smith. Also mentioned are Gairy and Achem Pong, but I can’t figure out who they were. Late-breaking research suggests that Achem Pong was Ghanian Head of State Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, who, although he was deposed in 1978, was executed in 1979. Further, Eric Gairy appears to have been the Prime Minister of Grenada from 1967 to 1979. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/56 "2009-01-25T20:21:38Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > If you include novelty-type songs there are lots. > > Tom Lehrer wrote “Werner von Braun,” “Alma”, “Whatever Became of Hubert [Humphrey]”, etc. Of course those songs were intentionally written on current events for “That Was The Week That Was”. You mention these and forget Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/57 "2009-01-25T20:25:23Z")
Nobody’s mentioned Eric Burdon’s “Monterey” yet? Name-dropped: Jimi Hendrix, Hugh Masakela, Ravi Shankar and “His Majesty Prince Jones” meaning Brian Jones of the Stones. (Also mentioned - the Byrds, the (Jefferson) Airplane, the Who and the Grateful Dead.) The traditional blues song “Stagger Lee” was about a real life gangster, and Mae West’s trademark song “Frankie & Johnny” was about a famous couple, sort of the 1890s version of Sid & Nancy. The legendary railroad engineer Casey Jones had two songs - the traditional folk ballad “Ballad of Casey Jones” and, of course, the Grateful Dead’s own “Casey Jones.” “Tear In Your Hand” by Tori Amos name-checks fantasy author Neil Gaiman (“Me & Neil will be hanging out with the dream king. Neil says hi by the way.”) ---
**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:** [January 25, 2009, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/58 "2009-01-25T21:27:51Z")
“You Get What You Give” by the New Radicals: “Fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson…” Are the Eagles celebrities? Some more than others? “Your Mama Don’t Dance and Your Daddy Don’t Rock and Roll” by Loggins and Messina name checks one of the Eagles (Timothy B. Schmidt). “Don Henley Must Die” by Mojo Nixon name checks two more (“Don’t let him get together with Glenn Frey”). Rita Hayworth is mentioned a couple of times on the most recent White Stripes album. “I Dig Rock N Roll Music” by Peter, Paul and Mary mentions the Mamas and the Papas. “I Do the Rock” by Tim Curry drops scads of names. I’d list them, but he apparently updates the lyrics every couple of years. “Well Did You Evah,” as sung by Debbie Harry and Iggy Pop on some Cole Porter tribute album a while back, has a backhanded reference to Pia Zadora and what she did to Pickfair when she bought it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/59 "2009-01-25T22:34:40Z")
More Mojo: Don Henley Must Die ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/60 "2009-01-25T22:54:59Z")
**Johnny Q** , that song was mentioned in the post right above yours. Seems like this is gonna be an awfully long thread if it’s just about namechecks. The Police’s “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” mentions Nabokov Sting’s “They Dance Alone” mentions Pinochet Then there’s Madonna’s “Vogue” – Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe, Marlene Dietrich, Joe DiMaggio, Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean, Grace Kelly, Jean Harlow, Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Rita Hayworth, Lauren Bacall, Katharine Hepburn\*, Lana Turner, and Bette Davis. - Well, she just says “Katharine,” so I suppose it could be Catherine Deneuve, Kathryn Grayson, or any other variant, but from context I’m assuming she means La Hepburn! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832.md?page=4)