# Songs about real events.
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 17, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195 "2011-05-17T13:09:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/1 "2011-05-17T13:09:26Z")
Smoke On The Water is a pretty good rock interpretation of how some stupid with a flare gun burned a venue down during a concert.
Ohio about Kent State.
There are more, I just can’t think of them.
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### Author:  [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/2 "2011-05-17T13:12:32Z")
_Hurricane_ - Bob Dylan. I hear its accuracy is doubtful
_I Don’t Like Mondays_ - Boomtown Rats
_Bloody Sunday_ - U2
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### Author:  [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/3 "2011-05-17T13:14:30Z")
The Boomtown Rats’ “I Don’t Like Mondays” was inspired by a teenager who went on a shooting spree in San Diego.
_Ninja’d!_
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### Author:  [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/4 "2011-05-17T13:14:59Z")
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
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### Author:  [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/5 "2011-05-17T13:26:30Z")
Ohh, just thought of another The Way by Fastball
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### Author:  [@Kilmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilmore)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/6 "2011-05-17T13:26:34Z")
The Battle of New Orleans- Johnny Horton
The Trooper - Iron Maiden (about the Charge of the Light Brigade)
Sink the Bismark - Johnny Horton
Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald - Gordon Lightfoot
When The Tigers Broke Free - Pink Floyd (Roger Water’s father killed by Tiger tanks)
Strange Fruit - Billy Holiday
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### Author:  [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/7 "2011-05-17T14:58:05Z")
[Previous thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=573134)
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/8 "2011-05-17T14:59:25Z")
“Trouble Every Day” – The Mothers (about the 1968 Watts riots).
“Ride Captain Ride” – The Blues Image (about the **Pueblo** incident)
“Creeque Alley” – The Mamas and the Papas (the history of the members of the group)
“Acadian Driftwood” – The Band (about the history of the Cajuns).
“Sub Rosa Subway” – Klaatu (the first New York City subway line, built in secret)
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### Author:  [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/9 "2011-05-17T15:02:40Z")
I think we did a thread about this not too far back.
Al Stewart’s album _Past, Present & Future_ has a historical theme, with each song depicting a different decade of the 20th century. Several pertain to specific historical events and personages – “Warren Harding” (about the 29th President of the US), “The Last Day of June 1934” (about the Night of the Long Knives in Germany), and “Roads to Moscow” (about the defense of Moscow against the Nazis).
There are a lot of old folk and blues songs about real natural disasters (floods, mine collapses, etc.). Also, the subgenre of folk called “talking blues” is often about specific events (e.g., Phil Ochs’ “Talkin’ Cuban Crisis”). There are a lot of protest songs about real events (e.g., Dylan’s “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll”). Also, calypso songs were often about real events.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/10 "2011-05-17T15:05:57Z")
Alice’s Restaurant - Arlo Guthrie
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### Author:  [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/11 "2011-05-17T16:17:26Z")
Peter Gabriel wrote about the attempted assassination of George Wallace in [Family Snapshot](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Snapshot)
Harry Chapin wrote about a truck accident in [30,000 Pounds of Bananas](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30,000_Pounds_of_Bananas)
Pearl Jam (Eddie Vedder) wrote about two school shootings in [Jeremy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_%28song%29#Lyrics)
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/12 "2011-05-17T16:29:40Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#):
>
> “Ride Captain Ride” – The Blues Image (about the **Pueblo** incident)
Wow, I had no idea.
CSNY - Woodstock
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### Author:  [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/13 "2011-05-17T16:40:37Z")
_John Wayne Gacy Jr._ - Sufjan Stevens
> [@lieu](#):
>
> CSNY - Woodstock
Joni Mitchell
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### Author:  [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/14 "2011-05-17T16:41:35Z")
[Claude Dallas](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DlOK2410xc)
Ballad by Tom Russell/Ian Tyson. Happened near my home, and I know a few of the people involved.
SS
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### Author:  [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/15 "2011-05-17T16:58:52Z")
Pete Seeger’s “Reuben James” (not the other song about a black man of that name) – about the sinking of a U.S. destroyer by a U-boat in the lead-up to U.S. entry into WWII
“The Night Chicago Died”
Not strictly fitting the category, but most of the imagery in “America the Beautiful” was taken from a trip taken by the lyricist (Katherine Bates) to see the Columbian Exposition and Pikes Peak. (Chicago tie-in!)
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### Author:  [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/16 "2011-05-17T17:04:39Z")
“Hey Man Nice Shot,” by Filter.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/17 "2011-05-17T17:09:45Z")
Some people speculate that “I’m Your Captain” by Grand Funk Railroad is about Lt Com [Marcus Arnheiter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius_Arnheiter).
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### Author:  [@vix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vix)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/18 "2011-05-17T17:33:54Z")
“Cold Missouri Waters” covered by Cry Cry Cry. It’s about the Mann Gulch fire, which Norman Maclean wrote about in “Young Men and Fire.”
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### Author:  [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/19 "2011-05-17T17:42:12Z")
_Stack O’Lee Blues_ was based on a [real incident](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagger_Lee_Shelton#The_crime).
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### Author:  [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-events/582195/20 "2011-05-17T17:44:20Z")
_We Didn’t Start the Fire_ - Billy Joel
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