Two Songs, One Girl?

September 11, 2009 2:17 AM

So Something by The Beatles (Harrison not Lennon/McCartney), Layla and Wonderful Tonight both by Clapton in one form or another were all written about Pattie Boyd. Are there other examples of a person being the subject of more than one song by more than one artist?

I am specifically interested in love songs, not songs about Princess Di or tributes to dead celebs and the like, but genuine love songs.

posted by holdkris99 to Media & Arts (38 answers total)

You might need to make an exception for some historical figures, since there must be six hundred songs about, say, MLK or James Dean.

On topic... the Cult's "Ciao, Baby" and Dylan's "Just Like a Woman" are apparently both about Edie Sedgwick.
posted by rokusan at 2:40 AM on September 11, 2009

Maybe Rosanna Arquette -- for Toto's "Rosanna" and Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" -- though the guy in Toto who wrote "Rosanna" supposedly said it wasn't really about her, he just knew her because another guy in Toto was dating her. Something like that. I'm no Toto expert.
posted by pracowity at 2:43 AM on September 11, 2009

Oh, and Toto's "Rosanna" and Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" are allegedly both about Rosanna Arquette.
posted by rokusan at 2:44 AM on September 11, 2009

Heh, Pracowity.
posted by rokusan at 2:44 AM on September 11, 2009

OK, let's race to the next one. If there is a next one. Ready... go!
posted by pracowity at 3:06 AM on September 11, 2009

Previously on Metafilter.
posted by pracowity at 3:08 AM on September 11, 2009

Patti D'Arbanville -- Cat Stevens' "Lady D'Arbanville" and "Wild World" and Don Johnson's "Heartbeat"?
posted by pracowity at 3:39 AM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

The Kink's "Lola" might be about Candy Darling, depending on which story you believe. If it is, then that goes along with Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side", half of which is about Candy.
posted by rokusan at 4:06 AM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" and Led Zeppelin's "Going to California" are both (at least sort of) about Joni Mitchell.

(And, like, Graham Nash probably wrote twenty songs about her, too.)
posted by rokusan at 4:12 AM on September 11, 2009

Ooh. You win.
posted by pracowity at 4:19 AM on September 11, 2009

Not exactly love songs, but Big in Japan's "Society For Cutting Up Men (SCUM)" and Lou Reed's "I Believe" are both about Andy Warhol and (naturally) Valerie Solanas.
posted by rokusan at 5:28 AM on September 11, 2009

"Ugly Little Dreams" by Everything But the Girl and "Lobotomy Gets 'Em Home" by Men They Couldn't Hang are both about Frances Farmer.

(So is Nirvana's "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle" for that matter, but you probably knew that.)
posted by rokusan at 5:34 AM on September 11, 2009

Okay I'm done now. Can you tell I loved this question?
posted by rokusan at 5:40 AM on September 11, 2009

There was another song about Andy Warhol by David Bowie: Andy Warhol.
posted by TedW at 5:46 AM on September 11, 2009

Isn't "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat" about Edie Sedgwick, too?
posted by oinopaponton at 6:12 AM on September 11, 2009

Bit of a stretch, and totally off of Wikipedia, but what about "Mama, I Remember You Now" by the Swedish artist Marit Bergman, and Creeque Alley (really about the whole group, but Cass figures prominently).
posted by nax at 6:23 AM on September 11, 2009

Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" was inspired by Caroline Kennedy.
posted by teraflop at 7:47 AM on September 11, 2009

In addition to Rokusan's examples, Candy Says (The Velvet Underground), and (possibly) Candy's Room (Bruce Springsteen), This Is Your Life (The Killers) and bits of Antony And The Johnson's I Am A Bird now are about Candy Darling.
posted by kryptondog at 7:53 AM on September 11, 2009

"Ugly Little Dreams" by Everything But the Girl and "Lobotomy Gets 'Em Home" by Men They Couldn't Hang are both about Frances Farmer.

So is a little-known song by Culture Club, "The Medal Song."
posted by dnash at 8:14 AM on September 11, 2009

I don't know if you'd consider members of one band to be "sung by more than one artist," but Hey Jude was written (and sung) by Paul McCartney and Good Night was written (and sung) by John Lennon, both for Julian Lennon.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:33 AM on September 11, 2009

Bebe Buell
posted by jbenben at 9:50 AM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Angie Bowie. Angie by The Rolling Stones and Golden Years by David Bowie.
posted by Zambrano at 9:54 AM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Mary Lou Lord's "She's Got You" is about Kurt Kobain and Courtney Love, I believe. There must be other songs about them by other artists, no?
posted by sully75 at 11:03 AM on September 11, 2009

"Candle in the Wind" by Elton John & "Photograph" by Def Leppard are both about Marilyn Monroe.
posted by witchstone at 11:10 AM on September 11, 2009

Ooops, just saw that you weren't interested in tributes to dead celebs...
posted by witchstone at 11:10 AM on September 11, 2009

Well, Neutral Milk Hotel's record 'In An Aeroplane Over the Sea' has several songs about Anne Frank. There's also a Lukas Foss elegy for Anne Frank. I'm sure there are more Anne Frank songs out there as well.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:32 AM on September 11, 2009

Best answer: Here's a list of a couple dozen songs written about Joni Mitchell. I can only evaluate its comprehensiveness by the fact that it includes a Hudson Brothers song.

Also, "Tangled Up in Blue" was supposed to have been written after Dylan immersed himself in that album over a period of days.

So does Joni win?
posted by stupidsexyFlanders at 11:59 AM on September 11, 2009

The Velvet's Femme Fatale is another one that's about Edie Sedgwick. As, I would imagine, is Cat Butt's 'Sedgwick'.

And while I can't think of specific examples off-hand, I'd imagine there's more than a few songs about Nico too, given that she bedded almost every major 60's rock star at some point or other.
posted by anagrama at 12:24 PM on September 11, 2009

Jackson Browne's 'Late For The Sky' is supposedly yet another about Joni Mitchell.
posted by Simon! at 12:48 PM on September 11, 2009

also about courtney love -

"professional widow" - tori amos (some also think the waitress is about courtney).

"starfuckers, inc" NIN was also thought to be, at least in part, inspired by Ms. Love.

"too cool queenie" - stone temple pilots

"Coattails of a Dead Man" - primus

"crush with eyeliner" by REM

"courtney" nerf herder

"courtney love" wesley willis

"heart shaped box" - nirvana

and there was a band in olympia that called themselves "courtney love"
posted by nadawi at 12:56 PM on September 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

oh - love songs. most of the courtney songs are not love songs, but rather songs about her character (or lack there of)
posted by nadawi at 1:02 PM on September 11, 2009

I've always been told that Mayonaise and Soma by Smashing Pumpkins are also about C.Lo. But cursory research on the internets doesn't back that up.

I wonder where I got that information from...
posted by elsietheeel at 2:29 PM on September 11, 2009

elsietheeel - i know there is a smashing pumpkins song about courtney, but i couldn't find which one it is, either.
posted by nadawi at 2:57 PM on September 11, 2009

'about a boy' by Patti Smith and both 'sleeps with angels' & 'change your mind' by Neil Young, about Kurt Cobain
posted by aquanaut at 4:18 PM on September 11, 2009

John Lennon's "Oh Yoko" and Barenaked Ladies' "Be My Yoko Ono."
posted by kirkaracha at 4:24 PM on September 11, 2009

Add Dar Williams' "I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono" to those...
posted by jeanmari at 6:50 PM on September 11, 2009

I'd imagine there's more than a few songs about Nico too

Here's one, anyway: Song for Nico - Marianne Faithfull
posted by naoko at 10:04 PM on September 11, 2009

Linda McCartney: "Linda", recorded by several artists, and "My Love" by Paul McCartney & Wings
posted by SisterHavana at 12:12 AM on September 13, 2009