# Songs about real people **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 17, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712 "2006-10-17T00:34:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/41 "2006-10-17T10:41:03Z")
The Manhattan Transfer’s signature piece “Birdland” was about Charlie Parker I don’t know it as a fact, but I strongly suspect that Country Joe and the Fish’s “Sweet Lorraine” was about somebody in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/42 "2006-10-17T10:53:11Z")
Joey Ramone wrote “Maria Bartiromo” about the CNBC news reporter. LA Style had a song titled “James Brown Is Dead,” about hearing a (mistaken) news report about the singer’s death. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/43 "2006-10-17T11:00:40Z")
**They Might Be Giants** Meet James Ensor James K. Polk The Day Marvin Gaye and Phil Ochs Got Married **Warren Zevon** Boom-Boom Mancini Bill Lee **Monty Python** Henry Kissenger ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/44 "2006-10-17T11:48:37Z")
Loquillo’s _El Fantasma de Elvis_ (The ghost of Elvis) Loquillo’s _Me convertí en hombre lobo por culpa de los Rebeldes_ (I became a wolfman and it was Rebeldes’ fault; Rebeldes is another Spanish RnR band and one of their first songs was _El rock del hombre lobo_, Wolfman’s Rock) Sabina’s _Yo quiero ser una chica Almodóvar_ (I want to be one of Almodovar’s leading ladies) Sabina’s _Y nos dieron las diez_ (And the clock struck ten; it was written for Rocío Durcal and talks about “a cat-eyed woman”, which she was) Not-sure-who’s (maybe La oreja de Van Gogh) _Como Nicholas Cage_ (… like Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas… is not the song’s proper name but it’s how it’s known). That’s without thinking much. One of the songs in the radio today as I came to work talked about “more blood than in a movie by Quentin” (Tarantino, of course). All the English songs I can think of have been mentioned already… oh wait… “Midnight in Montgomery” is about visiting the grave of Hank Williams Sr. Don’t ask how come I know country songs, I do. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/45 "2006-10-17T12:07:34Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I think Wonderful Tonight is about her as well. [/QUOTE] And definitely Clapton’s lamest effort…possibly the worst song ever written. Love turned him into such a sap. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/46 "2006-10-17T12:09:43Z")
_My Sharona_, by the Knack. Its easily recognizable riff that is the core of the song was written by the band’s guitarist, Berton Averre, long before he ever joined The Knack. According to lead singer/guitarist Doug Fieger, he met a girl named Sharona (who was 17 at the time), and fell in love with her. Whenever he thought about her, he would think of Averre’s riff. The two worked out the structure and melody from there. The girl who inspired the song is Sharona Alperin, now a real estate agent in Los Angeles, California. [1] ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/47 "2006-10-17T12:11:07Z")
That paragraph was supposed to be in quotes. I copped it off Wiki. ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/48 "2006-10-17T12:12:26Z")
Let’s not forget the Monty Python song about Kant, Heidigger and all the other thinkers and drinkers. ---
**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:** [October 17, 2006, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/49 "2006-10-17T12:33:52Z")
There’s a gadzillion songs about Jesus–everything from Jesus Loves Me to Jesus Christ Superstar Evita about Eva Peron Blondel about Blondel, King John and Richard the Lionhearted. London Dopers can go see it next month. This is my absolutely most favorite musical that nobody has heard about. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/50 "2006-10-17T12:39:31Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] Ra-Ra-Rasputin, lover of the Russian Queen… I can’t remember the singer’s name. [/QUOTE] Bony M, IIRC ---
**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:** [October 17, 2006, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/51 "2006-10-17T12:43:55Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] No, no! The song was about ME!!! [/QUOTE] That’s what you probably think. **Walk Away Renee** by the Left Banke was about one of the band member’s girlfriend, written by another member who was in love with her, too. Even after the song came out, Renee didn’t realize that. Broadway musicals with songs about real people include **Fiorello!** (Fiorello LaGuardia), **Barnum** , **A Chorus Line** (the songs and characters were based on the stories of real Broadway dancers), **The King and I** (Anna Leonowens was governess to the King of Siam), **The Sound of Music** (The Trapp Family Singers), **1776** (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Richard H. Lee, Benjamin Franklin, and the others at the Continental Congress). There’s also **Hymn for a Sunday Evening** (Ed Sullivan) from **Bye Bye Birdie** Lou Reed’s **Walk on the Wild Side** is about several of Andy Warhol’s “superstars”: [Holly Woodlawn](http://www.warholstars.org/indfoto/iholly.html) in the first verse, [Candy Darling](http://www.warholstars.org/candy73.html) in the second, [Joe Delssandro](http://www.warholstars.org/indfoto/ijoe.html) in the third. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/52 "2006-10-17T12:49:17Z")
[QUOTE=FriarTed] Bony M, IIRC [/QUOTE] Boney M ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/53 "2006-10-17T13:42:18Z")
[nitpick]Actually, **Photograph** wasn’t about John Lennon at all: it’s from Ringo’s first solo album, which came out in 1970, IIRC. Ringo and John were still very much in contact at the time. I’m sure it’s taken on a new meaning for him since then, and even more so now that George (who sang backup on the song) is also gone.[/nitpick] **Be My Yoko Ono** by the Barenaked Ladies is about John and Yoko. **Christopher Lydon** by the Dresden Dolls is about Christopher Lydon, who has a show on NPR in Boston. ---
**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:** [October 17, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/54 "2006-10-17T13:52:37Z")
Toto’s Rosana is about acress Rosanna Arquette. Dylan’s Hurrican Cater is about Reuben “Hurricane” Carter. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/55 "2006-10-17T14:18:00Z")
Todd Snider’s song entitled “D.B. Cooper” is about… [D. B. Cooper](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.b._cooper), that guy who hijacked an airplane in 1971 and jumped out of the plane with a pile of ransom money and was never found. ---
**Author:** ![Theodore\_Striker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Theodore\_Striker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theodore_Striker)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/56 "2006-10-17T14:46:00Z")
**R.E.M**.- Man in the Moon about Andy Kaufman **U2** - Angel of Harlem about Billie Holliday I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/57 "2006-10-17T15:29:32Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > “Mrs. Robinson” – Simon and Garfunkel ("Where have you gone . . . ") Does a movie character count as a real person? Or did you mean the line about Joe DiMaggio? Anyway, also by Simon and Garfunkel: **So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright** (about the famed architect). As mentioned before, folk songs are rife with tales of real people. **John Henry** (the steel-drivin’ man) **Tom Dooley** (the murderer or accomplice to murder)\*\* **The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald** , by Gordon Lightfoot. No single person is mentioned, but it’s an homage to the deaths of the 29 men aboard. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/58 "2006-10-17T16:04:02Z")
**Lindy Comes to Town** - Charles Lindburgh **Marion the Chatelaine** - Marion Davis, girlfriend of William Randolf Hearst **Joe the Georgian** - Joseph Stalin **Peter on the White Sea** - Peter the Great **Charlotte Corday** - French revolutionary, killed Paul Marat **Josephine Baker** - exotic dancer **Helen and Cassandra** - Helen of Troy **Merlin’s Time** - Merlin, scottish warrior-poet **Lord Grenville** - Lord Grenville **Waren Harding** - 29th President **Nortradamus** - Michel de Nostredame all by _Al Stewart_. And that is just a slection. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Golden\_Ass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@The\_Golden\_Ass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Golden_Ass)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/59 "2006-10-17T16:09:08Z")
[QUOTE=look!ninjas] [nitpick]Actually, **Photograph** wasn’t about John Lennon at all: it’s from Ringo’s first solo album, which came out in 1970, IIRC. Ringo and John were still very much in contact at the time. I’m sure it’s taken on a new meaning for him since then, and even more so now that George (who sang backup on the song) is also gone.[/nitpick] [/QUOTE] Thanks. That’s what i get for posting something I’m not 100% certain of… **The Two of Us** by the Beatles is ostensibly about Linda McCartney, and Paul’s experience when they first started dating, but quite frankly, I think it’s more about him and John. **She Said, She Said** was inspired by Peter Fonda. From the **Mermaid Avenue** (lyrics by Woody Guthrie, vocals and music by Billy Bragg and Wilco) albums, we have **Eisler on the Go** – was about Hanz Eisler. **Stetson Kennedy** was about, well, Stetson Kennedy. **Ingrad Bergman** If songs about Jesus count there’s **Christ for President** and **The Ruling Class**. Jeff Tweedy wrote **Far, Far Away** and **I’m the Man Who Loves You** about his wife (and probably others, but those are the ones he’s actually talked about…) ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712/60 "2006-10-17T17:33:52Z")
**Robyn Hitchcock** - “I Saw Nick Drake” and “Gene Hackman” (and, if you’re feeling generous, “Raymond Chandler Evening”). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-real-people/376712.md?page=4)