ADDED: Can I get a jangly, wistful guitarpop song called "Burt Young Is Spamming Me"? Like this.
Don't you like pop songs with the names of celebrities in the titles? I do, but, racking my brain at 5 a.m. CDT, the only one I can think of -- what does this say about me? -- is "Timothy Leary's Dead."
Timothy Leary's dead.Timothy Leary was not dead until long after that song came out. And actually, that song is called "Legends of a Mind." Who knew? So my big, clever list of pop songs with the names of celebrities in the title has a grand total of 0 items on it. Is it too much to ask -- at 5:29 a.m. CDT -- that you contribute some items for the list? Because with 0 or even with 1, it's not really a list, is it?
No, no, no, no, He's outside looking in.
Timothy Leary's dead.
No, no, no, no, He's outside looking in.
He'll fly his astral plane,
Takes you trips around the bay,
Brings you back the same day,
Timothy Leary. Timothy Leary.
And don't get suckered into thinking about: 1. that sound-of-one-hand-clapping question what is a list with 0 items, 2. the pedantic puzzler whether it's "rack your brain" or "wrack your brain," and 3. the legal issue of whether the celebrity's name tends to get purged from the title to fend off litigation.
Give me some pop song titles that have names of celebrities. And don't give me ones with historical (or fictional) characters. When I say "celebrity," I don't mean King Arthur. And I really don't mean Jesus. (We could have a long list of Jesus.) I want things like -- okay, I finally thought of one -- "Bette Davis Eyes."
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36 comments:
Some may remember
"I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night" - a lot of people sang it, including Joan Baez
Or Bob Dylan's "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll"
"Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two Headed Love Child"
"Elvis Is Everywhere"
"Don Henley Must Die"
"Bring Me the Head of David Geffen"
"Richard Petty"
"Orenthal James (Was A Mighty Bad Man)"
All by Mojo Nixon
I recalled about half of these and for the rest I scanned my iTunes playlist
Bonnie and Clde, Eminem
Axl Rose is Love, Mary's Danish
Ballad of Davey Crockett, The Gaping Maw of Walt Disney
The Ballad of John and Yoko, John Lennon
Clint Eastwood(Phi Life Cypher Version), Gorillaz
Daniel Ortega, The Scofflaws
Dear Michaelangelo, Sheila E.
Donald Trump (The Black Version), The Time
Old Mother Reagan, Violent Femmes
Elvis Has Left the Building, John Wesley Harding
Frank Sinatra, Cake
Free Nelson Mandela, The Specials
Hey Jack Kerouac, 10,000 Maniacs
It's Margaret Cho, Skankin Pickle
Nixon's Spirit, Paul Oekenfold
Pablo Picasso, Burning Sensations
Rene And Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After The War, Paul Simon
Rosa Parks, OutKast
Werner von Braun, Tom Lehrer
Why Won't Jesse Helms Just Hurry Up and Die?, MC Hawking
Winona Ryder, Unrest
Bonus selection: Rufus was a Tit Man, Loudon Wainwright III (Not a celebrity at the time, but I'd say Rufus is now more famous than his father)
"James Brown is Dead", LA Style (long before JB passed away)
"Joe Stalin's Cadillac", Camper Van Beethoven
1. Hattie Carroll was not a celebrity. She was a maid.
2. The mention of Picasso reminds me of the Paul McCartney song "Picasso's Last Words." ("Drink to me, drink to my health. You know I can't drink anymore.")
3. I saw Loudon Wainwright sing "Rufus Is a Tit Man" in concert before it was out on any album. The punchline of the song stunned us at the time. (He describes the baby Rufus nursing on his mother's breast, and dad eventually gets the idea of himself nursing on the other breast.) We were big Loudon Wainwright fans back in the day. I'm sure we must have seen him at The Ark in Ann Arbor.
4. These days, I've been listening to Rufus Wainwright actually rather obsessively. I've got a CD in the car, and for the last two weeks, on my little drive to work, I listen almost exclusively to "Oh What a World" and "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" (occasionally branching out into "Greek Song" and "Poses"). I mean, if I seem crazier than usual, it may be the bizarre excess of "Oh What a World" and "Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk." So, please be kind if I'm a mess...
Events make celebrities. Hattie Carroll became a celebrity in Baltimore when she was killed by William Zanzinger. Dylan gave her nationwide publicity. Of course, she DID have to be killed to be noticed at all. So in a sense, Ann, you're correct;
"Hattie Carroll was a maid of the kitchen.
She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn't even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level,
Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane
That sailed through the air and came down through the room,
Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle.
And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears."
Rene and Georgette Magritte with their dog, After the War.
C'mere, After the War! Sit! Fetch!
Woof!
BauHaus:
Bela Lugosi's Dead (1979)
"The bats have left the bell tower
The victims have been bled
Red velvet lines the black box
Bela Lugosi's dead."
Bob Dylan's 300 Game by Emily Kaitz
http://cdbaby.com/cd/kaitz95
Picasso? How about Picasso's Mandolin" by by Guy Clark
I can’t stand Sheryl Crow and I never heard of Steve McQueen before, but I was listening to the radio driving into work this morning and a D.J. mentioned the song by title so I feel like I’m kind of obligated to post it here.
(Hey, at least I’m not hearing disembodied voices in my head telling me to post comments at Althouse. No, wait. Arrrrgh!!!)
3. I saw Loudon Wainwright sing "Rufus Is a Tit Man" in concert before it was out on any album. The punchline of the song stunned us at the time. (He describes the baby Rufus nursing on his mother's breast, and dad eventually gets the idea of himself nursing on the other breast.) We were big Loudon Wainwright fans back in the day. I'm sure we must have seen him at The Ark in Ann Arbor.
Of course the punchline now is that Rufus most decidely is not a tit man. Have you listened to his sister, Martha Wainwright? Another remarkable talent.
Excuse the Bert Youngesque self-linking, but here's an incomplete musical history of Loudon's troubled history as a father: Some people make scrapbooks, others write songs.
By "Bert" I mean "Burt." Bert Young is long dead, doesn't need a webpage, and is no longer king of the forest.
Timothy Leary's dead.
Is he? Jeez. Hot damn man, why wasn't I told?!
The Replacements' song "Alex Chilton" came to mind... It's a great jangly pop tune, but Alex is probably a few notches shy of celebrityhood among the general populace. Robyn Hitchcock's "I Saw Nick Drake" has, perhaps, the same shortcoming.
Jonathan Richman wrote and performed "Pablo Picasso" with the Modern Lovers, and his producer John Cale covered it on his Helen Of Troy album. (Burning Sensations' version is on the Repo Man soundtrack.)
Does "Don't Bogart That Joint" count? "The Pope Smokes Dope"?
They Might Be Giants have a flair for historical biographies like "Meet James Ensor" and "James K. Polk", certainly not celebutards in the Paris Hilton mode, so I'm clearly way off the path and should stop wasting pixels now.
"Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle", Nirvana
"Steve McQueen" is currently one of my son's favorite songs. I kid you not--sings it at the top of his lungs at the drop of a hat. (I love stringing together those two cliches, but it works better out loud.)
Everyone's gotten most of songs I thought of, but not this one:
"Free John Gotti"--the Smithereens
I think Gotti did become a celebrity of sorts, so I think it qualifies.
Also, Lou Reed was the guest on this album, which is OT with regard to this post, but cool nonetheless.
Bissage: Jeez, you just made me feel positively ancient.
Can't believe I forgot one of my favorite songs from last year: Lou Reed, by The Little Willies. It's the dramatic tale of coming across Lou Reed in a Texas field knocking over bovines.
I thought he was a vegetarian?
He was just tipping them over, he wasn't eating them.
Weird Al also has "Stuck in a Closet with Vanna White".
And I don't think anyone's mentioned "Bette Davis Eyes"
litsskad, yes she was mentioned. No one has mentioned "Marty Feldman's Eyes."
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
A Southern man don't need him around anyhow.
David Bowie had two on the Hunky Dory album: "Andy Warhol" and "Song for Bob Dylan."
The Dandy Warhols have a fine song "Cool as Kim Deal." Kim Deal played bass with the Pixies.
Todd Rundgren: "Wolfman Jack" from the Something/Anything album. The Guess Who also paid tribute to the DJ, with "Clap for the Wolfman."
On the (excellent) Brian Wilson Live at the Roxy album, he and his backing band, the Wondermints, do a version of "Brian Wilson."
And to tie two of your posts together, Burt Young deserved to be among the dead Sopranos character videos, even though he appeared only in one episode. He was the father of another character, who played a hit man who was dying of lung cancer even while he was murdering someone else. It was the phlegmiest performance in the history of television.
[voice]: This is Andy Warhole and it's take one. No, it's take one...
[DB]: It's... it's Warhol actually.
[voice]: What did I say?
[DB]: Hole. It's hol. As in holes.
[voice]: Inaudible
[DB]: Wha? Andy Warh[tape splice]... Andy War[tape splice]hol...
Like ho[tape splice]ho[tape splice]...
[voice]: Andy Warhol take one.
Damn you, stodder!
Country genre: "Tim McGraw" by Taylor Swift is getting some good play right now. The link has the whole video. Worth watching just for the fresh-faced [smokin' hot] blonde singer/songwriter.
For those who don't know why he's famous: Tim McGraw is a country music star, married to Faith Hill and the son of baseball player Tug McGraw.
Maybe she doesn't count as a celebrity but how about: I'm Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee)?
Wow, there's a disproportionate number of Wainwright lovers on this thread.
Loudon also wrote "Talkin' New Bob Dylan" and "Liza".
Paul Simon also wrote "A Simple Desultory Phillipic or How I was Robert McNamara'd/Lyndon Johnsoned Into Submission". And "So Long, Frank Llyod Wright".
George Harrison wrote "Pure Smokey".
If we want to go farther afield, John Dowland wrote "Tarleton's Resurrection". Tarleton was quite the celebrity in his day, and is immortalized as a skull in Hamlet: "Alas poor Yorrick, I knew him well."
Warren Zevon had a few name-checks of sports figures: "Bill Lee" (the spacey former Red Sox reliever) and "Boom Boom Mancini," which had a great lyric:
"Hurry home early/hurry on home/Boom Boom Mancini's fightin' Bobby Chacon"
He also wrote one for "Frank and Jesse James" "Keep on ridin', ridin', ridin'/Frank and Jesse James/keep on ridin', ridin', ridin'/till you clear your names."
I think "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner" was fictional, but possibly not.
Another panegyric songwriter is Neil Young, although he didn't namecheck in the title.
"My My, Hey Hey" was the story of Johnny Rotten
"Sleeps with Angels" was about Kurt Cobain.
"He Was the King" was about Elvis and has a funny lyric:
"The last time I saw Elvis/ He was shooting at a color TV/ The phones were ringing in the pink motel/
And the rest is history/ He was the King"
Zevon's "Porcelain Monkey" was also about Elvis, but much less flattering:
Hip-shakin' shoutin' in gold lame'
That's how he earned his regal sobriquet
Then he threw it all away
For a porcelain monkey
He threw it away for a porcelain monkey
Gave it all up for a figurine
He traded it in for a night in Las Vegas
And his face on velveteen
From a shotgun shack singing Pentecostal hymns
Through the wrought iron gates to the TV room
He had a little world, it was smaller than your hand
It's a rockabilly ride from the glitter to the gloom
Left behind by the latest trends
Eating fried chicken with his regicidal friends
That's how the story ends
With a porcelain monkey
Pop-o-Pies had a somg called "Timothy Leary Lives."
Weird Al had a song named "Bob", a Bob Dylan type song sung in subterranean homesick style. The lyrics were entirely palindromes.
And it's "LEGEND of a Mind".
Bananarama (I think) had a minor hit with "Robert DeNiro's Waiting" back in th 80's.
I also recall some britpop one-hit wonder that had a tune called "My Name is Michael Caine", which featured a clip of Michael Caine saying, "My name is Michael Caine." It was kind of kooky.
Galileo - Indigo Girls
Marie Provost - Nick Lowe
Neil Young - Will and the Bushmen
Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing - The Minutemen
Bob Dylan Wrote Propoganda Songs - The Minutemen
Uncle Remus - Frank Zappa
From Hank to Hendrix, Pocahontas, Cortez the Killer - Neil Young
Jack the Ripper - Link Wray
Solomon Sang - Cassandra Wilson
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow - Brian Wilson
Bob Wills is Still the King - Waylon Jennings
MLK - U2
My Name is Prince - Prince
Sit on My Face Stevie Nicks - forgot the band
And of course, Barbara Manatee by Larry Boy.
Trey
Christine Keeler by Phil Ochs. Still funny, as long as you know who she was.
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