Backstreet Boys | I Want It That Way The Riddle Everyone Knows Everyone knows the lyrics to “I Want It That Way.” Nobody knows what they mean, including the Backstreet Boys. Somehow that’s the whole point. Ed Sheeran put it best: “You can’t be in a bar, a couple of beers in, and ‘I Want […]
The Song That Makes No Sense Changed Everything Read More »
Taylor Swift | Love Story Twenty Minutes on a Bedroom Floor A 17-year-old Taylor Swift got sent to her room after her parents vetoed a boyfriend, grabbed a guitar, and came back with a song that rewrites the ending of Romeo and Juliet through a single key change. Here’s the scene. It’s sometime in early
Taylor Swift Rewrote Shakespeare with a Key Change Read More »
Stevie Wonder | Songs in the Key of Life The Cowboy Who Almost Left Stevie Wonder showed up to his record-breaking Motown contract signing dressed as a cowboy, just months after publicly announcing he was quitting music and moving to Ghana. Songs in the Key of Life is what poured out when he changed his
Stevie Wonder Almost Quit. Then He Made History. Read More »
Prince | Purple Rain The Song That Scared Stevie Nicks Prince sent Stevie Nicks a ten-minute instrumental cassette hoping she’d write lyrics for it. She sent it back, saying it scared her, that it was too much for one person. She turned out to be right, but not in the way either of them expected.
Prince Wrote a Country Song. It Became Purple Rain. Read More »
The Police | Every Breath You Take The Most Dangerous Love Song “Every Breath You Take” is the most-played song in radio history and one of the most misunderstood, a surveillance anthem routinely mistaken for a wedding ballad by the millions who love it most. Imagine telling Sting that you played his song at your
The Police Were Falling Apart. Then Came the Riff. Read More »
Michael Jackson | Billie Jean You Already Know This Song Bruce Swedien said you can identify “Billie Jean” from three or four drum hits. But a song that sounds like pure instinct was actually ground out through months of obsessive, contentious work, ninety-one mixes, fights over the title, an intro nobody could agree on. Every
91 Mixes and They Picked Number Two Read More »
The Killers | Mr. Brightside Still Here, Still Loud In 2017, 110,000 Michigan fans sang the chorus of ‘Mr. Brightside’ a cappella in the rain when the PA cut out, a song assembled almost entirely from accidents, now one of the most enduring singles in chart history. October 2017, Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor. It’s raining.
The Accidental Song That Refused to Die Read More »
Teddy Swims | The Door The Song That Won’t Leave “The Door” sounds like a celebration and reads like a survivor’s testimony, and that tension is exactly the point. There’s a specific kind of song that sneaks up on you. You’re in a grocery store, or a bar, or someone’s car, and something starts playing
The Banger Teddy Swims Wrote to Save His Own Life Read More »
Eminem | Lose Yourself The Shot He Almost Missed Barbra Streisand read the winner’s name at the 75th Oscars, and the man who wrote the song was asleep at home. That detail pretty much explains how “Lose Yourself” ended up bigger than hip-hop. Barbra Streisand read the winner’s name at the 75th Academy Awards, and
One Take in a Lunch Break Changed Everything Read More »
