Songs of true stories that happened to the songwriter(s)

"Gimme Three Steps" - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Ronnie Van Zant, when he was 18 with a fake id went to a bar and Rossington and Allen Collins waited for him in a truck, they were younger. Van Zant danced with a girl named Linda, who had a boyfriend that apparently disapproved. He came up to Ronnie and started reaching for something in his boot. Thinking it was a gun Ronnie said: "If you're going to shoot me it's going to be in the **bleep** or the elbows... just gimme a few steps and I'll be gone." He ran to the truck, and he, Rossington, and Collins wrote this song that night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SM3jgkChV6M 

Don't Stop Believin - Journey

This Hit for Journey was inspired by a conversation their keyboardist, Jonathan Cain, had with his father shortly after he moved to LA in hopes of landing a big break. "I said, 'Dad, should I just give up on this thing and come home? It seems like I might be pushing it back to Chicago.' 'No, no, don't come home. Stick to your guns. Don't stop believin'. I went, 'OK.'"

"Bridge" - Queensryche

Written by Chris Degarmo (lead guitarist). His father walked out on the family when he was young. Then he called him out of the blue after decades. Had a hard time dealing with that and wrote the song. 

  "Trying to mend a bridge that's been blown apart,
But you know you never built it dad."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxxrKSUkPQc 

"Badman's Song" - Tears for Fears with Oleta Adams --

Roland Orzabal wrote this when after a performance on tour the rest of the band and friends went to the rented party room in their hotel. Roland couldn't sleep cause the room was next to his. He didn't want to call that room to complain in case that really wasn't them. So, he listened with his ear to the wall. Many were all complaining about him (Roland). He wrote this song in response. It wasn't originally a duet, but Oleta Adams agreed to sing on the album, so it was reworked. She also plays piano on the track.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9wK1LBxZZQ 

Part of the lyrics:

"Heard every word that was said that night
When the light of the world put the world to right
Well here's to the boys back in 628
Where an ear to the wall was a twist of fate
I will shine a blinding light
Through those hearts as black as night
Sticks and stones may break my bones
But as least the seeds of love will be sown"

The Prophet’s Song - Queen

Written by Guitarist Brian May about a dream he had about a Noah-esque flood.

"Come Monday" - Jimmy Buffett ---- Written for/about Jane Slagsvol (was to be his wife) who he missed while touring. They were broke when they made this video. Monday's were when he usually could get home from the tours and most people were going to work.
This video has an intro of Buffet in his later years telling about the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKGw_hrlaOY 

Dealin' with the Devil-Eddy Raven..

A well written and honest story of his own battle with inner demons and his victory over them with the help of his wonderful wife..

"John Lennon's Guitar" - Barclay James Harvest

- Written by the band's guitarist/vocalist John Lees - When they were recording "Galadriel" in 1971, he got to play the Gibson Epiphone Casino that was played by Lennon that was used in the Beatles last performance in 1969. This is the story of that experience (written for an 1990 ablum) and in the song he says the Beatles broke up right after that performance. Great solo. (The band was founded in 1966).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oODvluIPKyI 

@BeatleloverKT  --- You should enjoy the above. But I think you will get a kick out of this:

"Titles" -  Barclay James Harvest

- Written by the band's guitarist/vocalist John Lees - The song is made up entirely of Beatles song titles.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRS10BeQOz0 

I'm not in love - 10cc

Songwriter Eric Stewart says,
"I met this gorgeous girl called Gloria at Halifax town hall. I was 18. She was 16. Three years later, we got married. A few years after that, Gloria told me: 'You don't say 'I love you' much anymore.' I told her that, if I said it all the time, it would sound glib. But I started wondering how I could say it without using those actual words. So 'I'm not in love' became a rhetorical conversation with myself – and then a song."

Homeward Bound  -  S & G

Paul Simon wrote this when he lived in England. He was literally sitting at the train station waiting for the train back home to Brighton when he wrote it. But on a deeper level he was longing for home back in America.