But in certain cases the songs aren't about some abstract girlfriend, they're about a real girl, someone the songwriter knew, or loved, or wished he had. And there it is, for all the world to hear about, getting heavy airplay and climbing the charts: A famous person's love, or lust, or loathing, for someone else. And if this girl in the tune wasn't famous beforehand—presto, she is now.
Here are 25 Billboard Top 40 songs, all about real, live, natural-born females.
Peggy Sue Gerron
Song She Inspired: Buddy Holly - "Peggy Sue" (1957)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 3
"Peggy Sue" started out as "Cindy Lou," which might have been a better title for the Dr. Seuss audience. But at the time Holly was writing it, his drummer Jerry Allison was actually romancing Peggy Sue Gerron. Rename your surefire hit single to help a drummer out? Seemed the honorable thing to do. And it worked—Jerry and Peggy Sue did indeed get married. But that's another song (and it failed to chart).
Donna Ludwig
Song She Inspired: Ritchie Valens - "Donna" (1958)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 2
"Donna" was written for Ritchie's high school sweetheart. Remember, the dude was just 17 when he died in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper. So while writing a song to your high school sweetheart is a bit trite in the grand scheme of things, you get a pass if you're 17 years old. And you get a major pass if the B-side of that single, which didn't do as well, is the classic "La Bamba," which peaked at no. 22.
Helô Pinheiro
Song She Inspired: Astrud Gilberto with João Gilberto and Stan Getz - "The Girl from Ipanema"
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 5
Her full name is Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto, and if she had not looked quite so alluring strolling around the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, the world might have been deprived of one of the great elevator-music classics of all time. A pretty slinky jam in its day, "The Girl from Ipanema" has been overplayed and badly covered to near-death. If you must listen, go for the Astrud Gilberto/Joao Gilberto/Stan Getz version that won the Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965.
For Helo, being the song's star launched a career as a model and businesswoman. She appeared in Brazilian Playboy in 1987, in her mid-40s, and again in 2003, aged 59, with her naked daughter. That's confidence.
Jenny Boyd
Song She Inspired: Donavan - "Jennifer Juniper" (1968)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 26
Those alluring Boyd girls. Two years before her older sister Pattie became the subject of "Layla," Jenny inspired this much sunnier Donavan tune. Donavan was always a much bigger deal in his native Britain, where "Jennifer Juniper" went to no. 5. Jenny Boyd went on to marry Mick Fleetwood (of Fleetwood Mac) and Ian Wallace (of King Crimson).
Judy Collins
Song She Inspired: Crosby, Stills and Nash - "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" (1969)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 21
Stephen Stills wrote this multi-part ode to Collins as their breakup was imminent. She'd fallen in love with Stacy Keach, with whom she was starring in Peer Gynt at the New York Shakespeare Festival. In fact, the group Crosby, Stills, and Nash was formed for the purpose of recording this song, and went on to make several albums and achieve hits with "Woodstock," "Ohio," "Southern Cross," and "Wasted on the Way."
Caroline Kennedy
Song She Inspired: Neil Diamond - "Sweet Caroline" (1969)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 4
Neil Diamond didn't reveal the inspiration for the song until some 42 years after the its release. He said that he'd seen a picture of Caroline riding a horse on the cover of Life magazine some years earlier. In fact, it was the September 7, 1962 issue, which meant that this PG-13 tune ("hands... touchin' hands... reachin' out... touching me... touchin' you") was inspired by a four-year-old girl. Umm, that's creepy.
Pattie Boyd
Song She Inspired:Derek and the Dominos - "Layla" (1970)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 10
It's the greatest tale in rock 'n roll history of coveting thy neighbor's wife's ass. Eric Clapton was obsessed with Pattie Boyd, who happened to be the wife of his good friend George Harrison. There's actually another level to it. Since he couldn't have Pattie, ol' Slowhand moved in with her sister Paula. When Paula heard "Layla," she realized that Clapton was only with her because he couldn't have his sister, and that was the end of that relationship. Later, Harrison and Boyd's marriage did fall apart, and Clapton was there to pick up the pieces, marrying Pattie in 1979.
Patti D'Arbanville
Song She Inspired: Cat Stevens - "Wild World" (1970)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 11
Patti D'Arbanville was a model and a member of Andy Warhol's Factory scene, having acted in the Warhol-produced Flesh at the age of 16. This is one of two songs associated with D'Arbanville-the other is "Lady D'Arbanville." While "Wild World" is a bit of a downer, basically a goodbye to a lover who's heading out on her own, it's less morose than "Lady D'Arbanville," in which Stevens sings to D'Arbanville as if she's dead.
Marsha Hunt
Song She Inspired: The Rolling Stones - "Brown Sugar" (1971)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 1
You've heard all about Marsha, the black girl who dances "so good" that pasty Brit Mick can't control himself, but you've seen her, too. The model and singer was featured on the original London poster for the era-defining rock musical Hair. Jagger and Hunt were together for less than a year, but it was long enough for him to father Karis Jagger Hunt, the first of his seven children.
Diane Davison
Song She Inspired: Chris de Burgh - "The Lady in Red" (1986)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 3
Sure, the song's a staple in weight-loss-promoting yogurt commercials nowadays, but back in the '80s, it was a worldwide hit. Released on de Burgh's album Into the Light, the song recalls the memory of the singer's first encounter with his would-be wife.
Billie Jean King
Song She Inspired: Elton John - "Philadelphia Freedom" (1975)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 1
Elton John asked his lyricist Bernie Taupin to write a tribute to his friend Billie Jean King; Taupin is said to have replied, "I can't write a song about tennis." King was a member of the Philadelphia Freedom, a World Team Tennis squad, and Taupin managed to write something based on the team's name. It's not about tennis, nor is it particularly about Philadelphia, but it was catchy enough to hit the top of the charts and become an alternate theme song to the impending American bicentennial.
Carrie Fisher
Song She Inspired: Paul Simon - "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" (1975)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 1
Simon wrote this song shortly after leaving his wife, Peggy Harper, and taking up with Fisher. He and Fisher were together for seven turbulent years, got married in 1983, and then divorced less than a year later (but started seeing each other again afterward). Too much leaving-or not enough?
Sharona Alperin
Song She Inspired: The Knack - "My Sharona" (1979)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 1
Doug Fieger was 25 when he met 17-year-old Sharona Alperin, and the love-at-first-sight that clobbered him inspired numerous songs, though none of them were anywhere near as successful as "My Sharona," which made Halperin's group, the Knack, one of the most successful one-hit wonders of all time. (Actually, the Knack did put out a few singles that managed to chart after "My Sharona," but don't act like you know them.)
Today, Sharona is a realtor in Los Angeles, and promotes her listings at her official site, mysharona.com.
Yoko Ono
Song She Inspired: John Lennon - "Woman" (1981)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 2
Lennon wrote this song as an ode to his controversial wife, and it was contained on the Double Fantasy album he and Ono released together shortly before his murder in 1980. The single was released posthumously.
Christie Brinkley
Song She Inspired: Billy Joel - "Uptown Girl" (1983)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 3
If you've seen the video for the song, you may have the impression that Billy Joel, who cannot be accused of being a handsome man, wrote "Uptown Girl" for his supermodel girlfriend (soon to be wife) Christie Brinkley. That's only half true. It turns out, the story is even more jealousy-inducing.
Joel started writing the song while he was dating a 19-year-old Australian model named Elle MacPherson. After that relationship ended, Joel took up with Christie Brinkley. The song as finished was about Christie. So it's not the story of a shlubby rock star scoring a supermodel, it's the story of a shlubby rock star scoring two supermodels. Damn you, Joel.
Theresa Russell
Song She Inspired: The Who - "Athena" (1982)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 28
Pete Townshend fell in love with Theresa Russell while trying to get her husband, Nicholas Roeg, to direct his rock opera Lifehouse. The song's title was originally "Theresa."
Marilyn Monroe
Song She Inspired: Def Leppard - "Photograph" (1983)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 12
Joe Elliott of Def Leppard was three years old when Marilyn Monroe died in 1962, but the legendary sex symbol's mojo remains strong as ever. Although the video featured a Marilyn Monroe lookalike and the single's cover art included a picture of Monroe, Elliott later took to saying the song wasn't really about her. We're not buying it.
Sherrie Swafford
Song She Inspired: Steve Perry - "Oh Sherrie" (1984)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 3
Perry very deliberately wrote this tribute to his girlfriend, Sherrie Swafford who played the object of his affection in the video as well. The relationship didn't last (Perry has never married), but the song stands alongside Journey's best hits as an anthem of the '80s. It's telling that "Oh Sherrie" and "Don't Stop Believin'" are two of the final four musical numbers in Rock of Ages.
Rosanna Arquette
Song She Inspired: Peter Gabriel - "In Your Eyes" (1986)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 26
This is one of two songs that is often said to have been inspired by Rosanna Arquette, the other being Toto's Rosanna. Considering Gabriel and Arquette were living together at the time, there's a good chance the speculation is correct. Toto, on the other hand, have said that their tune wasn't about the actress, and that the fact she was dating keyboardist Steve Porcaro around the time it was written was just a coincidence.
Erin Everly
Song She Inspired: Guns n' Roses - "Sweet Child O Mine" (1988)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 1
Axl Rose was digging Erin Everly's smile and eyes-as singers of love songs have for centuries. But that was a strange move with the hair. Did her hair really remind him of a warm, safe place where as a child he'd hide? That is some powerful hair.
Princess Diana
Song She Inspired: Elton John - "Candle in the Wind 1997" (1997)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 1
Elton John's first version of "Candle in the Wind," from 1973, was a tribute to Marilyn Monroe. Following Diana's death, lyricist Bernie Taupin rewrote the words to describe Diana's circumstances, and Sir Elton played it at the princess' funeral on September 6, 1997. As the world mourned, copies of the single flew off the shelves, and "Candle in the Wind 1997" remains one of the two best-selling singles of all time (there is some debate as to whether it surpassed Bing Crosby's "White Christmas").
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Song She Inspired: LFO - "Girl On TV" (1999)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 10
Every girl wants her boy to write a song about her, doesn't she? And when the girl is a TV star, and the boy is in a pop group, well, it's just gonna happen. Jennifer asked her then-boyfriend Rich Cronin (who died in 2010) to pen her a ditty; the result was this cheesy yet catchy song about a hot girl who is, you guessed it, on TV. It was a tended gesture, but didn't prevent Hewitt from dumping Cronin in 2000. Years later, he revealed she had cheated on him.
Britney Spears
Song She Inspired: Justin Timberlake - "Cry Me a River" (2002)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 3
In 2002, Justin Timberlake began his solo (post-N*SYNC) career with a bang: His album, Justified, would go multi-platinum, and its lead single, "Cry Me a River," would win the Grammy for Best Male Vocal Performance. But about that song and video—didn't it all seem a bit too get-back-at-Britney-ish for a mature artist? Timberlake might have sensed as much, and claimed in interviews that the song wasn't about her, and that the blonde in the video wasn't meant to look like her. He kept up this story for years, and approximately zero people believed him.
In 2011, producer Timbaland confirmed that the song had come about after Timberlake got off a brutal phone call with Spears.
Chilli of TLC
Song She Inspired: Usher - "Burn" (2004)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 1
Usher's two-year relationship with Chilli was coming to an unpleasant end, with both of them frustrated by insurmountable differences. The concept for the song reportedly came from a conversation between producers Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox. Observing the relationship's flameout, they concluded that Usher should "let it burn."
Delilah DiCrescenzo
Song She Inspired: Plain White T's - "Hey There Delilah" (2005)
Highest Position on the Billboard Hot 100: 1
Women's distance running got a big boost when it was revealed that the Plain White T's mega-hit was inspired by Delilah DeCrescenzo, who was then a runner for Columbia University. Delilah had dreams of competing in the Olympics but didn't make the team in 2008 or 2012. Being the subject of a Grammy-nominated single isn't a bad consolation prize.