More songs that were about a real person, according to our readers
A reader pointed out something we’d missed in our last roundup on this topic: “Big Balls” by AC/DC, apparently written about a real person, “surprisingly.” We went digging, and it turns out that one’s actually satire, a send-up of high-society debutante culture wrapped around an obvious double meaning, not a portrait of anyone specific. No harm in asking, though, and it sent us looking for five more songs that genuinely were written about a real name.
Prudence Farrow’s meditation retreat got a little too intense, and John Lennon noticed
Mia Farrow’s younger sister attended the Maharishi’s retreat in Rishikesh alongside all four Beatles in 1968, and became so absorbed in meditation that she stopped leaving her bungalow entirely. Lennon wrote “Dear Prudence” as a gentle check-in, though Farrow didn’t hear the finished song until after it was recorded.
Joan Baez wrote a 1975 ballad about the ex-boyfriend everyone already knew she meant
“Diamonds and Rust” never hides its subject. Baez gave Bob Dylan an early-career boost years before their relationship ended, and the lyrics reflect that history with a bluntness rare for songs about famous exes.
Eric Clapton wrote an entire album trying to steal his best friend’s wife
Pattie Boyd was married to George Harrison when Clapton fell for her, and “Layla” was his attempt to win her over through the song itself. It worked, eventually. Boyd divorced Harrison in 1977 and married Clapton two years later.
Carly Simon kept a decades-long secret, then confirmed one name and left the rest a mystery on purpose
“You’re So Vain” sparked 40-plus years of guessing games; Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty, James Taylor, all floated as candidates. In 2015, Simon finally confirmed Beatty inspired the second verse specifically, while refusing to name whoever the other two verses are about.
James Taylor wrote the opening verse of a hit song as a eulogy for a friend who’d died
“Fire and Rain” starts as a direct reaction to the death of Suzanne Schnerr, someone Taylor had known well in New York. He later described her plainly: just a kid, like all of them, someone he used to spend time with before her death reshaped an entire song.
The bottom line
Five more names behind five more songs, each one confirmed rather than guessed at. Somewhere out there, “Big Balls” is still just a song about a ballroom and a joke, whatever the rumor mill decided to believe about it.
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