Creedence Clearwater Revival - "Proud Mary" (1969)

 

In the beginning, "Proud Mary" had nothing to do with a riverboat. Instead, John Fogerty envisioned it as the story of a woman who works as a maid for rich people.

 

"She gets off the bus every morning and goes to work and holds their lives together," he explains. "Then she has to go home."

 

It was Stu Cook who first introduced the riverboat aspect of the song. The idea came to him as the group watched the television show Maverick and Stu made the statement, "Hey riverboat, blow your bell."

 

John agreed that the boat seemed to have something to do with the song that'd been brewing in his mind for quite some time, waiting to take conscious shape.

 

When he wrote the music, he made the first few chords evoke a riverboat paddlewheel going around. Thus, "Proud Mary" went from being a clean-up lady to a boat.

 

Steely Dan "Rikki Don't Lose That Number" (1974)

 

The Rikki of the title is Rikki Ducornet, a New York writer and artist.

 

Steely Dan co-front Donald Fagen had met her while both were attending Bard College, a small liberal arts college located in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.

 

Ducornet says they met at a college party, and even though she was both pregnant and married at the time, he gave her his number, although not in the same context as the song.

 

Ducornet was intrigued by Fagen and tempted to call him, but she decided against it.

 

[video=youtube;UfZWp-hGCdA]

Toto - "Rosanna" (1982)

 

This song got its name from the actress Rosanna Arquette, who was dating Toto keyboard player Steve Porcaro at the time. Porcaro didn't write the song - it was written by Toto leader David Paich, who was always looking for good ideas for lyrics.

 

Jackson Browne - "Rosie" (1977)

 

Jackson Browne said that this is a true story about a guy he knew who met a really beautiful girl, and that's where the sad part comes in.

 

On the face of it, this is a fairly straightforward song about a concert technician who meets an attractive young girl before the start of the show, gives her his pass so she can get in, buys her a beer, and things are looking good, this could be the girl of his dreams, or if not that, then at least he'll get laid.

 

At the end of the show, the girl is swept away by the drummer.

 

The Rolling Stones "Ruby Tuesday" (1967)

 

Keith Richards wrote this song about a free-spirited groupie named Linda Keith that he had fallen for who dropped him abruptly without warning.

 

[video=youtube;-YJXfcndyvU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YJXfcndyvU

Fleetwood Mac - "Sara" - (1979)

 

This is a very personal song for Stevie. It is about a combination of things that were going on in her life, including the band, her friend Sara Recor, her relationship with Mick Fleetwood, and her aborted child with Don Henley. But she considers "Sara" to be her alter-ego and her muse - the "poet in her heart."

 

"Sara" was the name Nicks gave to her unborn child before she had an abortion. In 1977, she dated Don Henley, and later confirmed that she became pregnant with his child and terminated the pregnancy.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgJxpr_8eOY

Hall & Oates - "Sara Smile" (1975)

 

Daryl Hall wrote this for his collaborator/girlfriend Sara Allen.

 

They never got married, but Daryl and Sara were together for about 28 years before they broke up in 2001.

 

Pink Floyd - "See Emily Play" (1967)

 

Syd Barrett wrote this. One of the band's original members, he was the group's leader until he lost his mind. He did a lot of acid and became very unpredictable, sometimes refusing to play at shows. His band mates kicked him out in 1968.

 

Barrett claimed "Emily" was a girl he saw when he woke up one night after sleeping in the woods after a gig. It is unclear if she was a real person or a drug-induced hallucination.

 

KISS - "Christine Sixteen" (1977)

 

The song's title was originated by bandmate Paul Stanley, who was planning to write a song under the title, until Gene Simmons beat him to it.

 

The song's subject and lyrics were controversial and made some hit radio stations reluctant to put it on their playlists, while others (including WABC in the band's home town of New York, and WKBW in Buffalo) only played it after 7 PM as an album cut.

 

[video=youtube;vib9VMA0v-w]

Marcy Playground "Sherry Fraser" (1997)

 

Love this song...

 

Lead singer-songwriter John Wozniak said this about the song:

 

"Sherry was my first girlfriend. When I was 15, she was 16.

She was my first true love, and still a very close friend.

 

She did all the artwork for our latest record, Leaving Wonderland. She's a really terrific visual artist and also a great musician.

 

She has a band called Two Ton Boa, which is really cool.

 

I always tap Sherry for her ideas and her creativity, and I have for years. But she's since married somebody else and we haven't been together since 1993 or something. So it's been a long time, almost 17 years. Well, I guess for that age it was a long time. I met her in '87, and we stopped dating in '93.

 

We remain friends and made music together. We wrote a bunch of stuff. She sings on the very first record that I ever did, which was the Zog Bogbean - from the Marcy Playground. And we wrote some songs together."

 

Fountains of Wayne - "Stacey's Mom" (2003)

 

This song tells the story of a kid who has developed a huge crush on his friend's super-hot mom.

 

Adam Schlesinger, songwriter and bassist for Fountains of Wayne, revealed in our interview that the track was actually inspired by a friend who was, curiously, attracted to Adam's grandmother: "Well, one of my best friends told me that he thought my grandmother was really hot, that added a little bit to the song. That's a true story. And my grandmother was pretty hot."

 

Music Video shot with footage of @Lawnboy13 as a teen.

 

Neil Diamond - "Sweet Caroline" (1969)

 

Diamond wrote this song about his second wife, Marcia Murphey, who he married in 1969 (they divorced in 1995). He needed a three-syllable name to fit the melody, however, so "Sweet Marcia" didn't work. The name Caroline is one he had written down, and it fit the song perfectly, so that's what he used.

 

Jimi Hendrix - "The Wind Cries Mary" (1967)

 

Jimi wrote this in 1967 for Are You Experienced?; it was inspired by his girlfriend at the time, Kathy Mary Etchingham.

 

He'd gotten into an argument with her about her cooking. She got very angry and started throwing pots and pans and finally stormed out to stay at a friend's home for a day or so.

 

When she came back, Jimi had written "The Wind Cries Mary" for her.

 

Concrete Blonde - "Joey" (1990)

 

This song is about being in love with an alcoholic. Concrete Blonde lead singer Johnette Napolitano wrote it about Marc Moreland of the band Wall Of Voodoo. Moreland died of liver failure in 2002.