The strange true stories behind famous songs

Song Stories is a WikiDrift series about famous songs and the strange things behind them: the rumours, the recording accidents, the lawsuits and the government files. Each story is written from Wikipedia’s articles on the song and the people who made it, lists its sources at the end, and sets out which of the popular myths hold up.

When a story leaves you with a question, ask it. Every answer on WikiDrift is written from Wikipedia, with each claim linked to its source.

Eagles · 1976 What does Hotel California really mean? Not a real hotel, not Satanism: the Eagles say Hotel California is about the dark side of the American dream. Its lyrics, myths and court case, explained. 7 min read The Police · 1983 Is Every Breath You Take really about a stalker? Couples dance to it at weddings, but Sting calls Every Breath You Take “very, very sinister and ugly”. How it was written, who made the riff, and who got paid. 6 min read The Kingsmen · 1963 Louie Louie: the song the FBI spent two years trying to understand A three-chord party song about a sailor missing his girl became the subject of an FBI obscenity investigation, because nobody could make out the words. 2 min read

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