Eye On You

I watch you on the tv–you’re with me every place I go
I’m caught up in the daydream–I’m into everyone you know
Turn on the action–grab every minute
Learn every lesson–then live to regret it
I’m so distracted–my mind’s disengaged
Sharin’ the moments when you’re all the rage

I got my eyes on you
Got my eye on you… – Eye On You performed by Billy Squier

The idea for Eye On You came from Def Leppard’s groupie pass (shown).  It actually became quite the theme for cover art for other artists as well, other’s I wrote songs for.

It was used as cover art for the movie ’90 Frankenstein Unbound which Michael Hutchence of INXS had a small role as poet Percy Bysshe Shelley.  Hutch knew I was a Shelley fan and actually have a collection of his poetry which was collected by his wife Mary Shelley author of the original Frankenstein.

Def Leppard used the eye on the cover art for their ’92 Adrenalize album.  

Nickelback used it on the cover art for their 2001 album Silver Side Up which includes songs I wrote.

And, the band Skillet’s 2009 album which includes the song “Awake and Alive” which I wrote.  I named the band Skillet for that oh, so southern of accessories which comes in hand when you need to beat some lousy jerk over the head with it.  Next time I promise to make sure there is not hot oil in it.

Kurt Cobain’s Down Syndrome Girl

I have mentioned in “About A Girl” above that my grandfather, Miles Edward, was an Evangelist who started his ministry in the 1930’s and his name was inspiration for Edward Lewis’ character name in the movie Pretty Woman.  Lewis being his grandmother’s maiden name.    

Courtney Love claims her birthday is the same day as my grandparents wedding anniversary of July 9th and Trent Reznor claims his grandmother’s name is the same as mine, Clara.   

Russell Brand’s stage name is for the Russell Brand Athletic wear in Alexander City, Alabama where my grandfather married his 2nd wife in October ’84 after Clara passed away in October ’83. 

These, of course, are my adopted grandparents (mother’s side).  I was adopted at the age of 6 months old after having been withheld from adoption by physicians who were concerned about my physical appearance and the possibility of having been born with Down Syndrome.  Kurt Cobain wrote a ficticious story about me in his journal under the title Down Syndrome Girl.  

In 1974, the adoption agency sent my parents a family history which Mom kept in my baby book and Kurt and Joe read.  My background/family history was used as inspiration for background for future artists (including Amy Lynn Hartzler and Courtney Love) and for movies.  One such movie was Susan Sarandon’s 2006 movie Irresistible set in Australia and also starring Sam Neill.  Sam Neill starred in the ’89 movie Dead Calm with Nicole Kidman who went on to marry Tom Cruise and Billy Zane who also starred in the ’97 movie Titanic. 

“It’s bigger than Germany!” Love Bites, Def Leppard, was inspired by the fact according to my family history I am of English and German descent.

Lacrymosa Origin

 I can’t change who I am.

Not this time, I won’t lie to keep you near me.

And in this short life, there’s no time to waste on giving up.

My love wasn’t enough.

As usual, I used a Def Leppard song in the lyrics.  Wasted is a song from their ’79 debut album On Through The Night.  The lyrics were a message to someone who I truly never got over having feelings for. 

Kurt Cobain’s friends in the band The Melvins had just released a song by the name Lacrimosa on their Stag album (released in ’96).  This is where the idea for the title and to use Mozart’s movement from the Requim Mass in D minor came from after I wrote the lyrics.

Lithium is My Chemical Romance

“Love is like a bomb” – Pour Some Sugar On Me, Def Leppard

In 1958, Scientist developed a cheap H-Bomb using Lithium, atomic #3.  

In 1959, musical humorist, Tom Lehrer, recites the names of all the chemicals known at the time, sung to the tune of the Major-General’s Song from The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan.  I could nearly sing the whole song as a kid and recite each chemical with it’s atomic number.  

PRETTY WOMAN QUOTE: 

Old Lady at Opera: Did you like the opera, dear?

Vivian: It was so good, I almost peed my pants

Edward Lewis:  She said she liked it better than Pirates of Penzance

The character Edward Lewis was named for my grandfather, who started his ministry in Georgia the 1930’s, his middle name was Edward and his grandmother’s maiden name was Lewis.  The character Vivian for Vivian Leigh who starred in A Street Car Named Desire (which inspired Heart Shaped Box) and as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind (which partly was my inspiration for the Goth meets Scarlett look for Amy Lynn Hartzler).  Michael Hutchence’s brother’s name is Rhett.  

My grandfather’s first name was Miles and in Kurt Cobain’s journal under the title Uncertainty wrote “I wish someone could explain to me why exactly I have no desire to learn anymore, why I used to have so much energy, and the need to search for Miles…” 

When Michael Jackson brought Madonna to meet me and talk about the songs, we also discussed her fashion.  I had mentioned after seeing her first music video for “Everybody” I was concerned her fashion did not only match her voice, sound, or dance style, but also did not have national appeal for girls who would want to imitate her.  I was a fan of Prince’s girl group Vanity 6 and the Goth girl at heart loved Billy Idol’s music video for the ’82 White Wedding. 

I told her about an article titled “Boy’s Toy turns out to be a bomb” in Oxford, Alabama and bombs being a “theme” of some sort in my songs.  At first we discussed making a necklace that said Boy Toy.  Instead we decided it would not be large enough and talked about it being a belt.  She agreed to think about it.

Even in the best families bad things happen.  My adopted father had been the one who had hoped for stardom as an artist.  He went to college on a music scholarship playing the drums and had been in a jazz band.  His true wish, which we all thought was silly, had been to become the next Pat Boone.  Over the years he seemed to disappear more and more into a bottle of vodka as reality set in on him and the most he could hope for was to lead the service at church in song.  Most of the members at church did not notice his behavior.  Finally, my parents divorced in the Spring of 1983 before the Def Leppard concert in May. 

While scouring news articles for ideas to write songs I came across one mentioning Lithium as a way to reduce alcohol craving.  I was interested in the study for my dad.       

 All these things inspired the idea for the songs Lithium both performed by Nirvana and by Evanescence.  

I also tended to use the number 3 in songs, actually I liked using numbers in songs, eventually even making up the song “3” performed by Britney Spears.

Yes, I even named the band My Chemical Romance.

Oh! Pretty Woman

In ’82 Van Halen released a cover of Roy Orbison’s song Oh!, Pretty Woman on their Diver Down album.  This is one album my brother had and I loved.  My favorites being the cover of Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now) and Hang ‘Em High.  But, my all time favorite cover of Van Halen’s is Ice Cream Man, which Tommy Lee seemed to enjoy whenever I would sing it. 

Joe Elliott started paperwork getting a passport for me in the summer of ’83.  It was unknown to me his intentions, but when I returned from my grandmother’s funeral, my adopted mother’s mother, in Georgia the first of Oct ’83 everyone seemed to be upset about my disappearance. 

I told them of my grandmother’s long battle with Leukemia which she had been in remission with for years.  Joe wanted to do a movie about it, knowing I had also been babysitting off and on during the summer for a little girl in remission from Leukemia.  Kurt Cobain spoke up knowing my cousin had Type 1 Diabetes and worked for Xerox.  Of course, Kurt was a walking Encyclopedia of music and knew that Zerox was an early Adam & The Ants song.  There is actually an early home movie of Kurt trying to tear up a copy machine.   http://youtu.be/NxS_55Ql1Ks  While discussing the idea Joe came up with the title naming it Steel Magnolias released in ’89.

My adopted father’s mother, Isabel, a redhead herself, once owned a  beauty shop named Belle’s House of Beauty in Texas.   The picture is of my brother getting his first haircut.  This is where they got the idea for the beauty shop in Steel Magnolias and also name the character Belle Marmillion.

Tom Cruise would go on to adopt a little girl with Nicole Kidman and name her Isabella.

Kurt Cobain later would talk about how Nirvana would practice above a beauty shop in the early years.  My grandmother’s birthday, February 24, also happened to be the day Kurt and Courtney got married in 1992.

(My grandmother’s Social Security Card application)

 Michael Jackson knew I loved the tv show Beauty and the Beast which ran from 1987 to 1990 starring “Linda Carroll” Hamilton (Courtney Love’s mother’s name is supposedly Linda Carroll) as Belle and Ron Perlman as the Beast Vincent.  Linda Hamilton is the ex-wife of film director James Cameron (this is important and will post about the development of Titanic later).  Disney put into production the development of Belle about this time and released the animated Beauty and the Beast in 1991. 

Sometime during all of this the actor Eric Roberts found out what was going on and invited to Alabama to meet me.  His motive was in looking for scripts for his sister, Julia, another redhead. 

Plans for a trip were rescheduled for the weekend before Halloween which fell on a Monday.  I didn’t know this would mean skipping a day of school.  They dressed me in a brunette wig and large sunglasses and we left on Joe’s private plane.  We arrived in Dublin and Joe took off through customs and the airport ahead of us being mobbed by paparazzi.  I heard Kurt ask if Joe had let them know he was arriving.  Joe gave a quick interview distracting them while we finished in customs then climbed into a Range Rover.  We climbed into the Range Rover parked behind his.

The home was large, but not quite what one would call a mansion by today’s standards.  It had a mortar and rock facade in a very European style.  Joe met us at the door and came up behind me putting his hands over my eyes leading me through the front hall into the main living area.  When he took his hands away I was staring at green rolling hills through a window that spanned the length of the room.  The window was made up of panes of beveled glass which obscured the view some.  I gasped as a white hairy beast rounded one of the green mounds charging toward the home.  At first I thought it was a horse.  A few seconds later this mud covered behemoth was sitting on the white marble in front of me.  This is when I realized it wasn’t a horse at all but a dog, a Great Pyrenees actually.

Development of the script for the ’90 movie Pretty Woman was well under way on this trip and changes were being made.  Joe decided to use Lauren Bacall’s dress in the 1944 film adaption of Ernest Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not as inspiration for the “hooker dress”.

Born on the Fourth of July !Because baby you’re a firework!

“I am your living dead. I am your Memorial Day on wheels. I am your Yankee Doodle Dandy.  Your John Wayne come home.  Your Fourth of July firecracker exploding in the grave.” –  Former U.S. Marine Sergeant Ron Kovic, July 16, 1976

I really have nothing to say about the ’89 movie Born on the Fourth of July inspired by the life of former U.S. Marine Sergeant and activist Ron Kovic, except that it is a brilliant movie beautifully portrayed by my friend Tom Cruise.

The articles about Kovic did inspired me to write the song “Firework” portrayed by another of my alter egos Katy Perry.  She was given the stage name for singer, songwriter and music producer Linda Perry who claims to have written songs for artists which I actually wrote.

 This is a part of the article which I quoted above and inspired the song Firework and also Living Dead Girl performed by Rob Zombie.  His stagename “Zombie” comes from Michael Jackson’s zombies in the music video for Thriller and Rob for my dad’s name Robert.

The story behind the song Dragula released in ’98 and performed by Zombie is actually true except that I had already used “monsters” in the song Imaginary.  For some reason I started watching reruns of The Munsters, I was still just a kid.  I did suggest the jesters in the music video because of Motley Crue and for Jester call name in Top Gun.  

“Dead I am the sky, watching angels cry”

“Angels cry” was a reference to the ’98 movie City of Angels which I wrote the song Uninvited performed by Alanis Morrissette.  I will talk about the inspiration behind the movie and the song later.

“Dead I am the pool, spreading from the fool”

The pool is a reference to Def Leppard’s ’81 album cover for High ‘n’ Dry.  Kurt Cobain used this as inspiration for Nirvana’s ’91 album cover for Nevermind.  The fool is a reference to Def Leppard’s song Foolin released on their ’83 album of Pyromania.

Broken Origin

The idea for the duet Broken came directly from the lyrics of one of my favorite Def Leppard’s songs, Bringin’ On Heartbreak.

Gypsy, sittin’ lookin’ pretty
The broken rose with laughin’ eyes
You’re a mystery, always runnin’ wild
Like a child without a home
You’re always searching, searching for a feeling
That it’s easy come and easy go  –  Bringin’ On The Heartbreak, Def Leppard

Even in the lyrics for Broken I make mention of another Def Leppard song, Photograph.

I wanted you to know I love the way you laugh
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain away
I keep your photograph and I know it serves me well
I wanna hold you high and steal your pain  –  Broken, Evanescence

This was not the only time I made reference to Def Leppard’s song Bringin’ On The Heartbreak, but also when I wrote Mystify for INXS

All veils and misty
Streets of blue
Almond looks
That chill divine
Some silken moment
Goes on forever
And we’re leaving broken hearts behind

Evanescence 2003 Mystery EP takes it’s name from lyrics in Def Leppard’s Bringin On The Heartbreak.  The EP  also takes it’s name from The Villa of Mysteries in Pompeii, Italy.

In 1978, The Pompeii exhibit was touring the U.S.  My parents took me to the exhibit at the Dallas Museum of Art when I was 10 years old. 

(The article to the right is a review of the exhibit in Chicago before it left for Dallas).

 I was fascinated by the exhibit and fell in love with the frescos in The Villa of Mysteries.  One particular fresco inspired Kurt Cobain’s winged mannequin on the In Utero tour.

The Firm

Top Gun was not the only movie that started being developed in ’83, but so was the ’93 movie The Firm.  I know, everyone believes it was a book published in ’91 by the Southern author John Grisham first and then was turned into a movie.   (Does anyone know bandmembers who say they are from Arkansas like Grisham? Evanescence sound familiar?)

Tom Cruise dropped his surname Mapother once he became a professional actor.  As some might not know, artists keep their press clippings.  

Some articles about a “credit attorney” from the Louisville, Kentucky firm Mapother & Mapother in a trial taking place in Washington (Kurt Cobain mentioned reading about it) kept popping up while searching for Mapother.  I even remember Tom saying he was related to them.  This may or may not be true. 

On The Firm movie soundtrack another connection to me and to Kurt Cobain was a song titled Never mind written by Harlen Howard and performed by Nanci Griffith 

The title to the book and film came from lyrics in Billy Squier’s song The Stroke, “You put your right hand out give a firm hand-shake”

Once the book/movie started taking shape I wrote the song Shakin’ Hands for my pet project Nickelback.

“Well she ain’t no Cinderella
When she’s getting undressed
‘Cause she rocks it like the naughty wicked witch of the west”

What inspired the lyrics happened to be when I met Michael Hutchence and INXS they told me Australia was called “Oz” for short.  I had also seen Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow in the ’78 film The Wiz.  It was about someone, but it was a man/artist and none I have mentioned in this particular post.  Actually, I take that back.  I watched and listened to how Joe Elliott of Def Leppard and others treated women which appalled me.  Some of the lyrics in my songs sound sexist, but it was actually me throwing their actions and even words back in their faces.  

I became pretty good at reversing sexes in songs too, except for one song I wrote for one of my alter ego’s, Rihanna, and they left the mistake in when she recorded it.  The song was S.O.S.

Rihanna was given the name for one of my favorite Stevie Nick’s song Rhiannon.  When writing for Rihanna I was listening to a lot of Bob Marley/Reggae at the time and was also inspired by early ’80s INXS New Wave/Ska sound.

You may be asking yourself why I referred to Rihanna as my alter ego.  I considered all the artists I wrote for, except the established artists, my alter egos.  All of the songs were written and perfected well before the artist who performed them was found or discovered.  Some where even groom, such as Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears.  The artists and the songs were all very much a personality and you will even find my strange sense of humor in some.

Snow White Queen Origin

“Who will be the king and queen of the outcast teens? – Kurt Cobain

The British rock band Queen had a lot of influence on me in my everyday life as well as while writing songs.  It was a love of their songs which inspired me to want to write songs for them.  While watching a sneak peak of Top Gun before it’s release in ’86, I was inspired by the song Danger Zone performed by Kenny Login’s to write the song One Vision released by Queen in November ’85. 

The title and lyrically it was inspired by the first song Michael Hutchence and INXS performed for me in Jun ’83, The One Thing, from their ’82 Shabooh Shoobah album.  INXS also let me see the videos from some of their other performances.  In Melbourne a fan’s t-shirt caught my attention.  It was the symbol for yin and yang.  Feeling completely ignorant, sheltered, of other religions or beliefs from around the world I made it something of a project to learn more.  I also took an interest in Buddhism.  I realized the song would be controversial but what I felt is that the main message of any religion should be that of peace and love.        

In ’74 Queen released a song named White Queen (as it began), and I learned of the ’79 raid on the Church of Scientology, Tom Cruise’s proclaimed religion, called Operation Snow White.   These were inspirations for me to make up the song Snow White Queen performed by Evanescence.

Lyrically I was inspired by Billy Squier.

 Stoplight, lock the door.

Don’t look back.

Undress in the dark,

And hide from you,

All of you.

Stoplight is from Billy Squier’s Lonely Is The Night, “Red lights, green lights, stop and go jive“, which I also used in lyrics for Def Leppard’s Pour Some Sugar On Me “Listen! red light, yellow light, green-a-light go”

I also used Billy Squier’s “In The Dark” in the lyrics for Snow White Queen.

Imaginary Origin

I linger in the doorway

Of alarm clock screaming

Monsters calling my name

Let me stay

Where the wind will whisper to me

Where the raindrops, as they’re falling, tell a story

Like most American children I grew up watching Sesame Street with my favorite character being the supposed imaginary friend of Big Bird, Mr. Snuffleupagus.  In 1985, 20/20 and 60 Minutes aired a graphic piece about pedophiles and sexually abused children.  Because of this, the writers of Sesame Street decided to finally introduce Snuffy to the main human cast feeling that children might keep quiet about being abused if they felt adults would not believe them.

I had called Kurt Cobain my imaginary friend and would introduce him as John to friends (while he was still unknown).  I would often find things missed placed in my room and not realize Kurt had moved it or even taken it.  It was years before I found out he kept a hair barrette I wore as a little girl with him.  He was also known to change my alarm so I would be late getting up for school.  Most of the time he would just let himself into the house on days he was in town.  I sometimes would walk in finding him feeding my cat or giving her milk.  If you haven’t noticed we both had a thing about cats, naming his Spina Bifida.  When I told him I thought of him as my imaginary friend, he told me I was his and gave me the name Boddah.  Later making the tape of him sounding like a little boy calling for his friend Boddah and then addressing his suicide note to me.

I’ve had some WOW! moments in my life.  One would be hanging with Robert Downey, Jr. while he read lines for a movie and later pitching the idea for him to play the role as Ironman’s Tony Stark.  Another would be Michael Jackson bringing Elizabeth Taylor to meet me.  It was during a time that Richard Burton, her ex-husband, had been very ill.  She kept in touch with him and talked about him a lot that day, reminiscing about their love affair and his affairs.  Unfortunately, Burton passed away August 5, 1984. 

Taylor had starred along with Paul Newman in the ’58 movie Cat On A Hot Tin Roof based on another play by Tennessee Williams (A Street Car Named Desire inspiring Heart Shaped Box, see earlier post).  I told Taylor that Kurt Cobain reminded me a lot of a young Paul Newman in looks.  Kurt didn’t always play the part of the grunge rocker and was actually a very goodlooking guy.

“One of those no-neck monsters hit me with some ice cream” – Maggie The Cat

Not only did I use “monsters” in the lyrics for Imaginary, but it inspired songwriter Draco Rosa’s “Maggie’s Dream” and my artist Lady Gaga calling fans “monsters”.  Draco and I worked on songs for Ricky Martin and others together.

Using different flowers in songs was inspired by the Swiss band Krokus having been on the Rock Till You Drop tour with Def Leppard.  Joe Elliott claims his birthday as August 1st, being the same day in 1981 MTV came online.  This would make his birthflower a Poppy.  Kurt used the image of paper poppy flowers in Nirvana’s Heart Shaped Box music video.

 “And watch my purple sky fly over me (flowers)”

This was to draw a direct connection to the song Purple Rain, which I wrote for Prince.

I would go on to make up the song Paper Sun which was released on Def Leppard’s ’99 Euphoria album. 

The lyrics to Paper Sun,  “Is the anger inside of you A gift from father to son” was inspired by the ’87 movie Like Father Like Son, as well as the British band Queen’s ’74 song “Father to Son”. 

Several times in the song Paper Sun I reference another song I wrote, Coming Undone performed by another band I founded named Korn.

Keep holdin’ on when
My brain’s tickin’ like a bomb

The bomb was taken from Pour Some Sugar On Me “Love is like a bomb”

 Guess the black thoughts have
Come again to get me
Sweet bitter words

Sweet bitter words is for 3 song I wrote, one being Sweet Sacrifice, an early song I wrote for INXS named Bitter Tears, and the other being Bittersweet Symphony performed by The Verve.

Unlike nothing I have heard
Sing along mocking bird
You don’t affect me

To Kill A Mockingbird, is a Southern Gothic novel written by Alabama native Harper Lee.

I made reference to my song Change performed by The Deftones, but Kurt Cobain made reference to the lyrics in Bittersweet Symphony “I am here in my mold” in his lyrics for Mexican Seafood.

 “To a fungus mold is my injection”