Are we doing entire songs based on a real person or does a "name-drop" count? The Kinks have quite a few. Off the top of my head "Mr Churchill Says" from "Arthur" mentions Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, Louis Mountbatten and Vera Lynn as well as Prime Minister Winston Churchill. "Victoria" from the same album. "She's Bought a Hat Like Princess Marina" which also mentions Anthony Eden. Then from "Muswell Hillbillies" we've got "20th Century Man" ("You keep all your smart modern painters, I'll take Rembrandt, Titian, Da Vinci and Gainsborough") as well as William Shakespeare. Then there's "Oklahoma U.S.A" (Shirley Jones, Gordon McRae, Rita Hayworth, Doris Day and Errol Flynn). And do first names only count? In "Lola vs. Powerman" "The Moneygoround" mentions their managers by first name "Robert (Wace) owes half to Grenville (Collins) Who in turn gave half to Larry (Page) Who adored my instrumentals And so he gave half to a foreign publisher" And I don't even want to start on "Celluloid Heroes"!
Larry Verne - "Mr. Custer" (which was a 1960 #1 single) Might be outside the boundaries of the question - Johnny Horton "The Battle of New Orleans" (which was a 1959 #1 single).
Mark Knopfler--Boom Like That Song For Sonny Liston BOC: ME262 On Suzanne Vega's new CD, she has a song Called Harper Lee, which mentions many 20th century authors.
Replacements - Alex Chilton John Lennon - Oh Yoko Paul McCartney - The Lovely Linda The Johnsons - Sylvia Plath The Wishniaks - Marianne Faithful
I was thinking more about songs about people, rather than 'list' songs - but....whatever.....as the young whippersnappers are always telling us...
Paul Robeson (among others), Joe Hill Nirvana, Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers, Vincent Van Gogh Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers, Walter Johnson Weezer, Buddy Holly
Ah, that's interesting. They were uploaded through Photobucket and I've never had issues with them before. Anyone else not able to see the shots?
But that record is mainly instrumentals. Would it still qualify? Songs would imply something with lyrics where these characters are mentioned, wouldn't it?
Yeah, personally I'd like a story about the person, but I'm partial to letting this one in under the wire.
