The Story Behind the Song (got any?)

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

For all three of the board members who aren't aware, Phil Collins' 'In the Air Tonight' was written about his divorce, not actually having watched anyone drown.

https://americansongwriter.com/a-deeper-look-at-the-meaning-behind-in-the-air-tonight-by-phil-collins/

[Gugny]

John Lennon wrote, "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," because he was a firearms enthusiast.

 

When I hold you in my arms
And I feel my finger on your trigger
I know nobody can do me no harm
Because ...

Happiness is a warm gun

[BringBackFergy]

56 minutes ago, Gugny said:

John Lennon wrote, "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," because he was a firearms enthusiast.

 

When I hold you in my arms
And I feel my finger on your trigger
I know nobody can do me no harm
Because ...

Happiness is a warm gun

I read somewhere “Wonderful Christmas Time” was written as an ode to hearing impaired children who never had to listen to that abomination of a song. They had a wonderful Christmas. 

[Gugny]

1 minute ago, BringBackFergy said:

I read somewhere “Wonderful Christmas Time” was written as an ode to hearing impaired children who never had to listen to that abomination of a song. They had a wonderful Christmas. 

 

This reminded me of this heartwarming story ...

 

 

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

11 minutes ago, BringBackFergy said:

I read somewhere “Wonderful Christmas Time” was written as an ode to hearing impaired children who never had to listen to that abomination of a song. They had a wonderful Christmas. 

[BringBackFergy]

1 hour ago, Gugny said:

 

This reminded me of this heartwarming story ...

 

 

Never saw that before. LOL

[WhoTom]

Stevie Wonder wrote "Superstition" for Jeff Beck to record, as a thank-you for Beck having played on one of Stevie's albums. But the record company insisted that Stevie record it himself. Beck did eventually record a cover of the song.

 

https://www.guitarplayer.com/players/jeff-beck-stevie-wonder

 

 

[WhoTom]

The original version of "Sympathy for the Devil" included the line, "I shouted out, 'Who killed John Kennedy?'" The day after the Stones recorded it, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, so Mick went back to the studio and re-recorded the line to say, "I shouted out, 'Who killed the Kennedys?'"

 

 

[US Egg]

6 hours ago, muppy said:

waaay back in the 70's Rick Derringer wrote a song called "Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo"

 

I knew that BB King had a song where he mentioned he was a "hoochie coochie" man. And I wanted to know what Hoochie Koo / Hoochie coochie really meant

 

and found this: 

 

and Ricks' song influence was similar

Minnie the Moocher
She was a lowdown hoochie coocher
 

Cab Calloway 1931

 

Still strangely compelling today, Cab Calloway's “Minnie the Moocher” tells the cautionary tale of a good-hearted woman's fatal descent into drug addiction— although the casual listener would never guess the theme was so dark from the jovial melody and scat chorus of “Hi-dee hi-dee hi-dee hi!”

Edited April 11, 2023 by I am the egg man

[Augie]

1 hour ago, WhoTom said:

The original version of "Sympathy for the Devil" included the line, "I shouted out, 'Who killed John Kennedy?'" The day after the Stones recorded it, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, so Mick went back to the studio and re-recorded the line to say, "I shouted out, 'Who killed the Kennedys?'"

 

 

 

I was very little, but my two primary memories of the Kennedys were the horse drawn carriage with casket at JFK’s funeral while watching in the living room with my parents (because my sister had a friend over and I annoyed them so they got the basement to themselves), then telling my mom Bobby had been shot before I left for school. I don’t think she believed me, and I didn’t realize how stunning that was. 

 

Those are strangely vivid memories. 

 

Sorry, back to your regularly scheduled thread. 

[ChevyVanMiller]

The final track recorded for Revolver, ‘She Said She Said’ was inspired by an LSD-influenced conversation between John Lennon and actor Peter Fonda. 
 

During The Beatles’ US tour in the summer of 1965, they rented a house in Los Angeles’ Mulholland Drive. On 24 August they played host to Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of The Byrds, and the two parties, apart from Paul McCartney, spent the day tripping on LSD.

 

The actor Peter Fonda arrived at the house, also on acid. He attempted to comfort Harrison, who thought he was dying.

 

“I told him there was nothing to be afraid of and that all he needed to do was relax. I said that I knew what it was like to be dead because when I was 10 years old I’d accidentally shot myself in the stomach and my heart stopped beating three times while I was on the operating table because I’d lost so much blood.”

 

John was passing at the time and heard me saying ‘I know what it’s like to be dead’. He looked at me and said, ‘You’re making me feel like I’ve never been born. Who put all that s**t in your head?’

 

Lennon recounted the incident in 1980 in one of his final interviews, speaking to a journalist from Playboy magazine.

 

“It’s an interesting track. The guitars are great on it. That was written after an acid trip in LA during a break in The Beatles’ tour where we were having fun with The Byrds and lots of girls. Some from Playboy, I believe. Peter Fonda came in when we were on acid and he kept coming up to me and sitting next to me and whispering, ‘I know what it’s like to be dead.’

 

He was describing an acid trip he’d been on. We didn’t want to hear about that! We were on an acid trip and the sun was shining and the girls were dancing and the whole thing was beautiful and Sixties, and this guy – who I really didn’t know; he hadn’t made Easy Rider or anything – kept coming over, wearing shades, saying, ‘I know what it’s like to be dead,’ and we kept leaving him because he was so boring! And I used it for the song, but I changed it to ‘she’ instead of ‘he’. It was scary. You know, a guy… when you’re flying high and [whispers] ‘I know what it’s like to be dead, man.’ I remembered the incident. Don’t tell me about it! I don’t want to know what it’s like to be dead!”

 

John Lennon
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by ChevyVanMiller

[sherpa]

12 hours ago, WhoTom said:

It's widely believed that "Don't Fear the Reaper" is about a guy talking his girlfriend into a suicide pact, but the guy who wrote it said he was just trying to say that we shouldn't fear death. He had a heart condition and began contemplating the possibility of his own early demise. Realizing that death is inevitable, he wrote the song.

 

And he's still alive.

 

 

No doubt the result of cowbell commissions.

[LeviF]

On 4/11/2023 at 10:13 AM, Gugny said:

John Lennon wrote, "Happiness Is a Warm Gun," because he was a firearms enthusiast.

 

When I hold you in my arms
And I feel my finger on your trigger
I know nobody can do me no harm
Because ...

Happiness is a warm gun

 

Reminds me of a story my dad likes to tell.

 

Back in 1980 he was kitchen manager at a restaurant/bar in a small college town. Day after Lennon was killed the college radio station (which was always on in the kitchen) was playing Beatles/Lennon solo songs all day and were taking requests. One of the characters that worked in the kitchen called in and requested live on the air, you guessed it, "Happiness Is a Warm Gun."

[ExiledInIllinois]

Well you can probably figure this one out:

 

 

Or this one all you Rocket surgeons out there:

 

 

[BillsPride12]

Lou Reed- Perfect Day (1972)

It's such a perfect day, I'm glad I spend it with you / Such a perfect day - you just keep me hanging on / You just keep me hanging on

At first listen, the song appears to be a simple story about cherishing time spent with a love one but it took on a darker tone when critics interpreted it as Reed singing about his battle with drug addiction.

Ending with the refrain You're going to reap / Just what you sow makes it harder to justifiably explain away as a simple love song.

The drug claims undoubtedly inspired Danny Boyle's 1996 film Trainspotting, where it was used during a scene in which the lead character Renton, played by Ewan McGregor, overdoses on heroin.

One of Reed's most straightforward songs, compositionally, it was covered by a number of artists and released as a single in 1997 for the BBC's Children in Need appeal.

 

Copy and pasted from https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-24704260

[ExiledInIllinois]

More from Captain Obvious today. I wonder how they came up with this one.

 

 

[Jauronimo]

Jimi Hendrix's classic song Hey Joe was inspired by the divorce of his dear friend John Lennon.  John's eldest son Julian was struggling to cope with the high profile divorce of his parents and Yoko's general bull#### and Hendrix penned an imaginative song about "shooting that old lady down" to cheer him up.  While everyone knows the chorus, few know the origin.

[gdabillsfan]

On 4/10/2023 at 5:29 PM, Augie said:

 

 

 

You get it, or you don’t.  CLASSIC! 

.

God as my witness,  I thought turkeys could fly.

[jayg]

21 minutes ago, Jauronimo said:

Jimi Hendrix's classic song Hey Joe was inspired by the divorce of his dear friend John Lennon.  John's eldest son Julian was struggling to cope with the high profile divorce of his parents and Yoko's general bull#### and Hendrix penned an imaginative song about "shooting that old lady down" to cheer him up.  While everyone knows the chorus, few know the origin.

Hilarious but not true,  hahaha