# Songs That Mention a Famous Person But Are Not About That Person **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 26, 2013, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386 "2013-01-26T01:09:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/41 "2013-01-26T16:16:01Z")
“Celluloid Heroes” by the Kinks mentions a litany of stars from Hollywood Boulevard (“Some that you recognise, some that you’ve hardly even heard of”):[ul][_]Greta Garbo[_]Rudolph Valentino[_]Bela Lugosi[_]Bette Davis[_]George Sanders[_]Mickey RooneyMarilyn [Monroe][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/42 "2013-01-26T16:34:09Z")
> [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > The Beatles’ “Yer Blues” mentions Dylan. Speaking of the Beatles, does “Dig It” count as a song? There are several Kinks songs in which Ray name-checks other artists. In addition to the aforementioned “Celluloid Heroes”… From “One of the Survivors”: _He digs Jerry Lee Lewis, Dion and The Belmonts, And Johnny & The Hurricanes._ From “The Road”: _Jimi Hendrix, The Who, the Led Zeppelin and Free They took the road so it’s all right by me_ From “20th Century Man”: _You keep all your smart modern writers Give me William Shakespeare You keep all your smart modern painters I’ll take Rembrandt, Titian, Da Vinci and Gainsborough_ ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/43 "2013-01-26T16:42:30Z")
A few Nixons: From the Bad Examples song “She Smiles Like Richard Nixon”: _She smiles like Richard Nixon Walks like Bridgette Bardot_ From the Chagall Guevara song “Tale O’ the Twister” (from the _Pump Up the Volume_ soundtrack): _She had the eyes of Lassie She had the lips of Nixon Lips like Tricia Nixon_ And you might count the song “[Watergate](http://powerpop.blogspot.com/2010/06/all-presidents-whatever.html)” by the unjustly-neglected Minnesota band Something Fierce, which uses the Watergate affair as an extended metaphor for a relationship gone sour, and includes the lines: _All of your minions will soon be my witnesses. They will discover what being scared shitless is. I will be merciless; I will be mean; They’ll spill their guts and then they’ll spill the beans Kind of like Haldeman, Mitchell, and Dean_ ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/44 "2013-01-26T17:36:14Z")
Richard Thompson - Tear-Stained Letter - “She danced on my head like Arthur Murray” ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/45 "2013-01-26T17:42:41Z")
“Steve McQueen” by Sheryl Crow Does a mention only in the title count? Then “Clint Eastwood” by Gorillaz ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/46 "2013-01-26T17:42:55Z")
> [@Wolf333](#): > > … > REM’s “End of the World As We Know It” mentions Lenny Bruce > … “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” also mentions Leonid Brezhnev, Lester Bangs, and Leonard Bernstein. ---
**Author:** ![Zakalwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zakalwe/32/270_2.png) [@Zakalwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zakalwe)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/47 "2013-01-26T17:47:46Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > And Lynyrd Skynyrd’s _Sweet Home Alabama_ mentions Neil Young…who should remember that I still don’t need him around anyhow. Yeah, but Sweet Home was written as a direct response to _Southern Man_ and _Alabama_ both by Young, so I would argue that, in a way, it _is_ about him. > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > _The South is Gonna Do It Again_ by Charlie Daniels mentions the Marshall Tucker Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Dickey Betts, Elvin Bishop, and ZZ Top. Again, completely relevant to the song which was about the southern music scene. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/48 "2013-01-26T18:10:14Z")
My homeboys The Tragically Hip have a few examples: “Don’t Wake Daddy” name calls Kurt Cobain, but it’s not about him or about anything he was related to. “At The Hundredth Meridian” calls out Ry Cooder; again, it’s not about him. “Looking For A Place To Happen” mentions Jacques Cartier. “Three Pistols” mentions both Tom Thompson and Shakepeare. “New Orleans is Sinkins” mentions “Colonel” Tom Parker. “Bobcaygeon” calls out Willie Nelson. “The Bastard” mentions Billy Sunday. Probably the most well known song of theirs to call out a name is “Fifty Mission Cap,” which mentions Bill Barilko, but that song is at least half about him, so it doesn’t count according to the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/49 "2013-01-26T18:15:26Z")
“Look at me, I’m Sandra Dee” isn’t about Sandra Dee, it’s a mockery of Sandy (Olson). ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/50 "2013-01-26T18:22:13Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > “Look at me, I’m Sandra Dee” isn’t about Sandra Dee, it’s a mockery of Sandy (Olson). Yeah, but it’s ABOUT Ms. Dee’s nominal “good-girl” reputation, as applied mockingly to Sandy (whose name in the stage musical was Dumbrowsky, so being an actual “Sandra D.”). Sandy (whether Dumbrowsky or Olson) wasn’t really going to be telling Elvis and Sal Mineo and Rock Hudson and all of those Hollywood heartthrobs to keep their hands to themselves (not that Mineo or Hudson would have had a problem with that…). ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/51 "2013-01-26T18:25:06Z")
It could be argued that Stevie Wonder’s Sir Duke is about music more than particular musicians. It names: (Count) Basie (Glenn) Miller Satchmo (Louis Armstrong) Duke (Ellington) Ella (Fitzgerald) ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/52 "2013-01-26T18:25:56Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Jimmy Buffet’s _Pencil Thin Mustache_ has quite a few… Buffett’s song “Boat Drinks” makes a passing reference to Star Trek’s Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott: This mornin, I shot six holes in my freezer I think I got cabin fever Somebody sound the alarm Id like to go where the pace of life’s slow Could you beam me somewhere Mr. scott? Any ol place here on earth or in space You pick the century and I’ll pick the spot ---
**Author:** ![James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ac8455/32.png) [@James\_Otto\_Sweet\_Heart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Otto_Sweet_Heart)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/53 "2013-01-26T22:17:16Z")
> [@](#): > > “Feels a little better when I’m out on the edge like a **Taratino** movie running through my head.”-“Ain’t Gonna Stop” from my most favorite singer James Otto 🙂 🙂 🙂 If there are any Taratino fans at this forum, go [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN3kO3t1Qhg) if you have never heard this song before and are curious about it. 🙂 🙂 🙂 God bless you and James always!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 Holly P.S. This song is actually played at the end of the Road House 2 film. James is the singer of the band that’s in the beginning and closing scenes. 🙂 🙂 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/54 "2013-01-26T22:23:10Z")
> [@zamboniracer](#): > > Buffett’s song “Boat Drinks” makes a passing reference to Star Trek’s Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott: “Incommunicado” mentions John Wayne, John D. Macdonald and the fictional Travis McGee, who’s real enough to me. 🙂 (Arr mateys, hijack: What’s Travis McGee’s middle name?) ---
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/55 "2013-01-26T22:27:44Z")
Julie Brown, “Will I Make It Through The Eighties” Thirty-two steps from here to downstairs I step on a cat, trip over a chair Nothing in the fridge, nothing on TV Well, Sylvia Plath’s got nothing on me ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/56 "2013-01-27T00:01:32Z")
There has to be a million of these. “Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign” by Dory Previn: “She looked a bit like Hedy Lamar.” [I know, I know, \*that’s Hedley!\*] “Hard Nose the Highway” by Van Morrison mentions (Frank) Sinatra, and Nelson Riddle. “Wild Children”, also by Van Morrison, and from the “Hard Nose the Highway” album, mentions: Tennessee Williams, Rod Steiger, Marlon Brando and James Dean. “The Seeker” by _The Who_: “I asked Bobby Dylan, I asked The Beatles, I asked Timothy Leary, but he couldn’t help me either.” “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” by _Pink Floyd_: “Hey you Whitehouse, ha ha, charade you are. / You house proud town mouse, ha ha, charade you are.” [This is a reference to Mrs Mary Whitehouse, prominent 1970s British campaigner against smut on TV, not to the official residence of the U.S. President.] I should stop. This could go in all night. ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/57 "2013-01-27T00:06:22Z")
The Beautiful South’s “Good As Gold” mentions Ingrid Bergman in the chorus: _I want my love, my joy, my laugh, my smile, my needs Not in the star signs Or the palm that she reads I want my sun-drenched, wind-swept Ingrid Bergman kiss Not in the next life I want it in this_ ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/58 "2013-01-27T00:16:10Z")
Two songs I like, but guess aren’t favorites of too many others… Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Jammin’ Me _Take back Vanessa Redgrave, Take back Joe Piscopo, Take back Eddie Murphy Give 'em all some place to go_ The Smithereens - Behind The Wall of Sleep _She had hair like Jeannie Shipton back in 1965_ ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/59 "2013-01-27T00:20:54Z")
“You Better You Bet” by the Who mentions listening to T. Rex, as does “All the Young Dudes” by Mott the Hoople, as written by David Bowie. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386/60 "2013-01-27T00:28:38Z")
> [@](#): > > Lenny Bruce, declares a truce and plays his other hand. > Marshall McLuhan, casual viewin, head buried in the sand. > Sirens on the rooftops wailing, but there’s no ship sailing. > Groucho, with his movies trailing, stands alone with his punchline failing. and > [@](#): > > Caryl Chessman sniffs the air and leads the parade, he know in a scent, > You can bottle all you made. > Theres Howard Hughes in blue suede shoes, > Smiling at the majorettes smoking Winston Cigarettes. are from the remarkable album _The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway_ by Genesis. The song is _Broadway Melody Of 1974_. ETA: Almost 40 years ago!?!? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-mention-a-famous-person-but-are-not-about-that-person/648386.md?page=4)