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The Siege Of Kazan begins in Kazan, Russia, Europe. This is the final battle of the Russo-Kazan Wars and will lead to the fall of the Khanate of Kazan. The battle will inspire the song The Siege Of Kazan, in Mussorgsky's 1874 opera Boris Godunov.
The Battle Of Waterloo is fought thirteen kilometres south of Brussels, Europe, between the French, under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte, and Allied armies commanded by the Duke of Wellington from Britain and General Blucher from Prussia. Napoleon's defeat will inspire the opening verses of Abba's 1974 hit single, Waterloo, and will also provide inspiration for the 1959 USA hit single Waterloo by Stonewall Jackson.
The first train robbery in America's history takes place when a dozen men derail a train at North Bend, Ohio, USA, and rob one hundred passengers of cash and jewellery at gunpoint. The robbers then blow open the Adams Express Company's safes, said to contain thousands of dollars in U.S. bonds. Train robberies will inspire numerous songs, including The First Train Robbery by Chris Stuart, Train Robbers by Chris Robinson and Glendale Train by The New Riders Of The Purple Sage.
At Funk Hill near Copperopolis, California, USA, notorious outlaw Black Bart The Poet carries out his last stagecoach robbery, but leaves an incriminating clue that eventually leads to his capture. Bart's exploits will inspire the song Black Bart by Danish metal band Volbeat. There's also a song called Black Bart Blues by Iron Maiden, but it doesn't seem to be about this particular gentleman.
Ellis Island in New York harbour, New York City, USA, is designated as an immigration station for foreign nationals hoping to start a new life in America. Numerous songs will be inspired by tales of the island and the people who passed through. Isle Of Hope, Isle Of Tears, composed by Brendan Graham and Ronan Tynan, tells the story of fifteen-year-old Annie Moore who was the first incomer to actually pass through Ellis Island. Other songs about the island include Ellis Island [1985] by Mary Black [written by Noel Brazil] and Ellis Island [1998] by Marc Cohn.
English mystic Aleister Crowley begins writing The Book Of The Law which will introduce the world to Crowley's newly-created religion Thelema. Crowley will become a cult figure, eventually attracting interest from rock bands including Led Zeppelin, and inspiring Ozzy Osbourne to write the song Mr. Crowley in 1980.
The SS Ellan Vannin sinks in stormy weather, killing all 36 passengers and crew aboard, whilst bound for Liverpool, UK, from The Isle of Man. The story of the disaster will inspire the 1965 song The Ellan Vannin Tragedy by Liverpudlian folk group The Spinners. Ellan Vannin is the Manx-language name for the Isle of Man, and there is a much older song, Ellan Vannin, which was written many years before the disaster and is now considered the unofficial anthem of the Isle Of Man.
The Boston Molasses Disaster takes place in the North End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, USA, when a large molasses storage tank bursts, sending a wave of molasses through the streets at an estimated 35 mph, killing 21 and injuring 150. Some locals claim that on hot summer days, the area still smells of molasses. The incident will inspire the songs Molasses Flood by Jonathan Jay Babcock, The Great Molasses Flood by The Black Strap Molasses Family and Boston Molasses Flood by Zac Bauman.
The stage play R.U.R. [Rossum's Universal Robots], written by Karel Capek, has its first performance, a production by the amateur theatrical society Klicpera in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, Europe. The play is memorable mostly because it marks the first time the word robot is ever used, having been coined by Capek's brother Josef. The word catches on and will inspire others writers, film-makers and song-writers. Memorable songs inspired by robots include Robot Man by Connie Francis [1960], The Robots by Kraftwerk [1978], Are Friends Electric by Gary Numan[1979].
A passenger train and a freight train collide near Ingleside, Virginia, USA, resulting in the death of two persons. The disaster
will inspire Blind Alfred Reed to write his song The Wreck Of The
Virginian.
The Bently Boys record Down On Penny's Farm, in Johnson City, Tennessee, USA, for Columbia Records. Bob Dylan will adapt this song, using it as the basis of his song Hard Times in New York Town and he will also find some inspiration for his 1965 song Maggie's Farm.
The syndicated daily newspaper cartoon strip Alley Oop is published for the first time in the USA. The strip will be immortalised in song when it inspires the 1960 hit single Alley Oop by The Hollywood Argyles.
The Dionne Quintuplets - the first quintuplets known to survive infancy - are born just outside Callander, near the village of Corbeil, Ontario, Canada. The five girls will become a global sensation and will inspire references in films, tv shows and songs including Hooray For Hollywood [1937] by Johnny Mercer, Look Out for Mr Stork in the animated movie Dumbo [1941], and Stephen Sondheim's list song I'm Still Here [1971] from his musical Follies.
A new gossip column, Hedda Hopper's Hollywood, makes its debut in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California, USA. Miss Hopper will become a famed gossip columnist, known for her extraordinary hats. Her hats will become so famous that, in the 1946 film Breakfast in Hollywood, Del Porter, backed by Spike Jones and his City Slickers, will sing a novelty song, A Hat For Hedda Hopper, while Hopper sits in the audience wearing an extravagantly large milliner's creation.
Eleanor Rigby, a 44-year-old woman, dies in Liverpool, England, UK, and will be buried soon after in Woolton Cemetery adjacent to St Peter's Church, where Paul McCartney and John Lennon of The Beatles first met. Many believe that she was the inspiration for The Beatles song, Eleanor Rigby. Plausible though the theory seems, Paul McCartney has always denied this explanation.
Notorious Chicago gangster Al Capone dies aged 48 at his home on Palm Island, Florida, USA. He had long been weak and mentally deficient from the effects of neurosyphilis, and then suffered a stroke, pneumonia and, finally, a cardiac arrest. Capone's life of crime will inspire several songs, including Al Capone [1967] by Prince Buster, Public Enemy No1 [2011] by Megadeth and Al Capone [1987] by Michael Jackson [which later became Smooth Criminal].
The Ingrid Bergman film Stromboli, directed by Roberto Rossellini, is released to cinemas in the USA. The controversy surrounding the film because a well-publicised affair between Bergman and Rossellini, will inspire folk singer Woody Guthrie to write the innuendo-laden song Ingrid Bergman.
The West Indies solidly defeat England in the second Test Match at Lords Cricket Ground, London, England, UK, Europe. At the end of the game, calypso singer Lord Kitchener leads a group of delighted West Indians in a victory parade around the field. Kitchener will go on to write an account of the match in his popular song Cricket, Lovely Cricket.
Johnny Ace becomes the first rock'n'roll fatality, when he kills
himself while playing Russian Roulette backstage at the City Auditorium, Houston, Texas, USA. He is eulogised in the Paul Simon song The Late Great Johnny Ace.
A new John Wayne movie, The Searchers, opens at The State Theatre, Lubbock, Texas, USA, for three weeks. While it is there, it is seen by local musicians Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison who are so taken by Wayne's catch-phrase, 'That'll Be The Day', that they write a song of that title when they return home. The title of the same movie will later also inspire the name of a popular Liverpool band of the 1960s.
Bjorn Borg is born in Stockholm, Sweden, Europe. At the age of 18, he will become the youngest player ever to win the male singles title French Open tennis tournament, and will go on to become one of the greatest tennis players of all time. He will inspire the song The Ballad Of Bjorn Borg by The Pernice Brothers.After his band The Quarrymen finishes a set at St Peter's Church fete in Woolton, Liverpool, England, UK, Europe, John Lennon meets Paul McCartney, his future partner in The Beatles. This meeting will inspire singer-songwriter Steve Forbert to write his song You'd See The Things That I See, which is an attempt to imagine what John Lennon might have been thinking after meeting Paul McCartney.
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The space race begins as the Soviet Union successfully launches Sputnik I, the world's first artificial satellite. Weighing 83.6kg, Sputnik 1 was about the size of a beach ball and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. The event also triggered the imaginations of many songwriters and artists, first of whom was probably rockabilly vocalist Skip Stanley with Satellite Baby (1956), but there were others including Sputnik Baby by Roosevelt Sykes (1957), Sputnik Dance (1958) by The Equadors and Jerry Engler with Sputnik (Satellite Girl) (1958).
John
Lennon's mother Julia is killed by
a car driven by an off-duty policeman in Liverpool, UK, leaving
Lennon an orphan. He will write the song Julia for her, and it will appear on The Beatles 1968 album, The Beatles, aka The White Album. Lennon will also write
Mother, which will be released on his 1970 album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.
Hank Ballard And The Midnighters release a new single, Teardrops On Your Letter, on King Records in the USA. The b-side of the single, a dance number called The Twist is virtually ignored until 1961 when music biz mogul Dick Clark is inspired to create a cover version of The Twist with vocals handled by a professional impersonator, Ernest Evans, recently re-named Chubby Checker. The impersonation is so exact that when Ballard first hears it on the radio, he believes he is listening to his own recording. Nevetheless, boosted by national exposure on Clark's tv show American Bandstand, Checker's version becomes a gigantic international hit, sparking off the twist dance craze.
During the Winter Dance Party Tour, Buddy Holly, Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens are all killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, USA. The incident will inspire numerous tribute songs, but it is most popularly identified as "the day the music died" in Don McLean's huge hit single American Pie.
When Al Caldwell's Texans (later to become Rory Storm And The Hurricanes) play at The Mardi Gras Club, Liverpool, England, UK, Europe, they are joined by a new drummer, Richard Starkey. He will later, of course, change his name to Ringo Starr and, still later, move on to The Beatles. This is the first night on which Ringo played with The Hurricanes' guitarist, Johnny Guitar, and he will be inspired in 2017 to write the song Electricity, as his homage to the guitarist.
Robert Bloch's psychological thriller Psycho is published by Simon And Shuster in the USA. The central character in the book is Norman Bates, the mother-dominated, psychologically troubled caretaker of an isolated motel who commits a series of murders. The character of Bates will also appear in the Alfred Hitchcock film version of Psycho (1960) will inspire British jazz-rock band Landscape to create their 1981 hit single Norman Bates which will peak at No40 in the UK.
In Tecumseh, Michigan, USA, Henry Lee Lucas commits his first known murder, killing his mother during an argument about how he should care for her in her old age. In 1978, Lucas and an acquaintance, Ottis Toole, will embark on a cross-country murder spree. Lucas will eventually be convicted of murder in eleven different cases. His life and grim crimes will inspire several songs including To Henry Lee Lucas [From Ottis] by Postmortem [1997], Murder Company by Church of Misery [1999], Serial Killer by Macabre and The Ballad of Henry Lee Lucas by Treason Van Arch.
Man Of Mystery by The Shadows enters the UK Popular Singles Chart where it will peak at No5, during a fifteen-week run on the chart. This song will inspire the guitar part on the 1977 Elvis Costello hit song Watching The Detectives
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Bob Dylan participates in a 12-hour radio broadcast from Riverside Church, Manhattan, New York City, USA, a Hootenanny Special, which also features Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Eric Von Schmidt. Afterwards, he meets seventeen year old Suze Rotolo, who will become his girlfriend, and the inspiration for Dylan songs including Don't Think Twice, It's All Right, Boots of Spanish Leather and Tomorrow Is a Long Time.
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World Welterweight Boxing Champion Benny 'Kid' Paret is so seriously injured in a championship fight in Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA, against challenger Emile Griffith III that he is taken to hospital. He will die ten days later at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan from massive brain hemorrhaging. The grim circumstances of his death will inspire folk singer Gil Turner to compose the song Benny 'Kid' Paret, which he will record later in the year.
The assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, USA, inspired almost as many songs as it did conspiracy theories. Among the most memorable are He Was A Friend Of Mine by The Byrds [and others], Abraham, Martin And John by Marvin Gaye [and others], Dallas 1pm by Saxon and November 22nd 1963 by Destroy All Monsters. And let's not forget JAMES DOTSON - A Tragedy In Dallas, THE JUSTICE BROTHERS - The Tragedy Of John F. Kennedy, THE SOUTHERN GOSPEL BAND - The Death Of John F. Kennedy, HASIL ADKINS - Memories Of Kennedy, JIM KLINK - The Death Of John F. Kennedy, BUDDY PASTUCK - John F. Kennedy, BILL KUSHNER - J.F.K.bAnd That Terrible Day, HONORABLE BOB PETERS - A Sunny Day In Dallas, HAYDEN PRIVETT - The Death Of John F. Kennedy, JOHNNY DEE - A Tribute To President Kennedy, RALPH RYAN - The Death Of John F. Kennedy, LOWELL YODER - Don't Blame The State Of Texas, HASILADKINS - Memories Of Kennedy, JOHNNY TUCKER - Mr. Kennedy, BOBBY JENZEN - Two Brothers, HOMER HENDERSON - Lee Harvey Was A Friend Of Mine. In March 2020, Bob Dylan will release a seventeen minute song, Murder Most Foul, which focuses largely on the assassination of Kennedy.
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The New York Times runs a headline including the phrase 'God Is dead', which will inspire Bernie Taupin's lyrics for the song Levon, co-written with Elton John.
During a Frank Zappa concert at Montreux Casino in Switzerland, Europe, the venue burns down, inspiring Deep Purple to write their song Smoke On The Water.
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Moral campaigner Mary Whitehouse and former Labour MP Lord Longford begin campaigning for the release of notorious Moors Murderer Myra Hindley. This will inspire Ian Gillan of Deep Purple to write his song Mary Long, which will appear as the second track on their 1973 album Who Do We Think We Are.
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The documentary Too Long A Winter is broadcast by ITV in the UK. The film is centred on the life of Hannah Hauxwell, a Yorkshire farmer living without electricity or running water. Hauxwell will become, briefly, something of a celebrity, and her life will inspire the 2020 song Perfectly Formed by Fassine.
Paul McCartney and his family touch down at Metropolitan Airport, Nashville, Tennessee, USA, at the start of a six week stay on a farm in the neighbouring town of Lebanon. The farm is owned by songwriter Curly Putman Jr, and the McCartneys' time spent there will inspire Paul to write the hit single Junior's Farm.
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Joe
Strummer of The
Clash watches as the Notting Hill Carnival in London, UK, erupts into violence. The
incident will inspire Strummer to write the song White Riot.
New Year's Day by U2 is a song about the Solidarity movement in Poland. The lyric refers to Lech Walesa, the persecuted leader of Solidarity. Bono has said that when he was writing the lyric, "I must have been thinking about Lech Walesa being interned. Then, when we'd recorded the song, they announced that martial law would be lifted in Poland on New Year's Day. Incredible."
Psychopathic serial killer Henry Lee Lucas is arrested by Texas Ranger Phil Ryan, initially for unlawful possession of a firearm. He will, however, eventually be convicted of eleven homicides. Lee's crimes are thought to have provided the impetus for the 1996 cover version of the traditional murder ballad Henry Lee by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, featuring P.J. Harvey.
CBS-tv news anchor Dan Rather is walking home along Park Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, USA, when he is set upon and attacked by two men, one of whom repeatedly asks, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?". The incident will inspire the song What's
The Frequency, Kenneth? by R.E.M.
Notorious serial killer, rapist, kidnapper and necrophiliac Ted Bundy dies in the electric chair at Raiford Prison in Starke, Florida, USA. Bundy's grim exploits will become the subject of such songs as The
Drifter by Green On
Red, Blackest
Eyes by Porcupine
Tree, and Ted, Just Admit
It by Jane's
Addiction.
The Berlin Wall is officially opened, allowing refugees to exit directly through crossing points between East Germany and West Germany, Europe, and also allowing private travel through the wall. The Pink Floyd song A Great Day For Freedom is a reflection of the effects of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Heresy by Rush is also about the fall of The Wall, as is I Thought It Was Over by The Feeling. In Memory Of The Martyrs by Barclay James Harvest is about those who lost their lives in earlier years while trying to cross the Berlin Wall.
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Fragments of an object designated as Comet P/Shoemaker-Levy 9 are colliding spectacularly with the planet Jupiter. This is the first collision of two solar system bodies ever to have been observed. The Cure's 1996 song Jupiter Crash is about a couple watching the crash from earth and the effect it has on them.
Lela and Raymond Howard, an elderly couple in Salado, Texas, USA, leave home in their maroon Oldsmobile Delta 88, to attend the Pioneer Days Festival, fifteen miles away in Temple. They never
return. Two weeks later their bodies and the car are found at
the bottom of a 25-foot cliff. The 1998 hit song The Way by
Fastball will be inspired by their story.
A new teen-oriented tv series, As If, is broadcast for
the first time on Channel 4 tv in the UK. The female lead in the show is sarcastic goth girl Suzanne 'Sooz' Lee, played by Emily Corrie, whose
multi-coloured dreadlocked hair will be much remarked on. She will
prove to be the inspiration fo the 2003 UK No1 hit single, Five Colours In Her
Hair by McFly.
A US Predator Drone mistakenly attacks a wedding party in Kakarak, Khandahar, Afghanistan, killing at least fifty civilians and wounding hundreds more. This tragic slaughter of innocents, and other similar military robot attacks, will inspire The Airborne Toxic Event to write their song Welcome To Your Wedding Day.
Following a confrontation in Papa Joe's Texas Saloon, Lorena, Texas, USA, country music singer and songwriter Billy Joe Shaver shoots Billy Bryant Coker, in the face with a handgun. The incident will inspire Dale Watson to compose his song Where Do You Want It?, based on a remark said to have been made by Shaver prior to shooting Coker.
Holly Bobo, a twenty year old nursing student and cousin of country star Whitney Duncan, is abducted from her own backyard in Darden, Tennessee, USA. To raise awareness, Jenn Bostic, Heather Cohen and Richelle Perkins will co-write the song Bring Home Holly Bobo and perform it at special benefit shows in the USA.
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