songs inspired by a personal experience
05-20-07, 05:57 PM
#1
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Thread Starter
songs inspired by a personal experience
curious about what songs were written/performed by artists after a personal experience. first 2 that come to mind are tears from heaven by eric clapton (after his son's death) and that song by the singer of evanescence call me when you're sober (or something like that) about her ex that they broke up 2nd to his drinking.
05-20-07, 06:22 PM
#2
DVD Talk Hall of Fame
Smoke On The Water
Hey Jude
Sue Me Sue You Blues
Ballad of John and Yoko
All Of My Love
Ridin' The Storm Out
The Chain
Layla
Our House
Hey Jude
Sue Me Sue You Blues
Ballad of John and Yoko
All Of My Love
Ridin' The Storm Out
The Chain
Layla
Our House
Last edited by rw2516; 05-20-07 at 06:26 PM.
05-20-07, 08:55 PM
#4
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Off the top of my head, maybe not exactly what you're looking for in each case, but here it goes...
Pearl Jam's "Alive" (I'm sure they have quit a few)
Pennywise "Did You ReallY" (About death of bass player)
The Clash "Safe European Home" (About their trip to Jamaica, it wasn't what they thought it would be)
The Clash "Lost in the Supermarket" (Maybe not quite what you're looking for but its Joe Strummer's take on what he thought it was like for Mick Jones to grow up).
The Clash "Gates of the West" (About the band making it in the states)
The Clash "Complete Control" (About the record company forcing them to release a single (Remote Control) they didn't want to)
Harry Chapin's "Cats in the Cradle" ??? (I assume?)
Megadeth:
"In My Darkest Hour" (Written after Cliff Burton's death, but not about Cliff)
"Lucretia" (About the ghost that lives in Mustaine's attic)
"Mechanix" (About Mustaine working as a mechanic and day dreaming about sleeping with the wives of the men who would bring their expensive cars in)
Pearl Jam's "Alive" (I'm sure they have quit a few)
Pennywise "Did You ReallY" (About death of bass player)
The Clash "Safe European Home" (About their trip to Jamaica, it wasn't what they thought it would be)
The Clash "Lost in the Supermarket" (Maybe not quite what you're looking for but its Joe Strummer's take on what he thought it was like for Mick Jones to grow up).
The Clash "Gates of the West" (About the band making it in the states)
The Clash "Complete Control" (About the record company forcing them to release a single (Remote Control) they didn't want to)
Harry Chapin's "Cats in the Cradle" ??? (I assume?)
Megadeth:
"In My Darkest Hour" (Written after Cliff Burton's death, but not about Cliff)
"Lucretia" (About the ghost that lives in Mustaine's attic)
"Mechanix" (About Mustaine working as a mechanic and day dreaming about sleeping with the wives of the men who would bring their expensive cars in)
05-21-07, 05:13 AM
#6
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Of Montreal's latest album has some fairly personal songs on it, "Gronlandic Edit" being a particularly harsh one:
I guess it would be nice
to give my heart to a god
but which one
which one do I choose
all the churches filled with losers
psycho or confused
I just want to hold the divine
in my hand
and forget
all of the beauty's wasted
The lyrics/songs were written as the lead singer/songwriter's marriage was falling apart.
I guess it would be nice
to give my heart to a god
but which one
which one do I choose
all the churches filled with losers
psycho or confused
I just want to hold the divine
in my hand
and forget
all of the beauty's wasted
The lyrics/songs were written as the lead singer/songwriter's marriage was falling apart.
05-21-07, 05:43 AM
#7
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KISS
Plaster Caster...(Gene sings about a woman known for her plaster casts of Rock Star ding a lings. I think she did his.)
EDIT to Add: I wasn't sure if Gene was cast by the famous woman and apparently Gene was NOT "cast" according to the Caster herself, Cynthia "Plaster Caster". But the song was still about her.
Plaster Caster...(Gene sings about a woman known for her plaster casts of Rock Star ding a lings. I think she did his.)
EDIT to Add: I wasn't sure if Gene was cast by the famous woman and apparently Gene was NOT "cast" according to the Caster herself, Cynthia "Plaster Caster". But the song was still about her.
Last edited by Giantrobo; 05-22-07 at 12:11 AM.
05-21-07, 07:54 AM
#8
DVD Talk Godfather
AC/DC - The Jack: Originally titled "The Clap," the song is about a woman with whom Bon Scott has had sexual relations, only to later learn that she has, and has infected him with, gonorrhea.
Dream Theater - A Change of Seasons: song about the death of drummer Mike Portnoy's mother. Nowhere in the song do they mention dying or death. Very metaphorical.
Dream Theater - A Change of Seasons: song about the death of drummer Mike Portnoy's mother. Nowhere in the song do they mention dying or death. Very metaphorical.
05-21-07, 08:47 AM
#10
Moderator
This is going to be a really long thread. Where do you thing songwriters get their ideas, anyway? 
"She Said She Said" is about Peter Fonda. "The Ballad Of John and Yoko" is to be taken literally.
et cetera...
"She Said She Said" is about Peter Fonda. "The Ballad Of John and Yoko" is to be taken literally.
et cetera...
05-21-07, 02:58 PM
#14
DVD Talk Platinum Edition
Originally Posted by The_Infidel
I wrote a song called "Gonna Divorce That Cheating, Psychotic Harpy". Does that count?
(I don't think it would be as funny without the word "harpy", which completes the picture so, um, nicely...)
05-21-07, 03:42 PM
#16
DVD Talk Godfather
Originally Posted by wendersfan
This is going to be a really long thread. Where do you thing songwriters get their ideas, anyway?
05-21-07, 11:36 PM
#20
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by wendersfan
This is going to be a really long thread. Where do you thing songwriters get their ideas, anyway?
i thought brick was excellently written and an accurate portrait (or what i would assume) of someone in that situation. i always wondered if they wrote that from personal experience--did you hear something about a band member involved in one?
05-22-07, 01:12 PM
#22
DVD Talk Hero
Everything by the folkies from the 60s and 70s.
Lots of songs are not written from personal experience. Do you think Leiber and Stroller actually witnessed the Jailhouse Rock?
Lots of songs are not written from personal experience. Do you think Leiber and Stroller actually witnessed the Jailhouse Rock?
05-22-07, 02:07 PM
#23
DVD Talk Legend
"My Humps"
true story:
They say I'm really sexy,
The boys they wanna sex me.
They always standing next to me,
Always dancing next to me,
Tryin' a feel my hump, hump.
Lookin' at my lump, lump.
You can look but you can't touch it,
If you touch it I'ma start some drama,
You don't want no drama
true story:
They say I'm really sexy,
The boys they wanna sex me.
They always standing next to me,
Always dancing next to me,
Tryin' a feel my hump, hump.
Lookin' at my lump, lump.
You can look but you can't touch it,
If you touch it I'ma start some drama,
You don't want no drama
05-22-07, 02:21 PM
#24
The R.E.M. song Camera was written about the band's friend Carol Levy, a photographer who was killed in an car crash between the releases of Murmur and Reckoning. She'd taken the cover photo for the Radio Free Europe single and had become close friends with the band.
05-22-07, 05:20 PM
#25
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
The Eels second CD "Electro-Shock Blues"
From Wikipedia:
Electro-Shock Blues was written largely in response to frontman Mark Oliver Everett's (more commonly known as E) sister's suicide and his mother's terminal lung cancer. Many of the songs deal with their decline, his response to loss, and coming to terms with suddenly becoming the only living member of his family (his father having died of a heart attack in 1982; Everett, then 19 years old, was the first to find him).
Though much of the album is bleak, there is a recurring theme of coping, learning to deal with loss, and moving on. The record begins with "Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor," a sparse song pieced together from one of his deceased sister's final diary entries. The emotional climax is reached with two tracks: "Climbing Up to the Moon", which draws upon E's experiences visiting his sister at a mental health facility shortly before her death; and "Dead of Winter", a song that concerns his mother's painful cancer radiation treatment and slow death. The final track, titled "P.S. You Rock My World", is a gentle yet hopeful song with lyrics that, in a subtley comedic fashion, find an elderly woman at a gas station honking her car at E, incorrectly assuming he is the attendant.
From Wikipedia:
Electro-Shock Blues was written largely in response to frontman Mark Oliver Everett's (more commonly known as E) sister's suicide and his mother's terminal lung cancer. Many of the songs deal with their decline, his response to loss, and coming to terms with suddenly becoming the only living member of his family (his father having died of a heart attack in 1982; Everett, then 19 years old, was the first to find him).
Though much of the album is bleak, there is a recurring theme of coping, learning to deal with loss, and moving on. The record begins with "Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor," a sparse song pieced together from one of his deceased sister's final diary entries. The emotional climax is reached with two tracks: "Climbing Up to the Moon", which draws upon E's experiences visiting his sister at a mental health facility shortly before her death; and "Dead of Winter", a song that concerns his mother's painful cancer radiation treatment and slow death. The final track, titled "P.S. You Rock My World", is a gentle yet hopeful song with lyrics that, in a subtley comedic fashion, find an elderly woman at a gas station honking her car at E, incorrectly assuming he is the attendant.