Everyday people: the parking wardens, estate agents and more who inspired classic songs
The old crowd from the Jersey Shore still make their way into Springsteen's songs: the centrepiece ofhis huge stadium shows these last couple of years has been a solo acoustic number called Last Man Standing, which appeared in his 2020 album Letter to You. It was written following the death of George Theiss, in 2018. As a teenage boy, Theiss had been courting Springsteen's sister Virginia, but ended up instead in a band with the young Bruce – the Castiles. When Theiss died, it left Springsteen the last living member of his high school band, and he composed a requiem for his friend: 'Faded pictures in an old scrapbook / Faded pictures that somebody took / When you were hard and young and proud / Backed against the wall, running raw and loud.'
It's no fun being a traffic warden. In Liverpool they've been given bodycams; in Essex there is a campaign to raise awareness of the human cost of abuse for those who give out parking tickets. So Meta Davies got away lightly when she penalised Paul McCartney. 'It was in the spring of 1967 that I ticketed Paul's car,' she said. 'He was on a meter showing excess, so I gave him a 10-shilling ticket.' After noting her unusual name, McCartney asked if he might use it in a song. When she heard the song – in which the singer 'took her home and tried to make her' – Davies admitted, 'it makes me blush.'
'For over 35 years, Sharona has held a coveted position in the upper echelon of Los Angeles area real estate,' observes Sharon Alperin's website, mysharona.com. She gets to call it that because she was the Sharona written about by Doug Fieger of the Knack. He wrote the song about his infatuation with her – she was in her late teens, he nine years older – though they also had a relationship and she appears on the cover of the single. Fortunately, there were no recriminations – though they went their separate ways, they remained friends until his death in 2010.
Back in 1962 Vinicius de Moraes would see the same girl pass by the Veloso cafe on the Ipanema beachfront in Rio all the time. She was 17-year-old Heloísa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto, and when De Moraes and Antonio Carlos Jobim were asked to write for a musical, she became one of their subjects. She was, De Moraes said, 'a golden teenage girl, a mixture of flower and mermaid, full of light and grace, the sight of whom is also sad, in that she carries with her, on her route to the sea, the feeling of youth that fades, of the beauty that is not ours alone.' And what did she think? 'It's eternal. Whenever I listen, I remember my past, my younger days,' she told the Guardian in 2012. 'Ipanema in 1962 was a great place. You never saw aggression. Everyone wanted to fall in love.'
Tom Higgenson of Plain White Ts met Delilah DiCrescenzo when she was a student at Columbia University. Besotted, he told her would write a song about her – even though she had a boyfriend – which he did. Several years later, in 2007, Hey There Delilah became a huge hit. By that time, DiCrescenzo was a star in her own right as an international athlete. The experience didn't seem to scar her: she attended the Grammys in 2008 as Higgenson's guest. The irony is that these days Higgenson doesn't have a Wikipedia page, but DiCrescenzo does. Fame is fickle.
At school in south London, Mick Jones had been friends and co-conspirators with a lad called Robin Crocker. One of them went on to join the Clash, and the other went on to rob banks. On the second Clash album, Jones wrote a nostalgic reverie for his pal, and his joy on hearing of his release from prison: 'And if you're in the Crown tonight / Have a drink on me / But go easy / Step lightly / Stay free.' Croker was moved. 'Somebody once said to me it's the most outstanding heterosexual male-on-male love song, and there is a lot of truth in that,' Crocker told the Guardian in 2008. 'Unfortunately, I didn't Stay Free. I did a wages snatch in Stockholm and got banged up again.'
Danny Nedelko moved to England from Ukraine, aged 15, ending up in Bristol and befriending Joe Talbot, who would co-found Idles. When Idles released their second album, Joy As an Act of Resistance, they were still a cult band, and Nedelko was their mate in an another, less successful band. By the end of that album campaign, he was the subject of lines roared by thousands of people at every Idles gig: 'My blood brother is an immigrant / A beautiful immigrant.' Fortunately, he was not disgruntled by being made a political poster boy, pronouncing himself 'very flattered and humbled'.
Perhaps the most double-edged song about a real person – but that's Ray Davies' writing for you. The Kinks' staple – later recorded by the Jam – was named for a promoter in Rutland with whom the Kinks had dealings, and who had a crush on Dave Davies. Hence David Watts being 'so gay and fancy free'. But it's also homoerotic in itself, and Ray later said it was also inspired by a real-life schoolfriend, whom he wouldn't name because they were still in touch. And the envy, the desperation, to be that boy is palpable: 'And when I lie on my pillow at night / I dream I could fight like David Watts / And lead the school team to victory / Take my exams and pass the lot.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
5 days ago
- The Guardian
‘I knew it would happen for Bruce': David Sancious on walking away from Springsteen's E Street Band
It was a late spring night in 1971 and David Sancious had walked from his home on E Street in Belmar, New Jersey to the Upstage club in Asbury Park. He was 17 and he had been playing piano and guitar with local bands for four years. 'I had walked to the Upstage because I wanted to play,' he says, 'and as I'm coming in I see Garry Tallent, a bass player who I already knew from other gigs.' Tallent was with a fellow New Jersey musician, a 21-year-old guitarist called Bruce Springsteen, 'the local guitar hero', says Sancious, 'very famous locally.' Springsteen told Sancious he was having a jam session and invited him to play. 'I said: 'Absolutely.'' The band played until 5am. As they were walking out of the club, Springsteen told Sancious he was breaking up his current band Steel Mill to form a new one: would he be interested in joining? Sancious said yes. He went on to record with Springsteen on his first three albums, but left the group before Born to Run transformed Springsteen and his bandmates into superstars. As that album approaches its 50th anniversary next month, I have wondered whether Sancious regrets walking away. He was five years old when his family moved into 1105 E Street in Belmar. The previous owners had left their piano in the house. 'The day we moved in, my mum sat down and started playing Chopin and Beethoven,' he says. 'It blew my mind.' Sancious started playing piano and later guitar and was in local bands in his early teens, giving illegal underage performances at local bars. 'The police used to raid these places and card everyone,' he says. 'One night I'm on stage with Bruce and the cops are hanging out at the front door.' The band hatched a plan to get Sancious off stage, sandwiched between Springsteen, saxophonist Clarence Clemons and two others. 'I was in the middle moving slowly, trying not to draw any attention.' Sancious and his bandmates sometimes rehearsed in his mother's garage, but mostly in a surfboard factory owned by an early manager of Springsteen's. 'You don't know enough to be self-conscious because you haven't had that much experience yet,' he says about those early days. Sancious contributed keyboards, piano and delicate jazz textures that enriched the early E Street sound on songs such as New York City Serenade and Incident on 57th Street. 'The thing about Bruce is that musically he was always open to a good idea. If I came up with a certain chord or inversion, he was very open to that.' Around 1974, Sancious and Springsteen were back in Belmar, by Sancious's childhood home. 'We were coming home from somewhere,' he says, 'turning on to E Street from 12th Avenue. There were these white obelisks with the street names painted on them. Bruce saw it and just said, 'E Street … E Street Band.'' How did it feel to have his address inspire this iconic band name? 'Pretty cool – quite an honour.' Sancious worked on Springsteen's debut Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ and its followup The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, and also toured with the band. 'We didn't have private planes back then,' he says. 'We had a station wagon, three of the guys in the front and three in the back. You're doing everything with these people. Eating, laughing, crying with them if something really bad happens. It's a great life.' He was the first Black member of what became the E Street Band – Clemons joined shortly after. 'You are constantly, completely, 100% aware of being Black – full stop – in any situation,' he says. He recalls one incident. 'I was at the beach and there were two guys making threatening gestures and saying inappropriate racial stuff. Clarence comes along and sees what's going on. He sat down right next to me and then Bruce comes walking by. Bruce found a piece of driftwood and he kept hitting it in his hand like he was saying: 'I'm not going to let you hurt our friend.'' Sancious continued playing with Springsteen but during breaks from touring he was working on his own music. When CBS heard his demo they offered him a three-year contract that would launch his solo career. It was an offer he couldn't refuse, and shortly after playing on a song for Springsteen's third album – a little number called Born to Run – Sancious left the E Street Band. How did it feel, I ask, to see Born to Run become a massive hit album, and Springsteen on the covers of Time and Newsweek simultaneously? 'I felt very happy for him, honestly,' he says. 'I knew it was going to happen for him.' How did he know? 'We did shows in Texas in 1974 and the crowd went nuts. We finished the show and the audience wouldn't leave. Bruce used to end the set with a song called For You that he would play by himself on piano and we would go off stage and watch. I remember standing there looking at him and thinking as soon as everybody finds out about this guy he's going to blow up. It's going to go crazy.' In 1975 came the release not only of Born to Run but also Sancious's first solo album Forest of Feelings – a fusion of jazz, rock, funk and classical that suggested he had travelled far from E Street. Of the numerous albums that followed, both solo and with his band Tone, the most successful 'got to No 78 in the Top 100 for one week. But my sense of self as an artist isn't diminished because I didn't sell a million records. That's a narrow definition of success and I don't resonate with that.' In the early 80s, Sancious paused making his own music. 'The phone kept ringing with artists asking me to go on tour,' he says. 'I toured with Peter Gabriel and then Sting and later Eric Clapton and Santana. They have more in common than you might think: none of them had a plan B, they all did it out of a love for music.' Sancious got to play the lead guitar riff to Clapton's Layla as well as the song's final piano coda when he toured with him – 'such a thrill because I love that song and I love his playing'. Sancious didn't return to the studio until 2000; he continues to record and tour today. He always remained in contact with Springsteen – he joined him on stage during the Human Rights Now! tour in 1988, and played on 1992's Human Touch album and 2019's Western Stars. He was part of the live band that backed Springsteen when he performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in November 2022. 'We love each other,' he says. 'We love working together and whenever the situation allows we do it and we get fantastic results to this day.' On the night I speak to Sancious, Springsteen and the E Street Band are on stage in front of 60,000 people in Berlin. It feels appropriate to ask: with hindsight, would he have still walked away? 'There is a whole life I would have missed out on,' he says. 'Working with all these other artists and making my own music. If I had to do it again would I do the same thing? Absolutely. Because I didn't walk away from anything – I walked towards something.'
The Guardian
6 days ago
- The Guardian
‘I knew it would happen for Bruce': David Sancious on walking away from Springsteen's E Street Band
It was a late spring night in 1971 and David Sancious had walked from his home on E Street in Belmar, New Jersey to the Upstage club in Asbury Park. He was 17 and he had been playing piano and guitar with local bands for four years. 'I had walked to the Upstage because I wanted to play,' he says, 'and as I'm coming in I see Garry Tallent, a bass player who I already knew from other gigs.' Tallent was with a fellow New Jersey musician, a 21-year-old guitarist called Bruce Springsteen, 'the local guitar hero', says Sancious, 'very famous locally.' Springsteen told Sancious he was having a jam session and invited him to play. 'I said: 'Absolutely.'' The band played until 5am. As they were walking out of the club, Springsteen told Sancious he was breaking up his current band Steel Mill to form a new one: would he be interested in joining? Sancious said yes. He went on to record with Springsteen on his first three albums, but left the group before Born to Run transformed Springsteen and his bandmates into superstars. As that album approaches its 50th anniversary next month, I have wondered whether Sancious regrets walking away. He was five years old when his family moved into 1105 E Street in Belmar. The previous owners had left their piano in the house. 'The day we moved in, my mum sat down and started playing Chopin and Beethoven,' he says. 'It blew my mind.' Sancious started playing piano and later guitar and was in local bands in his early teens, giving illegal underage performances at local bars. 'The police used to raid these places and card everyone,' he says. 'One night I'm on stage with Bruce and the cops are hanging out at the front door.' The band hatched a plan to get Sancious off stage, sandwiched between Springsteen, saxophonist Clarence Clemons and two others. 'I was in the middle moving slowly, trying not to draw any attention.' Sancious and his bandmates sometimes rehearsed in his mother's garage, but mostly in a surfboard factory owned by an early manager of Springsteen's. 'You don't know enough to be self-conscious because you haven't had that much experience yet,' he says about those early days. Sancious contributed keyboards, piano and delicate jazz textures that enriched the early E Street sound on songs such as New York City Serenade and Incident on 57th Street. 'The thing about Bruce is that musically he was always open to a good idea. If I came up with a certain chord or inversion, he was very open to that.' Around 1974, Sancious and Springsteen were back in Belmar, by Sancious's childhood home. 'We were coming home from somewhere,' he says, 'turning on to E Street from 12th Avenue. There were these white obelisks with the street names painted on them. Bruce saw it and just said, 'E Street … E Street Band.'' How did it feel to have his address inspire this iconic band name? 'Pretty cool – quite an honour.' Sancious worked on Springsteen's debut Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ and its followup The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, and also toured with the band. 'We didn't have private planes back then,' he says. 'We had a station wagon, three of the guys in the front and three in the back. You're doing everything with these people. Eating, laughing, crying with them if something really bad happens. It's a great life.' He was the first Black member of what became the E Street Band – Clemons joined shortly after. 'You are constantly, completely, 100% aware of being Black – full stop – in any situation,' he says. He recalls one incident. 'I was at the beach and there were two guys making threatening gestures and saying inappropriate racial stuff. Clarence comes along and sees what's going on. He sat down right next to me and then Bruce comes walking by. Bruce found a piece of driftwood and he kept hitting it in his hand like he was saying: 'I'm not going to let you hurt our friend.'' Sancious continued playing with Springsteen but during breaks from touring he was working on his own music. When CBS heard his demo they offered him a three-year contract that would launch his solo career. It was an offer he couldn't refuse, and shortly after playing on a song for Springsteen's third album – a little number called Born to Run – Sancious left the E Street Band. How did it feel, I ask, to see Born to Run become a massive hit album, and Springsteen on the covers of Time and Newsweek simultaneously? 'I felt very happy for him, honestly,' he says. 'I knew it was going to happen for him.' How did he know? 'We did shows in Texas in 1974 and the crowd went nuts. We finished the show and the audience wouldn't leave. Bruce used to end the set with a song called For You that he would play by himself on piano and we would go off stage and watch. I remember standing there looking at him and thinking as soon as everybody finds out about this guy he's going to blow up. It's going to go crazy.' In 1975 came the release not only of Born to Run but also Sancious's first solo album Forest of Feelings – a fusion of jazz, rock, funk and classical that suggested he had travelled far from E Street. Of the numerous albums that followed, both solo and with his band Tone, the most successful 'got to No 78 in the Top 100 for one week. But my sense of self as an artist isn't diminished because I didn't sell a million records. That's a narrow definition of success and I don't resonate with that.' In the early 80s, Sancious paused making his own music. 'The phone kept ringing with artists asking me to go on tour,' he says. 'I toured with Peter Gabriel and then Sting and later Eric Clapton and Santana. They have more in common than you might think: none of them had a plan B, they all did it out of a love for music.' Sancious got to play the lead guitar riff to Clapton's Layla as well as the song's final piano coda when he toured with him – 'such a thrill because I love that song and I love his playing'. Sancious didn't return to the studio until 2000; he continues to record and tour today. He always remained in contact with Springsteen – he joined him on stage during the Human Rights Now! tour in 1988, and played on 1992's Human Touch album and 2019's Western Stars. He was part of the live band that backed Springsteen when he performed on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in November 2022. 'We love each other,' he says. 'We love working together and whenever the situation allows we do it and we get fantastic results to this day.' On the night I speak to Sancious, Springsteen and the E Street Band are on stage in front of 60,000 people in Berlin. It feels appropriate to ask: with hindsight, would he have still walked away? 'There is a whole life I would have missed out on,' he says. 'Working with all these other artists and making my own music. If I had to do it again would I do the same thing? Absolutely. Because I didn't walk away from anything – I walked towards something.'
Daily Record
12-07-2025
- Daily Record
Neil Young's Hyde Park show dramatically cut off as bosses pull the plug
The 79-year-old rocker was playing the gig in London Music executives had no choice but to pull the plug on Neil Young's Hyde Park gig as he was rocking out beyond his allotted time. The star was scheduled to wrap up at 10.20pm on Friday night, in line with a strict 10.30pm curfew enforced in the Royal park. However, the 79 year old was still belting out an extended rendition of Rockin' in the Free World at 10.32pm, prompting festival organisers to intervene. An insider revealed: "Neil and his band were having a great time and would have kept on going. There were at least three false endings to the song before festival bosses decided enough was enough. Neil and the band looked a bit puzzled when the power was cut but they are strict about these things - especially as it's a royal park." Westminster Council enforces a 10.30pm finish as part of their licensing conditions. There were some jeers from the crowd near the front when it became apparent that the power had been switched off. However, fans praised Friday night's performance, saying: "It was one of the all-time great BST shows. Neil completely rocked out the place." Hyde Park has seen high-profile curfew breaches in the past - most notably Bruce Springsteen in 2012, reports the Mirror. Sir Paul McCartney had joined Bruce and his E Street Band to perform Beatles classics I Saw Her Standing There and Twist and Shout. But as they prepared to start another song, their power was abruptly cut by the then-promoters of the Hard Rock Calling is managed by a different team. Steve Van Zandt, guitarist for the E Street Band, expressed his outrage at the "police state". Boris Johnson, who was Mayor of London at the time, described it as "an excessively efficacious decision". Bruce Springsteen saw the humorous side during his 2023 return to Hyde Park. While performing 'Glory Days' to a crowd of 65,000, he joked: "It's time to go home. I'm telling you, they are going to pull the f***ing plug again." The Mirror reported that to avoid breaching the 10.30pm curfew, Bruce's concert was scheduled to start at 7pm. The strategy by BST Hyde Park organisers was successful, with the concert concluding at 10pm. Neil Young's performance at his BST show occurred just a fortnight after his headline act on Glastonbury's Pyramid stage. BST Hyde Park review by Tom Bryant It would take some effort to eclipse what was a magical show on Worthy Farm two weeks ago. But as the sun set on W2, Neil Young did just that with a spell-binding performance for the ages. All the focus had been on Neil's Glastonbury show in the build up to his short European tour. Not least the controversy over whether he would allow the BBC to screen his Pyramid stage performance. But here in Hyde Park it was all about the music - and the 79-year-old rocker delivered with aplomb. There was no scrimping on a hits-packed set list including Old Man, Harvest Moon and the Needle and the Damage Done. There was even a rare outing for his 1970 hit After the Gold Rush which made its tour debut. Sat astride a piano, it was a moment of perfection and you could hear a pin drop in the hushed Royal park. Otherwise, the godfather of grunge was at his rocking best, his band generating an inordinate amount of noise as they jammed away into the night with a thrilling encore of Rockin' in the Free World. Until 10.32pm that is....
