You listen to some songs and you probably know the lyrics by heart, but did you ever stop and think why it was actually written?

Here are a couple of songs that were more than just songs to the artist:

Alter Bridge – In Loving Memory

The song was written by Mark Tremonti and it talks about the death of his mother. In an interview with him he said, “There are a lot of themes on this record that are very personal, for example ‘In Loving Memory’ is about my mother who recently passed away. In terms of purely personal significance, you cannot get any deeper than that. It is definitely a sad, but uplifting song.”.

 

Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water

The  Montreux Casino hosted a concert by Frank Zappa. A few hours into Zappa’s set, the concert was interrupted because someone from the audience fired a distress rocket into a rattan-covered ceiling. A fire broke out instantly, and although nobody was seriously hurt, the flames laid waste to the entire Casino , along with all of Frank Zappa’s equipment and Deep Purple’s recording plans. Almost instantly, the singer Ian Gillan wasted no time putting words together that told the story of the chaos surrounding the recording sessions, thus creating one of the best-loved and most memorable songs in the history of hard rock.

 Aerosmith – Walk This Way

While recording ”Toys In The Attic”, the band(Aerosmith) took a break to see a late-night show of Mel Brooks. One of the gag lines from Marty Field man’s ”Igor” gave them the title for the lead single ”Walk This Way”.

Woody Guthrie – This Land Is Your Land

This originally was a protest song but most of it’s verses were removed. Woody Guthrie wrote it in frustration after hearing ”God Bless America” being played repeatedly during the great depression.

Fastball – The Way

Fastball’s chart-topping 1998 single ”The Way” was inspired by a series of newspaper articles about a missing elderly couple from Texas who drove off one morning to attend a festival and never returned. It was only after bassist Tony Scalzo had written the song that the couple were found dead, hundreds of miles off course.

Bryan Adams – Summer Of 69

In the summer of 1969 kinky Bryan Adams was 10 years old. The Upbeat nostaligia of this song wasn’t inspired by an actual year, but Mr.Adam’s attachment to a certain sexual position.

Bob Marley – I Shot The Sherif

According to Bob Marley’s girlfriend, ”I Shot The Sherif” was inspired by their fights over birth control. The ”Sherif” was the doctor who prescribed her the pill.

Sixpence None The Richer – There She Goes

I saved the best for last; as we grew up singing this song, but what I found out would probably ruin your childhood innocence.

SHE=Heroine

The song is about the rush of being high on heroine and how brief that high is.

Music fans spend a lot of time trying to find meaning in the songs they know and love. Well, it turns out a lot of our most popular songs have meanings that are a lot more bizarre than we would’ve thought possible… Never Judge A Book By It’s Cover!