Entertainment & Music The stories behind the songs

[Shell]

Cant sleep/clown'll eat me.


Just been interested lately in looking up random songs and the meanings/stories behind why the songwriter wrote them. Some- like i was a bit disappointed to find out "My Immortal", one of the most haunting songs ever- actually has no meaning. Is based on no one in particular... while others obviously have very real and deeper meanings or stories behind the lyrics.

Like "In the End" - which iirc, is about the abuse the lead singer of Linkin Park suffered? Can someone confirm this?

I Dont Like Mondays- chilling song about a nutcase of a woman, who because- claimed to not like Mondays, had to shoot innocent children and a teacher on their way to school. I believe she is still alive and in a California jail.

Never Tear Us Apart- is a song written about Michele, Michael's ex-gf. The last person he spoke to before his death in 1997.

Who Knew by Pink- written about a friend, at age 16 dying from a heroin overdose.

 

[Shell]

Personal meanings:

- Death of my uncle in 1999: Wont you wait for me.
- Death of a student in 2006: Who Knew

- Grand final wins:
07- Thanks for the memories
09- Farnham/Barnes and Hunters songs- pre-game entertainment
11- Edge of Glory by Lady Gaga. Just had that song on repeat in the lead up to the game.

 

[Shell]

I've listened to We Didnt Start The Fire like 3 times this morning..

Billy Joel wrote the song 'We Didn't Start the Fire' as a response to a comment about how much harder it was growing up in the 1980s as opposed to the 1950s. He wrote the lyrics before the music and included the song on his 1989 album Storm Front.


I understand re. the growing up part, but he could totally make WDSTF Part II rn. If he didnt loathe the song..



"Piano Man" is based on Joel's real-life experiences as a lounge musician in Los Angeles from 1972–73, which he had decided to pursue in an effort to escape his contracted New York City-based record company at the time, Family Productions, following the poor commercial performance of the album Cold Spring Harbor.
. ... Joel played under the name Bill Martin, which explains why the patrons in the song call him Bill. Martin is his middle name.

 

[Shell]

My favourite song I sang as a kid

"You May Be Right" *theory

The speaker is described as often engaging in risky behavior. The song was originally released in the 80’s, which was also the time of the AIDS epidemic. Because of this, gay sex was seen as dangerous by many people, including the speaker’s friend. The friend refers to the speaker as “insane.” Slang related to mental illness (insane, crazy, lunatic) is used throughout the song. Homosexuality had been removed from the DSM less than a decade prior (in 1973) and some homophobic rhetoric still refers to LGBT people as mentally ill.

 

[raskolnikov]

Eric Clapton's song "Tears in Heaven" written after his 4 year old son fell from a 53rd floor New York apartment. 53rd floor. What the actual ****? Who leaves the window open on a 53rd floor apartment when you have a 4 year old running around?

 

[Shell]

Eric Clapton's song "Tears in Heaven" written after his 4 year old son fell from a 53rd floor New York apartment. 53rd floor. What the actual fu**? Who leaves the window open on a 53rd floor apartment when you have a 4 year old running around?

Oh yeah I knew that one. So ****ing sad.

IIRC wasnt the nanny the one IC? Idk.


/the windows also should be made so one cannot fall out of them. Thought there was a strict code about that

 

[raskolnikov]

My brother died when Bette Midler's song From a Distance had just been released and was all over the radio so I can't hear that one without getting choked up.

 

[Shell]

My brother died when Bette Midler's song From a Distance had just been released and was all over the radio so I can't hear that one without getting choked up.

Great song.

Midler's a legend.

 

[Shell]

For me: Hero and One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey, and If I could, choke me up. And My Immortal.

For no real reason whatsoever, no story, just songs that stab you/me right in the heart.

 

[Shell]

Fantasy by Carey: and im immediately in a warehouse, up at 6am, working till past 8pm on Grand Final Eve 1995. The radio FOX FM literally played the song every hour.

Got home, mum had a ticket to the game (next door neighbour won a ticket to the game down the pub, he GAVE it to her, no $$) and with me getting a ticket also earlier in the week, we just thought it was fate.


It was not.

Yeah Fantasy by Carey was pretty appropriate.

 

[Shell]

I guess thats why they call it the Blues:

Elton's lyricist Bernie Taupin wrote this song as a love letter to his wife at the time, Toni Russo, who is the sister of the actress Rene Russo. In the album credits, Bernie wrote, "Hey Toni, this one's for you
Discussing the meaning of the song, Bernie Taupin said: "I wrote this in Montserrat, an island that, tragically, no longer exists. Basically, it's a letter home with a small tip included about making the most of time, not wishing it away just because you can't be with the one you love. Time is precious; read books, paint a picture, bake a cake. Just don't wallow, don't be content."


Stevie Wonder played harmonica on this track. Even if all he did was play harmonica, Wonder could have earned a decent living. Some other tracks he played the instrument on include "I Feel For You" by Chaka Khan, "A Little More Time With You" by James Taylor and "There Must Be An Angel (Playin' With My Heart)" by Eurythmics.

 

[Shell]

One of my all time fave Aussie bands:

Obsession was Icehouse's peak, and this was their third single to make the charts. It's the most intense of their songs, about a man who fears he's losing everything he's held dear and facing middle age.

"Icehouse" is Australian slang for an insane asylum. The group had one other US hit a few months earlier with "Crazy," which charted at #14. They were much more popular in their native Australia, where "Electric Blue" was a #1 hit and continues to get airplay.

Electric Blue: This is the Australian group's biggest hit in the United States. In it, a man thinks he has a chance at the love of a woman who seems to be above his station

 

[Caesar]

Yeah, I’m one of those people who looks up song meanings. Couple of unusual ones that stick out:

• ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ by Bonnie Tyler is about vampires
• ‘Closing Time’ by Semisonic is about childbirth
• ‘You’re Beautiful’ by James Blunt is about a stalker

 

[iluvparis]

James Taylor - Fire and Rain

In 2005, during an interview on NPR, Taylor explained to host Scott Simon that the song was written in three parts:[4]

• The first part was about Taylor's friend Suzanne, who died while Taylor was in London working on his first album after being signed to Apple Records. Friends at home, concerned that it might distract Taylor from his big break, kept the tragic news from him and he found out six months later.
• The second part details Taylor's struggle to overcome drug addiction and depression.
• The third part deals with coming to grips with fame and fortune, looking back at the road that got him there. It includes a reference to James Taylor and The Flying Machine, a band he briefly worked with before his big break with Paul McCartney, Peter Asher, and Apple Records.

 

[iluvparis]

The Beatles - You've Got to Hide Your Love Away (my fave) is about their manager Brian Epstein having to hide that he was gay

 

[Shell]

Wthis Bohemian Rapsody about. Or did they never really say

 

[Shell]

Yeah, I’m one of those people who looks up song meanings. Couple of unusual ones that stick out:

• ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ by Bonnie Tyler is about vampires
• ‘Closing Time’ by Semisonic is about childbirth
• ‘You’re Beautiful’ by James Blunt is about a stalker

Ironic cause the latter is a hugely popular wedding song

 

[Gough]

I've listened to We Didnt Start The Fire like 3 times this morning..

Billy Joel wrote the song 'We Didn't Start the Fire' as a response to a comment about how much harder it was growing up in the 1980s as opposed to the 1950s. He wrote the lyrics before the music and included the song on his 1989 album Storm Front.


I understand re. the growing up part, but he could totally make WDSTF Part II rn. If he didnt loathe the song..



"Piano Man" is based on Joel's real-life experiences as a lounge musician in Los Angeles from 1972–73, which he had decided to pursue in an effort to escape his contracted New York City-based record company at the time, Family Productions, following the poor commercial performance of the album Cold Spring Harbor.
. ... Joel played under the name Bill Martin, which explains why the patrons in the song call him Bill. Martin is his middle name.

I'm about the same age as Billy Joel was when he made Storm Front and listening to it with those ears, it's such a middle aged man album.

 

[Shell]

I'm about the same age as Billy Joel was when he made Storm Front and listening to it with those ears, it's such a middle aged man album.

I love Storm Front

 

[Shell]

Just listening to "Disappear" atm- Michael, as they were putting together the song did the "do do do dodododododod" part just as a "filler" said he hadnt come up with that lyric yet.

The producer said mate- that IS the lyric.

He was right- is brilliant.

 

[Gough]

I love Storm Front

I saw him at Memorial Drive on that tour, the Baby Animals supported iirc.

 

[Shell]

My favourite Andrew Farris tho hated the song and fought to take it off the final album.

The rest of the band told him to get ****ed and it ended up being their best hit of the album.

 

[Shell]

I saw him at Memorial Drive on that tour, the Baby Animals supported iirc.

Yeah i saw him in the round at Melbourne Park.

 

[Quivorir]

Just listening to "Disappear" atm- Michael, as they were putting together the song did the "do do do dodododododod" part just as a "filler" said he hadnt come up with that lyric yet.

The producer said mate- that IS the lyric.

He was right- is brilliant.

Similar story to the "where do we go, where do we go now?" part in Guns N Roses' Sweet Child o' Mine. Producer of the song suggested they need a breakdown to end the song and whilst listening to the song on repeat Axl just kept saying to himself "where do we go now?" trying to work out some lyrics and that ended up being it.

 

[Shell]

Got my MJ DVD on now.

Scream.


Hmm yeah an example of a song meaning something, then years down the track means something completely different/you view it in a completely different light.