So, there are songs with made up names in them and there are songs about real people that the wider world won't know (parents, ex-lovers etc.) - but, this playlist is dedicated to songs about real people... that you might actually have heard of!
Yes, some bands and songwriters can become obsessed with an individual from history or popular culture, for a variety of reasons. Some turn that into a song. Some of them end up being rather good songs too (even if the subjects can seem a little strange at times).
1. Muse: JFK
Let's go straight in with a big (and slightly odd) one - John Fitzgerald Kennedy, one of the more popular US Presidents of the last century or so. Matt Bellamy, lead singer and songwriter for Devonian prog rockers, Muse, turned part of a 1961 JFK speech, into a short segue track on their 2015 album, Drones. It's a concept album about an abandoned soldier and this brief tune (just over 50 seconds) sets up the next track, Defector, with JFK talking about communism - "For we are opposed around the world, by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy... On infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections."
https://youtu.be/kzbFxLNpguM (video runs into Defector)
2. U2: MLK
Another song about an icon of the 60s, MLK closed out U2's fourth album, The Unforgettable Fire, and was one of the two tracks dedicated to this giant of the civil rights movement (the other being the classic single, Pride). It's a beautifully simple track - a simple haunting tone with elegiac lyrics - "Sleep. sleep tonight, and may your dreams be realised." For all the criticism of U2 over the years, when they get it right, they really nail it!
3. Pixies: Alec Eiffel
Yes, it's a song about Alexandre Gustav Eiffel, French civil engineer, primarily renowned for designing railway bridges and viaducts, but is enshrined in legend for the odd looking pile of steel in the middle of Paris. Pixies frontman, Black Francis, chose to write about him because he is a 'fascinating subject.' The video sees the band in a wind tunnel, because Eiffel was a "pioneer of aerodynamics."
4. Van Morrison: Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)
For my age group, the Dexy's early 80s version of this song is the one I was most familiar with, but I thought for this, I would go back to the original. When Van Morrison wrote this tune about R&B legend, Jackie Wilson, in 1972 for the album Saint Dominic's Preview, he was particularly inspired by the Wilson hit Reet Petite, both musically and lyrically (there is a direct reference in the lyrics). It is a joyous number and an ode to the man that Morrison later admitted he was basically trying to emulate.
5. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark: Joan Of Arc
Andy McCluskey included two songs about French saint Joan, on the band's fantastic 1981 album Architecture & Morality. There was Joan Of Arc (this one) and confusingly also, Joan Of Arc (Maid Of Orleans). McCluskey recounted that they had been touring France earlier in 1981, and their French support band was telling them all about Joan, and they also visited several of the cities associated with her, like Rouen and Orleans - and with him being a bit of a history fan, he decided to research her and write some songs. Trouser Press called it a "magical. ethereal hit" while critic Dave Thompson may have got a little bit carried away when he described it as, "a revelation of a single." Either way, it is a lovely tune and it did make number five on the UK chart.
6. Stereolab: John Cage Bubblegum
Now we turn to Anglo-French avant-garde pop - no, wait, don't skip this one! Stereolab fused laid back synths, with occasional bursts of high energy rock and Laetitia Sadier's super smooth vocals, to create some of the 1990s and 2000s more intriguing records. This is an ode to John Cage, an experimental and critically acclaimed (although derided by some) composer. He was taught by Arnold Schoenberg in the 1930s, did a lot of work pioneering modern dance, with choreographer Merce Cunningham, but is probably best known for his piece, 4'33" a song that was 'performed' in the absence of deliberate sound.
7. Weezer: Buddy Holly
This is a song that almost didn't make Weezer's debut album Weezer (The Blue Album), as singer and writer Rivers Cuomo felt it to be a bit too 'cheesy'. Luckily for the rest of us, producer (and Cars legend) Ric Ocasek persuaded them to include it. He apparently told Cuomo, "Do it anyway, and if you don't like it when it's done, we won't use it. But I think you should try. You did write it and it is a great song." It became a top twenty hit in the US and UK, so good call Ric! And the Spike Jonze video is one of the best there is - if you have never seen it, you are in for a treat...
8. Half Man Half Biscuit: Dickie Davies Eyes
A slightly more unusual subject for a figure to be immortalised in song? Perhaps. But, Half Man Half Biscuit (HMHB) have never been an ordinary band. They may make music that has a good, rough 80s indie sound to it, but the lyrics of Nigel Blackwell are inspired, witty and often surreal (but don't write them off as a 'comedy band'). Dickie Davies was a well known figure in sports television, in an era when there were only three channels in the UK, anchoring ITV's World Of Sport for 17 years. I'm not sure if there is a huge amount of direct inspiration from the man himself in the song, other than having a name that could be used as a pastiche of Bette Davies Eyes.
9. The Go-Betweens: Lee Remick
This was the Go-Between's debut single in 1978, was also the first release on local Brisbane label, Able Label, with only 700 vinyl 7"records pressed. Robert Forster wrote the song, saying, "I wanted to write a love song. But I wasn't in love with anyone, so I just projected it towards that screen image.... I had to find someone, and I found Lee Remick." Remick was an American actress who got an Oscar nomination for 1962s Days Of Wine And Roses, and as the song notes, was in The Omen with Gregory Peck. It is nowhere as sophisticated as they become, but it has a certain 60s charm to it. Forster even got to meet the subject of this song, on the Mike Walsh Show in Sydney in 1986.
10. The Replacements: Alex Chilton
We're ending with an absolute gem. The Replacements had always garnered a reputation for being somewhat shambolic and lo-fi in their approach. By fifth album, Pleased To Meet Me, they had polished things a little bit. Alex Chilton was the teenage star of The Box Tops, who had a big hit with The Letter in the late 60s, before forming the hugely influential band, Big Star, in the 70s. He was a big inspiration on the band, and actually worked with them on several occasions, including playing guitar on Can't Hardly Wait on this album. Paul Westerberg said, "His aura is different than the average person's. He could be from another planet." The band tried to keep the song away from Chilton, fearing it would give a bad impression, but when Chilton heard it, he thought it a 'good song', making him feel like a legendary outlaw. It's a great song.