19 Iconic Song Facts

By Karin Lehnardt, Senior Writer—Reviewed for accuracy by the FactRetriever editorial team

Published October 27, 2025

The popular "Happy Birthday" song was private property for decades. In 2016, it was finally made public domain._[3]
Nirvana's song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was named after the deodorant._[7]
Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. was the first commercial CD pressed in the United States._[9]
Simon and Garfunkel fought endlessly while recording "Bridge over Troubled Water." Garfunkel wanted Simon to sing it, and Simon hated Garfunkle's ending line ""Sail on, silver girl."_[9]

Lead singer Dan Reynolds has been very open about his struggles with depression and uses his platform to raise awareness about mental health issues

The band name "Imagine Dragons" is an anagram. Lead singer Dan Reynolds says it is related to a "phrase that meant something to all of us." The band has never confirmed what the anagram is._[4]
Otis Redding forgot what he supposed to sing during "Sittin on the Dock of the Bay," so he improvised the now iconic whistle._[9]
The "dude" in Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like a Lady" is referring to Motley Crue's frontman Vince Neil, whose long bond hair remained Aerosmith of a woman._[9]
Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" is referring to Caroline Kennedy, who Diamond saw in a magazine in the '60s._[9]
Jimi Hendrix's "Purple Haze" begins with a tritone, which is also known as the devil's interval. The tritone was banned in some Renaissance churches for sounding too devilish._[9]
A man actually wrote "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." Singer Robert Hazard wrote and recorded the original version four years before Cyndi Lauper made it a hit._[9]
Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody has no chorus. That's not all. The title never appears in the lyric; it's over six minutes long, and it has an opera section._[1]

Bohemian Rhapsody was one of the first true music videos and helped popularize the format

The first video on YouTube to reach 1 billion views was "Gangnam Style."_[2]
John Lennon's "Imagine" was his biggest solo hit. While it seems a song about peace, he called it anti-conventional, anti-nationalistic, and anti-religious."_[12]
According to Sting, the song "Every Breath You Take" is not a love song. It is a song about possession and control. When one couple told him, "Oh we love that song; it was the main song played at our wedding!'” Sting thought, "Well, good luck."_[6]

The song ends with a very bittersweet line: "If only in my dreams"

During WWII, the BBC banned "I'll be Home for Christmas" because they were worried its "sick sentimentally" would make the troops too homesick._[9]
The Beach Boys were revolutionary for saying "God" in their pop song "God Only Knows."_[11]
The shortest recorded song in the world is "You Suffer" by Napalm death, at 1.316 seconds._[10]
Billie Eillish recorded "Bad Guy" in her brother's bedroom. The soundtrack also includes noises from his fan._[5]
Even though the song "Hey Ya" by OutKast sounds upbeat, the lyrics are actually about a failing relationship are very depressing._[8]