Stevie Nicks didn’t originally write “Rhiannon” about a Welsh goddess. She didn’t even know the mythology. She found the name in a novel. Loved it. Wrote a song around a mysterious woman. Then discovered afterwards…
Tag: about
No. “Hotel California” isn’t really about a specific hotel. The hotel is a metaphor. Eagles used it to represent the seductive side of California, fame, wealth, excess and the American dream. You arrive because everything…
“Dream On” is about time. Ambition. Ageing. And refusing to abandon what you want before time runs out. Which is extraordinary when you remember Steven Tyler began developing the song while still a teenager. Long…
“Linger” came from Dolores O’Riordan’s first serious kiss. Unfortunately for her, what happened afterwards was considerably less romantic. The future The Cranberries singer was 17. She liked a boy. They kissed. She became completely infatuated.…
At its core, “Sweater Weather” is about intimacy. Cold weather outside. Warmth between two people. Physical closeness. The title turns a simple seasonal image into something sensual. But over the years, the song developed another…
“Everlong” is about experiencing a connection with somebody so intense that you desperately want the feeling to last forever. Dave Grohl wrote it during an emotionally chaotic period. His marriage had broken down. He was…
The easiest interpretation of “Space Song” is: two people becoming emotionally distant. The “space” isn’t necessarily outer space. It may be the distance that appears between people when a relationship begins falling apart. But Beach…
“Beat It” isn’t telling somebody to attack another person. It means the opposite. Leave. Walk away. Don’t let pride turn a confrontation into violence. Michael Jackson wrote the song around the idea of machismo: the…
“Dreams” is about falling in love for the first time. That’s really it. No complicated metaphor. No hidden political message. No devastating breakup. Dolores O’Riordan wrote it about the extraordinary emotional shift that happens when…
It sounds like one of the happiest records of the 1980s. The subject is considerably darker. “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” is about power. Who wants it. What people do to obtain it. And…
