42 Famous Songs and the True Stories Behind Them

Some of the most iconic songs of all time came about because of what artists or bands were experiencing at the time. Relationships, breakups, marriage, divorce, friendships, families, betrayals, mental health struggles, and parenthood are just a few of the life experiences that have inspired some of the most famous songs. Musicians from Johnny Cash to Taylor Swift to Beyoncé have taken the challenges in their lives and created music that speaks to millions of people.

These pop, rock, and country songs have some seriously interesting stories behind them. Several of these famous hits are actually written about other celebrities, including Ellie Goulding, Jay-Z, Christie Brinkley, Chrissy Teigen, John Mayer, and others. A few of these songs are actually a part of major pop culture or music feuds (like Katy Perry and Taylor Swift's now-resolved feud), while others have amusing or uplifting backstories. Keep reading to learn the whole story behind some of your favorite tunes.

It doesn't get sweeter than this heartfelt John Legend song. Chrissy Teigen said she knew right away that the song was about her. "The first line of it is 'What would I do without your smart mouth,' so if that's not about me I don't know what is," she told the Huffington Post.

This mega-recognizable hit was written after a Queen concert in 1977. "'We Will Rock You' was a response to a particular phase in Queen's career, when the audience was becoming a bigger part of the show than we were," Brian May explained in an interview. "So, both Freddie and I thought it would be an interesting experiment to write a song with audience participation specifically in mind."

Fleetwood Mac was famous for not only their music, but also their tangled love lives. But out of all of that drama, they created several iconic songs, including "Go Your Own Way," which Lindsey Buckingham wrote as a breakup message directed at Stevie Nicks.

Of course, Stevie Nicks had her own take on her breakup with Lindsey Buckingham. Speaking to Q magazine, she later said, "It was the fairy and the gnome. I was trying to be all philosophical. And he was just mad."

Within the first verse, this song name-drops several of Ariana Grande's ex-boyfriends, including Pete Davidson, Mac Miller, Ricky Alvarez, and Big Sean. So, obviously, the song is about past relationships, but also about "gratitude, growth, embracing our path bumps n all," according to the singer.

In 1973, Dolly Parton had hit a roadblock in her relationship with Porter Wagoner, her mentor and on-screen duet partner. He reportedly wasn't ready to see her go out and make her own career ― until she sang this song to him and he relented.

Many people believe that the upbeat 1980s hit from Billy Joel was inspired by Christie Brinkley. But in an interview on The Howard Stern Show in 2010, Billy clarified that the song was actually inspired by a number of women ― including Christie and Elle Macpherson, who he was dating when he began writing the song.

After entering a treatment center for addiction in 2010, Demi Lovato released this triumphant song in the summer of 2011. "This song is so special to me because it's inspired by my journey and the struggles that I've dealt with this past year," she wrote for Seventeen.

According to the singer-songwriter, plenty of people think that the story behind this song involves Sara Bareilles marching into her record label's office and telling them she wouldn't write a love song. But she later said it "wasn't that simple."

The real story is that she went through some difficult co-writing sessions at the direction of her record label, but ultimately penned the now-famous song, which she says is "a love song to my craft."

One of No Doubt's most famous hits was written by Gwen Stefani after she broke up with the group's bassist, Tony Kanal. "It used to be more upbeat, more of a Seventies rock-type thing," she told The Independent. "[When] Tony and I broke up ... it turned into a sad song."

Tony Kanal isn't the only guy Gwen's written songs about. There was plenty of speculation that her 2016 song "Make Me Like You" was about Blake Shelton, thanks to lyrics like "Why'd you have to go and make me like you?/ Yeah this is a feeling I'm not used to." She eventually confirmed it in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel.

Of course, Blake Shelton has also written songs about Gwen Stefani — including this steamy song where he says "She's Revlon red in the blackest night." Gwen is a global ambassador for Revlon and frequently wears red lipstick during public appearances.

Garth Brooks debuted this sweet tearjerker about his wife, Trisha Yearwood, at the 2018 CMA Awards. She was sitting front and center as he sang about all the ways she's been his stronger half during their 15-year marriage.

Taylor Swift wrote this song about John Mayer, who she dated from late 2009 to early 2010. He told Rolling Stone that he felt "really humiliated" by the song. "It made me feel terrible," he said. "Because I didn’t deserve it. I'm pretty good at taking accountability now, and I never did anything to deserve that. It was a really lousy thing for her to do." Yikes.

This song about Katy Perry is an important chapter in one of the biggest pop culture feuds of all time. Taylor Swift said she wrote it about another female pop star who "basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour. She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me." It didn't take long for people to figure out she was talking about Katy.

Not too long after "Bad Blood" came out, Katy released this song. She said it was an "anti-bullying anthem," but it was, uh, pretty shady. Luckily, Katy and Taylor Swift eventually made up ― Katy even appeared in the music video for Taylor's song "You Need to Calm Down."

Taylor Swift isn't the only famous person Katy Perry has written a song about. Though she's happily with Orlando Bloom now, it turns out that her "One That Got Away" tune is about none other than Josh Groban. Katy revealed this fact to James Corden, saying Josh was "one of my good friends."

In a 2005 interview with MTV, Kelly Clarkson said that this single is about "the cycle of families, like you act how your parents acted towards you and then your kids act how you acted towards them, and it's all about breaking that cycle if it was a bad one." It was reportedly inspired by her own parents' divorce when she was six years old.

Kelly Clarkson's 2015 hit, "Piece by Piece" is also about her childhood and her parents ― although it's through a different lens this time. She was inspired by her feelings towards her own daughter, River. She told Glamour, "It's a positive song, even though I know it sounds sad. I don't know what my father went through as a child, and I don't know why he left and made the decisions he made, but everyone's human."

With lyrics like "I guess I just lost my husband/I don't know where he went," it's not so surprising to find out that this song is about Pink's husband, Carey Hart. They were estranged at the time, but he appeared in the music video for the song. Pink said in an interview with Radio 1 that she convinced him to star in the video, but he didn't know what the song was about until he got to the set.

This 2013 song is also about Carey Hart. "I have a tattoo on my wrist that says 'True Love' with Carey's name under it," Pink told ABC about the song. "And I think lyrically, it's really funny and really honest, and people think I'm nuts anyway so why not tell the truth?"

When Beyoncé released her visual album Lemonade in 2016, listeners and viewers immediately speculated that it was all about her relationship with Jay-Z. "Sorry" is an unapologetic song about Jay-Z's infidelity, which he later admitted to. Plus, it gave us the forever-iconic line, "He better call Becky with the good hair."

In an interview with Today, Adele explained that the story behind this hit is one of reconnection. "'Hello' is just about reconnecting with everyone else and myself," she said. "I couldn't get over my guilt of leaving my kid to go and write a record and stuff like that. So [it's] getting over that — getting on the other side of that. It was just, you know, it's in general, just hello to everyone. "

In 2018, Zayn confirmed in an interview with Ryan Seacrest that "Let Me" is about Gigi Hadid. Though they were broken up at the time, they're now back together and expecting a baby together later this year.

The country singer said he was nervous the first time he shared this song he wrote for his wife, Caroline Boyer. "I played it for my wife and I had butterflies, her hearing it for the first time," Bryan told Entertainment Tonight. "Because it was my attempt through song telling her how much she means to me."

After a long legal battle trying to free herself from a contract with a producer who allegedly drugged and assaulted her, Kesha released this powerful song in 2017. In a piece for Lenny Letter, Kesha wrote, "This song is about coming to feel empathy for someone else even if they hurt you or scare you. It's a song about learning to be proud of the person you are even during low moments when you feel alone. It's also about hoping everyone, even someone who hurt you, can heal."

Michael Bublé said that this song was inspired by Luisana Lopilato, who was his fiancée at the time (they got married in 2011). Fun fact: Luisana was the woman featured in the music video for the song.

The lyrics to one of the most iconic country songs ever were written by Johnny Cash as a declaration of fidelity to his first wife, Vivian. "It was kind of a prodding to myself to, 'Play it straight, Johnny,'" Cash reportedly said.

One of the greatest rock hits of all time was inspired by a conversation that Journey's keyboardist, Jonathan Cain, had with his father shortly after he moved to LA in hopes of landing a big break. "I said, 'Dad, should I just give up on this thing and come home? It seems like I might be pushing it back to Chicago.' 'No, no, don't come home. Stick to your guns. Don't stop believin'. I went, 'OK.'"

Prince wrote this song for the Purple Rain soundtrack. According to a biography written by Per Nilsen, his inspiration for the track "When Doves Cry" was his tumultuous relationship with Susan Moonsie, a member of the musical group Apollonia 6.

This song, sometimes called "Teenage Wasteland" because of the chorus, was inspired by Woodstock. Pete Townshend explained that the track is about "the absolute desolation of teenagers at Woodstock, where audience members were strung out on acid and 20 people had brain damage. The irony was that some listeners took the song to be a teenage celebration: 'Teenage Wasteland, yes! We're all wasted!'"

Adam Levine has said that almost every song on the 2002 album Songs About Jane was about a former ex-girlfriend ― except this one, which is about the band's frustration with their label. "It was the 11th hour, and the label wanted more songs," he told MTV News. "It was the last crack. I was just pissed. I wanted to make a record and the label was applying a lot of pressure, but I'm glad they did."

Ed Sheeran confirmed that this song is about a messy breakup with his former girlfriend and fellow musician Ellie Goulding, who reportedly cheated on Ed with Niall Horan from One Direction. Yikes.

You pretty much couldn't go anywhere without hearing this song in 2007. While it sounds like a sweet ode to a long-distance girlfriend, it turns out that the real-life Delilah never dated the Plain White T's frontman. Tom Higgenson confessed that the long-distance relationship he wrote about never happened, but he did say that he wrote the song in hopes of impressing Delilah.

"You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you." And if you're Warren Beatty, well, it kind of is about you. Carly confirmed that the second verse of this breakup anthem is about Warren.

This groundbreaking 1995 song is believed to be about none other than Dave Coulier, best known as Uncle Joey from Full House. He said the lyric, "I hate to bug you in the middle of dinner" was what confirmed his suspicion that he was the inspiration for the song. "We had already broken up … She called and I said, 'Hey, you know, I'm right in the middle of dinner. Can I just call you right back?' When I heard the line, it was like, uhhh-ohhh!"

Pattie Boyd, who was married to George Harrison from 1966 to 1977, was the inspiration for several Beatles songs penned by George. In addition to "Something," she's also reportedly the muse for the songs "I Need You" and "For You Blue."

Pattie Boyd eventually divorced George Harrison and went on to marry one of his close friends, musician Eric Clapton. She was the inspiration for two of Clapton's best-known songs, "Wonderful Tonight" and "Layla."

According to lead guitarist and singer Mark Knopfler, the "Money for Nothing" lyrics were inspired by a trip to an appliance store in New York. While there, he encountered a deliveryman in the store watching MTV while he worked. The man was making comments about the music video along the lines of "that ain't working" and "he's banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee." Mark liked it so much he started writing down the words and later put it to music.

The Dixie Chicks caused controversy in the early 2000s when vocalist Natalie Maines made a comment criticizing President George W. Bush's plan to invade Iraq. Their songs were quickly banned from many country music stations. In 2006, they released "Not Ready to Make Nice" as a response to the radio bans and the numerous death threats they received as a result of the comment.

There are plenty of urban legends about this song's origins, but Collins explained in an interview with Jimmy Fallon that this song is actually about his divorce from Andrea Bertorelli in 1980.

Sisters and bandmates Ann and Nancy Wilson wrote this rock song in response to a pretty sleazy move by their record company. Mushroom Records had been pushing a rumor that Ann and Nancy were actually lesbians having an affair. After finding out this information, the sisters wrote this angry song to call out the music industry.