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Songs About Real People/ Tribute Songs


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Bowie - Lady Stardust is about Lou Reed.

Neil Young - Tonight's the Night is about Bruce Berry a roadie and friend.

Queen - Drowse is a stretch, but it is supposedly about Ian Anderson to some degree.

Beatles - Eleanor Rigby , see the grave site in England.

Bowie - Song For Bob Dylan - duh!

Bowie - The Bewlay Brothers - about Mick Ronson.

Iggy Pop - the Dum Dum Boys is about The Stooges (not the 3 stooges either) p.s. Bowie plays keyboards on this one.

:stars:

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think the best tribute song is Immortality by Pearl Jam, this is a truly great song about Kurt Cobain.... It took me a while to find out that the song was about Kurt, but when I did, a lot of the lyrics really popped into place, there's just so much power to Vedder's voice in this song especially in the line "Vessel stabbed, next up volunteers?!" I dunno, there's just something about this song, brilliance in music I guess...

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Songs about Patti Boyd:

George Harrison:

Something

For You Blue

I Need You

It's All Too Much

Think For Yourself

Eric Clapton:

Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad?

Layla

Wonderful Tonight

Never Make You Cry

Pretty Girl

She's Waiting

I'm sure there are more!

my lord... is this some sort of record? cuz i can't imagine any one person having more songs than this written for them! and they were friends, weren't they? she must be some woman... :: :bow:

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  • 2 years later...

R.E.M.'s "Let Me In" is about Kurt Cobain, shortly written after his death. Michael Stipe was a close personal friend of him...

Yeah, all the stars drip down like butter,

Promises are sweet,

We hold out our pans, lift our hands to

Catch them.

We eat them up, drink them up, up, up, up

Hey, let me in

Hey, let me in

I only wish that I could hear you whisper down,

Mister fisherman, to a less peculiar ground.

He gathered up his loved ones and he

Brought them all around

To say goodbye, nice try.

Hey, let me in. yeah yeah yeah

Hey, let me in.

Let me in

I had a mind to try to stop you.

Let me in.

Let me in.

I've got tar on my feet and I can't see.

All the birds look down and laugh at me.

Clumsy, crawling out of my skin.

Hey, let me in. yeah yeah yeah

Hey, let me in.

Hey, let me in. yeah yeah yeah

Hey, let me in.

and the Beatsteaks' "Hello Joe" is a homage about how Joe Strummer influenced their music

hello hello joe it all went wrong

but i know i'm not alone

play this tune all over the town

hello hello joe i keep on strumming

and i know i'll get it done

cause i'm not the only one

i got it playing on my stereo

i'm never ever gonna let it go

and i try to sing along

and i know i can't go wrong

hello, hello joe i'd like to have advice

but you won't tell

i strain my ears to straight to hell

down in london town

in these times of war

you won't raise your voice no more

it's still playing on my stereo

i'm never ever gonna let it go

and i try to sing along

and i know i can't go wrong

hello hello joe

i am not the only one

i am not the only one

it's not over it's just begun

try to sing along

i got it playing on my stereo

i'm never ever gonna let it go

hello hello joe, hello hello joe

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"Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny)" by Elton John - about John Lennon

"My Sharona" by The Knack - about Sharona Alpern, girlfriend of band member Doug Fieger

"Boom Boom Mancini" by Warren Zevon - about the famous lightweight boxer, who was a friend of Zevon's

"Death On Two Legs" by Queen - about the band's ex-manager, Norman Sheffield

"We Do What We're Told (Milgram's 37)" by Peter Gabriel - about famed social psychologist Stanley Milgram and his infamous experiment on obedience to authority, and the 37 subjects (out of the original 40) who remained obedient in one of the trials

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"Highway Chile" (Jimi Hendrix) is about Bob Dylan.

Yeah, his guitar slung across his back

His dusty boots is his cadillac

Flamin hair just a blowin in the wind

Aint seen a bed in so long its a sin

He left home when he was seventeen

The rest of the world he had longed to see

But everybody knows the boss

A rolling stone who gathers no moss

But youd probably call him a tramp

But it goes a little deeper than that

Hes a highway chile, yeah

Now some people say he had a girl back home

Who messed around and did him pretty wrong

They tell me it kinda hurt him bad

Kinda made him feel pretty sad

I couldnt say what went through his mind

Anyway, he left the world behind

But everybody knows the same old story,

In love and war you cant lose in glory

Now youd probably call him a tramp

But I know it goes a little deeper than that

Hes a highway chile

Walk on brother, yeah

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Too Many People by Paul & Linda McCartney is about John:

Too many people going underground,

Too many reaching for a piece of cake.

Too many people pulled and pushed around,

Too many waiting for that lucky break.

That was your first mistake,

You took your lucky break and broke it in two.

Now what can be done for you?

You broke it in two.

Too many people sharing party lines,

Too many people never sleep in late.

Too many people paying parking fines,

Too many hungry people losing weight.

That was your first mistake,

You took your lucky break and broke it in two.

Now what can be done for you?

You broke it in two.

Too many people preaching practices,

Don't let 'em tell you what you wanna be.

Too many people holding back,

This is crazy, and baby, it's not like me.

That was your last mistake,

I find my love awake and waiting to be.

Now what can be done for you?

She's waiting for me

Let Me Roll It by Paul McCartney and Wings was a responce to "How do you Sleep?":

You gave me something, I understand,

You gave me loving in the palm of my hand

I can't tell you how I feel

My heart is like a wheel

Let me roll it

Let me roll it to you

Let me roll it

Let me roll it to you

I want to tell you

And now's the time

I want to tell you that

You're going to be mine

I can't tell you how I feel

My heart is like a wheel.

Let me roll it

Let me roll it to you

Let me roll it

Let me roll it to you

(Whimper)

George Harrison's "All Those Years Ago" is about John Lennon:

I'm shouting all about love

While they treated you like a dog

When you were the one who had made it so clear

All those years ago

I'm talking all about how to give

They don't act with much honesty

But you point the way to the truth when you say

"All you need is love"

Living with good and bad

I always looked up to you

Now we're left cold and sad

By someone, the devil's best friend

Someone who offended all

We're living in a bad dream

They've forgotten all about mankind

And you were the one they backed up to the wall

All those years ago

You were the one who imagined it all

All those years ago..

(All those years ago)

(All those years ago)

Deep in the darkest night

I send out a prayer to you

Now in the world of light

Where the spirit free of lies

And all else that we despised

They've forgotten all about God

He's the only reason we exist

Yet you were the one that they said was so weird

All those years ago

You said it all though not many had ears

All those years ago

You had control of our smiles and our tears

All those years ago..

All those years ago ...

All those years ago ...

All those years ago ...

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Keb Mo - for BB King

He’s a king, without a castle or crown

And every night he lays his body down

In a different town

But one thing stays the same

Everybody knows his name

People may laugh or cry

As his stories are told

To the tell truth like this

A man must be bold

And the people are glad

For the things he shares

Everybody knows he cares

By the light of the moon

Comes a flood of emotion

Riley B King, he’s the king of the ocean

He’s royal blue

Like the deep blue sea

Riley B King

Out of the darkness, and into the light

To fight the peaceful warriors fight

Such a beautiful sight

And the way you feel

Watching him with Lucille

And the heart of the man

Is open wide, and he closes his eyes

And he looks inside

To a love of the world

Through the song he sings

Giving it everything

By the light of the moon

Comes a flood of emotion

Riley B King

He the king of the ocean

He’s royal blue like the deep blue sea

Riley B King

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