How the Song Came to Be
The Beatles’ “I’m Down”: The Overlooked McCartney Song You Need to Get Into Your Life
McCartney loved Little Richard’s singing, and used to cover his songs with the band. Then he decided to write his own tune in Richard’s style…
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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
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Iron Butterfly’s Classic ‘In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida’
The single and album signaled a shift from the psychedelic sound toward something more aggressive, loud and primal. Rock fans either loved it or hated it.
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The Gentrys’ ‘Keep on Dancing’: Behind the ’60s Garage Classic
The Memphis septet took an obscure R&B tune and turned it into a top 5 rocker in 1965. The story behind the recording–and the band–is fascinating.
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Desmond Dekker’s ‘Israelites’—Admit It, You Don’t Know the Lyrics
Even as it found its way to the top 10 in the U.S. and several other countries, many listeners had no idea what this proto-reggae song was about.
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Strawberry Alarm Clock’s Psychedelic ‘Incense & Peppermints’
Trivia note: The singer on one of the biggest and most memorable hits of 1967 was not even a band member. Check out the whole back story here.
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‘Brandy’ by Looking Glass (It’s a Fine Song)
For one week only, in the summer of 1972, it was the best-selling, most often played single in the United States of America.
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The Beatles’ ‘I Saw Her Standing There’: Way Beyond Compare
The song is an endless (and endlessly relatable) story, but also a finite one in that it takes place in less than three minutes
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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
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