Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Thursday Thirteen #11


#11 Thirteen Songs About a Girl

1. Hey There Delilah – Plain White T’s. Tom Higgenson met Delilah and in a “line” said he had written a song about her. I guess he felt bad because then he actually did write the song but it took him a year. They never actually dated.
2. Layla – Eric Clapton/Derek and the Dominoes. This song was written for Pattie Boyd – George Harrison’s wife – this song worked – as she then divorced George and married Eric.
3. Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl) – Looking Glass.
4. Mandy – Barry Manilow. When this song was first released in the UK it was also titled Brandy and it was a flop in the states. They reworked it and changed the girl’s name to Mandy and the rest is history.
5. Cecilia – Simon & Garfunkel. Possibly written about St. Cecilia the patron saint of music. I had a student named Cecilia and, of course, could not resist singing a bit of this song when I read her name on the roll the first day of class. She looked up and said “WHY DO ALL YOU TEACHERS KEEP SINGING THAT?”
6. Rosanna – Toto. This is about actress Rosanna Arquette. She was dating Toto keyboard player Steve Porcaro at the time, but Porcaro didn't write it. It was written by Toto leader David Paich. He decided to write it about Arquette when he saw how supportive she was of Porcaro. Arquette often came by the studio and brought the band food.
7. Amanda – Boston. This was their only #1 hit.
8. Oh Sherrie – Steve Perry of Journey fame. He wrote this about his real life girlfriend Sherrie.
9. Gloria – Laura Branigan. This was originally an Italian pop song.
10. Help Me, Rhonda – The Beach Boys.
11. Donna – Richie Valens. If you’ve seen La Bamba you know the story behind this song.
12. Veronica – Elvis Costello. He wrote this with Paul McCartney – it sort of has that Eleanor Rigby feel to it.
13. Ruby – The Kaiser Chiefs. They didn’t write this song about anybody – but they say if you know someone with the name – it’s written for them.

#14 is an added bonus because we can’t leave out Jenny (867-5309) – Tommy Tutone. This song is also not written about anybody – just something the song writer came up with sitting in his backyard.

49 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great list!! I'm gonna be singing #6 tonight ---all night now!!
"Meet you all the way, meet you all the way, rosanna yeah
Meet you all the way, meet you all the way, rosanna yeah"......

Tink said...

Amazing list, I like most of the songs!
My TT shares 13 things to do or see in my hometown Velsen / IJmuiden in The Netherlands.

Special K ~Toni said...

Great list! Brought back a few memories! Happy T13! Mine is up also!

impwork said...

Great list

I was wondering which artist I like I don't have any CD's by to look for next Elvis Costello sounds like a good possibility

Anonymous said...

You know, I've had that delilah song in my head for the past two weeks. :) Fun list!

Jennifer said...

I love Layla. And Help Me, Rhonda always get stuck in my head when I hear it ;) thanks for that LOL!!
My 13 are books I've read in the last month or so.

Anonymous said...

Interesting list. I've heard of a couple and they bring back som memories.

PJ said...

Some very nice songs in the list. Happy TT.

Deb said...

That's a great list - fun to hear the history behind some of those! :)

Lori said...

Great songs...I found myself singing out loud;) Happy TT.

Lori aka A Cowboy's Wife said...

I love 2, 7, and 8 the most! Happy TT!

Anonymous said...

When I worked at the hotel with Flea he didn't have a phone number to post on the phone list so we filled it in with 867-5309. All but Leah got it, I guess the age thing. One night she was trying to reach him and though it didn't work in Logan it did work with the Idaho area code. Thanks for getting that stuck in my head.

Karen said...

The only two that popped into my head were "Michelle" by the Beatles and "Valerie" by the Monkees. Don't ask me why -- it just happened!!!
Great TT!

Yuriko said...

There's Delilah by Tom Jones too :)

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed reading this pretty interesting.
How about Come On Eileen?

Maribeth
www.marnini.wordpress.com

Anonymous said...

The one song about a girl that I noticed was missing was Nirvana's "About a Girl." But it's a great list. Layla's one of my favorite songs in life, especially the later acoustic version.

Pam said...

#12 was actually bout elvis costello's grandma :)

#1 is one of my older daughter's favorite songs...but right now she's kind of stuck on the jonas brothers who have a song called 'mandy' written about the singer mandy moore lol

Anonymous said...

I am going to have #3 stuck in my head all day today! All great songs and a few that brought back some great memories. Happy TT!

Joyismygoal said...

I like Delilah, Mandy ,Brady,
cecilla is just WRONG

Anonymous said...

How about "Aubrey". I love that song. Great list!

Robin said...

There's a very beautiful and very famous Israeli song called "Maya", written for the artist's daughter. Everyone always asks us if we named our own Maya after the song. (We didn't, but it's still a beautiful song.)

Anonymous said...

Okay, that was just mean.

I'll have a headfull of songs I don't know all the words to, haunting me all day. :(

Happy TT, :)

~X

Head Gaggler said...

What a great list and a clever idea!

Bloggers said...

I never did like that Toto song. I never have known why I just feel like nails on a chalk board whenever heard it.

my 13 is up

http://momworksathome.blogspot.com

Bethanne said...

I can't believe that about Boston! only ONE number one HIT??? Sounds weird...I do like them even if they're not by favorite band.

Stomper Girl said...

Top of my list would have been Sweet Caroline, because that is MY song!

I laughed at the Cecilia student, all those bloody old-fogey teachers pestering her.

Carina said...

Great idea for a list! Happy TT!

I'm gonna have Layla stuck in my head all day now.

Qtpies7 said...

A walk down memory lane, lol. Great list!
Thanks for visiting my TT.

Sparky Duck said...

any list with Elvis Costello is a great list to me. Layla is great, both the fast and slow parts and Cecilia is a song you just want to jump around too.

Anonymous said...

GREAT list!

xoxo

Unknown said...

I haven't heard Gloria in aeons. I was thinking of downloading it from iTunes. I always liked it. Happy TT!

Joanne said...

Awesome list! And I love learning about what's behind the song. There are so many more too!

Happy 13 and thanks for stopping by.

Gerb said...

My personal list would also have Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys because for some reason 2 of my kids would stop crying anytime that song was played.

Great list, fun memories.

Amazed said...

What a fun list! Brandy was my favorite song when I was pregnant with my 1st. We spelled it Brandi....and in school, every teacher sang the song to her....

I loved hearing about each song. I've always loved Layla but now I'll be a little sad about it too.

Anonymous said...

That is a great list. I recognized all of them, but didn't know the details behind them. I love that about blogging, you learn stuff you wouldn't otherwise think about. Happy TT.

Nicole said...

Great list! Now if only I can keep the songs out of my head this morning...

Donetta said...

We beautiful women make them sing don't we! :) Thank you for hosting

Anonymous said...

My daughter and all her friends, turn Hey There Delilah up when it starts to play, I've had that song stuck in my head for a long time now.

My roommate in college loved Layla, and everytime I hear it I remember her, all the fun times we had, and what a great friend she was.


Great list of songs.

Vickie said...

You've got me in the mood for some music. I love your list!

http://scpepccee.blogspot.com/

Joely Sue Burkhart said...

What fun! As a kid, I always loved "Jolene" by Dolly Parton because it was so close to my name!

Jennifer said...

I visited here yesterday & left my link. You visited me (TT about books I'd read) and asked for my favorite. I can't pick one because I liked them all but I think my top two I'd recommend would be Lisa Scottoline's Daddy's Girl and The Land of Mango Sunsets by Dorothea Benton Frank.

Anonymous said...

Clementine ("herring boxes without topses... " :-))

Anonymous said...

I love lists like this. I learned several new things! Thanks for visiting my site!

Anonymous said...

Most of these are on my IPod when I go running - guess I like a lot of songs about a girl ?&*!??
:)

Natalie said...

Interesting TT!

Southern Girl said...

I love most of those, and when I was in high school, I used to get one of those songs sung to me all the time by my math teacher. Always made me smile. :)

Great TT! Mine is up, too:
http://southern-born-and-bred.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

I never knew the story behind Rosanna. It makes me like it even more!

Unknown said...

Oh poo! Now I have Barry Manilow in my head. :( Great list!

alisonwonderland said...

hey, how about Elvis Costello's "Alison"?
:o)