Song about a historical figure

Victoria - Kinks
Jesse James - Woody Guthrie

Your turn...

the hurricane - bob d

iliketrains are good at this:

spencer perceval
terra nova (about antarctic explorer robert scott)
the beeching report (about richard beeching, british railways reformer)

just for starters

OMIE WISE

Mel Brooks: "To Be Or Not To Be"

Victoria - Kinks

So Ray Davies' daughter is a historical figure? :)

Ray Davies' daughter was Empress of India?

gettin' hongro - beach boys

Hongro Like the Wolf (Duran Duran)

Supersister, "Dareios the Emperor"
Supersister, "Alexander"

Monty Python, "Knights of the Round Table" (LOL)

Phil Ochs - Ballad of William Worthy
Peter Gabriel - Biko
Black Uhuru - I Love King Selassie

The Exploited - Maggie

John Cale - Charlemagne
John Cale - John Milton
John Cale - King Harry
John Cale - Graham Greene
John Cale - Rise, Sam & Rimsky Korsakov
John Cale - The Soul of Carmen Miranda
John Cale - Mr. Wilson
John Cale - Pablo Picasso
John Cale - Queen Victoria
John Cale - At About This Time Mozart Was Dead And Joseph Conrad Was Sailing The Seven Seas Learning English
John Cale - Brahms
John Cale - Macbeth
John Cale - Dr. Mudd
John Cale - Magritte
John Cale - Archimedes

... apologies if I missed anyway

John Cale - Magritte

There's also that Paul Simon song 'bout same (& his wife), "after the war"

SFA - Herman Loves Pauline (about Albert Einstein)

SFA- The Man Don't Give A F*** (Robin Friday)

"The Death of Ferdinand de Saussure" - Magnetic Fields
"King of Spain" - Galaxie 500
"Like Herod" - Mogwai

"Pablo Picasso" -- the Modern Lovers
"Andy Warhol" -- David Bowie
"Jesus" -- Velvet Underground
"Virgin Mary" -- Antony and the Johnsons
"Joan of Arc" -- Lenny Cohen
"Abraham, Martin & John" -- Dion
"Sheela-Na-Gig" -- PJ Harvey (sort of)
"I'm Henry the VIII I Am" -- Herman's Hermits (okay, not really)

Chicago - Harry Truman

Warren Zevon-Frank and Jesse James

Cortez The Killer - Neil Young

The Gnome - Pink Floyd
The Right Profile - The Clash

tori amos - 'yes, anastasia' and 'josephine'

(anastasia romanova and josephine bonaparte)

Was listening to a song about Napoleon called "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" played by Nic Jones this morning, tho I assume the song itself is trad. Folk music pwns this anyway, I'd guess.

Another song about Boney = "The Green Linnet"

... trad. as well, of course

Although not stricxtly 'songs', Rick W's Six Wives of Henry VIII - ha!

Replacements - "Alex Chilton"

Umm: They Might Be Giants: "James K. Polk"

& "meet james ensor" & "she thinks she's edith head"

Big Dipper-Hey, Mr. Lincoln

I was just looking for songs with acoustic guitar and analog synths for some reason and came across
"Warren Harding" by Al Stewart

iliketrains are good at this:

spencer perceval
terra nova (about antarctic explorer robert scott)
the beeching report (about richard beeching, british railways reformer)

just for starters

lol i came here to post them...pretty much every song they've ever done is of this sort

Boney M - Rasputin

Kinky Friedman - The Ballad Of Charles Whitman

iron maiden - genghis khan
iron maiden - alexander the great

i thought there would me a million more (and i'm probably missing a ton) but they're all about tv shows/movies/fictional characters.

Budgie -- "Napoleon Bona-Part One" and "Napoleon Bona-Part Two"

The Pogues - "A Man You Don't Meet Everday" (Bonnie Prince Charlie)

Boney M - "Ma Baker" (about Ma Barker)
Boney M - "El Lute" (about Eleuterio Sánchez)

Boney M doing Rasputin - brings new meaning to the phrase "black russian"

Burning Spear: "Christopher Columbus" (is a damned blasted liar etc)

Frank Hutchinson, Mississippi John Hurt and a million others: "Stagger Lee"

there are literally hundreds of old-time, folk and bluegrass songs about characters that no doubt did exist: John Henry, John Hardy, John Brown, Georgie Buck, Angeline the Baker, Sally Ann, Bill Cheatham, Jesse James etc etc

Camper Van Beethoven - Sweethearts (Ronald Reagan)
Camper Van Beethoven - Jack Ruby
Crucifux - Hinckley had a Vision
Morrissey - Margaret on the Guillotine
Smiths - Suffer Little Children
Phil Ochs - I Dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night (not sure of official title)
Billy Bragg - I dreamed I saw Phil Ochs last night
Rolling Stones - Sympathy for the Devil (lots)

xp Duke - add Stagger Lee to that list

I was just looking for songs with acoustic guitar and analog synths for some reason and came across
"Warren Harding" by Al Stewart

actually, a large amount of Al Stewart's catalogue from "Past, Present and Future" onwards is historical based..

Burning Spear: "Christopher Columbus"

Which reminds us that Burning Spear used to sing 'bout Marcus Garvey alot.

Getting Away With It - Electronic = Morrissey

Folk music pwns this anyway, I'd guess.

But, when the songs were written, they were about contemporary figures.

Woody Guthrie - Jesus Christ.

Beethoven - Symphony No. 3 in E flat major (Op. 55).

Sinfonia eroica, composta per festeggiare il sovvenire d'un grand'uomo.

Gillian Welch - April the 14th
Camper van Beethoven - Joe Stalin's Cadillac
Townes van Zandt - Pancho & Lefty

The Band - The Weight

all those Van Morrison songs about Yeats and other poets

Neil Young - Pocahontas

probably tons of Manics songs but the one I keep coming back to is "Emily" (Emmeline Pankhurst)

Sally Timms - King Ludwig
The Clean - Ludwig

That one Matmos album.