# Songs about historical events **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 9, 2010, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532 "2010-04-09T14:54:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/21 "2010-04-09T17:29:45Z")
> [@HelloNinja](#): > > I don’t know if this counts, but \*\*Uncle Tupelo \*\*had a song called “New Madrid” that though not directly about the major New Madrid earthquake of 1811, seems to use a lot of disaster and earthquake imagery. I always thought that it was a commentary on the media frenzy in 1990 when [Iben Browning](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iben_Browning) predicted that there was going to be another big one, but which never came to pass. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/22 "2010-04-09T17:37:18Z")
> [@detop](#): > > Al Stewart’s _Past, Present and Future_ album contains several historical based song with among others : “The last day of June 1934” (about the night of the long knives) and “Roads to Moscow”. In fact there are several songs based on historical events in his whole catalog. This is what I came in to say, but you beat me to it. Good call! ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/23 "2010-04-09T17:44:42Z")
The Hurricane by Bob Dylan. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/24 "2010-04-09T17:45:04Z")
> [@ghardester](#): > > **Joe Hill** , not Joe Young. I dreamed I saw Mighty Joe Young last night. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/25 "2010-04-09T17:48:28Z")
“James Connolly” by Black 47 which is about [this fellow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Connolly). ---
**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:** [April 9, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/26 "2010-04-09T18:01:27Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > Two words…Iron Maiden! That’s what I came in here to say! There’s an excellent prog band called Iona… they’re a Christian band, but many their lyrics deal mainly with the historical aspects of the religion. They also write a bit about the history of Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/27 "2010-04-09T18:12:12Z")
Thought of another one - “Wasn’t That a Mighty Storm” about the 1900 Galveston hurricane. Brought up in a thread about “if they write folk and blues songs about how precarious your city is with regards to hurricanes and flooding, maybe your ass better evacuate when the time comes.” Good advice. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/28 "2010-04-09T18:16:46Z")
Crusader - Chris de Burgh, he has some others as well. ---
**Author:** ![Carl\_Corey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Carl\_Corey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carl_Corey)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/29 "2010-04-09T18:19:35Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > The Christmas Eve 1915 truce by [Jerry Lynch](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT0ysO58KXE) and [Celtic Thunder](http://www.slack-time.com/music-video-5025-Celtic-Thunder-Christmas-1915). > And a [similar song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujJD122Yd9U) that oddly places it in 1914. 1914 was the date of the first Christmas Truce. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/30 "2010-04-09T18:23:11Z")
There’s [The World Turned Upside Down](http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk/archives/the_world_turned_upside_down.html), which according to the linked web site was written by someone named Leon Rosselson, but which I know as a Billy Bragg song. ---
**Author:** ![Ronald\_C.Semone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@Ronald\_C.Semone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ronald_C.Semone)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/31 "2010-04-09T18:26:29Z")
_The Battle of Maxton Field_ about the Lumbee indians breaking up a Ku Klux Klan meeting in North Carolina in 1958. _The Star Spangled Banner_ about that flag still waving. _Remember Pearl Harbor_ _Over There_ “…the Yanks are coming.” _My Name is Terry Roberts_ I’m not sure that is the correct spelling of the name, but it is about the integration of the schools in Little Rock Arkansas…“I went down to the schoolhouse, the one they kept me from, and all their guns were pointed at the color of my skin.” The list goes on and on. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2010, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/32 "2010-04-09T18:33:00Z")
“The Night Chicago Died” – Paper Lace (loosely based upon the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre). “When the Levee Breaks” – Memphis Minnie (about the Mississippi floods of 1927). “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” – The Band (Civil War in general) “Acadian Driftwood” – The Band (the history of the Cajuns, with a direct reference to the French and Indian War). “Only You Know How” and “September 11th at the Shambhala Center” – The Roches (9/11) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/33 "2010-04-09T18:36:13Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Thought of another one - “Wasn’t That a Mighty Storm” about the 1900 Galveston hurricane. The title of that one is actually “Galveston Flood” (a phrase which confusingly appears nowhere in the lyrics). I linked it above. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/34 "2010-04-09T18:40:46Z")
[Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nImWvQOvrg&feature=related) - The Nashville Bluegrass Band About the death of country music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/35 "2010-04-09T19:02:25Z")
I don’t know if this one qualifies as a singular historical event, but _Four Green Fields_ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsaQPobUZiM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsaQPobUZiM) as covered by Tommy Makem about the partitioning of Northern Ireland. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/36 "2010-04-09T19:02:50Z")
One of the most moving is [Louisiana, 1927](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGs2iLoDUYE&feature=PlayList&p=596A1C9FC58EB2DB&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=18), by Randy Newman. Another is [The Band Played Waltzing Matilda](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI). ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/37 "2010-04-09T19:32:37Z")
Todd Rundgren/Utopia: “Hiroshima” Fairport Convention: “Red and Gold” (about the [Battle of Cropredy Bridge](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cropredy_Bridge)); “Wat Tyler” (about the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381); “The Bonny Bunch of Roses” (traditional song about the defeat of Napoleon) Willie Johnson: [“Stalin Wasn’t Stallin’”](http://web.archive.org/web/20051219072035/http://www.authentichistory.com/audio/ww2/stalinstallin.html) ---
**Author:** ![Parenchyma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Parenchyma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Parenchyma)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/38 "2010-04-09T19:36:29Z")
On a bet, Richard Meyer was challenged to write a song on an impossible topic: the Teapot Dome scandal. Unfortunately it’s not on Youtube and you’d have to pay to get it from iTunes. I’ve heard it covered by John Gorka, and it’s actually a pretty good song. Here’s a couple of stanzas: "THE JANUARY COLD The year was nineteen twenty one Woodrow Wilson was not well He was beaten by the aftermath of the ‘War to end all wars’ And handsome Warren Harding stood in the January cold And swore to restore America’s God given heart a soul. Harding was an average man whose friends played him for a fool They abused the nation and the man to keep their pockets full The consecrated president with a child by an affair Assured me and my countrymen with his wife whose name was clear…" ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/39 "2010-04-09T19:36:41Z")
Well, you can get a bunch from the early catalogues of Phil Ochs (“Talking Cuban Crisis”, “The Marines Have Landed on the Shores of Santo Domingo”, etc.), Bob Dylan (“Only a Pawn in Their Game”, “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”, etc.), and some other folkies. “Monterey”, by Eric Burdon and the Animals, is a recounting of the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, which ushered in the San Francisco Sound and, to some extent, the whole psychedelic era. “New Speedway Boogie”, by the Grateful Dead, is about Altamont. And of course there’s “Woodstock” (written by Joni Mitchell, popularized by CSNY). “Christmas in the Trenches” by John McCutcheon is about the 1914 “Christmas Truce”. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532/40 "2010-04-09T19:41:15Z")
[The Lonesome Death of Rachel Corrie](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WME495PWWJE) - Billy Bragg [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-historical-events/535532.md?page=3)