FAMOUS! mix in the making
FAMOUS PEOPLE! Here’s a list of songs named after, written for, or actually about famous people. Eventually it will be a mix (or several mixes). The songs are listed alphabetically by artist for easy reference, so you can look at what I have and give me suggestions! So give them to me. Suggestions. Do it!
The songs should be about “real” people (as opposed to movie/book characters, and I’m working on a whole other mix about Jesus) and they should be about the person, at least in some way, even if indirect (but I didn’t use “Dr. Seuss” by Autoclave because it’s really not about him at all, nor does Alice Cooper’s “Ballad of Dwight Fry” have anything to do with the actor Dwight Frye, and Young Marble Giant’s “Ode To Booker T” doesn’t seem to be about the wrestler?), but I have some songs on there that don’t even have lyrics, so obviously it’s not a strict rule.
I tried to avoid really obvious ones (please no mention of “the fire” and who did or didn’t start it, and yes, Bela Lugosi is still dead, and no Don McLean EVER) and some bands have a ton of songs referencing famous people (I’m looking at you, Minutemen!) but I just chose a few.
The Adverts - Gary Gilmore’s Eyes
Alice Donut - Sinead O’Connor On T.V.
Angry Samoans - They Saved Hitler’s Cock
Animal Collective - Jimmy Raven
Animal Collective - For Reverend Green [Al Green?] (probably, right?)
Edit: Armed and Hammered - GG Allen Makes Me Stiff
Bananarama - Robert DeNiro’s Waiting
Bauhaus - Antonin Artaud
Beach Boys - Johnny Carson
Beastie Boys - Lee Majors Come Again
Edit: Big Dipper - Ron Klaus Wrecked His House
Bikini Kill - Tony Randall
Bikini Kill - For Tammy Rae [Tammy Rae Carland]
Bill Drummond - Julian Cope Is Dead
Blithe Field - Woody Allen
Blue Oyster Cult - Joan Crawford
EDIT: Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
Boys Next Door, Roman Roman [Roman Polanski]
Bree Sharp - David Duchovney
Brian Jonestown Massacre - Not If You Were The Last Dandy [Dandy Warhols]
Brian Jonestown Massacre - David Bowie
Brian Jonestown Massacre - Bring Me The Head Of Paul McCartney On Heather Mills’ Wooden Peg (Dropping Bombs On The White House)
Brian Jonestown Massacre - Johnny Marr is Dead
The Briefs - Dolly Parton
Bud Powell - Thelonius [Thelonius Monk]
Edit: Butthole Surfers - Julio Iglesias
Cake Like - Abraham Lincoln
Calexico - Not Even Stevie Nicks
Cheater Slicks - Sadie Mae [Sadie Mae Glutz/Susan Atkins?]
Clash - The Right Profile [Montgomery Clift]
Cloud Cult - Electro Jerry Lewis
Coliseum - Isela Vega
Coma Cinema - Eva Angelina
The Concretes - Diana Ross
The Controllers - Do The Uganda [Idi Amin]
The Cult - Edie (Ciao Baby) [Edie Sedgwick]
The Dandy Warhols - Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth [Brian Jonestown Massacre]
David Bowie - Andy Warhol
Dead Kennedys - California Uber Alles [Jerry Brown]
Dead Milkmen - Going To Graceland
Dead Milkmen - Vince Lombardi Service Center
Dean And Britta - Richard Rheem Theme
Deastro - Daniel Johnston Was Stabbed In The Heart With The Moondagger By The King Of Darkness And His Ghost Is Writing This Song As A Warning To All Of Us
Dennis Alcapone - Cassius Clay
Dexy’s Midnight Runners - Kevin Rowland’s 13th Time
Diana Ross - Missing You [Marvin Gaye]
Dickies - (I’m Stuck In A Pagoda With) Tricia Toyota
Edit: Elvis Costello - Tramp The Dirt Down [Margaret Thatcher]
E.M.A.K. - Wenn Mr. Reagan Es Will
Einsturzende Neubauten - I Kissed Glenn Gould
Family Fodder - Debbie Harry
Fang Island - Davey Crockett
Fergus & Geronimo - Michael Kelly
fIREHOSE - In Memory of Elizabeth Cotten
Flight Of The Conchords - Bowie
Free Blood - Grumpy [Obama, sort of]
Fugazi - Cassavetes
Edit: Fugazi - Dear Justice Letter
Geek - Hemingway Shotgun
Generation X - King Rocker [Elvis Presley]
Gil Scott-Heron - Lady Jay and John Coltraine
The Goats - Leonard Peltier In A Cage
The Go-Betweens - Lee Remick
Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
Guru Guru - Bo Diddley
His Name Is Alive - Ear [Vincent Van Gogh] (this song will not be on any finished mixes, because I don’t really like it.)
The Horrors - Jack The Ripper
Ian Dury - Sweet Gene Vincent
Indian Summer - Truman
Islands - Don’t Call Me Whitney, Bobby
Edit: J Church - Mary Provost
Edit: Jane’s Addiction - Ted, Just Admit It [Ted Bundy]
J.F.A. - Jody Fosters Army
Japanther - River Phoenix
Jesus And Mary Chain - Bo Diddley Is Jesus
Johnny Cash - The Ballad of Ira Hayes
Judas Priest - The Ripper
Julian Cope - Bill Drummond Said
Edit: Kate Bush - Houdini
Keith Hudson - The Michael Talbot Affair
Edit: Killdozer - Ed Gein
Kurt Vile - Losing Momentum (For Jim Jarmusch)
LCD Soundsystem - Daft Punk Is Playing At My House
Edit: Leonard Cohen - Chelsea Hotel [Janis Joplin]
Le Tigre - What’s Yr Take On Cassavetes?
Lilys - Evel Knievel
Lloyd Price - Stagger Lee
Lungfish - Abraham Lincoln
Madness - Michael “And if I keep blinking, it weakens me…” Caine
This is how Michael Caine speaks.
Magik Markers - Pat Garrett
Magnetic Fields - The Death of Ferdinand De Suassure
The Magnolias - Fathers And Sons [Hank Williams, Jr.]
The Make-Up - Free Arthur Lee
Manic Street Preachers - Jackie Collins Existential Question Time
Mark Lanegan - Like Little Willie John
Measles Mumps Rubella - Chavez
Edit: Men’s Recovery Project - Ronald Reagan
Men’s Recovery Project - I’m W Tipper
Edit: MGMT - Brian Eno
Milton Nascimento - Para Lennon e McCartney
Minutemen - Joe McCarthy’s Ghost
Minutemen - Political Song For Michael Jackson To Sing
Minutemen - The Punch Line
Minutemen - If Regan Played Disco
Minutemen - Bob Dylan Wrote Propaganda Songs
Misfits - Who Killed Marilyn?
Misfits - Bullet [JFK]
Miss Kitten & The Hacker - Frank Sinatra 2001
Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso
Mogwai - You’re Lionel Richie
Mojo Nixon - Don Henley Must Die
Mr. Oizo - Bruce Willis Is Dead
MU - Paris Hilton
MU - Stop Bothering Michael Jackson
Murder City Devils - Johnny Thunders
Negativland - I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For [Kasey Casem]
New Bomb Turks - Born Toulouse-Lautrec (No-Time To-Lose!)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Stagger Lee
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Jack the Ripper
Edit: Nick Lowe - Mary Provost
OFF! - Jeffrey Lee Pierce
Ozzy Osborne - Mr. Crowley
Philip Cohran And The Artistic Heritage Ensemble - Malcolm X
Pixies - Alec Eiffel [Alexandre Gustave Eiffel]
Pop Will Eat Itself - Not Now James, We’re Busy [James Brown]
Edit: Pogues - Jesse James
Edit: Prince - My Name Is Prince
Psychic T.V. - Roman P. [Roman Polanski]
Psychic TV - Godstar [Brian Jones]
Ramones - Bonzo Goes To Bitburg [Ronald Reagan]
Rapeman - Kim Gordon’s Panties
Red Kross - St. Lita Ford Blues
Replacements - Alex Chilton
Rolling Stones - Pass The Wine (Sophia Loren)
Edit: Scofflaws - William Shatner
Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie & Clyde
Sic Alps - Nathan Livingston Maddox
Sigue Sigue Sputnick - Hey Jayne Mansfield Superstar
Sleater-Kinney - I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone
EDIT: SNFU - Joni Mitchell Tapes (thanks, Jim Cook!)
Sonic Youth - Thunderclap (for Bobby Pyn)
The State - Laurie Anderson Song
Sufjan Stevens - John Wayne Gacy, Jr. (do not care for this song much, either)
The Sweet - Alexander Graham Bell
Team Dresch - She’s Amazing [Sinead O’Connor]
Television Personalities - I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives
Thee Headcoats - Davey Crockett
Unrest - Winona Ryder
Van Halen - Top Jimmy [James Koncek]
Warren Zevon - Frank and Jesse James
Edit: Wesley Willis - Arnold Schwartzenegger
Woods - Military Madness (Graham Nash)
Edit: World-Inferno Friendship Society - Paul Robeson
Yellow Ostrich - Morgan Freeman’s Early Life
Yo La Tengo - Tom Courtenay
Youth Gone Mad - Ode To Darby [Darby Crash]
!!! - Me and Guiliani Down By The Schoolyard (A True Story) [Rudy Giuliani]
