Favorite Answer

There are lots of them:

--Oedipus Rex, from CLASSICAL Greek mythology, the Iliad and Odyssey, and Sophocles' plays (song: Oedipus)

--Icarus, from CLASSICAL Greek mythology, begging for god's mercy as he falls to the earth (song: Lacrimosa)

--Ethan Frome, a local man in $2.99 Blues

--Fitzgerald and Hemingway (presumably F Scott and Papa), both super-smart and drinking in the café (song: Poor Little Rich Boy)

--Daniel Cowman, a chap on death row remembering a thing or two (song: Daniel Cowman)

--Samson, as everyone knows…..

--Uncle Albert and Dr. Robert, in Edit

--Mrs. E. Roosevelt, in Uh-merica

--Ezra Pound, who will sit upon your bed (song: Pound of Flesh)

--Mata Hari, in BYOS

--Jesus, as a magical statue (song: Baby Jesus)

--Maria, in Ave Maria

--Miss Lucy in Back of a Truck

--Lucille in Pavlov's Daughter

--Washington, as in Square Park (song: Definition of a Crazy Person)

--Karl Projektorinski in Human of the Year

--Mr. Sunshine in Sunshine

--Margaret Atwood & Virginia Woolf in Paris

--Joseph, Mary, & the Devil in The Devil Come to Bethlehem

--Roger Rabbit & Cinderella in Rockland County

--Elvis, a young boy who ironically can't carry a tune (song: Braille)

--Stan Butler, a poor chap who gets butchered by his b**ch of a wife, Marry Ann (song: Marry Ann)

--Marry Ann, a b**ch in Sailor Song

--Michael, Mary, Bugsy, & Buster, perpertrators of an armed robbery gone awry (song: The Soup)

--Sophie, Michael, Jacqueline, & Barbara, children of a woman dying of cancer (song: Chemo Limo)

--Bear Spektor (Regina's bro), in the song Bear Spektor

--Pickle, the name of a pickle that apparently has a love affair with a human (song: Reading Time with Pickle)

--Scarecrow & Fungus appear to be the names of two organisms that ran though a stoplight, among other things (song: Scarecrow and Fungus)

--Shakespeare, in That Time

--Pavlov (presumably Ivan Pavlov), in the song Pavlov's Daughter

--Regina herself is mentioned four times that I know of, in Pavlov's Daughter, *(Whisper), Reginasaurus, and The Flowers.

Could be more…

Edit:

There seems to be some disagreement as to whether Regina Spektor’s music can be included in the category “classical music”. If one means music composed by dead European males, then of course no. But we know from WNYC’s annual American music festival that some of the best “classical” music ever written was composed in the last 50 years in the good ol’ US of A. Classical music can be past, present, or future, and those who really know Regina’s songs understand that they are classical in the present and will be for a long time to come. I’m not talking about her top 40 songs. Top 40 radio peddles mediocrity to the lowest common listener, whether it’s pop top 40, “alternative” top 40, country top 40, classical top 40, or any other top 40. I assure you, Regina Spektor is not Brittney Spears. Actually, I have no right to say that since I don’t know any of Brittney’s songs; as far as I know they’re on a par with Kindertotenlieder. I don’t want to make a judgement in the absence of knowledge, so let me say instead that Regina is not Milli Vanilli. Many of Regina’s song structures are so innovative and lyrics so clever that they will have to be included in a comprehensive history of music. Regina’s music is ahead of its time and its novelty often doesn’t sit well with many listeners. Because of this, as with Bach, Stravinsky, and other visionaries, her brilliance won’t be fully appreciated for years to come.

We should also be careful not to dismiss pop music as not “classical” simply because it’s also classified as pop, nor because it’s relatively “simple”. Keep in mind that a lot of music played on “classical” music stations was “pop” in its day, including most pre-baroque music and many of Mozart’s compositions. There is also a lot of “classical” music that is quite simple, such as much of the aforementioned medieval music, Chopin’s études, and many of Khachaturian’s songs, e.g., Loneliness. Regina is a classically-trained pianist who has composed over a thousand songs despite being younger than 30 years old. She's got a remarkably keen sense of melody, which is uninhibited and refreshing. Her approach to melody is unusual, and I've only once heard anything like it--specifically, in Schnittke's opera Life with an Idiot. I wonder if that's a mere coincidence given that Regina was born and received her early classical training in Schnittke-era Soviet Russia.

Another important point is that, unlike liedermasters Wolf and Schumann, Regina writes her own lyrics. As far as I know Régine Crespin never wrote a song. So who’s the greater talent? I admit I have been a musical snob, and it hasn’t served me well. For years I didn’t listen to Regina’s music, having concluded without ever hearing her that it was not “my kind of music”. Then I accidently downloaded one of her songs. I was so impressed that I downloaded another, and then another, and now have 124 of them and hungry for more. I rue the time I lost, the years I could have been enjoying her music, and now I make an effort every day to discover new classical musicians and composers who don’t necessarily fit the dead European mold.

For the record Malcolm D, I wasn't comparing Regina's songs to Kindertotenlieder. Read carefully—it was Brittney's songs. But I was being facetious, my point being that I'm not familiar enough with Brittney's songs to pass judgment. However, Kindertotenlieder are probably my favorite of the dead European male songs, and I could pick four of Regina's that compare favorably. The lyrics are far superior, and of course Gustav didn't write his own….