# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/41 "2004-10-25T20:48:54Z")
Stagger Lee by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/42 "2004-10-25T20:50:34Z")
Assuming it’s the same song, Stagger Lee is a very old blues tune. It may go back 150 years. ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/43 "2004-10-25T20:54:01Z")
Well not the same tune but the same source material anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/44 "2004-10-25T20:55:17Z")
Ah, okay. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/45 "2004-10-25T20:56:25Z")
Lots of Bob Dylan songs, like "Oxford Town. CSNY song about “Four dead in Ohio” was Kent State. Many Beatles songs were about/inspired by real-life occurances in their lives, like “Taxman,” “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” (someone apparently did), “Sexy Sadie” was about the Maharishi, who only George dug… I’d say fully half of John Lennon’s songs were somehow autobiographical. ---
**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, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/46 "2004-10-25T21:00:05Z")
> [@BurnMeUp](#): > > Well not the same tune but the same source material anyway. [Maybe not](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stagger_Lee). > [@](#): > > There is speculation that “Stag O Lee” songs predated even the 1895 incident, and Lee Sheldon may have gotten his nickname from earlier folk songs. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/47 "2004-10-25T21:18:22Z")
_Plane Wreck at Los Gatos_ – Woody Guthrie _Pretty Boy Floyd_ – Woody Guthrie _Dust Storm Disaster_ – Woody Guthrie Okay, a ton of Woody Guthrie songs. There’s another one about a fire in a tenement building set by company goons, but I don’t remember what it’s called. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/48 "2004-10-25T21:54:24Z")
[On Birmingham Sunday](http://www.fortunecity.com/tinpan/parton/2/bham.html) deals with the bombing of a black church in (of course) Birmningham AL in September 1963. Four young girls were killed. It was written by Richard Farina and was sung most beautifully by Joan Baez. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/49 "2004-10-25T22:00:39Z")
> [@Art Vandelay](#): > > 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. “My City Was Gone” was the title. Great song. “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” by the Beatles was based on circus posters found by John Lennon. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/50 "2004-10-25T22:34:49Z")
James Taylor’s **Fire and Rain** was about a fellow patient who committed suicide at a psychiatric institute where Taylor had committed himself in the mid-60’s. If I were more evil, I’d bring up **You’re so vain**. But I’m not that [evil](http://www.carlysimon.com/vain/vain.htm). 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/51 "2004-10-25T22:35:21Z")
> [@Art Vandelay](#): > > 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. [nitpick]The song is called _My City Was Gone_. [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/52 "2004-10-25T22:37:36Z")
Curse you Mr. Blue Sky! :mad: 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/53 "2004-10-25T22:43:19Z")
Well, isn’t Alanis Morisette’s **You Oughtta Know** specifically written with someone (Dave Coulier is one name I’ve heard) in mind. ---
**Author:** ![hocow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hocow/32/4112_2.png) [@hocow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hocow)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/54 "2004-10-25T23:07:10Z")
Elton John’s **American Triangle** was inspired by Matthew Sheperd’s death. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/55 "2004-10-25T23:54:31Z")
Al Stewart’s [Roads to Moscow](http://www.alstewart.com/tabs/Roads.txt) about the Great Patriotic War. In fact most of his _Past, Present and Future_ album would qualify. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/56 "2004-10-26T00:24:35Z")
I have before me a cassette of “tragedy songs” recorded between 1923 and 1942 (though many of the events occurred earlier): Floyd Collins’ Fate The Pickwick Club Tragedy Little Marion Parker The Sinking of the Vestris The Sinking of the Submarine S-51 Little Mary Phagan (_very_ creepy, as it was recorded before Leo Frank’s lynching!) The Wreck of the Southern Old 97 Jesse James (“That darty little coward that shot Mr. Howard . . .”) The Airship That Never Returned ---
**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 26, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/57 "2004-10-26T00:46:33Z")
> [@bnorton](#): > > > [@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. I looked it up and there doesn’t seem to have been a major mining disaster between 1940 & '43. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/58 "2004-10-26T01:05:56Z")
> [@Miss Purl McKnittington](#): > > _Plane Wreck at Los Gatos_ – Woody Guthrie > _Pretty Boy Floyd_ – Woody Guthrie > _Dust Storm Disaster_ – Woody Guthrie > > Okay, a ton of Woody Guthrie songs. There’s another one about a fire in a tenement building set by company goons, but I don’t remember what it’s called. That would be [1913 Massacre](http://www.1913massacre.com/song.html) ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/59 "2004-10-26T01:42:02Z")
> [@detop](#): > > That would be > [1913 Massacre](http://www.1913massacre.com/song.html) Well, that’s embarrassingly apparent. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/60 "2004-10-26T01:56:57Z")
The entire _ **Sometime in New York City** _ album by John Lennon _Dickie’s Such an Asshole_ - Frank Zappa (Watergate) _Fox Face_ - Grace Slick (John Lennon’s Death) _Rhymin’ Man_ - Frank Zappa (Jessie Jackson) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060.md?page=4)