Notable Ladies Known to Have Inspired Iconic Songs

Thanks. I loved that song by Jan and Dean, when I was a kid.

 

Here's the original recording from 1946, released four years after it was written for/about Linda Eastman.

 

https://www.songfacts.com/facts/elliott-murphy/lady-stilleto
About Patti Smith

 

“Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight” - Kinky Friedman.

I found out that O.C. Smith’s hit “The Son of Hickory Holler’s Tramp” was written by Dallas Frazier and that Mr. Smith recently passed.

Does anyone have any backstory as to whether that song is based on a true story and is autobiographical in nature?

 

Baby Let's Swing by Todd Rundgren is very directly about Laura Nyro.

 

One is I suppose iconic (maybe notorious as people seem to love or hate it). The other was unreleased until a couple of years back.

The first was before they met and inspired by the singer’s infatuation with the actress in the movie “Diary of a Mad Housewife, Carrie Snodgrass. The second is a chilling, dark tune as things go south in a bad way.

Neil Young’s “A Man Needs A Maid”

 

Eastman McCartney, and the song was written the year Paul was born.

 

The second Carrie song is “Vacancy” from Homegrown.

 

This one by the Boomtown Rats is about a lady notorious enough to get this thread closed

 

Can the woman be part of the couple that inspired the song?
Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know.

 

Antonie Brentano (1780 - 1869) was almost certainly the Eternally Beloved, the only woman as far as we know ever to return Beethoven's love.

 

Bonnie and Clyde - Gainsbourg and Bardot, about Bonnie Parker and Clyde...

 

I have a feeling (or have heard for certain) that this one is also about Thatcher -

Cleaners from Venus, Living With Victoria Grey:

 

This Bruce Springsteen song was inspired by Patty Scialfa

 

Six women inspired this album

Rick Wakeman - The Six Wives Of Henry VIII

 

written about Mia Farrow by Dory Previn

 

the bass player (far right) of this terrific Boston band was the subject of the Smithereens' "Behind the Wall of Sleep."

 

Another song inspired by Princess Diana:

 

Buffalo Springfield's "Rock And Roll Woman" was inspired by Grace Slick.

 

Spandau Ballet's "True" was inspired by Gary Kemp's unrequited crush on Altered Images singer Clare Grogan. She was already dating (and is still married to) AI guitarist Stephen Lironi.

 

“Nightingale” on the Eagles first album is also about Laura.

 

Not an iconic song, but it's Miles Davis. Betty Mabry, who later became Betty Davis. They say she's different

 

I'd not heard this song before. Good ear / eye and a good song.
It's quite possible, as it fits into the time frame of her rule and I'm by no
means a historian, but even I can recognize the "clues" in the song
pointing to "The Iron Lady".

When I dug up the lyrics and did a singalong they were different.
YouTube provided another version, which includes the Outro:


"Living With Victoria Grey" - Cleaners From Venus 1986.

Lyrics: "Living With Victoria Grey" - Cleaners from Venus

[Intro]
One, two, three, four!

Oh!

[Verse 1]
Her lovely face was everywhere
Someone pretending to care
The image of Victoria Grey
I heard some hungry children cry
Rumbling wheels passed them by
The carriage of Victoria Grey

[Chorus]
Save it up
It's for a rainy day
Save it up
I heard Victoria say
She looked so good sometimes
It was convincing...

[Verse 2]
Some sailors South Atlantic fray
Seemed like a long way away
They were fighting for Victoria Grey
And blue-eyed sons of miners criеd
When a community died
They wеre working for Victoria Grey

[Chorus]
Save it up
It's for a rainy day
Save it up
I heard Victoria say
She looked so good sometimes
It was convincing...

[Verse 3]
Now if I'm ever free again
I could not forget the pain
Of living with Victoria Grey
And when I feel the cold night air
I know that she doesn't care
And I'm finished with Victoria Grey

[Chorus]
Sell it up
Don't ever give it away
Sell it up
I heard Victoria say
She looked so good sometimes
It was convincing...

[Outro]
Hi there!
This is Mr. Schmootie Patootie saying
"Stay close to the walls, kids!
We're going underground!"

There's even a third slower, minimalist version of the song to be heard on
YouTube.

As an added bonus regarding the founder of the Band, from Pitchfork:
Cleaners From Venus’ Martin Newell Gets New Documentary.

Those with more than a mere interest, here's the link to Kickstarter.

 

Peggy Seeger with Ewan MacColl's song to her.

 

Just finished watching a Frank Sinatra special and he sang this song - One For My Baby (And One More For The Road). After Googling it, this is what I discovered. The song was written by Harold Arlen (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics), with Mercer allegedly inspired by his “torch” for Judy Garland, thirteen years his younger and someone with whom he would carry on a longstanding extramarital affair.