Songs about JFK

As I recall, Paul Simon's Late Great Johnny Ace from Hearts & Bones referenced JFK as well, doesn't it?

 

And I always assumed that JFK was one of the people referred to in Mcartney & Wings "Let 'em In".

 

Todd, I think Simon's "Late Great Johnny Ace" refers specifically to John Lennon. I was even at the historic Concert For Central Park when he introduced it, and one of the lines mentioned Lennon specifically. I don't have the "Hearts and Bones" album, though, so maybe the song contains additional lines referring to JFK, but I would doubt it.

 

There are those 'telephone rang, it would not stop, it was President Kennedy calling me up' lines from Freewheelin', name of the song escapes me now.

 

Yeah, I think that's the one where JFK asks Bobby D. to tell him what he has to do "to make the country grow," and Dylan answers by mentioning the names of all the sex symbols of the time like "Anita Eckberg, Sophia Loren....the couintry will grow!" One of Bob's funniest songs from the early period. Can't think of the title either...Is it "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" or something like that..? Anyway, it is great for a laugh.

 

John Fogerty's I Saw It On T.V. (from Centerfield) has a few lines about Kennedy:

A young man from Boston
Set sail the new frontier,
And we watched the dream
Dead-end in Dallas.
They buried innocence that year

 

I Shall Be Free

 

No, I just found it. It's called I Shall Be Free.

'Found me a woman
late last night
I was 3/4ths drunk
she looked alright'

Edit: jbohdan and I must've been typing at the same time.

 

Does anyone recall a band from the 80's named "The Screaming Blue Messiahs"? On side 2 of their 1986 LP titled "Gun Shy" there's a track called "President Kennedy's Mile". It's not somber, in fact it's a pretty jumpin' track. But, to be honest, I'm not sure how much it really has to do w/ JFK.

 

The Kinks' "Give the People What they Want" makes reference to the assassination... not really about JFK, but about the media reaction to it over the years.

"When Oswald shot Kennedy, he was insane.
Still we watch the repeats, again and again.
We all sit back as the killer takes aim,
Hey mom, there goes a piece of the President's brain."

 

The lyrics I was thinking of:

It was the year of The Beatles
It was the year of The Stones
A year after J.F.K.
We were staying up all night
And giving the days away
And the music was flowing amazing
And blowing my way

 

Couple more:

Peter Case - I Shook His Hand

Was(Not Was) - 11 Mph (Abe Zapp Ruder Version)

 

Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" mentions JFK in passing, and near the end it has a snippet of his most famous speech, "Ask not what your country can do for you..." just before Vernon Reid goes into a fierce guitar solo.

 

Six White Horses-Tommy Cash

 

I remember a song from THE HUMAN LEAGUE called, "Seconds," where they sing, "..it took seconds to take his life..." - I believe this was in reference to JFK, but perhaps it was John Lennon?! 2 brilliant Johns, regardless.

 

Check out Phil Och's "The Crucifixion." There's the big, modern classical orchestral arrangement on "Pleasures of the Harbor," which is more than a little over the top, but there's a live performance for just voice and guitar on the old "Chords of Fame" double LP compilation that's really wonderful (I think this is the same one that Rhino included on its boxed set, but I don't know for sure--in any case, it's well worth seeking out).

L.

 

Dylan got his version from Dave Van Ronk. The song, which McGuinn adapted was originally about a guy who dies penniless and homeless.

JD

 

Let's not forget "11 MPH (Abe Zapruder Mix)" by Was (Not Was), off their album "What Up Dog"

(Excerpt)

JFK told Kruschev I'll leave Castro alone
If you take away those missiles
They're too far close to home.
The CIA, the Cubans and the underworld bosses
Decided that was it, they had to cut their losses.

At eleven miles an hour
Such a deadly speed
Eleven miles an hour
At the time and place agreed
They pulled their limousine
Down Elm Street slow and clean
Lead fell like a shower
At eleven miles an hour

 

Damn, somebody beat me on that one! Also, Peter Gabriel has said that "Family Snapshot" is not specifically about 11/22/63, but it sure sounds like it to me...

-Matt

 

Yes yer correct !

 

I was playing the remix CD of the Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil this morning, and recalled the reference to JFK's assassination in the lyrics of that song.

 

Yes.... and what makes the reference so poignant is that Jagger/Richards refer to BOTH Kennedys here:

"I shouted out who killed the Kennedys
When after all, it was you and me"

Also it is the only song AFAIK that puts the blame for these assassinations directly on us (the public)...definitely a gutsy set of lyrics.

 

I'd always heard that the Stones were in the middle of recording the song when the news of RFK's shooting came, hence they changed the line from "Who killed Kennedy" to "Who killed the Kennedys."

 

Reechie,
You know, there could be a way of actually confirming this, though I doubt that it can be done easily. Since Jean-Luc Godard (probably have the spelling wrong) did a film of the session which produced "Sympathy," all one would have to do is to check through his film stock (assuming he has it, which is quite possible, as lots of film directors keep their excess footage). I haven't seen the film in years, but I don't recall any scenes in which the Stones learn of the RFK shooting during the session, so, if this was in fact what happened, it is probably on the footage that wasn't used. That could really be a discovery!