All these songs are about (or heavily reference) historical events, and are listed in alphabetical order by song title.
Can't find your song? Add to this list and link it! A
"Aberfan" -- by Dulahan -- About the 1966 coal mine disaster in South Wales
"A Great Day For Freedom" -- by Pink Floyd -- About the aftermath of the Berlin Wall collapse
"A League Of Notions" -- by Al Stewart -- About The League of Nations
"Alice's Restaurant" -- by Arlo Guthrie --An 18 minute long satirical account of 60s counterculture. Based on a real event
"All and Everyone" -- by PJ Harvey -- About the the battle of Gallipoli
"All the Things She Said" -- by Simple Minds -- About Polish political prisoners who had been in Russia since the end of WWII
"American Pie" -- by Don McLean --Music and social history for the roughly ten years after Buddy Holly's d**h in 1959
"American Witch" -- by Rob Zombie -- About the Salem Witchcraft trials
"Amerigo" -- Patti Smith -- About Amerigo Vespucci's 1497 voyage to America
"Antarctica" -- Al Stewart -- About the exploits of Robert Falcon Scott and Sir Ernest Shackleton
"Angel" -- by Sarah McLachlan -- About the drug overdose of Smashing Pumpkins keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin
"Anthem for a Lost Cause" -- by Manic Street Preachers -- About the destitution caused by a 1980s mining strike
"A Pot in Which to Piss" -- Titus Andronicus -- About the civil war
"April 29, 1992 (Miami)" -- by Sublime -- About the L.A riots of 1992
"Avalon of the Heart" -- by Van Morrison -- About the Arthur legend B
"Backwater Blues" -- by Leadbelly -- About the Tenessee flood of 1926
"The Ballad Of Casey Jones" -- by Wallace Saunders -- About a 1900 train wreck in Mississippi and the engineer's heroic d**h
"The Ballad of John and Yoko" -- by The Beatles -- About John and Yoko's marriage
"The Ballad Of John Axon" -- by Ewan MacColl -- Called the British Casey Jones, Axon's actions saved many lives in the 1957 train wreck
"Ballad of the Alamo" -- by Marty Robbins -- Folk story of the siege of the Alamo in 1836
"Ballad Of Sacco And Vanzetti Part 1" -- by Joan Baez -- About a duo sent to the electric chair
"Ballad Of Sacco And Vanzetti Part 2" -- by Joan Baez -- About a duo sent to the electric chair
"Ballad Of Sacco And Vanzetti Part 3" -- by Joan Baez -- About a duo sent to the electric chair
"Ballad of Spring Hill" -- by Peter, Paul, and Mary -- about the Spring Hill mining disaster
"Ballad Of Tim Evans" -- by Ewan MacColl -- About the 1949 Timothy Evans murder trial
"Barbarian" -- The Darkness -- About 9th century viking invasion
"The Battle of Hampton Roads" -- by Titus Andronicus -- From a naval technology view, this was the most important naval battle of the U.S. Civil War, between the Monitor and the CSS Virginia.
"The Battle of New Orleans" -- by Johnny Horton -- About the 1814 Battle of New Orleans
"Belfast Child" -- by Simple Minds -- About the Ennesk**en bombing
"Belsen Was A Gas" -- by The Sex Pistols -- About the Nazis
"The Big Three k**ed My Baby" -- by The White Stripes -- The struggle (and failure) of Preston Tucker to launch a new automobile company
"Birdland" -- by Manhattan Transfer -- About the New York jazz club, Birdland, that operated from 1949 - 1965. Charlie ("Yardbird") Parker reportedly named it.
"Blackbeard's Ghost" -- by Chase Rice -- About a North Carolina ghost story stating you can see Blackbeard's Ghost, the song also references Blackbeard's d**h and journey in the state.
"Black Day In July" -- by Gordon Lightfoot -- About 1967 Detroit Riot
"Black Friday" -- by Steely Dan -- About the original Black Friday, 24 September 1869
"Blue Sky Mine" -- by Midnight Oil -- About Workers at Wittenoom asbestos mines
"Boston Tea Party" -- by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band -- About the Boston Tea Party
"Braes O' k**iecrankie" -- by The Corries -- About the Battle of k**iecrankie in 1689
"Brian Wilson" -- by Barenakedladies -- About Brian Wilson's struggles with mental health
"Brighter Than A Thousand Suns" -- by Iron Maiden -- About The Manhattan Project
"The British Are Coming" -- by Weezer -- Using the American Colonies relationship with the King of England as a metaphor for the relationship between a father and son
"Burial Of Wild Bill" -- by Captain Jack Crawford -- Bill Hickok was k**ed 2 August 1876 by a shot to the back of the head by Jack McCall while playing poker in a Deadwood, South Dakota saloon
"Burke and Hare" -- by The Scaffold -- About the Burke and Hare murders
"Bye Bye Badman" -- by The Stone Roses -- About the 1968 Paris riots C
"Calypso" -- by John Denver -- About Cousteau's ship "The Calypso"
"Canadian Railroad Trilogy" -- Gordon Lightfoot -- About the Canadian Pacific Railway
"Canvey Island" -- British Sea Power -- About the 1953 flood of Canvey Island
"Can You Run" -- by The SteelDrivers -- About a slave beginning a journey on the Underground Railroad during the American Civil War
"Carry Me Back to Virginia"--by Old Crow Medicine Show-- About a Confederate soldier fighting for the state of Virginia
"Casey Jones" -- by The Grateful Dead -- Railroad engineer Casey Jones rides the Cannonball express to his d**h in 1900
"Catherine Howard's Fate" -- Blackmore's Night -- About the wife of King Henry VIII
"Charlie Darwin" -- The Low Anthem -- About the Mayflower crossing the Atlantic
"Charlotte Corday" -- Al Stewart -- About the murderess Charlotte Corday
"Cherokee" -- Europe -- About the Cherokee Indians
"Children's Crusade" -- by Sting -- About WWI
"China" -- by Joan Baez -- About Tiananmen Square
"The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" -- by Giuseppe Verdi (from the opera Nabucco -- Based on the Biblical story of the plight of the Jews as they are exiled from their homeland by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar.
"Circles" -- by Pierce The Veil -- About the Paris attacks in 2015
"Circles Around the Sun" -- by Dispatch -- About Larry Perry, a man unwillingly sent to the sun
"Cities In Dust" -- by Siouxsie and the Banshees -- About the eruption of Vesuvius
"Cold Harbor" -- by The Outlaws -- About the 1864 Battle of Cold Harbor
"The Colour of the Earth" -- by PJ Harvey -- About the 1915 attack of the Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade against the Turks that ended in tragic failure
"Constantine's Dream" -- by Patti Smith -- About Christopher Columbus
"Cortez The k**er" -- by Neil Young -- About Cortez conquering Montezuma
"Countdown" -- by Rush -- About the 1982 launch of the space shuttle Columbia
"The Cradle of Humankind" -- by Flogging Molly -- About "The Troubles" of Northern Ireland, and self-destructiveness
"Crystal Morning" -- by The Dillinger Escape Plan -- About The Night Of Broken Gla** in 1938 D
"Dallas 1pm" -- Saxon -- About the a**a**ination of JFK
"The Day the n***az Took Over" -- by Dr. Dre -- About the riots after the not guilty verdict for police officers in the beating of Rodney King
"D.B. Cooper" -- by Todd Snider -- About the first commercial airliner sky jacking in the U.S.
"The d**h of Love" -- by Cradle of Filth -- Joan of Arc is burned as the stake while her lover goes insane
"The Dreaming" -- by Kate Bush -- Whites dig up Aborigine burial grounds in search of plutonium
"Desolation Row" -- Bob Dylan -- About the lynching of three black men in 1920
"Diary Of Torture" -- by Macabre -- About serial k**er Robert Berdella
"Don't Drink The Water" -- by Dave Matthews Band -- About the Europeans "discovering" the Americas E
"The Elephant Riders" -- by Clutch -- An imaginary story about the use of elephant cavalry by the Union in the U.S. Civil War
"El Fusilado" -- by Chumbawamba -- About Wenseslao Moguel, a soldier in the Mexican Revolution
"The Ellan Vannin Tragedy" -- by Richard Hawley -- Folk story about the loss of 39 people when their ship that sank in the Irish Sea in 1909
"English Curse" -- by Frank Turner -- About the d**h of William II
"Enola Gay" -- by OMD -- About dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945 F
"Face The Fire" -- by Dan Fogelberg -- About the Chernobyl disaster
"Fall Of The Peacemakers" -- by Molly Hatchet -- About several condemned "peacemakers", such as Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lennon
"Flight 19" -- by B.A. Robertson -- About the disappearance of Flight 19 in 1945
"Flower Of Scotland" -- by The Corries --
About Robert The Bruce
"Foster's Mill" -- by Traditional -- A celebration of a Luddite riot
"Freedom" -- by Paul McCartney -- A song dedicated to the victims of 911 G
"Genocide (The k**ing Of The Buffalo)" -- by Thin Lizzy -- About the extermination of the buffalo
"Give Ireland Back To The Irish" -- by Wings -- About Ireland reclaiming freedom from Great Britain
"The Great 1974 Mining Disaster" -- by Barclay James Harvest -- Commentary on the 1974 miners' strike in Great Britain that brought down the Conservatives
"Great Nations Of Europe" -- by Randy Newman -- About atrocities performed by Europeans during explorations in the New World
"Great Titanic" -- by Roy Acuff -- About the sinking of RMS Titanic
"The Gresfor Disaster -- by the Albion Band -- A 1934 explosion in the Welsh mine of Gresford resulted in the d**hs of 265 men
"The Gunner's Dream" -- by Pink Floyd -- A British bomber gunner dreams of a world without war H
"The Haughs O' Cromdale" -- by Traditional -- A ficticious account of the Battle of Cromdale in 1690
"Headless Cross" -- by Black Sabbath -- About a small town during the spread of the plague
"Heartbeat" -- by The Fray -- About the Rwanda genocide of 1994
"Heresy" -- by Rush -- About the fall of the Berlin wall
"Higher and Higher" -- by The Moody Blues -- A tribute to the Apollo 11 landing on the moon
"Hiroshima Mon Amour" -- by Alcatrazz -- About the dropping of the atomic bomb
"History" -- by Funeral for a Friend -- About the miner strikes in 1980s Wales
"Holiday in Cambodia" -- by The Dead Kennedy's -- About the U.S. incursion into Cambodia during the Vietnam War
"Holland, 1945" -- by Neutral Milk Hotel -- About the Diary of Anne Frank
"Holy Grail" -- by Hunters & Collectors -- About Napoleon's invasions of Russia
"Hudson" -- by Vampire Weekend -- About Henry Hudson
"Hurricane"-- by Bob Dylan -- About prizefighter "Hurricane" Carter's 1966 murder trial and conviction
"Hush Yael" -- by Oh, Sleeper -- Tragic murder of the Haran family of Nahariya, Israel by a former member of the Palestine Liberation Front I
"The Indianapolis" -- by Tom Flannery -- About the sinking of the USS Indianapolis in 1945
"The Infanta" -- by The Decemberists -- About Marie Therese in the court of Louis XIV
"I Thought It Was Over" -- by Feeling -- A personal perspective on the fall of the Berlin Wall
"I Was Not a Nazi Polka" -- by Chad Mitchell Trio -- About Nazi concentration camps and the denial of post-war Germans
"In Memory Of The Martyrs" -- by Barclay James Harvest -- A memory of victims who died trying to cross the Berlin Wall
"In Red Square" -- by Al Stewart -- A museum curator's fond memories of the good old days of Communist Russia
"In The Summer Of His Years" -- by Connie Francis -- About the JFK a**a**ination
"Indian Reservation (The Lament of the Cherokee Reservation Indian)" -- by Paul Revere and the Raiders -- About the Cherokee Indians and the "Trail of Tears"
"Indian Sunset" -- by Elton John -- About the American Indians forced relocation and confinement on reservations
"Into the Crypts of Ray" -- by Celtic Frost -- About Gilles de Rais, Marshall of France during the Hundred Years War
Invisible Sun -- by The Police -- About the Belfast hunger strikes but more or less about general unrest in the 1980's
"Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" -- by They Might Be Giants -- About Istanbul and it's former name J
"Jack Ruby" -- by Deep Purple -- About the man who k**ed Lee Harvey Oswald
"Jack The Ripper" -- by Screaming Lord Sutch & the Savages -- About the London serial k**er of 1888
"January 28, 1986" -- by Owl City -- About the U.S. space shuttle Challenger disaster
"Jarrow Song" -- by Alan Price -- About the men from the town of Jarrow who marched to lobby British Parliament in the Great Depression
"Jefferson Jericho Blues" -- by Tom Petty -- A story about Thomas Jefferson's hidden affairs
"Joan Of Arc" -- by Arcade Fire -- Telling the story of Joan of Arc
"Justice in Ontario" -- by Steve Earle -- A story about 1845 vigilante justice in Ontario K
"Keep A Workin' Big Jim" -- by Johnny Rebel -- D.A. Jim Garrison's efforts to prove conspiracy in the JFK a**a**ination
"Kenji" -- by Fort Minor -- About WW2 Japanese internment camps
"k** Devil Hill' -- by Bruce Dickinson -- About the Wright Brothers first flight in North Carolina
"King of Rome" -- by Pet Shop Boys -- About Napoleon II, known as the King of Rome
"Kitty Jay" -- by Seth Lakeman -- About a girl name Kitty Jay who was orphaned, raped and committed suicide around 1810
"Krakatoa" -- by Saxon -- About the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa L
"L.A.P.D." -- by Ill Wind -- A 1967 anti-war protest in L.A. ends in violence by police
"Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" -- by Melanie -- About a touching moment at Woodstock 1968
"Legend of the USS Titanic" -- by Jamie Brockett -- A fractured fairy tale about the sinking of the RMS Titanic
"Let Him Dangle" -- by Elvis Costello -- A teenager involved in a 1952 murder of a policeman is executed by hanging
"Lindbergh (The Eagle Of The U.S.A.)" -- by Vernon Dalhart -- Celebrates the first flight across the Atlantic
"Lindy Comes To Town" -- by Al Stewart -- Another account of Lindbergh's 1927 flight from the U.S. to France
"Little Big Horn" -- by Running Wild -- An emotional perspective on the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn
"Little Mary Phagan" -- by Rosa Lee Carson -- About the 1913 murder of a young girl and the case against Newt Lee, a black man
"Little Wing" -- by Jimi Hendrix -- Hendrix describes the 1967 Montery Pop Festival as if it were a beautiful girl
"London Bridge Is Falling Down" -- by Traditional -- The bridge in this song was built from 1176 and 1209
"London Pride" -- by Noël Coward -- About the 1941 bombings of London and the British will to carry on
"Long Hot Summer" -- by Tom Robinson Band -- About the 1969 Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village, New York, NY
"The Longest Day" -- by Iron Maiden -- About the Allied invasion of Normandy, 6 June 1944
"Lord Grenville" -- by Al Stewart -- Folk story about the British Vice Admiral of the Navy. In 1591, he found himself outnumbered when his ship, the Revenge, battled but lost to 15 Spanish ships
"The Loyalist" -- by Dave Nachmanoff -- About Adam Bower, an ancestor of Nachmanoff's wife who was a British loyalist the American War of Independence
"Ludlow Ma**acre" -- by Woody Guthrie -- A 1914 mine worker strike ended in violence when troops retaliated against actions by the miners, destroying the miner's camp and k**ing 13 by fire. M
"The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo" -- by Fred Gilbert -- Charles Wells was a confidence man used other people's money to win big at roulette in Monaco
"March to Battle (Across the Rio Grande")-- by The Chieftains -- Irish soldiers desert the U.S. Army to side with Mexican forces in the U.S. - Mexican war of 1846-48
"Marshal Dear" -- by Savages -- About German Field Marshal Rommel, who was part of a failed attempt to a**a**inate Adolf Hitler
"The Marvelous Dream" -- by Damon Albarn -- Based on the life of Dr. John Dee a 16th century spiritualist and philosopher
"Ma**acre Of Glencoe" -- by John McDermott -- About the 1692 ethnic cleansing in the Scottish Highlands
"Me Or Him" -- by Roger Waters -- About the 1985 Miners strike in Wales and the murder of a taxi driver
"Memory of a Free Festival" -- by David Bowie -- About a 1969 music festival in Beckenham, England
"Midway" -- by Sabaton -- About the WW2 Battle of Midway
"Millennium" -- by Robbie Williams -- A tribute to the turn of the 21st century
"Mississippi Goddam" -- by Nina Simone -- About the 1963 murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers in Mississippi, and the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL
"Money Road" -- by Rosanne Cash -- Recalls a journey down this road that crosses the Tallahatchie Bridge and pa**es the grave of Robert Johnson
"Monterey" -- by The Animals -- About the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival
"Mr. Custer" -- by Larry Verne -- Novelty song about Custer's Last Stand
"Mr. Powell" -- by Ozark Mountain Daredevils -- About the Powell Expedition down the Colorado river, and their discovery of the Grand Canyon
"Murmansk Run/Ellis Island" -- by Al Stewart -- About Russian sailors who braved the "Murmansk Run" in WW2, and their subsequent immigration to the U.S.
"My White Bicycle" -- by Nazareth -- About a 1964 populist project in Amsterdam to provide free bicycles to anyone who needed one N
"Nantucket Sleigh Ride" -- by Mountain -- About whalers and the ride they take after harpooning their prey
"Ned Ludd" -- by Robert Calvert -- About an English weaver who was punished for idleness. His name was borrowed by the Luddites
"Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" -- by Arcade Fire -- About the 1998 Montreal ice storm
"Never Again" -- by Disturbed -- About the Holocaust in WW2
"Never Again" -- by Remedy -- Also about the Holocaust
"New Speedway Boogie" -- by Grateful Dead -- About the 1969 disaster at a rock festival at the Altamont Speedway in California O
"Old Dan Tucker" -- by Bruce Springsteen -- Folk story about an early 19th century slave-friendly preacher
"Old Judge Thayer" -- by Woody Guthrie -- About the 1920 murder trial of Italian immigrants Sacco & Vanzetti
"Ohio" -- by Crosby, Stills & Nash -- About the 1970 Kent State shootings, which k**ed four students
"On Battleship Hill" -- by PJ Harvey -- About the failed Allied attempt to take Constantinople in 1915
"One Bell Ringing" -- by Elvis Costello -- London police shoot and k** an innocent man in the tubes in2005
"One Rode To Asa Bay" -- by Bathory -- About the arrival of Christianity in Scandinavia
"Out Of The Woods" -- by Public Image Ltd. The story of one black soldier at the Battle of Chancellorville in 1863
"One Bell Ringing" -- by Elvis Costello -- About the 2005 murder of an innocent man by London police
"One Rode To Asa Bay" -- by Bathory -- About the arrival of Christianity in Scandinavia
"Out Of The Woods" -- by Public Image Ltd. -- The story of one black soldier at the battle of Chancellorsville in 1863 P
"Palace Of Versailles" -- by Al Stewart -- Compares the French Revolution and rise of Napoleon with the 1968 student riots.
"The Pa**" -- by Rush -- About the creation and building of the first atomic bomb
"Platform Fire" -- by Jack's Mannequin -- Inspired by Philippe Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York World Trade Center
"P.L.U.C.K." -- by System of a Down -- About the Turkish army's war crimes against Armenians in 1915
"Polly" -- by Nirvana -- About the actual kidnapping of a 14 year-old girl, whose name was not released, in 1987, while walking back home from a concert, abducted by serial k**er rapist Charles Schmid, better known as Arnold Friend (whose name if all r's are removed is 'An Old Fiend')
"Pompeii" -- by Bastille -- The view of a victim of the great Mt. Vesuvius eruption of 79AD
"Porton Down" -- by Man's Hate -- A British secret test lab has conducted experiments on animals and humans from 1916 - Present
"Public Enemy No. 1" -- by Megadeth -- A perspective on the life and times of Al Capone, told in the first person
"Pulmonary Archery" -- by Alexisonfire -- Revisits the 1977 winter storms of southern Ontario and northern New York. R
"Radio Bikini" -- by The Vaccines -- About U.S. nuclear bomb testing the Bikini Atoll from 1946 - 1958.
"Raised by Wolves" -- by U2 -- About "The Troubles" of Ireland from the 1960s through the "Good Friday" Agreement of 1998.
"Rebel Soldier" -- by Waylon Jennings -- About a Confederate, or "Rebel" soldier serving in the American Civil War
"Red Alert" -- by Saxon -- About the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986
"Red Sector A" -- by Rush -- About the first U.S. space shuttle launch on 12 April 1981
"Red River Valley" -- by Gene Autry -- Canadian Folk song about the 1870 Wolseley Expedition to the Red River Valley of Manitoba
"Red Wine" -- by Woody Guthrie -- About the 1920 murder trial of Italian immigrants Sacco & Vanzetti (See also: "Old Judge Thayer")
"Remember" -- by John Lennon -- About the Guy Fawkes attempt to blow up British Parlaiment, 5 November 1605
"Reuben James" -- by The Kingston Trio -- About the first U.S. naval loss of WW2. The destroyer was sunk by a German U-boat.
"Reverend Charisma" -- by Wedlock -- About the 1978 ma** suicide at the Jonestown People's Temple in northern Guyana
"Ride Captain Ride" -- by Blues Image -- Some claim this is about the U.S. spy ship "Pueblo" and it's capture by the North Koreans in 1968.
"The Rising" -- by Bruce Springsteen -- About the aftermath of 11 September 2001, and American resolve
"Roaring Waters" -- by The Darkness -- About the sacking of Baltimore, Ireland by Barbary pirates in 1631
"Rose in Paradise" -- by Waylon Jennings -- A folk story about a 19th century Mississippi woman accused of k**ing her five husbands
"Roulette" -- by Bruce Springsteen -- About the 1978 meltown at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Dauphin county Pennsylvania
"Rox In The Box" -- by The Decemberists -- About the life of miners in bu*te, Montana in the early 20th century
"Rubber Bullets" -- by 10cc -- About the 1971 Attica State Prison riots near Buffalo, New York
"Ruby's Shoes" -- by Lori McKenna -- Ruby Bridges becomes the first black child to attend an all-white Louisiana public school in 1960
"Run To The Hills" -- by Iron Maiden -- The arrival of Europeans in the New World, from the perspective of the natives and the explorers S
"Sailing to Philadelphia" -- by Mark Knopfler --Humanizing the story of the men who surveyed the Mason-Dixon Line
"Save The Country" -- by The 5th Dimension -- About the 1968 a**a**ination of Robert Kennedy
"Scarborough Fair / Canticle" -- by Simon & Garfunkel -- About the medieval fair held in Scarborough, England
"Scatterlings Of Africa" -- by Johnny Clegg -- A double entendre about the origins of the human race in Africa and the poverty of blacks under Apartheid.
"Set the World on Fire" -- by Annihilator -- Inspired by the First Gulf War, the songs is a commentary on all dictatorships
"Seven Cities Of Gold" -- by Rush -- About the Spanish search for the fabled Seven Cities of Gold in the southwestern US
"Shah Of Shahs" -- by Al Stewart -- About the The Shah Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavī (1919-80), the last King of Persia
"Ship Ahoy" -- by The O'Jays -- About Africans who were abducted from their homes and taken to the Americas to be slaves
"Sink the Bismarck" -- by Johnny Horton -- About the German battleship's escape into the Atlantic and the British frantic search
"Skylines and Turnstiles" -- by My Chemical Romance -- About the 9/11 terrorist attacks of the Twin Towers in New York in 2001
"The Skye Boat Song" - by Rod Stewart -- Folk story about the escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie after the 1746 Battle of Cullloden
"Smoke On The Water" -- by Deep Purple -- About a fire at the Casino at Montreux, Switzerland in 1971
"Snoopy vs. The Red Baron" -- by The Royal Guardsmen -- Novelty song about Snoopy as a WW1 fighter pilot, taking on the Red Baron
"Solomon Browne" -- by Seth Lakeman -- About the 1981 Penlee lifeboat disaster that k**ed 16 people
"S.O.S." -- by Saxon -- About the sinking of the RMS Titanic
"Spanish Bombs" -- by The Clash -- About Basque separatists who ran a bombing campaign against resorts on the Costa Del Sol.
"St. Swithin's Day" -- by Billy Bragg -- about the d**h of Bishop Swithin of Winchester, his burial and reburial
"Still In Saigon"--by The Charlie Daniels Band--About a Vietnam War veteran suffering from PTSD
"Student Visas" -- by Corb Lund and The Hurtin' Albertans -- About the 1980s Contra War in Nicaragua
"Suite Madame Blue" -- by Styx -- About the U.S. Bicentennial celebration
"Sunday Bloody Sunday" -- by U2 -- About the 1972 k**ing of 23 Irish citizens by British paratroopers in Derry, Northern Ireland
"Sunshine" -- by Jonathan Edwards -- A protest song against President Richard Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign
"Sympathy For The Devil" -- by The Rolling Stones -- Here, the song itself is the history: it was played at the 1969 Altamont Speedway concert, and it's claimed the song got fans "out-of-hand".
T
"Taro" -- by Alt-J -- About the d**hs of two twentieth century war photographers, one in the Spanish Civil War and the other in French Indo-China
"Tempest" -- by Bob Dylan -- About the Titanic disaster in 1912
"The Testimony of Patience Kershaw" -- by The Unthanks -- In 1842, 17 year old Patience Kershaw spoke to the Ashley Mines Committee about child labor in coalmines
"Thank God I'm Old" - Cast of Barnum -- Sung by the character Joice Heth, who PT Barnum claimed to be 161 years old at her d**h, the song decries people like Barnum and their myopic views
"The Triumph Of General Ludd" -- by Chumbawamba -- Ned Ludd was an English weaver who was punished for idleness. His name was taken by the Luddites
"Thirteen Autumns And A Widow" -- by Cradle of Filth -- In 1610, Elizabeth Bathory, a Hungarian countess and serial murderer was said to bathe in the blood of her victims
"Titanic" -- by The Carter Family -- A song written by members of a family that sailed on and survived the sinking of Titanic
"Tom Dooley" -- by Neil Young -- About an 1866 murder, trial and execution of a Confederate soldier returning home from war
"Trail of Tears" -- by John Denver -- About the Indian Removal Act of 1830
"Trains" -- by Al Stewart -- The role trains played in two World Wars, including moving troops, prisoners and Holocast victims
"Two Brothers" -- by Chris Stapleton -- An account of a soldier fighting on the frontlines and the home front of the American Civil War
"Tupelo Blues" -- by John Lee Hooker -- About the 1939 flood of Tupelo, Mississippi
"Typhoid Mary" -- by God Dethroned -- "Typhoid Mary" was Mary Mallon of Northern Ireland. She immigrated to the U.S. and became a cook in the New York area. Around 1900, wherever she worked, outbreaks of typhoid followed.
V
"Vagabond Ways" -- by Marianne Faithfull -- About the sterilization of "undesirables" in Sweden
"Valentine's Day" -- by James Taylor -- About the St. Valentine's Day Ma**acre in Chicago, 1929
"Victor Jara's Hands" -- by Calexico -- Victor Jara was a theater director and political activist who was arrested, tortured and murdered after the 1973 US-backed Chilean coup that brought down President Allende
"Vietnow" -- by Rage Against the Machine -- About the extreme right wing voices of Rush Limbaugh, G. Gordon Liddy and others
"The Visitors (Crackin' Up)" -- by ABBA -- About the fate of dissidents in the Soviet Union
W
"Waiting For the Worms" -- by Pink Floyd -- About the Nazi d**hcamps of the Holocaust
"The Way It Is" - by Bruce Hornsby & the Range -- About the U.S. Civil Rights movement and complacency
"We Didn't Start The Fire" -- by Billy Joel -- 40 years of world history, from 1949 - 1989
"When The Levee Breaks" -- by Led Zeppelin -- About the Mississippi river flood of 1927
"When The War Came" -- by The Decemberists -- About the siege of Leningrad in WW2
"White Riot" -- by The Clash -- About the 1976 Notting Hill riots in west London
"Why? (Am I Treated So Bad)" -- by The Staple Singers -- About "The Little Rock Nine", the first black students to attend the segregated Little Rock Central High School in Arkansas in 1957
"Wide Awake" -- by Audioslave -- About the victims of Hurricane Catrina in 2005
"Wiener Blut" -- by Rammstein -- About the 2009 Josef Fritzl case in Austria, where is daughter, Elisabeth Fritzl, had been held captive in his basement for 24 years
"Witchfinder General" -- by Saxon -- About self-appointed Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins, who conducted a campaign of terror against defenseless women in the English countryside in the mid 17th century
"With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm" -- by Stanley Holloway -- About Anne Boleyn's troubles with King Henry VIII
"Woodstock" -- by Joni Mitchell -- A metaphysical perspective on the original Woodstock
"Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" -- by Gordon Lightfoot -- About the 1975 wreck of the ship Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior
Y
"Yankee Rose" -- by David Lee Roth -- A tribute to the Statue of Liberty and it's renovation from 1982 - 2000)
Z
"Zombie" -- by The Cranberries -- Inspired by the 1993 IRA bombing in Warrington, Cheshire, Great Britain
"Zoot Suit Riot" -- by Cherry Poppin' Daddies -- The Zoot Suit Riots in 1943 Los Angeles resulted from tensions between American servicemen and the Los Angeles Mexican-American community
Numbers
"1913 Ma**acre" -- by Woody Guthrie -- Describes a tragedy at a 1913 Calumet, MI, Christmas party where 72 people were k**ed.
"20 Dollar Nose Bleed" -- by Fall Out Boy -- Verse 2 of the song talks about President Bush's stupidity in office by using terrorist attacks as an excuse to enter the Middle East for oil
"30,000 Pounds of Bananas" -- by Harry Chapin -- About a truck accident in 1965
"4 June 1989" -- by Mary Chapin Carpenter -- About the Chinese Tiananmen Square ma**acre
"88 Seconds In Greensboro" -- by OMD -- About the 1979 Greensboro Ma**acre