How the Song Came to Be
New ‘Wichita Lineman’ Book: Exclusive Excerpt
The Jimmy Webb favorite, as sung by Glen Campbell, is the subject of a new book by author Dylan Jones, who has written books on David Bowie and Jim Morrison
Read More
Friend & Lover’s ‘Reach Out of the Darkness’: So Groovy Now
The song begins with a lyric that could only have been written in the late ’60s: “I think it’s so groovy now that people are finally getting together.” And the record was attributed to artists whose name could only have
Read More
ELO’s ‘Don’t Bring Me Down… Bruce!’
Most classic rock acts have a misheard lyric. It goes with the territory. So what did Jeff Lynne do when concert audiences started singing along to his big hit?
Read More
The Beatles’ Forgotten Top 20 Hit: A ‘Sweet’ Story
A top 20 hit in the U.S., yet it has received virtually no radio airplay in decades and is almost never mentioned in accounts of the band’s early days.
Read More
Deliverance’s ‘Dueling Banjos’: An Unlikely Hit
The song, featured prominently in the 1972 thriller, was used without the permission of its composer. There’s actually only one banjo used
Read More
Joni Mitchell’s ‘Woodstock’: Behind the Song
The composer of one of the greatest countercultural anthems never made it to the festival that served as the song’s subject.
Read More
Gordon Lightfoot’s Tale of a Ship’s Crew and Its Captain
The singer-songwriter had a string of big hits including 1976’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” based on a true story of a doomed freighter
Read More
Once Upon a Time: Mark Lindsay on the Raiders’ ‘Good Thing’
The group’s lead vocalist talks about writing the hit single with producer Terry Melcher, the wild story of the Los Angeles home they lived in and the Tarantino movie
Read More
Queen’s Homage to Space Exploration: ’39’
The band’s guitarist, Brian May, can do many things well, one of which is to write songs. This one, about time travel, presaged his PhD in astrophysics
Read More
Mark Lindsay, Hal Blaine and the Raiders’ #1 Hit, ‘Indian Reservation’
Our interview with the star about the legendary drummer who made magic happen at the recording session and the single’s unusual path to success
Read More