Joni Mitchell’s 1977 song “Coyote” is all about the challenges two people face trying to make a connection if they come from different circumstances. In the song, Mitchell sings about a one-night stand between the narrator (presumably herself, based on clues in the song) and a farmhand she dubs “Coyote.” Executive assistant to the stars Chris O’Dell alleged in her 2009 autobiography that the subject of the song is none other than actor and playwright Sam Shepard. O’Dell claims to have had an affair with the married Shepard, who then left her for Mitchell. Confirmation of the allegations has not been forthcoming, however.
“Coyote” marked a return of sorts by Joni Mitchell to her roots. While her songs had been growing lusher and fuller over the years, featuring more instrumentation and a bigger sound, “Coyote,” by comparison, is stripped to its bare essentials: voice, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and bass.
“You Oughta Know” by Alanis Morissette
There is no question that Alanis Morissette puts a great deal of thought into her lyrics and the meaning behind them, but don’t expect her to explain them to you. She said in no uncertain terms in a 2008 interview that she would never talk about who inspires her songs because it is a very personal expression of her experiences. That hasn’t stopped people from speculating, of course. One name that comes up a lot is Dave Coulier, the actor and comedian of Full House fame who dated Morissette for a while before her fame took off. He has admitted that some of the lines in the song are uncomfortably familiar, including the line about her calling in the middle of dinner and the “older version” part. Other rumored subjects of the song include NHL hockey star Mike Peluso, actor Matt LeBlanc of Friends, and musician Leslie Howe.
Alanis Morissette started off as a dance-pop singer in her native Canada with two albums in the early 90s, where she achieved considerable success. She was dissatisfied with her artistic direction, so she moved to Los Angeles, where she wrote the songs that would become "Jagged Little Pill," the album that made her an international alt-rock superstar.
“Something” by The Beatles
George Harrison married Pattie Boyd and started writing love songs for and about her before Eric Clapton even met her. Back in 1968, Harrison wrote the song “Something” that would eventually be included in the Beatles’ 1969 album "Abbey Road." It’s a song of tremendous passion and longing, and Boyd describes how much she loved it when he first sang it to her in the kitchen. Harrison eventually distanced Boyd from being the primary inspiration for the song, possibly due to negative feelings associated with her being stolen away by Eric Clapton. Being really into eastern spirituality, he claimed the song referred to the Hindu god Krishna, and that godly love and physical love are inextricably linked. By 1996, Harrison was saying that the idea of Boyd being the inspiration for the song was just made up by everybody else who assumed it must have been true, especially since she was featured in the promotional video.
“Something” was a tremendous hit. It was #1 in many countries and possibly the best-known Beatles song not written by Lennon-McCartney. Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney heaped praise upon the song, the former saying it was the best song on "Abbey Road" and the latter saying it was the best song Harrison ever wrote.
“Plaster Caster” by Kiss
“Plaster Caster” is a playfully saucy song, and if you didn’t know anything about its origins, you’d still figure out that it has everything to do with sex. The truth is even a bit weirder than that. The song is about an actual real live woman who spends a good bit of her time making plaster casts of rock stars’ erect members. No really.
Her real name is Cynthia Albritton, but she goes by the name Cynthia Plaster Caster. She started this little (so to speak) project in 1968 with her first “model,” Jimi Hendrix, and in the decades since, it has managed to get 48 musicians to submit to the procedure. Apparently, this hobby started off as a simple ruse to get rock stars into bed with her. She was shy and was looking for some way to connect with the opposite sex. You might say she succeeded beyond her wildest dreams. Albritton today refers to herself as a “recovering groupie.”
“Always” by Irving Berlin
When 38-year-old Jewish-American songwriter Irving Berlin married 22-year-old Catholic-American heiress Ellin Mackay, it was a controversial event that captured the attention of the press and the country. Mackay’s father, the wealthy Western Union tycoon, promptly disinherited his daughter, but Berlin stepped in by signing over the royalties to his love song “Always” to his bride to make up for her loss. It turned out to be a pretty lucrative move for Mackay.
Ellin’s father did all he could to prevent the marriage from taking place, going so far as to ship her off to Europe in hopes of her finding a more suitable match. But nothing worked, and they married in 1926. Both the age difference and the religious one were sources of conflict surrounding the match. And “Always” will go down as one of the greatest wedding presents in history. It probably came as a surprise to almost everyone, but the love affair between Irving Berlin and Ellin Mackay continued for more than six decades until her death in 1988. The author of around 1500 songs, including “God Bless America” and “White Christmas,” Irving Berlin is virtually synonymous with American songwriting.