List of people mentioned in songs

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This is a list of real people who are mentioned by name in Jonathan Coulton songs, with references to the songs in which they appear and a little biographical information.

Baby Got Back

Jane Fonda - actress, political activist, and star of a long-running series of exercise videos.
Florence Griffith-Joyner - American track and field star, nicknamed "Flo-Jo".

Brookline (demo)

Samuel Adams - leading figure in the Bostonian locus of the American Revolution.
Paul Revere - noted figure in the American Revolution, rode to warn colonists of an impending British raid on arms stores the night before the first battle of the war.

Christmas Is Interesting

Jimmy Stewart - iconic, Academy Award-winning American film actor. One of his most famous roles was that of George Bailey in the classic Christmas themed film It's a Wonderful Life.

Dance, Soterios Johnson, Dance

Soterios Johnson - New York radio host.
Terry Gross - Philadelphia host of NPR's Fresh Air.

Famous Blue Raincoat

L. Cohen - Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist, author of the song.

Flickr

Warren Beatty - Oscar-winning actor.

I Hate California

The Beach Boys - American rock and roll band popular for its close vocal harmonies and lyrics reflecting a California youth culture of surfing, girls, and cars.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis

Kenesaw Mountain Landis - Federal judge, commissioner of Major League Baseball.
"Shoeless" Joe Jackson - Star baseball player implicated in the "Black Sox" scandal.
Joe Jackson - British New Wave star, asked the musical question "is she really going out with him?"
Elvis Costello - British New Wave pop star, contemporary of Joe Jackson, somewhat confusingly similar in style.

Lady Aberlin's Muumuu

Lady Aberlin, aka Betty Aberlin - regular character on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Mandelbrot Set

Benoît Mandelbrot]] Mathematician, best known for his work in fractal geometry. < < < <[[[[[[[dia:Giuseppe_Peano|Giuseppe Peano]]]]]] Mathematician, noted for his work with space-filling curves. < < < <[[[[[[[dia:Helge_von_Koch|Niels Fabian Helge von Koch]]]]]] Mathematician, known for characterizing the Koch curve and the associated Koch snowflake. < < < <[[[[[[[dia:Georg Cantor|Georg Ferdinand Ludwig Philipp Cantor]]]]]] Mathematician, creator of set theory, noted for the Cantor ternary set. < < < <[[[[[[[dia:Wacław Sierpiński|Wacław Franciszek Sierpiński]] - Mathematician, associated with several early fractals, including the Sierpiński gasket.

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==== ==[Wiki [[ia:B Brian Dennehy - Am]]ican two-time Tony Award-winning actor; not, in fact, a monkey butler.

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====imas Song ====]][Wiki [[ia:A Adam Curry - fo]]er VJ for MTV, pioneer in the field of podcasts.
<Wikip <ia:C.C.C. Chapman - ho]] of several independent music based podcasts.
<Len|L < Peraa - Cr]]tor of [[Visua[[ThingWeek, JCort!and -host]]f the Jawbone radio podcast.
<ttp:/ <awbon[radio.blogspot.com/ Nora Peralta] - co-host of the Jawbone radio podcast.

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====n[[]] ====]][Wiki [[ia:G George Washington - 1s]]US President (1789-1797), and only president to have been elected unanimously.
<Wikip <ia:JoJohn Adams - 2n]]US President (1797-1801); as president, broke with own Federalist party to prevent war with France.
<Wikip <ia:ThThomas Jefferson - 3r]]US President (1801-1809); among other accomplishments, purchased the Louisiana Territory from France.
<Wikip <ia:JaJames Madison - 4t]]US President (1809-1817); led US against Britain in War of 1812, which ended with no territorial gains on either side but inspired a strong feeling of American nationalism.
<Wikip <ia:JaJames Monroe - 5t]]US President (1817-1825); most notable achievement of his presidency was the Monroe Doctrine, which opposed European involvement with North and South America.
<Wikip <ia:JoJohn Quincy Adams - 6t]]US President (1825-1829); son of John Adams (q.v.).
<Wikip <ia:AnAndrew Jackson - 7t]]US President (1829-1837); signed Indian Removal Act, which led to the removal of Native Americans from their tribal lands.
<Wikip <ia:MaMartin Van Buren - 8t]]US President (1837-1841); term in office largely overshadowed by economic crisis.
<Wikip <ia:WiWilliam Henry Harrison 9th ]] President (1841); first president to die in office, having served only 31 days.
<Wikip <ia:JoJohn Tyler - 10]] US President (1841-1845), succeeding to the office upon the death of William Henry Harrison; during his term in office, he annexed the Republic of Texas, which had secured its independence from Mexico some years earlier.
<Wikip <ia:JaJames K. Polk - 11]] US President (1845-1849), elected on a platform of expansionism; during his presidency, the US fought the Mexican War and annexed the Oregon Territory.
<Wikip <ia:ZaZachary Taylor - 12]] US President (1849-1850), previously the victorious general in the Mexican War; died early in his term.
<Wikip <ia:MiMillard Fillmore - 13]] US President (1850-1853); sent Perry on an expedition to Japan.
<Wikip <ia:MaCommodore Matthew Perry - Am]]ican naval officer; sailed to Japan (1852-1854) to obtain (by force) the first US-Japanese trade treaty.
<Wikip <ia:FrFranklin Pierce - 14]] US President (1853-1857); supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise and allowed new states to determine the legality of slavery within those states.
<Wikip <ia:JaJames Buchanan - 15]] US President (1857-1861); widely regarded as among the worst presidents, he did nothing to prevent or even slow the onset of the Civil War.
<Wikip <ia:AbAbraham Lincoln - 16]] US President (1861-1865); won the US Civil War before his assassination.
<Wikip <ia:AnAndrew Johnson - 17]] US President (1865-1869); as Vice President, succeeded Lincoln but was impeached by Congress and served out his term under a cloud.
<Wikip <ia:UlUlysses S. Grant - 18]] US President (1869-1877); popular Civil War general, served two terms as president but was rumored to have had a drinking problem.
<Wikip <ia:RuRutherford B. Hayes - 19]] US President(1877-1881); narrowly won a contested election by promising to end the bitterly resented post-Civil War military occupation of the south known as Reconstruction.
<Wikip <ia:JaJames Garfield - 20]] US President (1881-1881); shot by a crazed and disappointed political office seeker, Garfield died after only six months as president.
<Wikip <ia:ChChester Arthur - 21]] US President (1881-1885); this Captain Kangaroo look-alike championed both civil service reform and tougher immigration laws.
<Wikip <ia:GrGrover Cleveland - 22]] US President (1885-1889); popular Democrat who favored balanced budgets, less government, and fewer political spoils.
<Wikip <ia:BeBenjamin Harrison - 23]] US President (1889-1893); the last US President with a beard, Harrison fought trusts & monopoly interests. He served in the Union army at the battle of Kennesaw Mountain.
<Wikip <ia:GrGrover Cleveland - 24]] US President (1893-1897); returned to the White House after voters rejected the high-spending Republican "Billion Dollar Congress."
<Wikip <ia:WiWilliam McKinley - 25]] US President (1897-1901); declared war on Spain, resulting in US involvement in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. Assassinated by an anarchist.
<Wikip <ia:ThTheodore Roosevelt - 26]] US President (1901-1909); famous Spanish-American War hero, polymath, and big game hunter.
<Wikip <ia:WiWilliam Howard Taft - 27]] US President (1909-1913); the largest man ever to serve as president, Taft became Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court almost a decade after his presidency.
<Wikip <ia:WoWoodrow Wilson - 28]] US President (1913-1921); scholarly Southern leader of the US during WWI, helped to found the League of Nations, but failed to persuade the US Congress to join it.
<Wikip <ia:WaWarren Harding - 29]] US President (1922-1923); this newspaper publisher and Freemason's scandal-ridden administration returned the US to a laissez-faire stance toward business interests.
<Wikip <ia:CaCalvin Coolidge - 30]] US President (1923-1929); former Massachusetts governor, Vice President and successor of Warren Harding, led the US for most of the 1920s.
<Wikip <ia:HeHerbert Hoover - 31]] US President (1929-1933); former Commerce Secretary under Harding and Coolidge, was unable to prevent or fix the Great Depression, which started six months into his term.
<Wikip <ia:FrFranklin D. Roosevelt - 32]] US President (1933-1945); led the nation out of the Great Depression and nearly to the end of World War II before dying in office in his unprecedented fourth term.
<Wikip <ia:HaHarry S. Truman - 33]] US President (1945-1953); successor of FDR, led the US through the last months of World War II, including the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, and later through the Korean War.
<Wikip <ia:DwDwight D. Eisenhower - 34]] US President (1953-1961); former commander of Allied forces in World War II, US President through most of the interval between the Korean and Vietnam Wars, a relatively cool part of the Cold War.
<Wikip <ia:JoJohn F. Kennedy - 35]] US President (1961-1963); former Senator from Massachusetts, born in [[Brook[[ne (dBrookline, ass]]sinat]] under suspicious circumstances that fueled conspiracy theories.
<Wikip <ia:LyLyndon B. Johnson - 36]] US President (1963-1969); former Senate leader, successor of Kennedy, responsible for increased US involvement in the highly unpopular Vietnam War.
<Wikip <ia:RiRichard Nixon - 37]] US President (1969-1974); former Vice President under Eisenhower, forced to resign in the wake of the Watergate scandal as evidence grew of his involvement in criminal activity.
<Wikip <ia:GeGerald Ford - 38]] US President (1974-1977); former House leader, Vice President after Agnew resigned, President after Nixon resigned, pardoned Nixon after assuming office, leading to suspicion of a quid pro quo.
<Wikip <ia:JiJimmy Carter - 39]] US President (1977-1981); former Georgia governor and peanut farmer who admitted in a Playboy interview to having "looked on a lot of women with lust" and "committed adultery in (his) heart many times."
<Wikip <ia:RoRonald Reagan - 40]] US President (1981-1989); former Governor of California and actor who is credited by many with helping bring about the fall of the Soviet Union, showed early signs of Alzheimer's Disease before leaving office.
<Wikip <ia:GeGeorge H. W. Bush - 41]] US President (1989-1993); Vice President under Reagan, former CIA director and UN Ambassador, led the US during the Gulf War which expelled Iraq from occupied Kuwait.
<Wikip <ia:SaSaddam Hussein - fo]]er President of Iraq (1979-2003); including during the first Gulf War (1990-91) in which the US stopped short of seeking to depose Hussein with a full-scale invasion of Iraq.
<Wikip <ia:BiBill Clinton - 42]] US President (1993-2001); Former Arkansas governor, subject of a sex scandal involving a female intern. Sometimes a cigar is not just a cigar.
<Wikip <ia:GeGeorge W. Bush - 43]] US President (2001-2009); Former Texas governor, nicknamed "Dubya."

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====m[[]] ====]][Wiki [[ia:B Bernadette - Th]] Roman Catholic saint from Lourdes had visions of the Virgin Mary.
[ <ikip[ <a:MeMichael Lee Aday, FKA Marvin Lee Aday, AKA Meat Loaf - Am]]ican rock singer
[ <ikip[ <a:AlAlexander Graham Bell - In]]ntor of the telephone
[ <ikip[ <a:ThThomas A. Watson - As]]stant to telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell and recipient of early phone calls.
[ <ikip[ <a:MaMarie Antoinette - Qu]]n of France, widely believed to have responded to concerns that the French peasantry lacked bread with "Let them eat cake," sent to the guillotine in the aftermath of the French Revolution.

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====t[[] ====]][Wiki [[ia:D Dmitry Malashenkov - So]]et scientist involved in the [[Wikip[[ia:SpSputnik 2 miss]]n tha]]made Laika the first living Earth creature in orbit.

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==== orge ====]][Wiki [[ia:G George Plimpton - au]]or and participatory journalist, wrote chiefly about his experiences as an amateur attempting things typically only done by professionals, with an emphasis on sports.
<Wikip <ia:ErErnest Hemingway - au]]or and Nobel literature laureate, spent most of his adult life living outside his native United States, often in pursuit of adventure.
<Wikip <ia:ArArchie Moore - pr]]essional boxer.
<Wikip <ia:SuSugar Ray Robinson - pr]]essional boxer.
<Wikip <ia:HuHunter S. Thompson - au]]or, "gonzo" journalist, inspiration for the "Uncle Duke" character from the Doonesbury comic strip.
<Wikip <ia:JaJacqueline Onassis - wi]]w of President Kennedy, later wife of Greek tycoon Aristotle Onassis.
<Wikip <ia:RoRobert Kennedy - br]]her and Attorney General of President Kennedy, assassinated while campaigning for the presidency in 1968.
<Wikip <ia:SiSirhan Sirhan - as]]ssin of Robert Kennedy, Palestinian angered by Israeli victory in the Six Day War of 1967.

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====Czy ====]][Wiki [[ia:T Tom Cruise - Ac]]r and prominent Scientologist.
<Wikip <ia:KaKatie Holmes - Ac]]ess, Tom Cruise's third wife and mother of his third child.

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====oh ====]][Wiki [[ia:S Steve Miller - Bl]]s rock musician whose style changed to softer, pop oriented sound resulting in a string of hit singles in the early 1980s.

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====f[[]] ====]]'See [#The [esideThe Presidents (q.v]]

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======[Wiki [[ia:G George W. Bush - 43]] US President (2001-present); the titular "W" and source of most of the sampled lyrics.