The best songs named after women

"Alison" is the first track off Costello's album "My Aim Is True," which takes its title from the song's chorus. It never made the charts in America, although Linda Ronstadt's subsequent cover version did. (Costello gave the proceeds from the cover version to the African National Congress, after Ronstadt defied the apartheid boycott and performed in South Africa.) While coy about the song's meaning over the years, except to say it was about "disappointing someone," Costello revealed in his 2015 autobiography that he'd been inspired by "a beautiful checkout girl" with "a face for which a ship might have once been named." It's not a coincidence that the name Alison peaked in popularity in the decade after this song came out. Twelve years later Costello wrote "Veronica" with Paul McCartney, a song about Costello's grandmother suffering from Alzheimer's that manages to remain "defiant and happy."

Once "Born To Run" cemented Bruce Springsteen as a rock superstar, radio stations started to discover "Rosalita "Come Out Tonight)," an epic seven-minute anthem off "The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle." It's even longer in live performances, where it's one of Springsteen's most popular numbers. It's a simple story about a girl he loves and her disapproving parents, but it's surprisingly poetic while being an outright jam. It's no wonder the video features waves of female fans rushing the stage trying to get at the Boss.

"Good Golly, Miss Molly" is a rock 'n' roll classic that was subsequently covered by hundreds of artists, but no one can match the vocals and piano playing of the Little Richard original. "Miss Molly" is one of many Little Richard songs that could have made this list, along with "Jenny Jenny," "Long Tall Sally" and "Lucille," but that's to be expected from the man who invented rock 'n' roll. It's also fairly salacious for the mid-'50s, but we applaud Miss Molly for her sex-positive feminism and owning her love of balling.

"Black Betty" was originally recorded by Lead Belly, but the biggest hit came from the member of Ram Jam in 1977. (Check out that mullet.) Their version rocks harder than Lead Belly's, though to be fair, he didn't have access to an electric guitar in 1939. The "Betty" of the title could refer to a gun, a whip or even a bottle of whiskey, as the tune is an old African-American work song. Nowadays, it's more often used to pump up the crowd at a sporting event, and no one seems to care exactly what Black Betty is, as long as it keeps rocking. 

"Billie Jean" was a smash hit off Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album and is a bass-driven song about a woman claiming MJ is the father of her baby. Inspired by groupies' claims about his older brothers in the Jackson Five, as well as letters Jackson received from a disturbed fan, the song's most memorable performance came in the "Motown 25" special in 1982, where Jackson debuted the famous moon walk. It still sounds like nothing else, thanks in part to production elements like a customized drum platform and Jackson singing backup vocals through a long cardboard tube.

"Jolene" is a haunting song by Dolly Parton, imploring a woman to "please don't take my man." Parton says the song was inspired by a bank clerk flirting with her new husband, although the song is named after a young fan who came to visit Parton back stage. The intensity of the song, the repetition of the lyrics and the universal feeling of inadequacy it inspires has helped make this song such a lasting classic. After all, if someone can steal away Dolly Parton's partner, it could happen to any of us.

"My Sharona" was the debut single from The Knack that became the No. 1 song of 1979 and then got a second life after its appearance on the soundtrack to "Reality Bites" — Winona Ryder and Janeane Garofalo dance to the song in a convenience store. It makes the list because of the killer guitar solo in the middle, although we're not thrilled that it was written about the lead singer's 17-year-old girlfriend.

We are going with the original, Derek and the Dominos version of "Layla" rather than the Eric Clapton "Unplugged" version, thanks to the otherworldly Duane Allman slide guitar solo and the piano coda, memorably used in "Goodfellas" to underscore a montage of Lufthansa Heist murders. Clapton was inspired by a 12th century Persian love poem, "The Story of Layla and Majnun" as well as his unrequited love for George Harrison's then-wife, Patti Boyd. Boyd eventually left Harrison for Clapton, proving that this song is so powerful that it can make a woman break up with a Beatle.

Keith Richards wrote "Ruby Tuesday" about his girlfriend Linda Keith, who left him for Jimi Hendrix. Honestly, he shouldn't have been dating a girl named Keith anyway. The song has a beautiful piano intro and is one of the few rock songs with a memorable part played by the recorder. The song also inspired the name of the fast casual chain of restaurants of the same name, which to our knowledge has no association with the Stones or Hendrix.

"Rosa Parks" is an insanely catchy OutKast track — a party jam incongruously named after a civil rights activist. It was the lead single from the album "Aquemini," inescapable on the radio in the summer of 1998 and features a killer harmonica solo from Andre 3000's stepdad, Pastor Robert Hodo. Also, it has little to do with the actual Rosa Parks, besides the refrain "Everybody move to the back of the bus." Parks sued because of her objection to the song's vulgar language and the use of her name without permission, and the case was eventually settled out of court. Memorably, her lawsuit (Parks v. LaFace Records) summarizes the song's refrain of "We the type of people make the club get crunk" as "OutKast is the type of group to make the clubs get hyped-up/excited."

Van Morrison wrote "Gloria" when he was just 18 years old. The deceptively simple three-chord melody means that it's easy to play, so hundreds of musicians have covered it over the years, including Bill Murray. (He says it's "the one song I can play on guitar.") Morrison's ad-libbing of lyrics meant live versions of the song could stretch to 20 minutes. And it's easy to spell, too: G-L-O-R-I-A, Gloria!

"Lola" was a giant, career-saving hit for the Kinks, inspired either by a night the band's manager spent dancing with a transvestite in Paris or drummer Mick Avory's affinity for the transvestite bars of West London. Although controversial at the time, the song is surprisingly open-minded for 1970 and unstoppably catchy with a great guitar riff. For those who are more into songs set in the Dagobah system, "Star Wars" enthusiast Weird Al Yankovic parodied the song a decade later as "Yoda."

"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" narrowly edges out "Eleanor Rigby," "Michelle" and "Sexy Sadie" for the best Beatles song named after a woman. Despite the initials in the titles ad all the psychedelic imagery — tangerine trees, marmalade skies, rocking horse people eating marshmallow pies — the band always insisted that it wasn't intentionally a reference to LSD. (Though Paul McCartney has allowed that the song may have been inspired by some chemical experiences.) Instead, it's based on a picture Julian Lennon drew of a classmate named Lucy. The whole thing has an "Alice In Wonderland" vibe, and more than any other song, "Lucy" defines the futuristic sound of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." There's an excellent cover version by Elton John and an embarrassing cover version by William Shatner as well.

Sting wrote the song "Roxanne" about falling in love with a prostitute and took the title from the name of a character from "Cyrano de Bergerac." It's The Police's first big hit and a song Sting plays at nearly all of his concerts to this day. It stands out because of its striking guitar parts, the tango rhythm and the moment at the beginning of the recording when Sting accidentally sits on a keyboard. The liner notes subsequently credited him with playing "butt piano." 

John Fogerty wrote "Proud Mary" two days after being discharged from the National Guard, which is apparently the good job in the city he leaves at the beginning of the song. It's a fantasy of escaping the toil of work for a redemptive life of "rollin' on the river," with an immediately memorable chord progression at the beginning that Creedence Clearwater Revival likened to Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony." There's also an excellent cover version by Ike & Tina Turner, wherein they promise to start off "nice and easy" and finish "nice and rough." Honorable mention goes to Creedence's "Suzie Q," memorably featured in "Apocalypse Now."

Jimi Hendrix wrote "The Wind Cries Mary" after an argument over lumpy mashed potatoes with his girlfriend Kathy Mary Etchingham, and he recorded it in 20 minutes (after recording "Fire," which was also about Etchingham). It's a melancholy song about heartbreak and loneliness, full of poetic imagery and Hendrix's unparalleled guitar work. Etchingham eventually came back, loved the song and presumably started making smoother potatoes.

"Mustang Sally" tells the story of a sugar daddy whose gift of a brand-new 1965 Mustang backfires on him, as now all Sally wants to do is "ride around" and "run all over town." Eventually he threatens to "put your flat feet on the ground." It's a funky soul jam, especially with the backing vocal chorus of "Ride, Sally, Ride," and it was written by Sir Mack Rice. He was inspired by Della Reese buying a car for her drummer, who wanted a Mustang rather than a Lincoln. Maybe it should have been "Mustang Sal"?

"Barbara Ann" is a Beach Boys song, but the lead vocal is shared by Brian Wilson and Dean Torrence of Jan & Dean. Originally it was done by The Regents, but the Beach Boys had the monster hit. It's pretty simple: It's about a girl named Barbara Ann, there's a dance, they think they'll take a chance and rocking and reeling ensues. The recording does sound like it happens at a party, with a lot of messing around and sound effects. It's so simple that the Beach Boys didn't want to release the single, but Capitol Records overruled them. There's a wildly entertaining cover version by The Who, devoted to drummer Keith Moon's ambitious if limited vocal and Pete Townshend shredding on guitar.

Stevie Nicks wrote "Rhiannon" after reading a novel where a woman named Branwen was possessed by the spirit of a woman named Rhiannon. Later, Nicks learned that Rhiannon was also a Welsh goddess of fertility, and she began introducing the song at concerts by saying, "This song is about a Welsh witch." The song helped establish the lasting image of Nicks, who continued to explore the ideas of mythology and the occult, and whose on-stage look of all-black outfits and flowing scarves and shawls  were directly inspired by "Rhiannon." She'd sometimes sing it with such passion that she'd blow out her voice and have to cancel shows.

"Mary Jane's Last Dance" won Tom Petty a Video Music Award in 1994 for the video in which Petty played an extremely creepy mortician, possibly drawing upon his experience as a grave digger. The song was originally called "Indiana Girl," but Petty rewrote it as "Mary Jane's Last Dance," which could be a marijuana reference but could also simply be about a breakup — Petty was in the midst of splitting with his wife Jane. Later, Petty claims that Mary Jane is an older version of the girl from "American Girl."

Neil Diamond claims to have written "Sweet Caroline" after seeing a photo of Caroline Kennedy on a magazine cover riding a horse, and he performed it for her on her 50th birthday in 2007. He later backtracked and claimed it was about his second wife, Marcia, but her name didn't have enough syllables, so he went with "Caroline." The song had a rebirth when the Boston Red Sox started playing it in the eighth inning of every home game starting in 2002 despite there being no connection to baseball or the city of Boston — Diamond is from Brooklyn. 

"Come On Eileen" was a No. 1 hit for Dexys Midnight Runners, displacing one of the other songs on this list, "Billie Jean," from the top spot. It's a song about young love and Catholic repression in Ireland and features an unusual array of instruments, ranging from fiddle to accordion to saxophone. It's known for its distinctive-if-nonsensical refrain of "Too ra loo ra" and name checks 1950's sensation Johnnie Ray. They'd return to that theme with their next single, "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)."

"Brenda's Got A Baby" is the first solo single from Tupac Shakur, following his work with Digital Underground. It's about a teenage girl who gets pregnant, inspired by a news story about a pregnant 12-year-old who threw her baby in a trash compactor. It announced Tupac as a unique voice in hip-hop, both due to his flow — the song is basically one long, continuous verse — and his focus on inner-city life and the plight of people left without support from the government and society. 

Rod Stewart wrote "Maggie May" about the older woman who deflowered him at a jazz festival when he was 16, and while the song clocks in at nearly six minutes, Stewart claims the actual encounter lasted "only a few seconds."  It's a unique song in that it doesn't really have a chorus, and the primary instrument in the song is the mandolin. In fact, the mandolin part was so memorable that the musician playing on the track, Ray Jackson, later sued for a songwriting credit. Jackson didn't even get a regular credit on the album, whose liner notes simply said, "The mandolin was played by the mandolin player in Lindisfarne. The name slips my mind."

"Valerie" was originally written by Dave McCabe of The Zutons, about his friend, celebrity makeup artist Valerie Star, after her drunken driving arrest. Mark Ronson had Amy Winehouse do a cover of it for his album "Version," sped up and reworked as a soul jam. After Winehouse tragically died at age 27, Bruno Mars delivered an emotional version of "Valerie" during a tribute at the 2011 Video Music Awards.

Technically ineligible for the list, as "Sue" is a woman's name, but not in this song. The tune, written by children's author Shel Silverstein, was inspired by "A Christmas Story" author Jean Shepherd, another man who had to go through life saddled with a girl's name. Johnny Cash's version was recorded at San Quentin Prison, which was the first time he'd ever performed it. You can hear the authentic delight from Cash and the prisoners as they discover the tale of Sue and his confrontation with the "snake" father who doomed him with the name (and cuts off a piece of his ear!)