Songs are not just a medium to express singer emotions, but some songs have a backstory about a person or an event you might not know about. You might not know the backstory or references used in a song. The references in many songs are pretty obvious many times; for example, we know which boyfriend Taylor Swift is talking about in her songs, or Gordon Lightfoot was talking about a vessel that sank in the song “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. But then there are songs where you are not so sure what is singer talking about, and sometimes artists do let us know about the interesting backstory about the song. “The Weight” by The Band was thought to have biblical reference but it turned out otherwise. The Band’s hit single, The Weight, was released in the year 1968. Although it reached as high as 63 on the charts, but the song is considered a rock classic. There is a reference to Nazareth in the opening verses, which made many people believe that the song had certain biblical references. But in reality, they are talking about Nazareth in Pennsylvania, which is home to the Martin Guitar factory. The band memberLevon Helm was a teen when a town eccentric Crazy Chesterwho came on Saturday nights at Arkansas. He assured everyone that things wereabsolutely safe as he was on the job. Aerosmith’s Dude (Looks like a Lady)’s backstory kept changing through the years. The backstory behind the song kept on changing by Vince Neil and Steven Tyler, but the original story was kept from the public for a long time. But when the “Dude” was released, Vince Neil’s band “Motley Crue” mentioned many times how the song was inspired by their lead singer. So, the story goes that Steven Tyler spotted Vince across in a bar one night and was exclaiming about what an attractive woman she is when he realised that she was actually a man. Steven was surprised and joked about the dude that looked like a lady, and the catchphrase caught on. Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond was based on John F. Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline. The inspiration behind this famous Neil Diamond song is a magazine photo of a girl on her pony. This photo was of Caroline Kennedy, daughter of Jacky and John F. Kennedy. Diamond admitted in an interview that there was a song in the picture which he felt he had to make. So, do you know of any hidden references in other songs?
