True Love Songs: 10 Songs Inspired By Real Romances In The Bands Who Recorded Them
The Immortal Bard once wrote, "If music be the food of love, play on!" but in the cases of these ten amazing bands, love was the fuel behind the music. In each of these 10 bands, at least 2 (if not all) of the bandmates were involved with each other and that off stage romance inspired an amazing song. For some of the couples on our list, their tumultuous break ups inspired classic hit songs, while for others, their true love gave way to sweet, soulful ballads. The course of true love ne'er did run smooth, but it truly inspired these 10 songs.
The Band: No Doubt
The Song: "Don't Speak"
The Romance: No Doubt's lead singer Gwen Stefani and bassist Tony Kanal had been together for seven years when they broke up. Stefani was devastated and put her feelings down in this ballad which she co-wrote with her brother and (then) bandmate, Eric Stefani.
[Photo Credit: Getty Images]
The Band: Fleetwood Mac
The Song: "Go Your Own Way"
The Romance: In the early 70s Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks were lovers and collaborators in the group Buckingham Nicks. Cut to a few years later, when they get recruited to join Fleetwood Mac. After joining the new band, their relationship absolutely disintegrated, but their music flourished, including this classic Buckingham wrote about their romance falling apart.
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The Band: The Mamas and the Papas
The Song: "I Saw Her Again"
The Romance: Even though The Mamas and the Papas were known for their crystal clear pop harmonies, their lives behind the scenes were incredibly tumultuous. Denny Doherty had an affair with bandmate Michelle Phillips while she was still married to fellow bandmate John Phillips. Michelle left the group briefly, but returned. To bury the hatchet, Denny and John co-wrote this song about their relationship with Michelle. Due to an engineering mistake, Denny's voice comes in early on the last chorus so you hear him sing "I saw her" before the rest of the group sings in unison, "I saw her again." So, it's complicated. Oh! And the fourth member, Mama Cass, was in love with Denny the whole time. So, it was all very complicated.
[Photo Credit: Getty Images]
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The Band: The White Stripes
The Song: "Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground"
The Romance: Jack White and Meg White liked to leave the press guessing about the nature of their relationship off stage. Though they married before hitting it big, they insisted they were siblings so as to try to shake interest in their personal lives over the music. Likewise, most of their songs don't seem to be autobiographical, nor are either of them keen to confirm or deny that they are. However, when the music video of "Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground" came out after their break up and depicted a break up…well…let's just say, the music spoke for itself.
[Photo Credit: Getty Images]
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The Band: The Swell Season
The Song: "Falling Slowly"
The Romance: Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova probably have the most meta relationship in music. She met him when she was 13 years old and he was performing in a music festival her father was producing. Years later, they collaborated on songs that were then featured in John Carney's film, Once. The two fell in love on set, became international sensations and won an Oscar for this ballad which tells the story of two people entering a relationship…a story which appeared in the film and mirrored their lives…and then they had a documentary crew follow them while they toured and it caught them breaking up…and yeah, this is all really quite meta.
[Photo Credit: Getty Images]
The Band: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
The Song: "If I Should Fall Behind"
The Romance: Bruce Springsteen and wife Patti Scialfa were bandmates before they were romantic partners. Even though their bandmates assumed they would hook up on their 1984 Born in the U.S.A. tour, Springsteen met and married Julianne Phillips first. Springsteen's first marriage was a disaster. The Boss convinced Scialfa to join him again on his 1988 tour and the two fell in love, though they weren't open about it until Springsteen and Phillips were separated. "If I Should Fall Behind" is a lesser known Springsteen track, but it was written around this time about Scialfa and remains a beautiful and emotional ballad.
[Photo Credit: Getty Images]
The Band: Noah And The Whale
The Song: "5 Years Time"
The Romance: Before she was a solo artist and the darling of the nu folk movement, singer-songwriter Laura Marling was in her boyfriend Charlie Fink's band, Noah and the Whale. She sung back up on the band's breakthrough hit, "5 Years Time," which details two young lovers tentatively hoping that they'll stay together…but in a breezy, happy, naive way. Marling then left both the band and Fink to pursue her solo career (and to pursue briefly being Marcus Mumford of Mumford and Sons's main squeeze). Fink was heartbroken and focused most of his next album on Marling, but this song shows a wistful look at what was--and what might have been.
[Photo Credit: Getty Images]
The Band: ABBA
The Song: "When All Is Said And Done"
The Romance: The members of ABBA were known for churning out pop hit after pop hit that had little to do with their personal lives. (I mean, do you honestly think they knew a guy in wartime named Fernando or saw Waterloo?) They were for a long time just two married couples who liked singing about Dancing Queens together. However, in 1980, Bjorn and Agnetha divorced, and then, in 1981, Benny and Frida divorced. Bjorn wrote "When All Is Said And Done" about his friends' break up, but like a lot of the more somber ABBA tunes of this time, it could have also been subconsciously about his own split.
[Photo Credit: Getty Images]
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The Band: Culture Club
The Song: "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?"
The Romance: Boy George fell in love with drummer Jon Moss in the early 80s. When the two formed the band Culture Club, they embarked on an affair. The only problem for George? Jon didn't want to admit he was gay and left him to marry a woman and have kids. Since then, George has stated that the song isn't just about Moss, but about many of the guys he was seeing at that time, but yes, it's about Moss.
[Photo Credit: Getty Images]
The Band: JOHNNYSWIM
The Song: "Paris In June"
The Romance: JOHNNYSWIM's Amanda Sudano Ramirez and Abner Ramirez have been married since 2009, but most of their songs are about relationships other than their own…except for "Paris In June." At a recent performance, the duo revealed that the inspiration for the song came from their own Parisian engagement. The one hitch? They were engaged in the autumn and "Paris in June" just had a more romantic ring to it.
[Photo Credit: Getty Images]