# 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:** 4
**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, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/61 "2009-01-25T23:16:18Z")
It’s not _about_ famous people, as such, but this thread seems to be accepting namechecks, so let’s go with _1985_ by Bowling for Soup: Springsteen, Madonna, Nirvana, Whitesnake (well, their car), U2, Blondie, Limp Bizkit, Duran Duran, Van Halen, Motley Crue, and Ozzy Osbourne (or is it Osborne?). The Jonas Brothers, in _The Year 3000_ talk about their song outselling Kelly Clarkson. And Gretchen Wilson in _Redneck Woman_ gives shout-outs to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kid Rock (I presume), George Strait, Charlie Daniels, Tanya Tucker, and someone named Old Bocephus, who, I have been told, is actually Hank Williams Jr. Oh, and speaking of Sting, his song _Russians_ namechecks “Oppenheimer’s deadly toy.” ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/62 "2009-01-25T23:39:08Z")
“Alice Childress” by Ben Folds Five “Alec Eiffel” by the Get Up Kids “I Am Fred Astaire” by Taking Back Sunday “Frank Sinatra” by Cake ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/63 "2009-01-26T01:11:24Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > You mention these and forget Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky? 😃 I had him in there at first, but I figured “famous” didn’t include people known only to mathematicians and Tom Lehrer fans. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/64 "2009-01-26T02:20:44Z")
The Eagles did the song “James Dean” and the Beach Boys sang about him in “A Young Man Is Gone” The Rotters sang “Sit On My Face, Stevie Nicks” ---
**Author:** ![apollonia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2bfe46/32.png) [@apollonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/apollonia)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/65 "2009-01-26T02:28:18Z")
Rhett Miller’s song “Our Love” both Richard Wagner and Franz Kafka, their respective lovers, and their lovers’ husbands. ---
**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 26, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/66 "2009-01-26T04:33:00Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > It’s not _about_ famous people, as such, but this thread seems to be accepting namechecks, so let’s go with _1985_ by Bowling for Soup: Yeah, I really didn’t specify in my O.P., having given “Sweet Home Alabama” as an example myself. But as long as the topic keeps going. They’re all good answers. ---
**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 26, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/67 "2009-01-26T04:57:04Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > 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). Where in the lyrics is Schmit mentioned? I’ve known the song and listened to it for 35 years and never heard it. I just listened again after reading your post and also checked the lyrics online. I know Schmit and Messina were both in Poco, so there’s a connection, but I just don’t hear the name. ---
**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 26, 2009, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/68 "2009-01-26T06:09:55Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Oh, and speaking of Sting, his song _Russians_ namechecks “Oppenheimer’s deadly toy.” Since we’re talking Sting, let’s also include: “Mad About You” is about King David. “St. Augustine in Hell” references… St. Augustine. “Bring On The Night” is about Gary Gilmore, the murderer. ---
**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 26, 2009, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/69 "2009-01-26T06:29:38Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Where in the lyrics is Schmit mentioned? I’ve known the song and listened to it for 35 years and never heard it. I just listened again after reading your post and also checked the lyrics online. I know Schmit and Messina were both in Poco, so there’s a connection, but I just don’t hear the name. Um, that’s because I mis-identified the song. It’s actually from a different L&M hit, “My Music”: “And baby if we’re early and we hurry we can get in with the band ‘Cuz little Timmy Schmidt has got his old man’s van So let’s get the gettin’ while the gettin’ is right and roll with the rhythm tonight!” ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/70 "2009-01-26T06:43:42Z")
_[Sean South of Garryowen](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZngXlJkinE&feature=related)_, here sung by the Wolfe Tones. _Sad are the homes 'round Garryowen Since lost their joy and pride And the banshee cry links every vale Along the Shannon side…_ ‘Course, it’s a matter o’ poetic license that Sean South was not actually _from_ Garryowen, but none too great’s the harm if he’s posthumously moved from one part o’ Limerick to the other, I expect. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/71 "2009-01-26T07:10:51Z")
Edmond Fitzgerald - \*The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald \* I don’t know if this counts since the man is mainly famous due to the song. He was the President and Chairman of the Board of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. ---
**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 26, 2009, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/72 "2009-01-26T09:00:39Z")
In “I Feel Lucky,” Mary Chapin Carpenter describes a perfect day that peaks with her winning the lottery, followed by “Dwight Yoakam’s in the corner, tryin’ to catch my eye / Lyle Lovett right beside me with his hand upon my thigh…” Lots of songs about meeting the ghost of Hank Williams, like “Midnight in Montgomery.” There’s a British Navy traditional chanty called “A Drop of Nelson’s Blood,” about the horrific circumstances of transporting Admiral Nelson’s dead body back to port. To preserve the corpse, they stuffed it in the last remaining rum barrel. British sailors, being as they are, drilled holes in the barrel and drew out rum with lengths of straw. By the time they got to port, the cadaver was bone dry. The refrain of the song was “A drop of Nelson’s blood wouldn’t do us any harm…” ---
**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 26, 2009, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/73 "2009-01-26T13:46:39Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Um, that’s because I mis-identified the song. It’s actually from a different L&M hit, “My Music”: > > “And baby if we’re early and we hurry we can get in with the band > ‘Cuz little Timmy Schmidt has got his old man’s van > So let’s get the gettin’ while the gettin’ is right and roll with the rhythm tonight!” Uh-huh. I’ve heard the song, just wasn’t as familiar with the lyrics, otherwise I’d have picked up on it.. And actually, it’s “Tim Smitty,” but I’ll give it to you. Schmit is familiar enough to most rock n’ roll fans. Even at the time it was written, if you knew Poco, you could figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/74 "2009-01-26T14:00:54Z")
How could I have forgotten? The Bonzo Dog Band’s “The Intro and the Outro” mentions the following members of the group: John Wayne, xylophone, Robert Morley, guitar, Adolf Hitler on vibes Princess Anne on sousaphone. Liberace, clarinet, Garner “Ted” Armstrong on vocals, Harold Wilson, violin, Eric Clapton, ukulele Sir Kenneth Clark, bass sax Casanova, on horn, General de Gaulle on accordion… Roy Rogers on Trigger. Count Basie Orchestra on triangle J. Arthur Rank on gong All are better known for other things than being in the Bonzo Dog Band. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2009, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/75 "2009-01-27T14:10:20Z")
Eva Peron & Blondel had entire musicals written about them. ---
**Author:** ![Labor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Labor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labor)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/76 "2009-01-27T14:27:44Z")
How about one that’s really obscure and another that breaks the op’s rules? OBSCURE: **Abraham** by Irving Berlin is about Abe Lincoln. It’s a pretty good old big band tune recorded by Chico Marx. RULE BREAKER: **Ein Heldenleben** by Richard Strauss has two references to actual people, the love theme is his wife, the recourring motiv of parallel fifths is the critic Dr. Hanslick. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/77 "2009-01-27T14:32:53Z")
Queen’s The Miracle mentions Jimi Hedrix,Captain Cook(and Cain and Abel) Now I’m Here mentions the band Mott the Hoople ---
**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:** [January 27, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/78 "2009-01-27T14:52:56Z")
[A Simple Desultory Philippic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Simple_Desultory_Philippic_(Or_How_I_Was_Robert_McNamara'd_Into_Submission)) by Simon & Garfunkel mentions some. ---
**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 27, 2009, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/79 "2009-01-27T18:01:22Z")
“Mrs. Robinson” by Simon and Garfunkel mentions Joe DiMaggio. So does John Fogerty’s “Centerfield,” as well as “Say Hey Willie” Mays and Ty Cobb. ---
**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:** [January 27, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832/80 "2009-01-27T19:38:07Z")
Dion’s “Abraham, Martin & John” mentions Lincoln, King, and both Kennedys. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-famous-people/482832.md?page=5)