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.”
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.
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!”
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.
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.
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…”
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.
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.
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.
