Songs have a history; who wrote it, why, who "stole" it, what do the lyrics really mean, and are there any mondegreens? Here are anecdotes about a few of our 260 songs and links if you want to know more.

Mondegreen is a term applied to misheard song lyrics. It comes from the ballad The Bonny Earl o' Moray where the lyric "they have slain the Earl o' Moray and laid him on the green" was misheard as "they have slain the Earl o' Moray and Lady Mondegreen" ; resulting in two dead people. See The Bonnie Earl O’ Moray and mention of the American writer Sylvia Wright, who coined the term mondegreen, at the bottom of the article. Now, watch Peter Kay's hilarious compilation of mondegreens.

10 Jamaica Farewell. The lyrics were written by Lord Burgess (Irving Burgie) whose mother was from Barbados and his father was from Virginia.The term “Ackee” from the line “ackee, rice, saltfish is nice” refers to the fruit of a tropical tree indigenous to West Africa; taken to Jamaica in 1793. If properly prepared, the fruit is quite good and is a part of the national dish “ackee and saltfish”.

13 Waltzing Matilda The lyrics were written in 1895 by Australian poet Banjo Paterson, and were first published as sheet music in 1903. The title is Australian for walking through the country looking for work, with one's belongings in a bag carried over one’s back.

21 Wild Mountain Thyme or Will You Go Lassie Go was written by William McPeake from the famous McPeake family of musicians from Belfast and was first recorded by McPeake’s nephew, also named Francis McPeake, in 1957 and featured in the BBC series, As I Roved Out. If you want a lot of variations try Comparative Video 101. This includes the Corries, The Clancy Brothers, Dick Gaughan, The Byrds and even a Scottish rock-folk group The Silencers. Of all songs, this one probably has more word variations than any other. “I will build my love a bower” (summerhouse) is often “tower”. The flowers are heaped on it, in it or round it. The collecting of the thyme can be by pulling, plucking or picking. The third verse about his true love, in some versions it doesn’t matter if she can’t come / go, he’ll just find someone else. Another version, she, being his true love, if she can’t come / go then he won’t be able to find another. And if she be found or not, the next line can be “Where the wild mountain thyme grows…” or “To pull wild mountain thyme…”

49 Dirty Old Town – was written in 1949 by Ewan McColl and made popular by the Dubliners, the Spinners and the Pogues. The “smoky wind” was originally “Salford wind”, the town the song was written about. The town councillors objected and Ewan MacColl changed it to smoky. The line “Springs a girl in the streets at night” sometimes puts in an apostrophe, “Spring’s a girl”. Is it the name of the girl, or is it “Spring is a girl?

51 Boots of Spanish Leather reflects the period, after their turbulent four-year relationship, when Bob Dylan's girlfriend, Suze Rotolo 1943-2011 (the girl on the cover of the Freewheelin' album) was in Italy. They had lived together in an apartment when she was 18 and he was 20, before he was signed to Columbia Records. When he started to become famous, she was offered the chance to study in Italy, something she wanted to do since high school. Her mother wasn't fond of Bob and was pushing her to go and she feared if she didn't go she would regret it. She finally decided to go and it is described in her book A Freewheelin’ Time, publisher Aurum Press.

60 Streets of London by Ralph McTell, first recorded in 1969, was originally going to be “Streets of Paris”. The market he refers to in the song was the Surrey Street Market in Croydon. McTell had often observed an old man there picking through the papers looking for a grapefruit or a carrot.

61 You Ain’t Going Nowhere by Bob Dylan dates back to 1967. The lyrics are cryptic and evolved across different recordings and concerts. Down the bottom of this page from Song Meanings, there are various stories about the meaning of the lyrics, but who knows - it's art.

63 Artcan by CUG founding member Eddie Cook, is short for Art Canterbury and tells the story of art and artists in Canterbury and New Zealand, from the early days to recent times. It points to the things that make New Zealand art.

65 Black Velvet Band, a traditional folk song about transportation of British criminals to Van Diemans Land (Tasmania), it was published as a broadside ballad by Swindells of Manchester some time between 1796 and 1853, and by H. Such of London sometime between 1863 and 1885. According to Wikipedia "(historic) versions of the song have been collected from Dorset, Co. Durham, Hampshire, London, Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex, Isles of Scilly, and Worcestershire in England, from Belfast, County Antrim, and County Cork in Ireland, from Western Australia, Queensland, and New South Wales in Australia and from Ontario, Canada, and Maine, USA. The earliest collected version listed was collected by George Gardiner from Alfred Goodyear of Axford, Hampshire, England in July 1907... Some of the earliest versions mention the Old Bailey and London Town."

77 Wagon Wheel – describes a hitchhiking journey south along the eastern coast of the United States. Secor's lyrics show a lack of knowledge of geography, however, as they state "he's a-heading west from the Cumberland Gap to Johnson City, Tennessee", whereas Johnson City is actually about 100 miles southeast of the Cumberland Gap. This mistake is also repeated in Darius Rucker's cover version of the song, but is corrected in Jason Lee Wilson's cover to "he's a heading west to the Cumberland Gap from Johnson City, Tennessee"; on his 2010 Big Gun album.

114 Nancy Mulligan tells the story of Ed Sheeran's grandparents, William Sheeran, a Protestant from Belfast, Northern Ireland and Anne Mulligan, a Catholic from Republic of Ireland, who fell in love during the Second World War and got married at the Wexford border. Sheeran said: "They got engaged and no one turned up at their wedding. He stole all the gold teeth in his dental surgery and melted them down into a wedding ring, and they wore borrowed clothes to get married, and just basically have this kind of Romeo and Juliet romance, which is like the most romantic thing. So I thought I'd write a song about it and make it a jig."

The music from Nancy Mulligan is from the song Star of The County Down by Cathal McGarvey (1866-1927). The tune is similar to several other works, especially that of the English Dives and Lazarus, also called Kingsfold, well known from several popular hymns. The melody was also used in an Irish folk song called My Love Nell, which tells the story of a young man who courts a girl but loses her when she emigrates to America.

120 Love Potion No. 9 In one recorded version of the ending of the song, The Clovers used the alternative lyrics: I had so much fun that I'm going back again, I wonder what'll happen with Love Potion Number Ten?

The “kissing a cop” lyric led to the song being banned by some radio stations. The lyrics also have the narrator describe himself as being a flop with chicks since 1956; later recordings of the song have often changed the year to suit the year of recording or the age of the performer. A notable exception is the Australian alternative rock band Tlot Tlot, in their recording, leave the year in the song as 1956. It also uses the alternative Love Potion No. 10 lyrics.

132 The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down was written by Canadian Robbie Robertson (onetime lead guitarist with Bob Dylan's backing band), with help from the Band's drummer Arkansas-born Levon Helm who sang the lead vocals, and was recorded by The Band in 1969. A mainstay of the Band's repertoire, the song was included in every compilation covering the Band's recording. Helm refused to play the song after 1976 and keyboardist Garth Hudson said this refusal was due to Helm's dislike of Joan Baez's 1971 cover version, which scored higher in the charts. Baez's version included some different lyrics and she later explained that she learned the lyrics from The Band's album and misheard several of them. The song's opening stanza refers to George Stoneman's raid behind Confederate lines, destroying the Richmond and Danville Railroad (supplying the Confederate Army at Petersburg) near the end of the Civil War. The lyric "Here comes the Robert E Lee" refers to the steamboat by that name.

138 Jolene was inspired, according to Parton, by a red-headed bank clerk who flirted with her husband Carl Dean at his local bank branch around the time they were newly married. In an interview, she also revealed that Jolene’s name and appearance are based on that of a young fan who came on stage for her autograph.

157 Bad, Bad Leroy Brown is similar to Croce’s earlier song “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim“. During the lyrics about the fight, some background voices are heard quietly speaking. The song refers to a custom Continental and an El Dorado, both of which were former luxury American car models (Lincoln and Cadillac, respectively).

167 Colours was probably inspired by the old folk song “Black is the Colour of My True Love’s Hair” hence the opening line “Yellow is the colour…”. In concert Donovan would often sing “Yellow is the colour of my true love’s teeth. But it doesn’t matter much to me!”
See a Youtube of Joan Baez singing – Black is the Colour.

203 The Carnival is Over is based on a Russian folk song from about 1883, which Tom Springfield (Dusty's older brother) sang with the 'Russian choir' while at 'spy school' in the UK about 1953. At its 1965 sales peak, the single was selling 93,000 copies per day in the UK with total sales of at least 1.4 million in the UK alone. After the song's success, the band customarily closed their concerts with it.

331 The Fields of Athenry sounds like a traditional Irish ballad, but it isn't. Written in 1979 by Pete St John, it is based on real events and has become a widely known popular anthem for Irish sports supporters. St John was born in Dublin in 1932, trained as an electrician, emigrated to Canada before returning to Ireland in the 1970s. The Trevelyan in the lyrics was Edward Trevelyan, a senior English civil servant at the time of the potato famine, when in Ireland "a million people starved to death, as the Irish watched with increasing fury as boatloads of homegrown oats and grain departed from their shores for shipment to England. Food riots erupted in ports such as Youghal, near Cork, where people tried unsuccessfully to confiscate a boatload of oats. At Dungarvan, in County Waterford, British troops were pelted with stones as they shot into the crowd, killing at least two people and wounding several othersem>".