The Girls Who Inspired the Songs
There are many popular songs that have been inspired by girls. Even though they may or may not be titled by her name, she is the inspiration behind the words and music.
• In 1957 Buddy Holly wrote “Peggy Sue” a song that quickly rose up the Billboard charts and is still popular today. In the beginning this song was going to be called “Cindy Lou” however at this time Holly’s drummer Jerry Allison was having a romance with a girl called Peggy Sue Gerron. So Peggy Sue got her song and later on she and Jerry got married.
• Ritchie Valens wrote a song for his high school sweetheart titled “Donna” in 1958. It is possible that this girl might have gone on to marry the popular rock singer if only he hadn’t died…show more content… It was inspired by the memory he had of when he first saw his future wife Diane. It became his signature song.
• In 1975 Elton John asked his lyricist Bernie Taupin to write tribute to his friend tennis star Billie Jean King. The result was the song “Philadelphia Freedom”. At this time King was a member of the Philadelphia Freedom, a World Team Tennis squad. The song caught on and topped the charts and it became an alternate theme song for the impending American bicentennial.
• In the period after leaving his wife Peggy Harper and starting a relationship with Carrie Fisher, Paul Simon wrote the song “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”. The song came out in 1975 and Simon and Fisher got married in 1983 and stayed together for seven years.
• The Knack had a hit with the song “My Sharona” in 1979. The song was inspired by a girl named Sharona Alperin with who Doug Fieger fell in love with at first sight. Their relationship lasted for four years. Today Sharona is a realtor in Los Angeles and her official site is mysharona.com.
• A song associated with much sadness is the 1981 song “Woman” written by John Lennon. The song was inspired by and written as an ode to his beloved wife Yoko Ono. Tragically he was murdered in 1980 and the single to this song was released…show more content… Once their relationship ended Joel fell for model Christie Brinkley, who further inspired the song and it was finally completed.
• There is an interesting story behind The Who song “Athena” from 1982. Peter Townsend of the Who fell for Theresa Russell, the girlfriend of Nicholas Roeg. Roeg was going to direct Townsend’s rock opera “Lifehouse”. The title of this song was originally going to be “Theresa”.
• In 1983 the inspiration for Def Leppard’s song “Photograph” was Marilyn Monroe. Joe Elliot of Def Leppard was only three years old when Monroe died in 1962. The video of the song features a Monroe lookalike but the single’s cover art includes an actual picture of Monroe.
• The 1984 song by Steve Perry “Oh Sherrie” became one of the the group Journey’s best hits. It was inspired by Perry’s girlfriend Sherrie Swafford.
• Actress Rosanna Arquette inspired Peter Gabriel to write “In Your Eyes” in 1986. At the time the song was written Gabriel and Arquette were living