# Share Some Little-Known Trivia About Popular Songs....... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2008, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494 "2008-12-17T01:11:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/81 "2008-12-18T15:56:17Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Singer Murray Head is the brother of Buffy’s Anthony Stewart Head. > > Murray was the only singer who forgoed getting paid $250 for singing on the original Jesus Christ Superstar album in exchanged for 1/2 of 1% of the royalties. It made him a millionaire. And Ian Gillan of Deep Purple fame was Jesus on the original album. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/82 "2008-12-18T16:08:49Z")
> [@RiverRunner](#): > > I had always heard it was about Warren Beatty, but I don’t have much faith in that. > RR Actually, as she was with James Taylor when she wrote it, if I had to bet, my money would be on him. (And if I’m right, that would make me the fifth person who knows) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/83 "2008-12-18T16:16:57Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > And the sadder, more introspective “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” was about Stephen Stills’ off-again, on-again relationship with Judy Collins. Judy Collins’s godfather was her father’s best friend, Holden Bowler. He served in the Navy with Jerome David Salinger, who used his first name for the protagonist of Catcher in the Rye. Joan Baez’s sister Mimi was married to folk singer Richard Farina, who became best friends at Columbia Univeristy with Thomas Pynchon, and wrote a song called “V” after Pychon’s first book. It’s odd that America’s two most reclusive authors have ties to female folk singers. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/84 "2008-12-18T16:26:30Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Singer Murray Head is the brother of Buffy’s Anthony Stewart Head. > > Murray was the only singer who forgoed getting paid $250 for singing on the original Jesus Christ Superstar album in exchanged for 1/2 of 1% of the royalties. It made him a millionaire. I was going to add news of his death until I looked it up…he’s still alive! I thought I heard years ago that he died of AIDS. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/85 "2008-12-18T16:33:57Z")
> [@Sir\_Prize](#): > > “Mother and Child Reunion” was the name a Chinese dish but the lyrics were inspired by the death of his dog. “I can’t for the life of me remember a sadder day.” Sounds like we’re [both right](http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/mother.asp). The title was inspired by the dish, but the song is about the dog. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/86 "2008-12-18T17:37:57Z")
[“Killing Me Softly With His Song” was written about Don McLean.](http://www.don-mclean.com/articles/index.asp?p=16) ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/87 "2008-12-18T21:10:00Z")
Speaking of “Who Are You” it mentions Myrtle Beach SC in the line “I know there’s a place you walked where love falls from the trees” That line is about the Meher Baba center in Myrtle Beach. Not many people know that big beach resort has a center for an obscure religion. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/88 "2008-12-18T21:13:09Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Speaking of “Who Are You” it mentions Myrtle Beach SC in the line “I know there’s a place you walked where love falls from the trees” That line is about the Meher Baba center in Myrtle Beach. Not many people know that big beach resort has a center for an obscure religion. Speaking of which, that is the Baba of “Baba O’Reilly”. Mr. Townshend is quite the devotee. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2008, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/89 "2008-12-18T21:45:46Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Roseanna by Toto is about Roseanna Arquette who dated one of the band members. So is In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel. Guess she had a thing for musicians. ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/90 "2008-12-19T03:28:08Z")
> [@faithfool](#): > > Hey, it’s my fellow obsessed Alice-ee! 😃 Yep, and I, and I’m sure you, both went :smack: over forgetting to mention that Donovan is the second voice on Billion Dollar Babies! ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/91 "2008-12-19T05:30:02Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I suppose it’s not really little-known, but a lot of people don’t know that “A Boy Named Sue” was written by Shel Silverstein. Perhaps a little less known is that Silverstein based the song on his friend (Mr.) Jean Shepherd, radio raconteur, TV personality, author, and screenwriter of [_A Christmas Story_](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0085334/). Shepherd was named for his father, Jean, who was himself named after the character Jean Valjean in Victor Hugo’s _Les Miserables_. The narrator’s line in the movie, “Aunt Clara had for years labored under the delusion that I was not only perpetually 4 years old, but also a girl,” makes more sense in the context of the author’s name, rather than the character’s (Raphie). ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/92 "2008-12-19T05:34:51Z")
I guess it’s not really little-known, but I have no idea how “YMCA” became popular, being about promiscuous gay sex and all. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/93 "2008-12-19T06:06:09Z")
Carly has always been coy or vague about the subject of “You’re So Vain,” sometimes saying it was a composite character, sometimes saying, “There’s nothing in it that isn’t true of Warren Beatty,” sometimes saying it was pure fiction, sometimes indicating that it WAS about a real person but that she’d never tell who. Well, I saw Carly Simon on Michael Eisner’s talk show a few months back, and she spelled out for the first time (well, the first time I ever heard) exactly how “You’re So Vain” came to be. And IF she was telling the truth, the song really WASN’T about any one person, because she didn’t write it all at once. She said she’s long been in the habit of carrying around a notebook with her, to jot down any lyrical or melody ideas that strike her. She came up with the line, “You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you” and jotted it down, thinking it was very clever, and that maybe she could find a song to use that line in. She said she came up with the melody and some other verses over the course of about a year. The lyrics of the first verse (surprisingly) pertained to husband James Taylor! Even though Taylor is not the kind of Warren Beatty-ish swinger the song conjures up, there was apparently an evening when Taylor was feeling rather handsome and cocky before a party they were planning to attend, and she was teasing him for being so full of himself that night. It’s not as if Carly sat down one afternoon and quickly hammered out a vicious song about Warren Beatty (whom she DID date) or any other specific individual. She STARTED with a clever line, gradually pieced together some verses, and after months of work, ended up with a song that fit together so perfectly, it SEEMED to be a portrait of a specific sleazy individual. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/94 "2008-12-19T14:48:27Z")
[Down In Palisades Park](http://www.just-oldies.com/1962/palisades_park.htm) was written by Chuck Barris of _Gong Show_ fame. ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/95 "2008-12-19T20:48:21Z")
The Christmas song “Do you hear what I hear?” is a peace song written after the writer was freaked out by the Cuban Missile Crisis. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/96 "2008-12-19T21:17:26Z")
Filter’s song “Hey Man Nice Shot” was a reference to Budd Dwyer, the Pennsylvania politician who shot himself on live TV at a press conference. During “Hey Jude”, towards the end, you can hear John Lennon clearly say “I need to go to the bathrooom.” ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2022, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/97 "2022-08-18T23:45:08Z")
This thread needs to be resurrected… _Well I’ve paid all the dues I’m gonna pay And I learned the truth from Lenny Bruce That all my wealth won’t by me health And so I smoke a pint of tea each day…_ Police officers in donut shops rarely walk like Egyptians. Fact. Anyone know why Fat Charlie the Archangel sloped into the room? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/98 "2022-08-19T02:50:35Z")
Not about a song, but a musician: The drummer for the Jefferson Airplane, Spencer Dryden, was a nephew of Charlie Chaplin: his father was Chaplin’s half-brother. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2022, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/99 "2022-08-19T16:21:00Z")
For the **David Bowie** single **Blue Jean** an extended promotional video was made. Indeed you had a 21 minute short movie **Jazzin’ For Blue Jean** and a smaller portion of that became the promotional video for the song. The promotional video has Bowie as a singer and also as a man on a date who has taken his girl to watch Bowie. Now FINALLY I get to the little known fact. Portraying the bass player in Bowie’s backing band is **Richard Fairbrass** from **Right Said Fred**. He didn’t actually play on the recording though. **Blue Jean** video [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/NZnryZ5rDbs/maxresdefault.jpg "David Bowie - Blue Jean (Official Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZnryZ5rDbs) **Right Said Fred** ’s biggest hit **I’m Too Sexy** [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/P5mtclwloEQ/hqdefault.jpg "Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy (Original Mix - 2006 Version)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5mtclwloEQ) TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494/100 "2023-09-17T21:17:13Z")
The song “A Horse with No Name” by America was written at the home of musician Arthur Brown (of “Fire” fame), near Puddletown, Dorset, England. Hey, no one said it had to be interesting ! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/share-some-little-known-trivia-about-popular-songs/477494.md?page=6)