The first draft of the song “Save the Last Dance For Me” was written by Doc Pomus on the back of an invitation to his own wedding. He was stricken by polio as a boy and had to use crutches to get around - his wife was a Broadway actress and dancer. She spent the reception dancing while he sat at a table.
“But don’t forget who’s taking you home
And in whose arms you’re gonna be
So darlin’, save the last dance for me.”
It was a major hit for the Drifters, and has been covered numerous times since.
I’m guessing Loach is trying to woosh us, but I’ll correct the story for him…
In the VH1 Storytellers show featuring Cash & Willie Nelson, Cash says he needed to think of the worst thing a man could do to get himself into Folsom Prison and that is what he came up with (shooting a man just to watch him die).
Cash also said that while lots of people say that they or their relatives were in prison with him, he’s never actually been incarcerated in prison himself.
Wyn Cooper, who wrote the lyrics for Sheryl Crow’s “All I Want to Do” is neither a songwriter or lyricist and had little to do with the writing of the song. He is a poet. Crow liked his poem “Fun” and turned it into a song, adding him as a songwriter (after asking permission).
And the Wings song “Jet” was inspired by (or at least named after) another dog of McCartney’s, a black lab. It’s definitely not “about” that dog the way “Martha” is, though.
The Beatles song “Come Together” was originally going to be a campaign song for Timothy Leary’s run for Governor of California. When he was arrested, they added nonsense lyrics and made it the lead track on Abbey Road instead.
Lola by the Kinks…Lola (brace yourselves, folks)…was a MAN!!!
No, seriously, though…
The iconic gay disco song “It’s Raining Men” was written by Paul Schaefer, longtime bandleader on the Dave Letterman show (and apparently, he’s straight.)
Elvis Presley’s breakthrough hit “Hound Dog” was a cover song, it was written & originally recorded by blues singer ‘Big Mama’ Thornton, and covered at least five times before Presley sang it. The lyrics to the song actually refer to a deadbeat boyfriend of Thornton’s, whom she dismissed as being a ‘hound.’
The bright, sunny, upbeat “Our House” by Crosby, Stills & Nash refers to Graham Nash’s brief time living monogamously with Joni Mitchell. Ironically, at the same time that the album with “Our House” was released, Mitchell herself released an album “Clouds” out with a song called “Tin Angel”, a dour song in which Mitchell describes callously shrugging off a previous relationship in favor of somebody new.
Tony Orlando released his 1st song under the group name Dawn because it was recorded for a different label than he worked for. He worked for Columbia but the song Candida was released by Bell Records. When the song became a hit he found some backup singers to tour with as Dawn.
Now here is a trivia fact that really is little known. In fact, it’s known by only one person. And that is - the subject of Carly Simon’s ‘You’re So Vain’. He bought the information at a charity auction, when Carly whispered it in his ear on the condition that he never discloses it.
Can he disclose it when Simon dies? (if she dies before him) My friend once pumped gas for James Taylor who told him " people call me Mr. Carly Simon" , they were still married then.
This song was actually written by Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, who wrote about a billion pretty good songs. The recording with Big Mama Thornton was apparently the first one they produced themselves.
Speaking of Lieber and Stoller, the 1956 classic John Ford western, “The Searchers,” with John Wayne as Ethan Edwards, influenced popular music in a number of ways. The film’s title inspired the Lieber and Stoller tune “Searchin’,” which they wrote for the Coasters. Ethan’s signature line, “That’ll Be the Day,” was the inspiration of the Buddy Holly tune of the same name. And the British Invasion group the Searchers, of “Needles and Pins” fame, also took their name from the film.
And the sadder, more introspective “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” was about Stephen Stills’ off-again, on-again relationship with Judy Collins.
A good Joni Mitchell story – she once told an interviewer (paraphrased from memory), “People treat me like my music is a human being, named Art. And I’m not supposed to have fun or anything because I’m married to my ‘Art.’”