Where'd They Get That Song??

Have you ever wondered how some of your favourite oldies classic rock hits were inspired?
Sure, we already know many of them, like Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds (which is not about LSD, but a picture that Julian Lennon drew and brought home to show his dad, John. When the elder Lennon asked what it was, he was told it was Lucy [his schoolmate at the time] in the sky, with diamonds!) -- but there are more:

For example: Remember the hit, Hang On Sloopy, by the rock group The McCoys? Well, the song was inspired by pianist Dorothy Sloop, who went by the nickname Sloopy. From the 1930s to 1950s, she was keyboardist with different (and mostly female) New Orleans-area jazz bands,

And how about that famous 1960s hit for the Drifters (and, decades later, for Dolly Parton), Save The Last Dance For Me? The lyrics are about a man who tells his date that she can dance with others during the evening, but to make sure to save the last dance of the night for him. Well, this actually happened in real life, because Doc Pomus (one of the song's writers) had polio and needed crutches to get around, while his wife was a Broadway actress and dancer.

One of the shortest hits -- a song that bridged doo-wop and rock -- was the often-covered Stay. First recorded by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, it was written by Williams back in 1953 when he was just 15 years old. In real life, he'd been trying to convince his date not to go home at 10 o'clock as she was supposed to. He lost that argument, but it became his inspiration to write a number one hit -- one that has sold over eight million copies!

Another catchy hit, Mother and Child Reunion by Paul Simon, is often thought of as being based on either an actual physical reunion or even the Biblical "Second Coming". Actually, Paul got the inspiration for the song from ...
a Chinese take-out order! It was the name of an item on a restaurant menu.

The inspiration behind the Beatles' hit, Let It Be, has been the subject of controversy, especially amongst the religious.
Whilst some think it's a fatalistic song that's "unscriptural", others say that Paul is singing about the Virgin Mary coming to him in a vision.
Well, most Beatlemaniacs already know what it means, but, for the rest of you:
It was, again, a song inspired by an actual event! Macca has said that, once in a dream, his late mother (who was named ... Mary!) came to him and told him (referring to a situation that was troubling her son) to "let it be."
Incidentally, for you who might wonder: Mary McCartney died of an embolism after a mastectomy operation to stop the spread of breast cancer. I also put this in here to show how far we've progressed in diagnoses and treatment since 1956.

FORE GOODNESS' SAKE! Yeah, I miss the lads as much as you do, but UK's THE FORE is still gaining attention ... and new fans ... wherever they're played.
Case in point:
Last night, whilst at the local grocers' and in the checkout line, I pulled out my iPod and played the band's Love For Sale. Just something to pass the time 'til I hit the register ...
But I didn't expect everything to slow down to a halt, simply due to the music!
Right ... everybody in that line and the next stopped to listen -- some craning their necks to see where it was coming from! And they all wanted to know where they could find a copy of that song! In fact, after hitting You'll Be Mine, I even had a cash offer for the iPod I was playing it on!
Look ... I know that Spencer, Matt, Nathan and Si have moved on to new ventures (Spencer and Nathan with the fab rock orchestra The 286 and Matt with the awesome PaperFaces), but we can still hope for a reunion sometime in the future, right??

Well, that's my opinion. Now I'm waiting for yours ...
Meanwhile,
see ya on the flip side!