Culture Re-View: The 60-year anniversary of JFK’s assassination

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Today marks 60 years since US president John F. Kennedy was shot and killed as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas.

The event shocked the world and inspired countless filmmakers, authors, and artists. And conspiracy theorists, of course.

To commemorate the anniversary of one of the most famous assassinations in history, Euronews Culture turns not to the wealth of known films and TV shows that have been inspired by the event, but to some lesser-known works by musicians who have tackled the culturally significant event.

We’ve singled out six songs through the decades from different music genres – each invoking or directly commenting on JFK’s memory and legacy. 

The Beach Boys – ‘The Warmth of the Sun’ (1964)

Reportedly written on the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Brian Wilson and Mike Love came up with ‘The Warmth of the Sun’. It was the first (and not the last) song recounting Kennedy’s death. The song in question never mentions Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald or other touchstones. Instead, it’s a song about loss, a sort of cathartic expulsion to better heal from an event that shook the US and the entire world.

Misfits – ‘Bullet’ (1978)

‘Bullet’ is the second single released by the provocative horror-punk band the Misfits, and they didn’t go lightly: “President’s bullet-ridden body in the street / Ride, Johnny ride / Kennedy’s shattered head hits concrete / Ride, Johnny ride.” There are also some sexually explicit lyrics directed at his late wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: “Texas is an outrage when your husband is dead / Texas is an outrage when they pick up his head / Texas is the reason that the President’s dead / You gotta suck, suck, Jackie, suck”. Charming. But what a tune. 

Lou Reed – ‘The Day John Kennedy Died’ (1982)

Lou Reed sombrely muses in this song about all the things he would do if he were President – which includes being able to forget that fateful day in 1963. The key lyric here being: “Oh, the day John Kennedy died / I remember where I was that day / I was upstate in a bar / The team from the university was playing football on TV / Then the screen went dead and the announcer said / There’s been a tragedy / There are unconfirmed reports the president’s been shot / And he may be dead or dying.”

Tori Amos – ‘Jackie’s Strength’ (1998)

Amos’ eerie ballad plays like an ode to JFK’s widow and well as a rumination on the passing of time and the lingering trauma that sticks with you. “A Bouvier till her wedding day / Shots rang out the police came / Mama laid me on the front lawn / And prayed for Jackie’s strength / Feeling old by twenty-one / Never thought my day would come / My bridesmaid’s getting laid / I pray for Jackie’s strength.” To add to the eeriness is that the song was released just a year before John Kennedy Jr., son of JFK and Jackie, died in a plane crash.

Eminem – ‘Public Enemy #1’ (2006)

Eminem’s ‘Public Enemy #1’ hears Slim wondering if the FBI is after him and says he’s going to record as many songs as possible before he’s taken out by someone – referring to the conspiracy theories regarding a plot by the FBI to kill JFK. “Like the day John F. Kennedy was assassinated in broad day / By the crazed lunatic with a gun / Who just happened to work on the same block in the library book depository / Where the President would go for a little Friday stroll / Shots fired from the grassy knoll / But they don’t know, or do they?”

Bob Dylan – ‘Murder Most Foul’ (2020)

Three years ago, Bob Dylan released a touching, sprawling 17-minute song about the JFK assassination. There was nothing veiled about this one – the whole song is an epic free association on the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The track was released on his 39th studio album, ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’, and addresses JFK’s murder in the wider context of American political and cultural history. It’s the longest song he’s ever recorded, and from the Shakespearian title alone, you know you’re in for a deep dive: the assassination, the conspiracies, pop culture references – all incredibly detailed and leaving the listener with a puzzle to solve that mirrors how memories work. They can be jumbled, they may need to be pieced back together, but some events mark a generation for a lifetime – leaving feelings that cannot be forgot.