Hearts and Bones

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Love is a many splendored thing, it makes the world go round, it's all you need . . . or so pop songs would have you believe. But while artists are often content to peddle hallmark sentiments for mass consumption, love in their own lives is a far more complex thing, especially if the object of their desire is another celebrity. Here are twenty songs inspired by artists' famed paramours. Some blissfully offer their heart, while others warn, "You break it, you pay for it."

"Don't Speak"
No Doubt
1995
Inspired by Tony Kanal

It's one thing to voice your heartbreak to an ex-lover from afar, but it's quite another to do it when said lover stands next to you on stage almost every night. But that's what No Doubt's Gwen Stefani boldly did on this sticky ballad about her split with bassist Tony Kanal. Unlike many other breakup songs, there's no bitterness or desire for revenge in Stefani's lyrics, just pure hurt. If you can't feel it, you better make sure your heart's still beating.

"Harvest"
Neil Young
1972
Inspired by Carrie Snodgrass

Actress Carrie Snodgrass left Hollywood behind in the early Seventies to live with Neil Young. Their brief union bore a son and this song, the title track to Young's most commercially successful album. With its refrain, "Dream up, dream up/Let me fill your cup with the promise of a man," the song shows Young ready to get back in the saddle after a recent divorce. The two would go their separate ways soon after, but "Harvest" stands as a lovely ode to the promise of new love.

"03 Bonnie and Clyde"
Jay-Z and Beyonce Knowles
2002
Inspired by each other

In light of press reports about their impending marriage, it was inevitable that Jay and Beyonce would give a shout-out to their love. "'03 Bonnie & Clyde" is their defiant announcement, likening them to the depression-era outlaws and declaring their willingness to die for one another. Given the fleeting nature of celebrity couplings, Jay-Z answers the question of whether the great love affair will last by rapping, "Ain't nothin' gonna stop me and hon from rollin'."

"You're So Vain"
Carly Simon
1972
Inspired by Warren Beatty? Mick Jagger?

Recorded shortly after Simon's marriage to fellow singer-songwriter James Taylor in 1973, this song sparked controversy as to which of her famous ex-lovers -- Mick Jagger, Warren Beatty, Kris Kristofferson, Cat Stevens -- she wrote it about. Jagger often gets the nod, and the fact that he sings backup on the track seems like poetic justice. But many think the aloof Casanova watching himself gavotte is Beatty, or some composite of all of them. For thirty years now, Simon has refused to shed any light on the subject, preferring to leave "You're So Vain" as one of rock's great riddles.

"I'm a Fool to Want You"
Frank Sinatra
1951
Inspired by Ava Gardner

Sinatra's tumultuous relationship with film star Ava Gardner has been well documented, but if you want a first-person account, give this track a spin. In lyrics he penned himself, the Chairman bemoans Gardner's infidelities and his own inability to walk away from "A love that can't be true/A love that's there for others too." Frank would poignantly re-record the song shortly after their 1957 divorce, but it's this original version, recorded just before they wed, that is the sound of Frank's heart breaking.

"Cry Me a River"
Justin Timberlake
2002
Inspired by Britney Spears

In JT and Britney, the teen-pop set had their very own Frank and Ava. Their relationship played out in scandal rags, and their un-amicable breakup led to rumors of somebody cheating on somebody. Justin points the finger on this track from his solo debut, and he makes no bones about the chances for reconciliation: "Your bridges were burned/And now it's your turn to cry me a river." Timberlake has denied that the song is autobiographical, but the girl in the video who is subjected to a particularly cruel act of vengeance looks oddly familiar.

"Uptown Girl"
Billy Joel
1983
Inspired by Christie Brinkley

You didn't need a gossip columnist to tell you that Joel's "Uptown Girl" was inspired by the blue-collar singer's relationship with supermodel Christie Brinkley. Hollywood couldn't have scripted a better love story than Joel's musical tale about a lady from society's upper crust finding her love on the wrong side of town. The song gave Joel a Top Five hit and remained a potent totem of his love for Brinkley, as he had to drop it from his set list for a while after the couple's 1994 divorce.

"Hold On"
Lil' Kim
2000
Inspired by the Notorious B.I.G.

Obviously, the murder of Lil' Kim's collaborator and former lover left her with deep emotional scars. On this track, she pours out the pain of her loss and her frustration at the injustice of it all, while pushing herself to carry on. It's an about-face from her usual sex-centric material, but it's a moving testament to Biggie and it shows a vulnerable side of Kim that we rarely see.

"She Belongs to Me"
Bob Dylan
1964
Inspired by Joan Baez

Leave it to Dylan to invent the anti-love song. A far cry from the adolescent pop devotionals that populated radio play lists at the time, "She Belongs to Me" finds the singer lashing out at his lover. Despite its gentle melody, the song is filled with feelings of confusion and frustration, which Dylan expresses with his typical sardonic wit. Though he couched the subject of his ire in his trademark cryptic lyrics, it's pretty clear that the "artist" mentioned in the title was the then reigning queen of folk with whom he was having an affair.

"Breathe"
Faith Hill
1999
Inspired by Tim McGraw

There was a palpable emotional shift in Faith Hill's music once she married fellow country singer Tim McGraw. Songs about abuse and infidelity gave way to a new romanticism, and nowhere was that more evident than on this hit. Hill conveys the intimacy of lovemaking with a sensuousness few pop songs can match, and the "Breathe" heralded the dawning of a new day in both her personal life and her career.

"Angie"
The Rolling Stones
1973
Inspired by Angela Bowie

This Stones nugget has long been rumored to be about an alleged affair between Mick Jagger and David Bowie's wife, Angela. Of course, some say that rumor was started by Angela herself. Nonetheless, the song, which voices a lover's growing dissatisfaction with some kind of romantic arrangement, has become synonymous with Bowie's bisexual bride, and the mythology surrounding it certainly didn't impede its rise to the top of the charts.

"Rosanna"
Toto
1982
Inspired by Rosanna Arquette

Actress Rosanna Arquette became the subject of song when she dated Toto's Steve Lukather. The vocalist/guitarist is clearly as smitten as a schoolboy on this track, but relationship wouldn't last, and by Toto's next album Lukather was writing songs about someone named "Carmen." In the end, the band got far more out of the relationship with Arquette, with "Rosanna" winning a clutch of Grammys, including "Record of the Year."

"Carrie-Anne"
The Hollies
1967
Inspired by Marianne Faithfull

Despite its title, this song was actually Graham Nash's lovelorn ode to Marianne Faithfull, the siren of swinging London. In the end, Nash was too bashful to sing the lyrics "Hey Marianne" -- perhaps because Faithfull was then carrying on with Mick Jagger -- so he disguised his intent. With its sing-song melody and lyrics about schoolyard romance, the song has all the innocent charm of a note being passed in class.

"Maria Bartiromo"
Joey Ramone
2001
Inspired by Maria Bartiromo

Joey Ramone was no loverman. It's no surprise, then, that one of his only love songs would reflect his own awkward nerdiness. A stockmarket enthusiast, Ramone penned his paean CNBC's gorgeous anchor after watching her business reports. He doesn't bother with cliched romantic endearments; Yahoo, Amazon, Intel . . . these are the sweet nothings he intones to Maria. But if it appears he's only interested in her for her stock reports, his jubilant "she's really outta sight" reveals where his heart really lies.

"When Did You Stop Loving Me, When Did I Stop Loving You"
Marvin Gaye
1978
Inspired by Anna Gordy

When Anna Gordy, sister of Motown mogul Barry Gordy, divorced Marvin Gaye, she was awarded a percentage of the royalties for his next album. Rather than low-ball her by producing a sub-par record, Gaye produced a double-album that told the story of their marriage's dissolution in all its brutal detail. The centerpiece of the wryly titled Here, My Dear is this track, wherein Marvin lays his soul bare in lyrics like "If you ever loved me with all your heart/You'd never take a million dollars to part."

"We Can Make It"
George Jones
1972
Inspired by Tammy Wynette

George and Tammy's storied relationship is full of tales of drunkenness and abuse, but this track reveals it wasn't always so dire. Written to celebrate the duo's marriage, the track bursts with optimism, its title a declaration of steely perseverance. But their conviction couldn't hold in the face of Jones' drinking and an intrusive press. Within two years the couple would be divorced, and Jones would release "The Grand Tour," one of the most heartrending accounts of a broken marriage ever recorded.

"Layla"
Derek and the Dominoes
1970
Inspired by Patti Harrison

If a love song's ultimate goal is emotional catharsis for the singer, then "Layla" must stand at the acme of the form. By now, virtually everyone knows the story: Eric Clapton wrote the song as a veiled proclamation of love for his best friend George Harrison's wife Patti. But knowing this only heightens the intense anguish that pulses through every note and lyric as Clapton tries to come to grips with his forbidden feelings. Thirty-plus years later, "Layla" remains rock's most well-known love letter.

"Stevie"
Brian Wilson
Circa late Seventies
Inspired by Stevie Nicks?

Brother Dennis had a romantic dalliance with Christine McVie, but he may not have been the only Wilson boy with a thing for a Fleetwood Mac beauty. It's been speculated that this Wilson solo outtake was written in admiration of Stevie Nicks. Full of vintage Brian romanticism -- "I have adored you for so long/And the vibrations are so strong" -- "Stevie" finds Wilson typically wearing his boyish infatuation on his sleeve. We may never know the song's true origin, but Nicks seems like just the kind of California girl Brian would dream about.

"Birthday Song"
Ben Lee
1999
Inspired by Claire Danes

Originally titled "Claire's Birthday Song," Australian indie rocker Ben Lee gave this declaration of love as a gift to his then girlfriend, actress Claire Danes, on her twentieth B-day. Though he was still in his teens when he wrote it, Lee suffers no tongue-tied awkwardness here but gets right to the point in the opening verse: "Hey there, I said it/I'm in love with you." It's a sure bet the big-screen queen melted like butter.

"Hearts and Bones"
Paul Simon
1983
Inspired by Carrie Fisher

Obviously reeling from his divorce from actress Carrie Fisher, Simon wrote this examination of love. Struggling with the conflict between thought and emotion, he seems to find "the arc of a love affair" as perplexing as an SAT word problem. In the end, however, he unravels the equation: "You take two young bodies and twirl them into one/Their hearts and their bones, and they won't come undone."

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