Historical Figures In Song

[BlueChair]

I was thinking today about the amount of great songs that are about historical figures.

Here are some of my favourites:

The Kinks - Victoria (about Queen Victoria)

Joni Mitchell - Amelia (about Amelia Earhart)

Bob Dylan - The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll

The Band - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (about Virgil Kane, a Confederate soldier during the Civil War)

[laughingcrow]

I really like those traditional U.S songs The Ballad of Davy Crockett and John Henry...and also Pretty Boy Floyd by Woody Guthrie!

[noiseradio]

Mr. Churchill Says by the Kinks

[pophead2k]

Abraham, Martin, and John by Dion

[noiseradio]

More people than I care to list in American Pie by Don McLean

[miss buenos aires]

James K. Polk by They Might Be Giants

[noiseradio]

Good one!


Also by TMBG-- Meet James Ensor (Belgium's famous painter)

[A rope leash]

Two Little Hitlers - Elvis Costello

Hey, Heironymous - Graham Parker

Just Like Herman Hess - Graham Parker

Roll Over Beethoven - Chuck Berry (?)

The Battle of New Orleans (?) (?)

[HungupStrungup]

Rope, "The Battle of New Orleans" was by Johnny Horton

"Little Hitler" - Nick Lowe

"Less Than Zero" - EC (both the original, about Oswald Moseley, British fascist; and the Dallas Version, rewritten with reference to Lee Harvey Oswald)

"Poor Napoleon" - EC

"Vincent" (van Gogh) - Don McLean

"Death of Emmett Till" - Bob Dylan

"He Was a Friend of Mine" - The Byrds (about JFK)

[Lipstick]

The Devil Went Down to Georgia -Charlie Daniels Band

Candle in the Wind (@ Marilyn) -Elton John

[miss buenos aires]

Girls would turn the color of an...avocado
When he rolled down the street in his...El Dorado

[noiseradio]

David Koresh is mentioned in "Lone Star Song" by Grant Lee Buffalo
"Lady Godiva" by Grant Lee Buffalo

[HungupStrungup]

ah, ah, Mr. Wilson. . . .
ah, ah, Mr. Heath from "Taxman" - The Beatles (one of George's)

Tin soldiers and Nixon coming
We're finally on our own
This summer I hear the drumming
Four dead in Ohio
"Ohio" by CSNY (one of Neil's)

and another Nixon reference, from Jefferson Airplane's "Mexico":
'cause Mexico is under the thumb of the man we call Richard
and he's bound to call himself king

[laughingcrow]

Taxman.....thanks for reminding me of that HS, great song!

What about 'Henry the eighth I am, I am....'

or was that about a polygamist?

[whtesde]

The Specials - Free Nelson Mandela

Tori Amos - Jackie's Strength (Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy)

The English Beat - Whine and Grind/Stand Down Margaret

Peggy Lee - Fever (Captain Smith and Pocahontas had a very wild affair...)

Depeche Mode - New Dress (Princess Di is wearing a new dress...)

Everything But the Girl - Twin Cities (Mandela again. And Madonna, but we don't like to talk about that.)

[noiseradio]

Biko - Peter Gabriel
Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd (I hope Neil Young will remember). I hate that song, but it fits.
They Might Be Giants - She Thinks She's Edith Head
TMBG - The Edison Museum

[double dutchess]

Do you remember your President Nixon?

(i don't think I need to say anything more.)

[noiseradio]

Good one.

[bobster]

Actually, a lot of these were topical references that have become historical...My God, though, the EC catalogue is filled with 'em!

Oliver's Army (which I recently learned refers to Oliver Cromwell..."with just a word in Mr. Churchill's ear")

Green Shirt -- "Quisling clinic"

"Tramp the Dirt Down" -- "When England was the whore of the World, Margaret was her Madam"

Non - EC

"Stand Down Margaret"

"Stop: The Love You Save May Be Your Own" by the Jackson Five refers to Thomas Edison, Issac Newton and several other such like I can't remember.

"They All Laughed" by Cole Porter references "Wilbur and His Brother", Cristopher Columbus, Thomas Edison and many others.

"You're the Top" by Porter has, in all its iterations, numerous references including Mohatma Gandhi (but not Hillary Clinton).

"Mr. Paganini"

"Abraham, Martin and John"

"The Ballad of John and Yoko" refers to Jesus Christ -- okay, I guess that opens up WAY too many songs to list here.....(i.e., every gospel record ever recorded)

[whtesde]

The Stone Roses - Elizabeth My Dear

Simply Red - Money's Too Tight to Mention

Edited because I totally just remembered the last one, and I was all, better post, but then I was all, Wait, I just posted, and then I was all, Crap.

[noiseradio]

Cult of Personality - Living Colour (Mussolini and Kennedy, as well as Stalin and Gandhi)

[laughingcrow]

Jackie Wilson said...Van the Man

[BlueChair]

I was thinking more about songs that deal DIRECTLY with historical figures, not ones that simply name-check them. But since we've opened things up, Lou Reed's New York album is chock full of 1980s politics and cultural references.

"Hollywood Parade" mentions Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, and Cary Grant.

"Sick Of You" mentions Oliver North, William Secord, Rudy Giuliani,

Speaking of celebrities, there is also "Celluloid Heroes" by The Kinks, which mentions Rudolph Valentino, Mickey Rooney, Marylin Monroe, Greta Garbo, Bela Lugosi, Bette Davis, etc.

[Goody2Shoes]

Marie Provost--Nick Lowe--Not exactly historical, oh well
Rosa, Rosa (Rosa Parks)--Otis Taylor

[noiseradio]

Rosa Parks - Outkast