"Historical" rock songs

[Uiler]

I thought that the history buffs here would like the lyrics to Starship's 80s rock song, "Babylon"

http://www.lyricstime.com/starship-babylon-lyrics.html

Forever, you’ll be remembered as the one who played it cool
Whenever they speak your name they’ll say it’s you who broke the golden rule
But here’s what I really want to know
Did you see the writing on the wall

Chorus:
Babylon
How long can this foolish magic carry on
Babylon
Who will love you when the fantasy of youth is gone

Babylon is it true that your streets were paved with gold
And did you play beneath the stars
Babylon did you know it would all come down to
How you played the dealer’s cards

Remember how you loved the laughter
A kingdom on the rise
Crys in the night would turn you to song
And when they call ooh you sang along

Here’s what I really want to know
Did you see the writing on the wall

Babylon
How long will this foolish magic carry on
Babylon
Who will love you when the fantasy of youth is gone

Babylon is it true that your streets were paved with gold
And did you play beneath the stars
Babylon did you know it would all come down to
How you played the dealer’s cards

It’s over you rate two pages in some book
Your legacy
Lost in the night and still you sing your song
For those who will take heed

Here’s what I really want to know
Did you see the writing on the wall

Babylon
How long will this foolish magic carry on
Babylon
Who will love you when the fantasy of youth is gone

Babylon is it true that your streets were paved with gold
And did you play beneath the stars
Babylon did you know it would all come down to
How you played the dealer’s cards...

What other "Historical" themed rock/pop songs do you know?

 

[Asclepius]

I may be showing my age here but I've always liked the lyrics to "When the Tigers Broke Free" by Pink Floyd. Anyone else know of any songs that pick out specific military engagements like this one does with Anzio in WWII?

"When The Tigers Broke Free"

It was just before dawn
One miserable morning in black 'forty four.
When the forward commander
Was told to sit tight
When he asked that his men be withdrawn.
And the Generals gave thanks
As the other ranks held back
The enemy tanks for a while.
And the Anzio bridgehead
Was held for the price
Of a few hundred ordinary lives.

And kind old King George
Sent Mother a note
When he heard that father was gone.
It was, I recall,
In the form of a scroll,
With gold leaf and all.
And I found it one day
In a drawer of old photographs, hidden away.
And my eyes still grow damp to remember
His Majesty signed
With his own rubber stamp.

It was dark all around.
There was frost in the ground
When the tigers broke free.
And no one survived
From the Royal Fusiliers Company C.
They were all left behind,
Most of them dead,
The rest of them dying.
And that's how the High Command
Took my daddy from me.

 

[El_Tigre]

Billy Joel: We Didn't Start The Fire
------------

Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China, Johnnie Ray,
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe DiMaggio

Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television,
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe

Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Panmunjom,
Brando, "The King and I" and "The Catcher in the Rye"

Eisenhower, vaccine, England's got a new Queen,
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana good bye

CHORUS
We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it but we tried to fight it.

Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and Prokofiev,
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc

Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, dacron,
Dien Bien Phu falls, "Rock Around the Clock"

Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team,
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Bardot, Budapest, Alabama, Krushchev,
Princess Grace, "Peyton Place", trouble in the Suez

CHORUS

Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Kerouac,
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, "Bridge on the River Kwai"
Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, California baseball,
Starkweather, homicide, children of Thalidomide

Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", space monkey, Mafia,
Hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go
U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy,
Chubby Checker, "Psycho", Belgians in the Congo

CHORUS

Hemingway, Eichmann, "Stranger in a Strange Land",
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion

"Lawrence of Arabia", British Beatlemania,
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British politician sex,
JFK blown away, what else do I have to say?

CHORUS

Birth control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again,
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock,
Begin, Reagan, Palestine, terror on the airline,
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan.

"Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal, suicide,
Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz,
Hypodermics on the shores, China's under martial law,
Rock and Roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore!

We didn't start the fire
It was always burning since the world's been turning.
We didn't start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on, and on...

CHORUS TO FADE

 

[El_Tigre]

I may be showing my age here but I've always liked the lyrics to "When the Tigers Broke Free" by Pink Floyd. Anyone else know of any songs that pick out specific military engagements like this one does with Anzio in WWII?

How about "Goodnight Saigon", also from Billy Joel:

We met as soul mates on Parris Island
We left as inmates from an asylum
And we were sharp, as sharp as knives
And we were so gung ho to lay down our lives

We came in spastic like tameless horses
We left in plastic as numbered corpses
And we learned fast to travel light
Our arms were heavy but our bellies were tight

We had no home front, we had no soft soap
They sent us Playboy, they gave us Bob Hope
We dug in deep and shot on sight
And prayed to Jesus Christ with all our might

We had no cameras to shoot the landscape
We passed the hash pipe and played our Doors tapes
And it was dark, so dark at night
And we held on to each other
Like brother to brother
We promised our mothers we'd write

And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together

Remember Charlie, remember Baker
They left their childhood on every acre
And who was wrong? And who was right?
It didn't matter in the thick of the fight

We held the day in the palm of our hand
They ruled the night, and the night
Seemed to last as long as six weeks...

...On Parris Island
We held the coastline, they held the highlands
And they were sharp, as sharp as knives
They heard the hum of our motors
They counted the rotors
And waited for us to arrive

And we would all go down together
We said we'd all go down together
Yes we would all go down together

 

[Asclepius]

Ahh... a Billy Joel fan I see

I always thought "We didn't start the fire" was a copy of REM's "It's the end of the world as we know it" but I don't know which came first.

 

[jeriko one]

Iron Maiden have many historical songs. Genghis Khan, Alexander, Montsegur, Tailgunner. Also Germany had a Eurovision song called Dschinghis
Khan. Since I do not understand the lyrics I will not comment on that.

 

[Stefan Haertel]

Iron Maiden have many historical songs. Genghis Khan, Alexander, Montsegur, Tailgunner.

Add to that list: Invaders (Vikings), The Trooper (Crimean War) Sun And Steel (Samurai), Aces High (Battle Of Britain), Powerslave (Ancient Egypt), Run Silent Run Deep (U-boat war), Sign Of The Cross (Inquisition), The Aftermath (WWI), The Edge Of Darkness (Vietnam War), The Clansman (Medieval Scotland) and Paschendale (WWI). Also, Genghis Khan is an instrumental, so it is questionable in this list.

Also Germany had a Eurovision song called Dschinghis
Khan. Since I do not understand the lyrics I will not comment on that.

That is definitely not a historical song. It is just bullfeathers that tries to have some cool Mongol-inspired lyrics.

Some other nice songs I would think of are "Massacre" by Thin Lizzy (about the Crimean War), "Silver Wings" by Bruce Dickinson (Strategic Bombing in WWII) or the Gettysburg Trilogy by Iced Earth (plus some others on their recent album "The Glorious Burden"). There are quite a few more, but I don't really want to browse my whole record collection just now.

 

[sydhe]

That famous day in history the men of the 7th Cavalry went riding on)
(And from the rear a voice was heard)
(A brave young man with a trembling word rang loud and clear)
What am I doin' here??

Please Mr. Custer, I don't wanna go
Hey, Mr. Custer, please don't make me go
I had a dream last night about the comin' fight
Somebody yelled "attack!"
And there I stood with a arrow in my back.

Please Mr. Custer, I don't wanna go (forward Ho!!)--aaww

SPOKEN: Look at them bushes out there
They're moving and there's a injun behind every one
Hey, Mr. Custer-you mind if I be excused the rest of the afternoon?
HEY CHARLIE, DUCK YER HEAD!! <sound of arrow whizzing by>
Hmm, you're a little bit late on that one, Charlie
Hooh, I bet that smarts!

(They were sure of victory, the men of the 7th Cavalry, as they rode on)
(But then from the rear a voice was heard)
(That same brave voice with the trembling word rang loud and clear)
What am I doin' here??

Please Mr. Custer, I don't wanna go
Listen, Mr. Custer, please don't make me go
There's a redskin a-waitin' out there, just fixin to take my hair
A coward I've been called cuz I don't wanna wind up dead or bald

Please Mr. Custer, I don't wanna go (forward HO)--aaww

SPOKEN: I wonder what the injun word for friend is
Let's see--friend-- kemo sabe, that's it
KEMO SABE!, HEY OUT THERE, KEMO SABE! <sound of arrow whizzing by>
Nope, that itn't it
Look at them durned injuns
Theyre runnin' around like a bunch of wild Indians-heh, heh, heh
Nah, this ain't no time for jokin'

 

[Che Guava]

Said it before, and I'll say it again: ME262 by the Blue Oyster Cult is the best rock song on WW2 out there:

ME262

Goering's on the phone from Freiburg
Says Willie's done quite a job
Hitler's on the phone from Berlin
Says I'm gonna make you a star

My Captain Von Ondine is your next patrol
A flight of English bombers across the canal
After twelve they'll all be here
I think you know the job

They hung there dependant from the sky
Like some heavy metal fruit
These bombers are ripe and ready to tilt
Must these Englishmen live that I might die
Must they live that I might die

In a G-load disaster from the rate of climb
Sometimes I'd faint and be lost to our side
But there's no reward for failure - but death
So watch me in mirrors keep in the glidepath

Get me through these radars, no, I cannot fail
While my great silver slugs are eager to feed
I can't fail - No, not now
When twenty five bombers wait ripe

They hung there dependant from the sky
Like some heavy metal fruit
These bombers are ripe and ready to tilt
Must these Englishmen live that I might die
Must they live that I might die

Me-262 prince of turbojet
Junker's Jumo 004
Blasts from clustered R4M quartets in my snout
And see these English planes go burn

Well, you be my witness, how red were the skies
When the fortresses flew for the very last time
It was dark over Westphalia
In April of '45

They hung there dependant from the sky
Like some heavy metal fruit
These bombers are ripe and ready to tilt
Must these Englishmen live that I might die
Must they live that I might die

Must these Englishmen live that I might die...Junker's jommo 004

Bombers at 12 o'clock high

 

[DAv2003]

Would Abba's 'Waterloo' count?

 

[SoCalian]

Iron Maiden have many historical songs. Genghis Khan, Alexander, Montsegur, Tailgunner. Also Germany had a Eurovision song called Dschinghis
Khan. Since I do not understand the lyrics I will not comment on that.

the band was dschengis khan, the song was "moscauw"

This is the video of it, which is pretty much the greatest thign ever.

Here is another one, which is in english.

 

[jeriko one]

Add to that list: Invaders (Vikings), The Trooper (Crimean War) Sun And Steel (Samurai), Aces High (Battle Of Britain), Powerslave (Ancient Egypt), Run Silent Run Deep (U-boat war), Sign Of The Cross (Inquisition), The Aftermath (WWI), The Edge Of Darkness (Vietnam War), The Clansman (Medieval Scotland) and Paschendale (WWI). Also, Genghis Khan is an instrumental, so it is questionable in this list.
QUOTE]

Also Afraid to Shoot Strangers might be a historical song. It is about Gulf War. Unfortunately this song was written about the same time of Gulf War. So I do not know if we can count that.

Led Zeppelin`s Immigrant Song is also about Vikings:

Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
>from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
The hammer of the gods
Will drive our ships to new lands,
To fight the horde, singing and crying:
Valhalla, I am coming!
On we sweep with threshing oar,
Our only goal will be the western shore.
Ah, ah,
We come from the land of the ice and snow,
>from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.
How soft your fields so green,
Can whisper tales of gore,
Of how we calmed the tides of war.
We are your overlords.
On we sweep with threshing oar,
Our only goal will be the western shore.
So now you&#8217;d better stop and rebuild all your ruins,
For peace and trust can win the day
Despite of all your losing.

 

[El Justo]

"Machine Gun" by Jimi Hendrix

this is an awesome, awesome song (re Vietnam):

Machine gun
Tearing my body all apart

Machine gun, yeah
Tearing my body all apart

Evil man make me kill ya
Evil man make you kill me
Evil man make me kill you
Even though we&#8217;re only families apart

Well I pick up my axe and fight like a bomber
(you know what I mean)
Hey! and your bullets keep knocking me down

Hey, I pick up my axe and fight like a bomber now
Yeah, but you still blast me down to the ground

The same way you shoot me down, baby
You&#8217;ll be going just the same
Three times the pain,
And your own self to blame
Hey, machine gun

I ain&#8217;t afraid of your mess no more, babe
I ain&#8217;t afraid no more
After a while, your, your cheap talk don&#8217;t even cause me pain,
So let your bullets fly like rain

&#8217;cause I know all the time you&#8217;re wrong baby
And you&#8217;ll be going just the same
Yeah, machine gun
Tearing my family apart
Yeah, yeah, alright
Tearing my family apart

(don&#8217;t you shoot him down)
(he&#8217;s &#8217;bout to leave here)
(don&#8217;t you shoot him down)
(he&#8217;s got to stay here)
(he ain&#8217;t going nowhere)
(he&#8217;s been shot down to the ground)
(oh where he can&#8217;t survive, no, no)

Yeah, that&#8217;s what we don&#8217;t wanna hear anymore, alright?
(no bullets)
At least here, huh huh
(no guns, no bombs)
Huh huh
(no nothin&#8217;, just let&#8217;s all live and live)
(you know, instead of killin&#8217

May this be
Love or just
Confusion born out of
Frustration wracked
Feelings - of not
Being able to
Make true physical
Love to the
Universal gypsy queen
True, free expressed music
Darling guitar please
Rest. amen

 

[Kafka2]

The band played "Waltzing Matilda"


Now when I was a young man I carried me pack
And I lived the free life of the rover.
From the Murray's green basin to the dusty outback,
Well, I waltzed my Matilda all over.
Then in 1915, my country said, "Son,
It's time you stop ramblin', there's work to be done."
So they gave me a tin hat, and they gave me a gun,
And they marched me away to the war.

And the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
As the ship pulled away from the quay,
And amidst all the cheers, the flag waving, and tears,
We sailed off for Gallipoli.

And how well I remember that terrible day,
How our blood stained the sand and the water;
And of how in that hell that they call Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter.
Johnny Turk, he was waitin', he primed himself well;
He showered us with bullets, and he rained us with shell --
And in five minutes flat, he'd blown us all to hell,
Nearly blew us right back to Australia.

But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
When we stopped to bury our slain,
Well, we buried ours, and the Turks buried theirs,
Then we started all over again.

And those that were left, well, we tried to survive
In that mad world of blood, death and fire.
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
Though around me the corpses piled higher.
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over head,
And when I woke up in me hospital bed
And saw what it had done, well, I wished I was dead --
Never knew there was worse things than dying.

For I'll go no more "Waltzing Matilda,"
All around the green bush far and free --
To hump tents and pegs, a man needs both legs,
No more "Waltzing Matilda" for me.

So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed,
And they shipped us back home to Australia.
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane,
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.
And as our ship sailed into Circular Quay,
I looked at the place where me legs used to be,
And thanked Christ there was nobody waiting for me,
To grieve, to mourn and to pity.

But the band played "Waltzing Matilda,"
As they carried us down the gangway,
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
Then they turned all their faces away.

And so now every April, I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me.
And I see my old comrades, how proudly they march,
Reviving old dreams of past glory,
And the old men march slowly, all bones stiff and sore,
They're tired old heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask "What are they marching for?"
And I ask meself the same question.

But the band plays "Waltzing Matilda,"
And the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all.

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda.
Who'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
And their ghosts may be heard as they march by the billabong,
Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?

-- Eric Bogle

 

[PrinceOfLeigh]

Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones and later Guns & Roses. It's not entirely historical but has a bit of history in it.

Sympathy for the Devil
Please allow me to introduce myself
I&#8217;m a man of wealth and taste
I&#8217;ve been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man&#8217;s soul and faith
And I was &#8217;round when jesus christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what&#8217;s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
I stuck around st. petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the czar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a general&#8217;s rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what&#8217;s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out,
Who killed the kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
Let me please introduce myself
I&#8217;m a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached bombay
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what&#8217;s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah

 

[ChrTh]

Istanbul (Not Constantinople), done several times, most popularly (nowadays, anyway) by They Might be Giants

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Now it's Turkish delight on a moonlit night

Every gal in Constantinople
Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople
So if you've a date in Constantinople
She'll be waiting in Istanbul

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that way

So take me back to Constantinople
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works
That's nobody's business but the Turks

Istanbul (Istanbul)
Istanbul (Istanbul)

Even old New York was once New Amsterdam
Why they changed it I can't say
People just liked it better that way

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works
That's nobody's business but the Turks

So take me back to Constantinople
No, you can't go back to Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works
That's nobody's business but the Turks

Istanbul

 

[ravensfire]

"Thin Red Line" by Glass Tiger

The hands of time have spoken for the chosen ones
cold steel glistens in the dawning sun;
(It's) destiny and claidemaugh that embraces me
All here to sacrifice for victory.

Hidden in the shadows when the cold wind comes
A mist queen dances for her fallen sons.
Over and over, her shadow falls over me.

Remember no retreat, from here you
die where you stand.
It's chance that brings the "Rory's" to this
Foreign land,
The crimson and the claidemaugh make you
"Strangers to fear"
A thin red streak tipped with a line of steel...

Shadows fall over me
All for the thin red line
All for the thin red line

Now the battles over, Kedikoi can cry; for all
The gallant billmen she's seen fought and die;
Red is for the heroes;
Green is for the brave;
(Oh!) "Soldiers would you leave me with no souls
To save".

Shadows fall over me
All for the thin red line
All for the thin red line
All for the thin red line

-- Ravensfire

 

[ravensfire]

Have no Rush fans read this yet? For shame ...

"Manhattan Project" by Rush

Imagine a time
When it all began in the dying days of a war
A weapon -- that would settle the score
Whoever found it first
Would be sure to do their worst --
They always had before...

Imagine a man
Where it all began a scientist pacing the floor
In each nation -- always eager to explore
To build the best big stick
To turn the winning trick --
But this was something more...

The big bang -- took and shook the world
Shot down the rising sun
The end was begun -- it would hit everyone
When the chain reaction was done
The big shots -- try to hold it back
Fools try to wish it away
The hopeful depend on a world without end
Whatever the hopeless may say

Imagine a place
Where it all began
They gathered from across the land
To work in the secrecy of the desert sand
All of the brightest boys
To play with the biggest toys --
More than they bargained for...

Imagine a man
When it all began
The pilot of "enola gay"
Flying out of the shockwave
On that august day
All the powers that be
And the course of history
Would be changed for evermore...


-- Ravensfire

 

[Che Guava]

I have to nominate Neil Young, too. My favourites:

-Cortez the Killer
-Ohio
-Pocahontas

 

[jeriko one]

How did I forget Hasan Sabbah by Hawkwind?


hashish hashin
hashish hashin
hashish hashin
hashish hashin
hashish hashin
hashish hashin
hashish hashin

black september
black september
black september
black september
black september
black september
black september

death unto all infidels in oil.
guide us o thou genie of the smoke.
lead us to a thousand and one nights.
in the perfumed gardens of delight.

petro dollar
petro dollar
petro dollar
petro dollar
petrol d'allah
petrol d'allah
petrol d'allah
(petro dollar)

it is written
in the soul of the desert
it is written
in signs in the stars
it is written
in the sands of the hour-glass
it is written
it is written
in the eye of the falcon
it is written
in the shade of the scorpion
it is written
in the wealth of the sun
it is written
it is written
man's truth is a mirage
it is written
that death's an oasis
it is written
for all unbelievers
it is written
it is written