Stories of great songs, the secrets of big hits

The Eagles - Hotel California

Is the slow by reference, the song of the lovers. Except that the Hotel California in question is not quite the small cozy nest dreamed of. It was actually a detox center for alcoholics and drug addicts in which many musicians of the 1960s and 1970s passed. It's less glamorous than it appeared…

Barbara – L’aigle noir (The Black Eagle)

When it was released in 1970, L'Aigle Noir gave rise to many nterpretations until Barbara unveiled the mystery in the 1980s. This autobiographical song, incest of which she had been a child victim.

Police - Every Breath You Take

Sting about Every Breath You Take: "It's a perverse song about watching and controlling someone else, about the stifling presence to the beloved and who transforms love into reciprocal torture".

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

A teen hymn Smells Like Teen Spirit? Well, not really. Teen Spirit, it was a cheap deodorant brand very popular with teenagers in the late 1980s. Very grunge ;-)

France Gall – Il jouait du piano debout (He played the piano standing upright)

This wonderful song is a victim, since its release, of a misunderstanding as to its source of inspiration. Michel Berger does not speak of Elton John, as it has been said and as it still is sometimes, but of the American rocker Jerry Lee Lewis (born in 1935). It was by seeing a concert of this last retransmitted on the television that Michel Berger wanted to pay him homage.

God Save The Queen

Is in itself a mini manifesto of nihilism, anarchism and punk attitude, the song has suffered from a fundamental misunderstanding, especially in France where it was literally mistranslated. The "no future" shouted by the group is not intended or associated with the youth of the time, but with the Queen of England. It is the latter - and the monarchy as a political system - which have no future.

Renaud - Mistral gagnat (Mistral Winner)

Between two recording sessions for his 7th album, Renaud puts down notes on a text that talks about childhood and past time. But for him, no question that this song appears one day on an album. He finds her too "immodest" and says she will not interest anyone. One day, he calls his wife and speaks to him almost randomly of this song and even listens to the first model. She said, "If you do not put this song on your next album, I'll leave you." Renaud will grant his wife's wish and will even call his 7th album of the name of this song: Mistral Gagnant.

Eric Clapton – Layla

But who is this Layla for whom Eric Clapton wrote this planetary tube? These are Pattie Boyd, the wife of George Harrison, the Beatles guitarist and Clapton's best friend at the time. Or how a three-man household can generate a planetary tube ;-)

Rolling Stones – Angie

For a long time it was believed that Mick Jagger had written this song for Angel Bowie, David's wife in the 1970s. Except that it was not Jagger who wrote the song but Keith Richards and that last just took over that of his daughter. Like what, the rumors…

The Beatles – Yesterday

Paul McCartney has repeatedly told him that he had dreamed of this song, and had been able to remember it in its entirety when he awoke. Initially, he believes he unintentionally plagiarized the work of someone else. He searches for the record companies for 1 month if the music does not already exist. He says, "First, I looked for the melody, and people said," No, it's touching, and I'm sure it comes from you. "It took me a while to tell me it came from me, but I finally made up my mind; I said, "OK, I wrote it!" There were no words. I got into the habit of calling it Scrambled Eggs."
After convincing himself not to have stolen the song, Paul begins to write lyrics. For a whole period Yesterday was called "Scrambled eggs" before Mc Cartney himself ended up writing all the lyrics.