Song Facts – Tidbits You Want And Don’t Want To Know

While listening to a song, have you ever wondered who or what inspired it? I have…I’ve often wondered who Layla was and if the song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds  was really inspired by LSD…It turns out that Layla and a couple of other songs by Eric Clapton Why Does Love Have To Be So Sad and Wonderful Tonight as well as George Harrison’s Something and For You Blue were all inspired by the same woman, Pattie Boyd…Pattie was married to Harrison when Clapton expressed his love for her in the song Layla…Clapton and Harrison remained good friends and Harrison even played at their wedding in 1979…Eric and Pattie divorced in 1988…

I was happy to learn that the inspiration for the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds came from a drawing by John Lennon’s son, Julian and not from LSD but was soon depressed when I read that Sarah McLachlan’s Angel is about drugs and is based on Smashing Pumpkins’ touring keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin, who overdosed on heroin and died in 1996..The “angel” symbolizes the drugs the addict gives in to repeatedly…

My research revealed some unappealing nuggets like the ‘body’ in John Mayer’s Your Body is a Wonderland is Jennifer Love Hewitt’s body and that the highly controversial You Oughta Know by Alanis Morisette was inspired by her ex-lover Dave Coulier of the television sitcom Full House… Full House (in case you didn’t know) was the same sitcom that spawned morons like the Olsen twins, Bob Saget and Jon Stamos…

I also found out that We Are the Champions by Queen (written by Freddie Mercury) was originally written as a gay anthem and became a sporting event cliché much later and that You’re So Vain by Carly Simon was based on her relationship with actor Warren Beatty…Some say it was based on her affair with Kris Kristoffson but I would like to believe it was Beatty as I think he’s vain…

I’m sure you must have heard How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You by legendary Motown singer Marvin Gaye (it was later covered by James Taylor in 1975)…It turns out that the title of the song was inspired by the trademark line of Jackie Gleason, “How sweet it is!” as it was said on The Jackie Gleason Show…

If you have heard of other ‘shocking’ origins, please let me know…I’m really interested in such nuggets…

Edited to Add:

• Paul McCartney wrote the song Lovely Rita, Meter Maid for the album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band after getting a parking ticket from a female warden in Abbey Road
• Hey Jude was written by Paul in his car…Paul was on his way to visit Julian, John Lennon’s son, who was disturbed by his parents’ divorce…Paul wrote this song to cheer him up
• The Beatles song Dear Prudence was written about Mia Farrow’s sister Prudence when she wouldn’t come out and play with Mia and the Beatles at a religious retreat in India