Historical Biography Song

This is a song that recounts events in the life of a named historical individual.

This isn't exactly an Educational Song as such, in the sense that it's not done with the main purpose of inculcating children or others with facts, so it isn't by an act that mostly does educational music. Instead, this is where an act that performs songs about a variety of themes decides to dip into biography as the subject of one particular song.

The person may be a Badass, a villain, or neither; sometimes the song is to memorialize an important or tragic event that happened to them, for activist purposes; often, the songwriter just thinks the person's life makes for a good story and an interesting song.

Accordingly, the accuracy can range from Shown Their Work to Artistic License – History to Very Loosely Based on a True Story. Note, though, that the song must actually make some attempt to recount their life. A song that merely refers to a historical person—e.g. a song named after a historical warlord where the name of the warlord is simply being used as a metaphor for jealousy—doesn't count.

Usually has a Character Title. Subtrope (of sorts) of One-Man Song or One-Woman Song, as the case may be. May overlap with Horrible History Metal and Murder Ballad.

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Examples:

• Bob Dylan's "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll": One of the activist variety, it recounts the story of a poor black woman who was killed by a wealthy white man, and the light punishment he received for it.
  • Dylan also recorded "Hurricane" about the racially motivated conviction of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter.
  • In 2020, Dylan released "Murder Most Foul", his longest song clocking in at 16:56, about the assassination of John F Kennedy.
• Boney M.:
  • "Rasputin" somehow mythologizes the life of an infamous Russian mystic into a legendary disco banger.
  • Amazingly, they did it again: "Ma Baker" [sic] is loosely based on the life of (alleged) crime matriarch Kate "Ma" Barker.
• Great Big Sea has "Captain Kidd" which covers the life of the famous pirate from a first-person perspective. He talks about his crimes, his Redemption Rejection, and his death. It ends by telling the audience to "shun bad company" so they don't end up like him.
• "Uncommon Valor" by Jedi Mind Tricks has a guest verse by R.A. The Rugged Man, who tells the true story of his own father who fought in Vietnam and came back poisoned by Agent Orange that caused birth defects for his children.
• Johnny Horton: a number of his songs on historical themes were biographical, including:
  • "Jim Bridger," about the 19th-century mountain man and explorer;
  • "Comanche," about the only U.S. Army survivor of the Battle of the Little Bighorn (who happened to be a horse).
• Billy Joel's "Ballad of Billy the Kid" details Billy's rise to infamy, his crimes throughout the American West, and his eventual death at the hands of a judge. Joel then compares himself to the outlaw in the final verse.
• Joy Division's "Warsaw" is a first-person account of the rise and fall of Rudolf Hess, Deputy Führer of the Nazi Party. The song chronicles Hess' life from his involvement with the Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 to his imprisonment by the British authorities after fleeing to Scotland in 1941.
• Joy Electric's "Nikola Tesla" is a tribute to the Serbian-American electrical genius and inventor. The lyrics include a quick overview of his inventions, then laments how he was "penniless at death, yet ignored" and has since fallen into obscurity compared to his contemporaries.
• Klaatu did "Sub-Rosa Subway", about Alfred Ely Beach and his failed attempt to build a subway in New York in 1870, 34 years before the city formally built and opened its subway system.
• Left at London's "The Ballad Of Marion Zioncheck," about a leftist Washington senator from the 1930s who was institutionalized for mental health problems, then committed suicide shortly after he was released. The song calls into question how the perception of mental illness has evolved overtime.
• Lin-Manuel Miranda originally performed "Alexander Hamilton", a Hip-Hop song about the United States Founding Father on the $10 bill growing up a destitute orphan in the Caribbean before immigrating to New York, told from the point of view of his repentant killer Aaron Burr, as a solo piece at the White House in 2009. This later became the opening song of Hamilton in 2015.
• Marty Robbins: "Billy the Kid", the only cut from his Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs album about an actual person, tells the true story of the notorious gunfighter who killed 21 men, with his first at the age of 12, then finally being shot himself by his former friend, Sheriff Pat Garrett.
• Pet Shop Boys: their 2024 single "Dancing Star" tells the life of Rudolf Nureyev. The music video consists mostly of archival film of the renowned danseur.
• Stan Rogers: "MacDonnell on the Heights" [sic] is about Lt. Col. John Macdonell and how his heroic death in the War of 1812 was overshadowed by that of General Brock shortly before.
• Sabaton:
  • Carolus Rex is about the lives of Swedish rulers Gustavus Adolphus and Charles XII (the eponymous Carolus Rex). It primarily focuses on Charles' absolutism, participation in The Great Northern War, and his death on campaign.
  • Heroes is full of biographical songs, including Audie Murphy ("To Hell and Back"), Witold Pilecki ("Inmate 4859"), Bull Allen ("The Ballad of Bull"), Lauri Törni ("Soldier of Three Armies"), and Karel Janoušek ("Far from the Fame").
  • The Great War has numerous songs dedicated to prominent soldiers of World War One and the roles they played during the war, including T. E. Lawrence ("Seven Pillars of Wisdom"), Alvin York ("82nd All the Way"), Red Baron Manfred von Richtofen ("The Red Baron"), and Francis Pegahmagabow ("A Ghost in the Trenches").
  • The War to End All Wars has more songs about World War One figures, including Franz Ferdinand of Austria ("Sarajevo"), Adrian Carton de Wiart ("The Unkillable Soldier"), Albert I of Belgium ("Race to the Sea"), and Milunka Savić ("Lady of the Dark").
  • "White Death" (on Coat of Arms) is about Simo Häyhä, the deadliest sniper in recorded military history, who killed over 500 Soviet soldiers during the Winter War. "The White Death" was the nickname given to him by the Soviet forces.
• A Sound Of Thunder: "Tomyris" is a Horrible History Metal song recounting the life and conquests of this 6th-century-BCE queen of the Massagetae.
• "Stagger Lee" is an American folk song very loosely based on the life of "Stag" Lee Sheldon, infamous for shooting William "Billy" Lyons to death in 1895. Depending on the Artist, how the murder is portrayed can be subject to any amount of Alternate Character Interpretation.
• They Might Be Giants is known for this trope out of proportion to how often they've actually deployed it, but that has included the following:
  • "Meet James Ensor" is a poetic (and quite vague) retelling of the passage through fame and obscurity of the Belgian artist of that name.
  • "James K. Polk" is a much more encyclopedic and factual rendition of the political emergence, policies, and deeds of the 11th president.
  • “Tesla” lists several of the notable inventions of Nikola Tesla, along with a brief sketch of his life and death.
  • Averted in "The Mesopotamians": although it's sung from the point of view of the historical figures Sargon, Hammurabi, and Ashurbanipal (as well as Gilgamesh, who may or may not be mythical), the song has nothing to do with their real biographies.

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