Songs with reference to real people.

[Suzon]

Youre right, billy_bob:

from another forum:

SKREWY DRIVER


We'd been hoping you'd die for a long, long time,
hoping you'd die for all your crimes -
for your fascist point of view and your race-hatred
but now we're laughing 'cos you're dead. HA HA HA !

IAN STUART, YOU BLEW IT
WE'D HAVE DONE IT FOR YOU
BUT YOU BEAT US TO IT
IAN STUART, WHY DID YOU DO IT
WE'D HAVE DONE IT FOR YOU
BUT YOU BEAT US TO IT

They made you a saint for Blood and Honour,
it won't help you now you're a gonner.
A right-wing martyr for the cause,
or just an ugly, white, rotting corpse

You learned how to hate, not drive a car,
swerved to the right much too far.
At last a good nazi is what you are -
a dead one. HA HA HA !

 

[billy_bob]

It might be. I lost the inlay for the tape I've got a long, long time ago.

Good call though.

Pet Shop Boys - which one is it goes "Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat"?

 

[Leica]

Falco, Rock Me Amadeus...

 

[ice-is-forming]

ian dury and the block heads.......sweet gene vincent...

 

[Suzon]

Happy Mondays - 'God's Cop' about James Anderton.

 

[i_hate_beckham]

Bloodhound Gang - The roof is on fire (correct title??) Mentions lots of dead celebrities and Frank Black.

 

[Leica]

William Bell, A Tribute to a King (about Otis Redding)

 

[May Kasahara]

Princess Superstar mentions Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak in 'Trouble' and murdered child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsay in 'Keith n Me'.

Kate Bush's 'Houdini' is, er, pretty obvious.

 

[Suzon]

Was it Boney M who did that song about Rasputin?

 

[billy_bob]

Was it Boney M who did that song about Rasputin?

Yes, and one about how Ted Baker taught his 4 sons to handle their guns. Or something.

 

[Pigeon]

The Smiths- William, It was really nothing.

A love song to the Asscociates' Billy Mackenzie.

 

[ouchmonkey]

Good call though.

Pet Shop Boys - which one is it goes "Che Guevara and Debussy to a disco beat"?

'It's Alright'

Bloodhound Gang - The roof is on fire (correct title??) Mentions lots of dead celebrities and Frank Black.

Which is an echo of Pixies 'I've Been Tired'

" I wanna be a singer like Lou Reed..........."

The Replacements - Alex Chilton
The Rockingbirds - Jonathan, Jonathan (Jonathan Richman)
Jonathan Richman - Pablo Picasso
Steve Earle - Christmastime In Washington (Woody Guthrie)
Psychedelic Furs - We Love You ( Frank Sinatra, the Supremes, Sophia Loren, Bridgette Bardot etc etc)
Nirvana - Frances Farmer Will Have her Revenge On Seattle
Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie & Clyde
Neil Young - Ohio (Nixon)

There's tons in Billy Bragg's songs as well, Jack Ruby in 'Wishin' The Days Away' is the first one comes to mind.....

 

[blackadder]

Ronnie talk to Russia by Prince, cold war typical song.

 

[zed66]

Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll-Dylan
Cortez the Killer-Neil Young
Good Evening Mr Waldheim-Lou Reed

 

[Markyd]

Ballad of Ira Hayes Johnnny Cash and Bob Dylan

 

[Negativland]

The Fall are great at this:

Telephone thing "You Gretchen Franklin nosey matron type, you" (Ethel from Eastenders, pre-eusthanasia)
Ludd Gang "I hate the guts of Shakin Stevens, for what he has done"
C'n'Cs Mithering "Corpse mauling dicks.. hang out with Gary Bushell"
Two Librans "Oprah Winfrey, she studied bees"
Neighbourhood of Infinity "I used to have this thing about Link Wray"

 

[laptop]

How direct does the reference have to be?

There's the whole of Cloudbusting - but afaik it depends on the listener having a grasp of mid-twentieth-century abnormal psychology

 

[montevideo]

the tvp's - salvador dali's garden party.

Jack Nicholson was there
Mia Farrow was there
Woody Allen was there
Dennis Hopper was there
Peter Fonda was there
Debbie Harry was there

more celebrities than you have ever seen
In a week of TV

 

[Maggot]

Which band have made a single named after an actor, and another one named after a character the actor plays?

 

[Riff]

Teenage Fanclub, Ballad of John and Yoko.

...originally done by The Beatles themselves of course! It was the B-side of "Hey Jude" that was written about Julian Lennon.

"Taxman" mentions Harold Wilson and Ted Heath

"A Day in the Life" mentions a man who "blew his mind out in a car" referring to Tara Browne, an heir to the Guinness empire who was killed in a car crash.

"Sexy Sadie" was a thinly-veiled jibe at the Maharishi.

And John Lennon's "God" name-drops loads of people:

"I don't believe in Hitler
I don't believe in Jesus
I don't believe in Kennedy
I don't believe in Buddha
I don't believe in Mantra
I don't believe in Gita
I don't believe in Yoga
I don't believe in Kings
I don't believe in Elvis
I don't believe in Zimmerman
I don't believe in Beatles
I just believe in me."

 

[dirtysanta]

dexys midnight runners Geno is about the legendary Geno Washington