Top 10 Songs We Didn't Know Were About Celebrities

#10: “Like a Rolling Stone”

This song features some of Bob Dylan’s most famous lyrics, including the title of the 2024 biopic about him. Multiple names have been tied to its subject, identified in the lyrics as “Miss Lonely.” Some suggest it’s about his colleagues in the industry. But one frequent assumption is that the song’s target is Edie Sedgwick, an actress and model who became the muse of Andy Warhol. Their public break was ugly, and would have occurred around the time Dylan and Sedgwick had an alleged romantic relationship. Warhol even believed there were damning references to him in the song, identifying himself as the “diplomat” with a Siamese cat.

#9: “Sweet Caroline”

Baseball stadiums have gotten just as much mileage out of Neil Diamond’s nostalgic ode to summer and young love as they have “Don’t Stop Believin’,” and that’s saying something. But who is Caroline? A myth sprung up that it was about Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President Kennedy. In 2007, nearly 40 years after its release, Diamond himself identified Kennedy as the subject. The fact the song was written when Caroline Kennedy was only 11 makes that long-held myth and his confirmation seem more than a little odd. But then he recanted that story a couple years later, saying the song was really about his then-wife, Marcia. The name Caroline was simply better for the rhyme scheme.

#8: “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)”

Aerosmith’s naughty and controversial 1987 hit has been criticised as transphobic, and the band even worried they would offend gay audiences at the time they recorded it. But the whole song was actually inspired by a funny mistake between industry colleagues. Lead singer Steven Tyler said that Aerosmith’s song was actually inspired by another band’s lead singer. Tyler had mistaken Vince Neil, the lead singer of heavy metal Mötley Crüe, for a woman because of his long locks. This was later confirmed by Neil and his bandmates. Although the rest of the song is fictional, it’s an interesting example of how one germ of inspiration can spin off into something bigger.

#7: “Fix You”

This song is basically an open invitation to start crying. The plaintive Coldplay track, “Fix You,” is told from the perspective of someone trying to comfort a grieving loved one. It remains one of the band’s signature hits. Part of what makes it great is how easy it is to ascribe it to your own life and experiences. It was also deeply personal for lead singer and co-songwriter Chris Martin, who was inspired by one-time wife Gwyneth Paltrow. The two met shortly after the death of her father, director Bruce Paltrow. The song’s themes of helping someone through their grief are taken directly from his own experience.

#6: “Heart-Shaped Box”

Nirvana lead singer and songwriter Kurt Cobain went on record saying “Heart-Shaped Box” was inspired by news coverage and documentaries about children with terminal cancer. The lyrics, while dark, seem more like a poetic rendering of a complicated relationship. For that reason, it’s widely believed to be about Cobain’s wife, Courtney Love. This isn’t a surprise, as Love claims that many grunge songs from all sorts of bands are about her. But even outside her since-deleted posts about the song being about her genitals, many fans do believe it’s true. The truth may be somewhere in the middle.

#5: “Me and Mr. Jones”

Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” is a legendary record. From “Rehab” to the title song, it’s filled with wall-to-wall bangers. Winehouse’s pop chart-friendly confessional style and highly-publicized personal life made it easy to wonder what was fact and what was fiction. The album’s third track, “Me and Mr. Jones,” is more than a callback to the Billy Paul song, “Me and Mrs. Jones.” It’s a song inspired by Winehouse’s close friendship with Nas, the “ rapper whose real surname is Jones. The two shared a birthday, a deep, mutual respect, and a collaboration that continued even after Winehouse passed, with the Grammy-nominated duet, “Cherry Wine.”

#4: “I Kissed a Girl”

This cheeky 2008 chart-topper has a very unexpected origin story. Although the dalliance described by the song’s narrator was partly based on true events from Katy Perry’s adolescence, a movie star was responsible for inspiring the rest. Perry said she was moved to write “I Kissed a Girl” after being entranced by future MCU star Scarlett Johansson’s lips. When she heard about this, while flattered, the actress assured Perry her lips were taken by then-husband Ryan Reynolds. There’s no word on whether or not Perry ever responded to Johansson’s joke that she should get a cut of the profits.

#3: “Hollaback Girl”

Courtney Love is known for her strong opinions on other female singers. She commented on the record that No Doubt frontwoman and solo artist Gwen Stefani was nothing more than a cheerleader. Well, Stefani clearly thought this was “B-A-N-A-N-A-S” thus inspiring the 2004 hit, “Hollaback Girl.” The song’s cheerleader imagery and attitude were Stefani’s way of hitting back at Love and anyone who thought she shouldn’t be taken seriously as an artist. Despite being a hit, the song marked a divide between listeners. And a lot of us had no idea we were even taking sides in a real-life beef. Interestingly, co-writer Pharrell told supermodel Naomi Campbell that not being a “hollaback girl” was a concept that Campbell introduced him to.

#2: “You Oughta Know”

One thing was for sure when this came out; Alanis Morissette had torn a duplicitous ex a new one in this rageful and catchy scorned lover anthem. But Dave Coulier’s admission that it was about him took everyone by surprise. Once you know this song is about Uncle Joey from “Full House,” you can never really think of it the same way again. You mean to tell us the “cut it out” guy is the kind of man who inspires passionate rage like this? It was the kind of thing that sounds like the internet made it up, but Coulier himself copped to it. As recently as 2021, Morissette flat-out denied it was about Coulier at all, but still refuses to reveal who it’s actually about.

#1: “You’re So Vain”

We all knew that Carly Simon wrote this immortal song about some public figure; we just weren’t sure who. Names had been floating around for decades. Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, former husband James Taylor, and actor and known lothario Warren Beatty were all rumored to be vain enough to think the song was about them. The real subject became such a hot topic over the years that Simon auctioned off the secret for charity in 2003. Beatty is the only person she’s identified by name, although she’s suggested that there’s more than one man behind the song.

Did any of these celebrity inspirations surprise you? Let us know in the comments.