The "strange facts" you know about songs thread.

[Papa Deuce]

The song "Rich Girl" by Hall & Oates is really about a guy, but Hall said it would be too strange to sing about a guy. It was about his ex girl friend's new boyfriend.

The song "How Long" by Ace, which sounds like it is about a cheating girlfriend, is really about the drummer from Ace, secretly drumming with another up and coming band. The drummer was never told it was about him while the band was still together.

What do you have in the way of strange facts about songs?

 

[maelstrom]

I am a wealth of useless knowledge... unfortunately it's three in the morning and my brain isn't working.

 

[Imzadi]

Elton wrote and dedicated Philadelphia Freedom, to tennis player Billie Jean King, who coached a World Team Tennis team in 1974 called the "Philadelphia Freedoms." King was one of the first women ever to coach men.


(On August 12, 2009, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama for her work advocating for the rights of women and the LGBT community.)


I got to meet Billie Jean last summer at the US Open!

 

[turkeymama]

I once heard on the radio that the U2 song, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, was about a set of lost keys. Of course, I can't verify that, and it was probably just a DJ spouting off stuff. Still, it would be funny if it were true.

 

[Macca1111]

Rockwell, whose one hit "Somebody's Watching Me" we keep hearing in the Geico commercials, used this fake name when signing with Motown and releasing his album so it wouldn't look like he was riding on the coattails of Dad Berry Gordy.

Of course, he used Michael Jackson to sing the chorus, the only memorable part of the song, so that sorta negated the whole spurning daddy's help thing.

 

[MerMom60_94]

The song Midnight Train to Georgia was originally titled Midnight Plane to Houston and was inspired by Farrah Fawcett Majors. The songwriter was a friend of Lee Majors and when he called him once Farrah answered the phone and told him during their conversation that she was packing her bags and heading home to Houston, thus the inspiration.

 

[raysnkaysmom]

The first thing I thought of, that probably isnt' true, is that Michael Jackson wrote the song "Remember the Time" for Brooke Shields...

 

[ZephyrHawk]

The name of the girl in the song "Jane" by Barenaked Ladies was inspired by one of the band members seeing the intersection of Jane and St. Clair Avenues on a map and declaring that it must be the most beautiful intersection in the world. They later found out it was actually a rather dull place.

 

[lvanleer]

"Take Me Home Country Roads" isn't really about West Virginia.....According to Bill Danoff(one of the songwriters), he and his wife Taffy were heading to a family event on one of our country roads in Montgomery County MD which inspired them to write the song with John Denver however "Clopper Road" just didn't fit the song.

 

[Christine]

"Take Me Home Country Roads" isn't really about West Virginia.....According to Bill Danoff(one of the songwriters), he and his wife Taffy were heading to a family event on one of our country roads in Montgomery County MD which inspired them to write the song with John Denver however "Clopper Road" just didn't fit the song.

Sssshhhhhh.... Don't tell this to all of the WVU Mountaineers!

 

[NHdisneylover]

Telegraph Road by Dire Straits is about a road in Detroit and its suburbs. It is a looong road (like the song) that cuts diagonally through the city.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Freebird by Lynyrd Skynrd

Was listening to some talk radio show and one of the former bandmates was on. And they were discussing how Freebird began.

I am not too familiar with the group--so i hope all the names are correct. I *think* it was Gary on the radio. I had called my mom b/c she has met one of the band members in Jacksonville and all the names are muddled in my head.:

Anyway---
I want to say it was Ronnie Van Sant's Wife---one night, wrote these words on a napkin and handed it to him:
" I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me? "

And that inspired the song.

I googled and found that the Chicago Tribune had written a story about this over the summer--but I can't dig through their archives to provide more info.

I thougth it was a pretty school story. I believe the keyboardist (Billy?) was a roadie at the time--but he was called over to help with the song and he was part of the band after that.

 

[lemondog]

"All My Love" by Led Zeppelin was written by Robert Plant about his son Karac, who died at age 5. So sad.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

Telegraph Road by Dire Straits is about a road in Detroit and its suburbs. It is a looong road (like the song) that cuts diagonally through the city.

Okay, now I have to hear this song! I grew up with Telegraph just being a fixture of everyday life. And yes, it is a long road. Also, humorously enough, it crosses 8 Mile at one point...which is also a song (by Eminem of course)...so the corner of Telegraph and 8 Mile must be some cosmic musical vortex.

 

[BeachGirlFLA]

I once heard on the radio that the U2 song, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, was about a set of lost keys. Of course, I can't verify that, and it was probably just a DJ spouting off stuff. Still, it would be funny if it were true.

Yeah, it was just a DJ spouting off stuff but I agree that would be funny. Here's what I found on the meaning behind that song (because I just had to look to see if that was true.)
"U2 says that it's a song of 'spiritual yearning' and Bono and Edge have often called it a gospel song."

 

[NHdisneylover]

Okay, now I have to hear this song! I grew up with Telegraph just being a fixture of everyday life. And yes, it is a long road. Also, humorously enough, it crosses 8 Mile at one point...which is also a song (by Eminem of course)...so the corner of Telegraph and 8 Mile must be some cosmic musical vortex.

We used to live very near both roads--and yes we associated both with the songs We often played Telegraph Road while driving on it--but 8 mile is not so family friendly when in teh car with kids Anyway, I think the song is almost 15 minutes long. It is on the Love Over Gold album but you can probably find it on youtube.

Other fun facts:
Kenny Loggins wrote both House at Pooh Corner and Danny's Song while still in high school! He wrote them for his newphew.

 

[GottaGetToDisney!]

..except for one:

My husband swears he heard somewhere that the Aerosmith song "Dude Looks Like A Lady" was written about Vince Neil, from Motley Crue. I have no idea if this is true.

Gotta Get To Disney!

 

[crz4mm2]

..except for one:

My husband swears he heard somewhere that the Aerosmith song "Dude Looks Like A Lady" was written about Vince Neil, from Motley Crue. I have no idea if this is true.

Gotta Get To Disney!

That's what song facts says!

 

[Vallie]

"Ben" by MJ was written about his pet rat that he found and named Ben! I just recently found this out and thought it was so sweet

 

[brp]

"Ben" by MJ was written about his pet rat that he found and named Ben! I just recently found this out and thought it was so sweet

It was actually used in a movie called "Ben" about a rat. This was the sequel to the rat-based movie "Willard." Not sure if Michael also had a rat named Ben, but that would be an interesting coincidence.

Cheers.