# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/61 "2004-10-26T03:40:34Z")
How long does one wait before recording a song about a disaster/tragedy anyway? Are there any 9/11 songs yet? What about that night club fire with the “Once Bitten Twice Shy” band? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/62 "2004-10-26T03:55:18Z")
woodstock ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/63 "2004-10-26T04:05:04Z")
Billie Holiday’s signature song [Strange Fruit](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/billie-holiday/17859.html) was written in direct response to a rash of lynchings in the 1930s south. (Trivia: the lyricist was Abel Meeropol, a leftist writer who later adopted the sons of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.) ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/64 "2004-10-26T04:11:32Z")
> [@Slacker](#): > > How long does one wait before recording a song about a disaster/tragedy anyway? Are there any 9/11 songs yet? What about that night club fire with the “Once Bitten Twice Shy” band? Neil Young wrote a song called “Let’s Roll” about the people on Flight 93. It was on an album that came out in March of 2002, so it can’t have been written long afterward. Bruce Springsteen’s album “The Rising” has a number of September 11th-related songs, it came out in July 2002. I’m sure there are tons of others, but whatever the waiting period was, it was short. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/65 "2004-10-26T05:34:36Z")
My Aunt Helen had a record (a '45) about the collapse of the Second Narrows Bridge that links Vancouver and North Van. It’s now called the Ironworker’s Memorial Bridge. As I recall, the song was banned shortly after release and it’s kind of a rarity. I have no idea who the singer is. I think I only heard it once or twice back in the late 60’s, early 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/66 "2004-10-26T05:50:38Z")
Don McLean also did _Vincent_ (possibly better known as _Starry, Starry Night_), about Vincent van Gogh. Frank Zappa did a number of songs inspired by true events. _Promiscuous. The Illinois Enema Bandit, Stevie’s Spanking, More Trouble Every Day_ and _Let’s Make The Water Turn Black_ to name a few. I think _Mom & Dad_ from _We’re Only In It For The Money_ was about a real event, but I’m not 100% sure. ---
**Author:** ![edwino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@edwino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwino)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/67 "2004-10-26T05:56:29Z")
_The Band Played Waltzing Matilda_ by the Pogues and others (Gallipoli in WWI) _War_ by Bob Marley is actually just a speech by the Lion of Judah, Emperor Halie Selasie ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/68 "2004-10-26T06:14:46Z")
_Wasn’t That a Mighty Storm_, originally by **Eric von Schmidt** but recently covered by **James Taylor** about the 1900 Galveston Hurricane. Somewhere around 8,000 people were killed by that storm. StG ---
**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 26, 2004, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/69 "2004-10-26T07:10:39Z")
Steve Earle did a couple on the Jerusalem record. **Jerusalem** , about the Palestinian / Israeli conflict **John Walker** about muslim American found in Afgahnistan during invasion. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/70 "2004-10-26T08:11:28Z")
> [@Tentacle Monster](#): > > Frank Zappa did a number of songs inspired by true events. _Promiscuous. The Illinois Enema Bandit, Stevie’s Spanking, More Trouble Every Day_ and _Let’s Make The Water Turn Black_ to name a few. I think _Mom & Dad_ from _We’re Only In It For The Money_ was about a real event, but I’m not 100% sure. You took the one I was going to post, but since I have links, I’m posting anyway. [The Illinois Enema Bandit](http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/ww2/A929504) The article begins with the complete song lyrics, then goes on to discuss the case. My favorite part is the interview with Frank: > [@Frank Zappa](#): > > I actually heard about it on the radio. We were returning from a job in Normal, Illinois and had the radio on in the station wagon. The announcer said, “The Illinois Enema Bandit” has struck again’, and I went, “What!” Apparently, this guy had been ravaging the area of Southern Illinois for a number of years. He would find a co-ed’s apartment with the door unlocked and he would walk in with a ski mask on and I guess a revolver, and force the woman to experience a severe internal rinse at gunpoint > > Many of the things that I’ve written have been true stories in song about obscure people who did obscure things, and they function in the same folk music tradition except that it’s been performed on electric instruments" [To Frank, Michael Kenyon’s anal obsession was “the chance to do a folk song, especially since we were playing a lot of jobs in the Midwest. He’s like a household name here, he should have a song.”] ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/71 "2004-10-26T08:30:20Z")
ABBA’s _Fernando_ is, unexpectedly, about the Sapnish Civil War. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/72 "2004-10-26T08:41:58Z")
I believe Elton John’s **Empty Garden** (Hey, Hey Johnny) is a tribute to John Lennon… “It’s funny how one insect can damage so much grain…” ---
**Author:** ![marky33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@marky33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marky33)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/73 "2004-10-26T08:48:25Z")
\*\*Nagasaki Nightmare \*\* - Crass **Tojo** - Hoodoo Gurus (about both the WWII Japanese attack on mainland Australia and cyclone Tracy, which wreaked havoc on Darwin in the 1970s) **Spanish Bombs** - The Clash (Spanish civil war - sort of) **The Right Profile** - The Clash (Actor Montgomery Clift’s car crash) \*\*Free Nelson Mandela \*\* - Special AKA (if you can call incarceration an “event”) \*\*Free Satpal Ram \*\* - Asian Dub Foundation (likewise for a man of Asian descent jailed in the UK) There must be millions of these … ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/74 "2004-10-26T09:59:02Z")
\*\*Candle in the wind \*\* by EltonJohn was written with Marilyn Monroe in mind and later adapted for Princess Diana’s funeral. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/75 "2004-10-26T10:02:28Z")
**Johnny Horton** did several: **Battle of New Orleans** “In 1814 we took a little trip…along with Colonel Jackson down the might Miss-a-sip…we took so bacon and we took some beans and we fought the bloody British in the town of New Orleans…” I learned more about the war of 1812 from this song than I ever did in school. Yay! **Comanche** about the only survivor to The Battle of Little Big Horn, a horse. **Sink the Bismark** about chasing down the German boat, the Bismark. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/76 "2004-10-26T10:08:04Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Billie Holiday’s signature song [Strange Fruit](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/billie-holiday/17859.html) was written in direct response to a rash of lynchings in the 1930s south. (Trivia: the lyricist was Abel Meeropol, a leftist writer who later adopted the sons of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.) She wrote _God Bless the Child (whose got his own)_ because she’d given her parents each money when she was on top, but when she needed money (probably for drugs) neither would spring. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/77 "2004-10-26T10:09:59Z")
Janis Ian’s _At Seventeen_ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/78 "2004-10-26T10:11:53Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > **Johnny Horton** did several: > > **Battle of New Orleans** “In 1814 we took a little trip…along with Colonel Jackson down the might Miss-a-sip…we took so bacon and we took some beans and we fought the bloody British in the town of New Orleans…” I learned more about the war of 1812 from this song than I ever did in school. Yay! [Uh-oh.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5411208&postcount=181) > [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > The Battle of New Orleans: “In 1814 we took a little trip…” – But the Battle of New Orleans (the climactic battle) was in January, 1815. “Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip” – the battleground was up river from New Orleans. “And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans” – no, they caught them outside New Orleans – preventing the British from taking the town was the point of the battle. “We looked down the river and we see’d the British come” – the British came by land, marching across from Lake Borgne. “they began to runnin’, On down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico” – the British retreat was also by land, back across to Lake Borgne and into the Gulf. ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/79 "2004-10-26T11:43:01Z")
Elvis Costello’s “Let Him Dangle” is about a[controversial death penalty case in 1950s Britain.](http://www.richard.clark32.btinternet.co.uk/bentley.html) “[White](http://bluegrasslyrics.com/monroe_song.cfm-recordID=j55.htm) [House](http://www.playingbyear.com/resources/Lyrics.aspx?song=White+House+Blues) [Blues](http://www.craigmorrison.com/hb_lyric.html),” also known as “McKinley’s Blues” and “McKinley’s Gone” and one of the most joyful, upbeat, sunny songs in creation, is about presidential assassination. Lyrics might be by [Charlie Poole](http://www.archive.org/audio/audio-details-db.php?collectionid=Whitehouse&collection=opensource_audio), but the melody seems to be based on [“Cannonball Blues”](http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/CANNONBA.HTM) ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2004, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060/80 "2004-10-26T11:46:18Z")
Temple of the Dog’s “Say Hello to Heaven” is a tribute to Andrew Wood, written after his death by overdosing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-inspired-by-true-events/271060.md?page=5)