‘Hey there, Delilah’, by Plain White T’s. This catchy little tune was written by the band’s frontman, Tom Higgenson, for Delilah DiCrescenzo, an American steeplechase and cross-country runner. Although rumours abounded that the pair were in a long-distance relationship, they never actually dated, and the song was written by Higgenson in an attempt to impress her. (Spoiler: It didn’t.) Reuters, Getty Images

‘Tim McGraw’, by Taylor Swift. Although it features the lyrics, ‘But when you think ‘Tim McGraw’/ I hope you think my favourite song / The one we danced to all night long,’ Swift has revealed the song isn’t actually about the country-singing star. It was written when she was a high school freshman about a looming break-up with her senior boyfriend. Angela Weiss, AFP

‘Barbra Streisand’, by Duck Sauce. Duck Sauce, aka American DJ Armand van Helden, and Canadian DJ A-Trak (Alain Macklovitch), released the track named after the celebrated American actress and singer in 2010. With a video filled with famous faces, including Kanye West and Pharrell, the song features only three words: Barbra, Streisand and woo. 'There really is no relation nor rational reason behind the lyric and the title ‘Barbra Streisand’,' Macklovitch told 'All Things Considered' host Guy Raz. 'We just thought it would make people laugh.' Getty Images

‘Valerie’, by The Zutons. The Zutons frontman Dave McCabe wrote the song about his ex-girlfriend, a US make-up artist called Valerie Star, whose plans to move to the UK to be with him were scuppered when she was almost jailed in the US over several driving offences. 'I remember when he told me about the song. It was like: ‘I kind of wrote a song about you. And they picked it up as a single’,' Star told ‘Vice’ of the track that was famously covered by Amy Winehouse and Mark Ronson. AFP, Deltasonic

‘Billie Jean’, by Michael Jackson. One of Jackson’s most famous songs was inspired by the women who became fixated on the star at the height of his fame. Writing in his book, 'The Magic, The Madness, The Whole Story', Jackson’s biographer J Randy Taraborrelli claimed the song stemmed from a real-life experience the singer faced in 1981 when a woman wrote to Jackson claiming that he was the father of her child. Getty Images, Epic

‘Layla’, by Derek and The Dominos. Unique for having inspired some of the most enduring love songs of all time (including The Beatles’ ‘Something’ and Eric Clapton’s ‘You Look Wonderful Tonight’), British model Patti Boyd was also the Layla in Clapton’s classic track. Written when he was still in the group, Derek and The Dominos, Clapton wrote it about his then-unrequited love for Boyd, who was, at the time, married to Beatle George Harrison. AFP, Getty Images

‘Angie’, by The Rolling Stones. It was a long-held rumour that ‘Angie’ was written about David Bowie’s first wife, Mary Angela Barnett. However, Mick Jagger later revealed: 'People began to say that song was written about David Bowie’s wife, but the truth is that Keith wrote the title. He said, ‘Angie,’ and I think it was to do with his daughter. She’s called Angela. And then I just wrote the rest of it.' AFP, Reuters

‘Sweet Caroline’, by Neil Diamond. The secret behind Diamond’s famous song is that there actually is no Caroline. The song was written for the American singer’s then-wife Marcia Murphey. 'I was writing a song in Memphis, Tennessee, for a session. I needed a three-syllable name,' he told the ‘Today’ show. 'The song was about my wife at the time - her name was Marcia - and I couldn't get a Marcia rhyme.' AFP, Getty Images

‘Angela’, by The Lumineers. Lead singer Wesley Schultz found inspiration in his then-girlfriend Angela Henard for the track from the band’s second studio album, ‘Cleopatra’. Schultz says of the track, which reached number three on the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart: 'Although we didn’t work out, she still holds a place in my heart. This is why she is brought up in multiple songs.' AFP, Dualtone

Grace Kelly, Tim McGraw, Barbra Streisand: 10 stars with songs named after them and the stories behind the hits

The stories, rumours and truths about the famous songs named after famous people

Gemma White

Dubai

January 25, 2021

English
Arabic

Taylor Swift might have only been 16 when she released the track Tim McGraw in 2006, but it's taken another 15 years for country music star McGraw to talk about how he felt having a song named for him.

Admitting that he was "a little apprehensive" to discover the country-turned-pop music ingenue had named one of her songs in his honour, the 53-year-old told Apple Music Country this week: "I thought: 'Have I gotten to that age now to where they're singing songs about me? Does that mean I've jumped the shark a bit? Is everything still cool?'" he told host Alecia Davis.

“And then I realised that somebody had told me that she was in her seventh-grade math class when she wrote the song, so it made me feel a little bit better about that because she was so young writing it. So, I didn’t feel like I was that terribly old.”

As McGraw finally embraces his namesake track, we reveal nine more songs that were written about and named after real people, and how they came about.

Scroll through the gallery above for the stories behind these famous namesake tracks ...

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