lyrical references to historical things

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any bands that make use of A LOT of historical references in their lyrics and maybe are known for that?

― rizzx (Rizz), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 08:10 (nineteen years ago)

Pressgang.

It was all jolly uptempo tunes about smugglers and highwaymen and suchlike.

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 09:23 (nineteen years ago)

Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, The Albion Band etc to thread

― Oh No It's Dadaismus! (Dada), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 09:24 (nineteen years ago)

the pogues
u2
midnight oil
the clash

lots of historical references to be found there

― Charlie Howard (the sphinx), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 11:51 (nineteen years ago)

if I remember well even Nikki Sudden wrote a lot of songs inspired by British historical events.

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 11:54 (nineteen years ago)

tmbg

― like a gooned out Mark E. Smith with a shaky sense of rhythm (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 11:55 (nineteen years ago)

and Julian Cope wrote about Warwick and the bloody assizes.

― Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 11:55 (nineteen years ago)

"Do you remember President Nixon?"

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 12:56 (nineteen years ago)

Iron Maiden have covered (ometimes instrumentally) Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, World War 2, Icarus, the Egyptians, Russia, pioneer-era USA, biblical shit, etc etc. In fact, more than half their songs are historical in some way.

― everything (everything), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 16:36 (nineteen years ago)

Beach Boys' Cabin Essence

― and PappaWheelie, author of Have You Ever Been Poxy Fuled? (PappaWheelie 2), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

The Men They Couldn't Hang - Pogues-lite from the mid-80s, but chock-a-block with History.

― meritocracy (spencerman), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 17:10 (nineteen years ago)

Pet Shop Boys: "...in every city in every nation, from Lake Geneva to the Finland Station."

― moriarty (moriarty), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 17:12 (nineteen years ago)

WUTANG

― a naked Kraken annoying Times Square tourists with an acoustic guitar (nickalici, Tuesday, 19 September 2006 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

The Decembrists, more general than specific references

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Tuesday, 19 September 2006 18:12 (nineteen years ago)

Does Boney M count?

― Voodoo Man (Voodoo Man), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 04:55 (nineteen years ago)

"Ready, Art Brut?!"

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 06:10 (nineteen years ago)

rolling stones - sympathy for the devil

a lot of music of the 60's referenced the vietnam war. and of course, many of them are still relevant today... Fortunate Son by CCR

sufjan makes a crap load of references in Illinois

dylan. of course, any artist who writes music that is socially conscious/critical is likely to reference history. woodie guthrie, neil young, the clash, etc.

― marbles (marbles), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 13:26 (nineteen years ago)

And, of course, "Nothing's Impossible" Cliff Richard, from "The Young Ones" fillum:

Just take Everest, what did they say ?
No-one could climb it anyway
Oh yeah, what happened Coronation day ?
I guess, nothing's impossible

Space, they said we'd never win
They said around the earth, a man could never spin
Ever heard of Major Gagarin
You see, nothing's impossible
Impossible ? Never

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 13:37 (nineteen years ago)

The Smiths - "..what she asked of me at the end of the day, Caligula would have blushed.." Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

― JohnFoxxsJuno (JohnFoxxsJuno), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 13:46 (nineteen years ago)

Al Stewart's Past, Present, and Future album has a lot of this, and his other LPs may as well.

― nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 20 September 2006 22:34 (nineteen years ago)

i remember the year i went to camp
heard about some lady named selma and some blacks
somebody stuck their fingers in the president's ears
wasn't too much later they came out with johnson's wax

― William Ryan Stuart Hamilton (Stagger Lee), Thursday, 21 September 2006 04:43 (nineteen years ago)

Pavement didn't do it much, but I always liked the reference to General Sherman's march to the sea from "The unseen power of the picket fence".

"So lets go way back to the ancient times
When there were no 50 states,
And on a hill there stands Sherman
Sherman and his mates.
And they're marching through Georgia,
we're marching through Georgia,
we're marching through Georgia
G-G-G-G-Georgia"

― J-rock (Julien Sandiford), Thursday, 21 September 2006 05:34 (nineteen years ago)

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