How the Song Came to Be
The Scene: How the Song Came to Be

‘Love Me Do’: The Beatles’ 1st Single Was the Sound of Identity

We don’t talk about it as one of the great debut singles, but perhaps that’s because it transcends the normal categories.

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The Scene: How the Song Came to Be

Joan Baez ‘Diamonds & Rust’—Reflections on Her Friend Bob

Dylan asked her who her new song was about. She told him it was about her ex-husband. It wasn’t, of course. It was about Bob Dylan.

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The Scene: How the Song Came to Be

The Five Americans’ Catchy Hit, ‘Western Union’: Dit-Da-Dit-Da-Dit

The clean-cut band from Oklahoma chose its name to help stand out from groups that were part of the British Invasion, and scored a catchy single in 1967

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The Scene: How the Song Came to Be

The Doobie Brothers’ ‘What a Fool Believes’: Behind Their #1 Hit

The song almost didn’t happen. Michael McDonald’s sister told him it sounded like ‘circus music’ and to forget it. Good thing he didn’t listen to her!

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The Scene: How the Song Came to Be

How Dr. Hook Got on the ‘Cover of the Rolling Stone’

A band records a song about its burning desire to make it to the cover of the leading music magazine. We’ve got the backstory. Do you know who wrote it?

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The Scene: How the Song Came to Be

Elton John’s ‘Levon’: A Pauper to a Pawn

The first single from 1971’s Madman Across the Water is “one of our finest moments lyrically and melodically” and includes Paul Buckmaster’s soaring orchestral arrangements.

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The Scene: How the Song Came to Be

First Banger: The Shredding Delight of the Beatles’ ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’

This is the first Beatles guitar solo that shreds, and it’s hard to fathom/estimate how many kids decided they wanted to be guitar heroes upon hearing Harrison’s thrilling break.

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The Scene: How the Song Came to Be

The Jaggerz’ ‘The Rapper’: You Know What He’s After

“The song was something that I wrote watching people in nightclubs. You’d see these dudes go over and start rapping to chicks,” said the band’s Donnie Iris.

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The Scene: How the Song Came to Be

The Ides of March and the Story of ‘Vehicle’

They took their band name from a Shakespeare classic, their biggest hit from a real-life incident, and they drove their way up the charts in the year 1970.

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The Scene: How the Song Came to Be

Johnny Cash—’A Boy Named Sue’: Behind the Song

“That’s the most cleverly written song I’ve ever heard,” Cash told the song’s composer. It became Cash’s biggest hit single.

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