# Songs inspired by true events **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060 "2004-10-25T16:07:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/21 "2004-10-25T18:58:39Z")
Jim Carroll’s “People Who Died” is all about…well, people he knew and how they died (in real life, of course). the Pretenders’ “Way to Go, Ohio” is not about a specific event, but is a lament to the over-commercialization / street malling of Chrissie Hynde’s home state. “New Speedway Boogie” by the Grateful Dead is their rather half-hearted response to the Altamont disaster. “Woodstock” by Joni Mitchell. In one ironic coincidence, Jefferson Airplane singer Grace Slick wrote a song called “Law Man” about a fictional old west gunslinging standoff between young cops and a “mature” brothel madame actually came true in a sense - 25 years later, Slick (during a severe alcoholic bottoming out period) actually did have a shotgun standoff with the cops (she wasn’t a brothel madame, but I suppose being a retired ‘bad girl’ rock & roll singer was the modern-day equivalent.) Thus, the initially fictional song actually **came true**! ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/22 "2004-10-25T19:00:42Z")
R.E.M.’s “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth”? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/23 "2004-10-25T19:01:02Z")
**Where were you when the world stopped turning?** by Alan Jackson ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/24 "2004-10-25T19:02:07Z")
Hurricane by Bob Dylan. Yea, inspired being the operative word. Other than the protaganists name nothing else in that song was accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/25 "2004-10-25T19:05:25Z")
> [@Bippy the Beardless](#): > > Peter Gabriel Family Snapshot about the Kennedy Assassination. > Wasn’t Smoke on the Water about a real club getting burnt down? > \*\*Iron Maiden’s Alexander The Great does quite a long history of Alexander’s life.\*\*Abba’s Rasputin 😉 Maiden has made a career writing songs from source material you would not expect. Some of the songs based on history include _Die with your Boots On_ (charge of the light Brigade), _Run to the Hills_ (the Indian Wars) and _Aces High_(Battle of Britain). ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/26 "2004-10-25T19:09:03Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > R.E.M.’s “What’s the Frequency, Kenneth”? Do elaborate. ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/27 "2004-10-25T19:21:30Z")
> [@Francesca](#): > > Do elaborate. Here’s the story as I’ve heard it. > **[Yahoo | Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos](https://www.yahoo.com/)** > > Latest news coverage, email, free stock quotes, live scores and video are just the beginning. Discover more every day at Yahoo! > [@](#): > > One night in October 1986, Rather was walking down a Manhattan street when he was punched from behind and thrown to the ground. His assailant kicked and beat him while repeating, “Kenneth, what is the frequency?” > > (snip) > > In 1997, based on a tip from a psychiatrist, Rather’s attacker was identified as William Tager. According to the psychiatrist, Tager, who was currently serving time for killing an NBC stagehand, blamed news media for beaming signals into his head, and thought if he could just find out the correct frequency, he could block those signals that were constantly assailing him. Hence the enigmatic inquiry. There ya go. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/28 "2004-10-25T19:39:55Z")
Percy Sledge’s \*\*When A Man Loves A Woman \*\* was definately inspired by a real event. In fact, the event happened a few seconds before he sung the song! He got dumped by his girlfrined over the phone just as he was due to hit the stage. So when he got out there, he told the band just to play something slow and that song just poured out of him on the spot. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/29 "2004-10-25T19:45:25Z")
Sublime - **April, 29, 1992**. A song about participating in the Rodney King riots in LA. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/30 "2004-10-25T19:53:03Z")
_Smoke on the Water_ by Deep Purple sounds like it’s about a real event. Anyone know whether it actually is? _Wind of Change_ by Scorpions and _Right Here Right Now_ are both at least inspired by the collapse of Communism, the former is about people power and the fall of the Soviet Union, while the latter is about the time surrounding the fall of the Berlin Wall. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/31 "2004-10-25T19:53:47Z")
There’s an opera that tells the story of slain SF supervisor Harvey Milk, entitled oddly enough _Harvey Milk_. Romanovsky and Phillips, a gay singing duo, also reference Harvey in their song “Homophobia.” Another song of theirs, “Queers in the Closet,” details some (at the time) closeted celebrities (Lily Tomlin, Merv Griffin, Calvin Klein and either Melissa Etheridge or kd lang, I forget which) who have all, except Griffin, since publicly come out. Another R&P song, IIRC called “The Sodomy Song,” details the circumstances surounding the Supreme Court’s notorious Bowers v Hardwick decision upholding sodomy laws. Since struck down in Lawrence v Texas, rendering two of R&P’s songs from the mid-80s/early 90s blessedly obsolete. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/32 "2004-10-25T19:55:51Z")
Lots of folk songs come to mind, especially those about train wrecks like [Wreck of the Old 97](http://www.ezfolk.com/uke/songs/wreck97/wreck97.html) and [Casey Jones](http://www.contemplator.com/america/casyjones.html), though the [Titanic](http://www.angelfire.com/yt/anneblair/lyrics1.htm) got thrown in for good measure). Marty Robbins sang several songs based on actual events including [Ballad of the Alamo](http://www.cowboylyrics.com/tabs/robbins-marty/ballad-of-alamo-2425.html), but his most bizarre “inspired by real events” song was his super-hit [El Paso](http://www.lyricsxp.com/lyrics/e/el_paso_marty_robbins.html) which he claimed both in interviews and in a [follow up hit song](http://www.cowboylyrics.com/tabs/robbins-marty/el-paso-city-2415.html) was inspired by his memories of a previous incarnation. Hank Williams’s song [Move it on Over](http://www.tabpower.com/s34902.html) was inspired by a night when he really did spend the night in his dog house because his wife locked him out, while [I saw the Light](http://www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/hank_williams/i_saw_the_light/i_saw_the_light-163900-lyric/) was actually written when he finally saw the city lights after driving in pitch darkness for what seemed like forever (and of course he adapted it to a more gospely feeling). ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/33 "2004-10-25T19:57:23Z")
Another one I thought of: **Suffer Little Children** is about the gruesome [Moors Murders](http://www.bbc.co.uk/crime/caseclosed/moorsmurderers1.shtml) that happened in Manchester in the early 60s. Apparently Morrissey was terrified by what happened as a child (he was only three or four at the time, so maybe not, I’m just going from memory here from some old Smiths books I read in high school). I think I’ve read that **The Hand That Rocks The Cradle** was inspired by the same events. In fact, the lyrics mention that the child in the song is “only three,” so it makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/34 "2004-10-25T19:58:06Z")
Lou Reed’s [Take a Walk on the Wild Side](http://www.slangcity.com/songs/lou_reed.htm) was written about Andy Warhol and his courtiers. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/35 "2004-10-25T20:01:33Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > _Smoke on the Water_ by Deep Purple sounds like it’s about a real event. Anyone know whether it actually is? [I think it’s about a studio burning down but I could be mistaken](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5406022&postcount=6). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Niceguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mr.Niceguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Niceguy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/36 "2004-10-25T20:03:47Z")
**The General Belgrano** by David Childers About the sinking of the Argentine cruiser during the Faulkland Islands war. _Coming ‘round ol’ Cape Horn, the General Belgrano_ _rolling up to do some damage, sailing through the mist of a religion_ _out of the water came a round house punch, a British submarine torpedo_ _In the cold south Atlantic, gonna make the sharks happy_ _the General, the General, The General Belgrano_ _Going down with the propeller still turning, The General Belgrano…_ ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/37 "2004-10-25T20:04:58Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > _Smoke on the Water_ by Deep Purple sounds like it’s about a real event. Anyone know whether it actually is? Sure is - [here’s an old thread on the subject](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=12636&highlight=deep+purple+smoke). ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/38 "2004-10-25T20:11:13Z")
Flogging Molly, an Irish punk band from southern California (yes, if you’re not familiar with them, you read that right) sings several songs inspired by real events. My favorite is [Tobacco Island](http://www.lyricscafe.com/f/floggingmolly/tobaccoisland.htm), a song about the Irish sent to the New World as slaves by Oliver Cromwell. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/39 "2004-10-25T20:13:44Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > That would be the toe-tapping **New York Mining Disaster 1941** [Apparently](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=156345&highlight=York+Mining+Disaster), there was no such event. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/40 "2004-10-25T20:36:51Z")
Alice Cooper has a couple on Brutal Planet. “Blow Me a Kiss” is about Columbine and “Picking Up The Bones” was written after he watched a CNN report out of, I think, Kosovo. There was a man in the background, carrying a pillowcase into which he was placing the bones of his family. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060.md?page=3)