It was mentioned in an earlier post–Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning? by Alan Jackson.
I much preferred the first recording of this song, which was done in the emotion of the moment, rather than his rerecording, which lacked the raw feeling of the first. The second had more of a “polished” feel, while the first was obviously done when the tragedy was new and the pain was fresh.
Speaking of tragedy songs, I have a great old 78 rpm gospel record called “The Burning of the Winecoff” about the 1946 Winecoff Hotel fire in Atlanta. (The deadliest hotel fire in US history. 119 killed.)
Those faces in the windows
I seem them in my dreams
I always will remember
Those agonizing screams
(Despite those lyrics, the tempo of the song is upbeat. Jarringly so.)
I remember owning an LP by Donovan Leitch that had a great song called “Remember the Alamo” on it. It had a blue cover, was live, and I think was called “Donovan P. Leitch.”
Tom Paxton is a folksinger who has written several songs about current events, including one based on Ron Kovic’s book “Born on the 4th of July.”
In my wheelchair for life, my mechanical wife
I’m suppose to be cheerful and stoic.
I’m the old tried-and-true, Yankee Doodle to you.
Clean cut, paralyzed and heroic.
I was born on the 4th of July, no one more loyal than I.
When my country said so I was ready to go
And I wish I’d been left there to die.
“When The Levee Breaks” by Led Zeppelin ( who took the song from a blues singer named “Kansas” McCoy --at least I think that’s what his name was) was based on a real incident–the Mississippi flooded in 1927 and broke its levees, killing people who were unfortunate enough to be in the way.
Thanks for mentioning ‘Vincent’, Tentacle Monster. Beautiful song.
There’s Bangladesh by George Harrison.
Would The Ballad of the Green Berets fit the category? Not inspirde by any particular training class of GBs AFAIK but it could fit…
“The Train Carrying Jimmie Rodgers Home” (performed by various artists-- not sure who wrote it) is a heart-wrenching ballad inspired by the death (from tuberculosis) of country music pioneer Jimmie Rodgers (“The Singing Brakeman”).
And of course there’s **The Angry American ** by Toby Keith.
Bye Bye Badman by The Stone Roses is about the French student riots.
I don’t have a cite, but isn’t “The Way” by Fastball about a real married couple who abandoned their children?
“Bullet” by The Misfits, about the Kennedy assassination.
“Angel of Death” by Slayer, about Josef Mengele.
Ricky Nelson’s “Garden Party” was inspired by his appearance at the Rock Revival concert at Madison Square Garden in 1971.
Errr not quite. It’s about and elderly couple that driving to a family reunion and never showed up. There was a series of articles about them that inspired the song the band picturing them just going out and having fun like they did when they were younger.
Turned out the couple was confused (Alzheimer’s disease) and drove into a cayon and died.
Wasn’t Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” inspired by actual events?
“Streets of Sorrow/Birmingham Six” by the Pogues was based on real events (IIRC, the Birmingham Six were later exonerated and released from prison). And Otto, you might be interested in “I Fought the Law” by the Dead Kennedys, which is also about the Harvey Milk case.