A favorite topic for musicians is songs about other musicians. Herte is a place for them.
Here’s a tune about Neko Case:
And this one is supposedly about Lydia Lunch
Your turn…
“Crash On The Barrelhead” by Old 97s is supposedly about Ryan Adams.
Jayne Mansfield
W.A. Mozart
Is there a limitation regarding having to explicitly name the person / muso or them having to be a real musician?
Johnny Be Goode would count as a fictional [possibly fictionalised] candidate.
David Bowie’s Song for Bob Dylan
Edwyn Collins’ Campaign for Real Rock - also mostly about His Bobness
Songs about John Lennon, written and performed after he was murdered:
Hats off to (Roy) Harper
Blind Willie McTell
Randy Newman’s “The Story of a Rock and Roll Band” is a tongue-in-cheek song about Electric Light Orchestra.
Chixdiggit - Henry Rollins Is No Fun
Stevie Wonder’s song about Duke Ellington:
Bowie’s In Space / Flight of the Conchords
Robbie Fulks, “Fountains of Wayne Hotline”
Would Nerf Herder’s song Van Halen count?
Van Morrison - Jackie Wilson Said
(side fact: this recording is a miracle, it’s a first take, no overdubs, and it’s perfect)
Joni Mitchell - Furry Sings The Blues (about an encounter with blues singer Furry Lewis)
Richard and Linda Thompson - Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed (about the mysterious death of Richard’s former bandmate Sandy Denny)
Emmylou Harris - Boulder To Birmingham (about the death of her former duet partner Gram Parsons)
American Pie by Don McLean
Creeque Alley drops the names of two Spoonfuls, a Byrd and a New Christy Minstrel, as well as being totally self-referential.
Of course, you have to have Lynyrd Skynyrd for Sweet Home Alabama.
Dave Brubeck Quartet - The Duke
Keith Don’t Go / Nils Lofgren
Another one about Mozart:
Dandy Warhols “Cool as Kim Deal”
