The rules are:
1. Either the full name, first name or surname must be mentioned in either the title or lyrics.
2. If only the first name or surname is used it must be in reference to an actual person.
3. Songs which are allegedly about a particular person but none of that person's names are used are not permitted. ("You're so Vain" allegedly about Mick Jagger or Warren Beatty is not permitted)
4. All name references must be to an actual person, living or dead, not to a fictional character.
I'll start the ball rolling with an exhaustive list of Bob Dylan songs who evidentally is something of a name dropper. In "Desolation Row" he namechecks seven people and in "I Shall be Free" he mentions eight. Can anyone beat this?
1. The Death of Emmett Till
2. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol ("Hattie
Carrol", "William Zanzinger")
3. Joey* ("Joey" Gallo, "Nietzsche", "Wilhelm Reich",
"Jimmy Cagney")
4. Hurricane ("Rubin Carter", "Patty Valentine",* "Alfred Bello", "Arthur Dexter Bradley")
5. Sara (Sara Lownds, Dylan's wife)
6. Only a Pawn in their Game ("Medgar Evers")
7. Ballad of a Thin Man ("...Mr Jones" is Max Jones, a Melody Maker Journalist)
8. John Wesley Harding (about John Wesley Hardin..without the G)
9. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream ("Jesus", "Captain Kidd", "Columbus"
10. As I Went Out One Morning ("Tom Paine")
11. Black Diamond Bay ("...old Kronkite" is Walter Kronkite)
12. Brownsville Girl* ("Gregory Peck")
13. Desolation Row* ("Abraham" the prophet, "Bette Davis", "Casanova", "TS Eliot", "Einstein", "Nero" "Ezra Pound"
14. From a Buick 6 ("Bo Diddley")
15. I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine
16. I Shall be Free ("President Kennedy" "Sophia Loren", "Brigitte Bardot", "Anita Ekberg", "Martin Luther King", "Richard Burton", "Elizabeth Taylor", "Olatunji")
17. Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie
18. Lenny Bruce
19. Like a Rolling Stone ("Napoleon")
20. Motorpsycho Nightmare ("Tony Perkins", "Fidel Castro")
21. Outlaw Blues ("Jesse James", "Robert Ford")
22. Tombstone Blues ("Paul Revere", "Belle Starr", "Jack the Ripper", "Cecil B DeMille", "Ma Rainey", "Beethoven")
23. When I Paint my Masterpiece ("Botticelli")
24. Who Killed Davey Moore
25. You Aint Goin Nowhere ("Genghis Khan")
26. You're Gonna Make me Lonesome When You Go ("Verlaine", "Rimbaud")
27. Billy 1 (Billy the Kid, "Pat Garrett")
1. Either the full name, first name or surname must be mentioned in either the title or lyrics.
2. If only the first name or surname is used it must be in reference to an actual person.
3. Songs which are allegedly about a particular person but none of that person's names are used are not permitted. ("You're so Vain" allegedly about Mick Jagger or Warren Beatty is not permitted)
4. All name references must be to an actual person, living or dead, not to a fictional character.
I'll start the ball rolling with an exhaustive list of Bob Dylan songs who evidentally is something of a name dropper. In "Desolation Row" he namechecks seven people and in "I Shall be Free" he mentions eight. Can anyone beat this?
1. The Death of Emmett Till
2. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol ("Hattie
Carrol", "William Zanzinger")
3. Joey* ("Joey" Gallo, "Nietzsche", "Wilhelm Reich",
"Jimmy Cagney")
4. Hurricane ("Rubin Carter", "Patty Valentine",* "Alfred Bello", "Arthur Dexter Bradley")
5. Sara (Sara Lownds, Dylan's wife)
6. Only a Pawn in their Game ("Medgar Evers")
7. Ballad of a Thin Man ("...Mr Jones" is Max Jones, a Melody Maker Journalist)
8. John Wesley Harding (about John Wesley Hardin..without the G)
9. Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream ("Jesus", "Captain Kidd", "Columbus"
10. As I Went Out One Morning ("Tom Paine")
11. Black Diamond Bay ("...old Kronkite" is Walter Kronkite)
12. Brownsville Girl* ("Gregory Peck")
13. Desolation Row* ("Abraham" the prophet, "Bette Davis", "Casanova", "TS Eliot", "Einstein", "Nero" "Ezra Pound"
14. From a Buick 6 ("Bo Diddley")
15. I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine
16. I Shall be Free ("President Kennedy" "Sophia Loren", "Brigitte Bardot", "Anita Ekberg", "Martin Luther King", "Richard Burton", "Elizabeth Taylor", "Olatunji")
17. Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie
18. Lenny Bruce
19. Like a Rolling Stone ("Napoleon")
20. Motorpsycho Nightmare ("Tony Perkins", "Fidel Castro")
21. Outlaw Blues ("Jesse James", "Robert Ford")
22. Tombstone Blues ("Paul Revere", "Belle Starr", "Jack the Ripper", "Cecil B DeMille", "Ma Rainey", "Beethoven")
23. When I Paint my Masterpiece ("Botticelli")
24. Who Killed Davey Moore
25. You Aint Goin Nowhere ("Genghis Khan")
26. You're Gonna Make me Lonesome When You Go ("Verlaine", "Rimbaud")
27. Billy 1 (Billy the Kid, "Pat Garrett")
