Learn about the meanings of the top songs in history in less than 5 minutes a day.
Inspired by the Top 500 Most Influential Songs in History by the Rolling Stones.
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Song Lyrics Meaning - When Doves Cry by Prince
"When Doves Cry" is a song by American musician Prince, and the lead single from his sixth studio album Purple Rain. According to the DVD commentary of the film Purple Rain (1984), Prince was asked by director Albert Magnoli to write a song to match the theme of a particular segment of the film that involved intermingled parental difficulties and a love affair. The next morning, Prince had composed two songs, one of which was "When Doves Cry". According to Prince's biographer Per Nilsen, the song was inspired by his relationship with Vanity 6 member Susan Moonsie.
"When Doves Cry" was Prince's first Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 single, staying there for five weeks, and was also a worldwide hit. According to Billboard, it was the top-selling single of 1984. It is certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was the last single released by a solo artist to receive a Platinum certification before the certification requirements were lowered in 1989. "When Doves Cry" was ranked number one on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1984. Following Prince's death, the song re-charted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at number eight, its first appearance in the top 10 since the week ending September 1, 1984.
The music video, directed by Prince, premiered on MTV in June 1984. It opens with white doves emerging from double doors to reveal Prince in a bathtub, then shows him performing the song in various scenes. The video sparked controversy among network executives, who thought that its sexual nature was too explicit for television. "When Doves Cry" is ranked number 37 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 31st most celebrated song in popular music history.
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"Hey Jude" by The Beatles
Thursday, December 7, 2023 • Duration 05:13
Song Lyrics Meaning - Hey Jude by The Beatles
"Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' first release on their Apple record label and one of the "First Four" singles by Apple's roster of artists, marking the label's public launch. "Hey Jude" was a number-one hit in many countries around the world and became the year's top-selling single in the UK, the US, Australia and Canada. Its nine-week run at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 tied the all-time record in 1968 for the longest run at the top of the US charts, a record it held for nine years. It has sold approximately eight million copies and is frequently included on music critics' lists of the greatest songs of all time.
The writing and recording of "Hey Jude" coincided with a period of upheaval in the Beatles. The ballad evolved from "Hey Jules", a song McCartney wrote to comfort John Lennon's young son Julian, after Lennon had left his wife for the Japanese artist Yoko Ono. The lyrics espouse a positive outlook on a sad situation, while also encouraging "Jude" to pursue his opportunities to find love. After the fourth verse, the song shifts to a coda featuring a "Na-na-na na" refrain that lasts for over four minutes.
"Hey Jude" was the first Beatles song to be recorded on eight-track recording equipment. The sessions took place at Trident Studios in central London, midway through the recording of the group's self-titled double album (also known as the "White Album"), and led to an argument between McCartney and George Harrison over the song's guitar part. Ringo Starr later left the band only to return shortly before they filmed the promotional clip for the single. The clip was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and first aired on David Frost's UK television show. Contrasting with the problems afflicting the band, this performance captured the song's theme of optimism and togetherness by featuring the studio audience joining the Beatles as they sang the coda.
At over seven minutes in length, "Hey Jude" was the longest single to top the British charts up to that time. Its arrangement and extended coda encouraged many imitative works through to the early 1970s. In 2013, Billboard magazine named it the 10th "biggest" song of all time in terms of chart success. McCartney has continued to perform "Hey Jude" in concert since Lennon's murder in 1980, leading audiences in singing the coda. Julian Lennon and McCartney have each bid successfully at auction for items of memorabilia related to the song's creation.
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"Grace" by Jeff Buckley
Tuesday, November 28, 2023 • Duration 04:34
Song Lyrics Meaning - Grace by Jeff Buckley
"Grace" is the title track from Jeff Buckley's debut album Grace (1994). It was the album's first single, and was also released as a video.
The song was based on an instrumental song called "Rise Up to Be" written by Buckley's collaborator, Gary Lucas. Jeff wrote lyrics inspired by his saying goodbye to his girlfriend at the airport on a rainy day, and the vocal melody came naturally. In Buckley's words, "It's about not feeling so bad about your own mortality when you have true love."
In a MuchMusic interview in 1994, Buckley said, "the song itself is about...it's an elegy; to no one, about...I always describe it as not fearing anything, anyone, any man, any woman, any war, any gun, any sling or arrow aimed at your heart by other people because there is somebody, finally, who loves you for real, and that you can achieve a real state of grace through somebody else's love in you." He added, "everybody knows what it's like to create an artistic moment; so-called artistic moment, because it's really just heightened humanism; just a heightened human language. If you've spent a night making love, you know exactly what it means to strip your ego, down, where you are there, expressing yourself, wordlessly, collaborating on a moment that has an energy about it that is replenishing or even completely inspirational in a way that you could never imagine. That's the way art really is." Later in the interview, Buckley concluded by saying, "grace is what matters, in anything, especially life, especially growth, tragedy, pain, love, death; about people, that's what matters. That is a feature that I strongly respect. It prevents you from pulling the trigger too soon. It keeps you from destroying things too foolishly. It sort of keeps you alive; and it keeps you open for more understanding."
Buckley invited Lucas to play on the album, along with "Mojo Pin"; two songs that Lucas had created the main riffs for, and Buckley had expanded upon, making up the "Grace" heard on the album, and earlier on Songs to No One 1991–1992; these songs were prominent in gigs around 1991 onwards. In 2021, it was listed at No. 394 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
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"Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson
Saturday, August 26, 2023 • Duration 04:45
Song Lyrics Meaning - Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson
"Uptown Funk" is a song by British record producer Mark Ronson, featuring American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars. It was released on 10 November 2014, as the lead single from Ronson's fourth studio album, Uptown Special (2015). "Uptown Funk" was written by Ronson, Mars, Jeff Bhasker, and Philip Lawrence; it was produced by the first three writers mentioned. The song began to be written during a freestyle studio session while they worked on a jam Mars and his band had been playing on tour. Copyright controversies arose after the song's release resulting in multiple lawsuits and amendments to its songwriting credits.
The song is a funk-pop, soul, boogie, disco-pop, and Minneapolis sound track. It has a spirit akin to the 1980s-era funk music. Its lyrics address fashion, self-love and "traditional masculine bravado", performed in a sing-rapping style filled with metaphors, arrogance, charisma, and fun. Upon its release, the single received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised the instrumental, style and influences of the track. Others criticized it for not being innovative as it tried to emulate 1980s funk music.
Commercially the song topped the charts of 19 countries and reached the top 10 of 15 others, making it the most successful single of Ronson and Mars to date. In the United States, "Uptown Funk" topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 consecutive weeks and spent seven weeks on the top of the UK Singles Chart. It was certified 11 times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and six times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). "Uptown Funk" peaked at number one on the Canadian Hot 100, and topped the Irish Singles Chart, taking the Christmas number one spot. The song also reached the top spot on France's Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) number one in both Australia for a total of six weeks and in New Zealand for nine consecutive weeks. It also broke its own streaming record three times in the United Kingdom, while breaking the streaming record in the United States and Worldwide at that time.
Director Cameron Duddy and Mars shot the song's music video depicting Ronson, Mars and The Hooligans singing, walking and dancing in a city street. As of January 2023, the official music video for "Uptown Funk" is the ninth most viewed YouTube video of all-time, having received over 4.7 billion views. "Uptown Funk" was performed on television shows such as Saturday Night Live, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and the Super Bowl 50 halftime show. It received several awards and nominations, winning British Single of the Year at the 2015 Brit Awards, International Work of the Year at the APRA Music Awards of 2016 and Record of the Year at the 2016 Grammy Awards. The television show soundtrack of Glee, and commercials for L'Oreal's Garnier line and Skippy peanut butter, have used the song. It has been parodied several times and became a worldwide phenomenon with a major impact on pop culture.
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"Stayin’ Alive" by Bee Gees
Friday, August 25, 2023 • Duration 04:16
Song Lyrics Meaning - Stayin’ Alive by Bee Gees
"Stayin' Alive" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees from the Saturday Night Fever motion picture soundtrack. The song was released in 1977 as the second single from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The band co-produced the song with Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson. It is one of the Bee Gees' signature songs. In 2004, "Stayin' Alive" was placed at No. 189 on the list of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The 2021 updated Rolling Stone list of 500 Greatest Songs placed "Stayin' Alive" at No. 99. In 2004, it ranked No. 9 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema. In a UK television poll on ITV in December 2011 it was voted fifth in "The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song".On its release, "Stayin' Alive" climbed the charts to hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of 4 February 1978, remaining there for four consecutive weeks. Consequently, it became one of the band's most recognisable tunes, partly because it appeared in the opening credits of Saturday Night Fever. In the United States, it would become the second of six consecutive number-one singles, tying the record with the Beatles for most consecutive number ones in the United States at the time (a record broken by Whitney Houston who achieved seven consecutive number-ones).
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"Changes" by David Bowie
Thursday, August 24, 2023 • Duration 04:45
Song Lyrics Meaning - Changes by David Bowie
"Changes" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, originally released on his 1971 album Hunky Dory. RCA Records then released it as a single from the album on 7 January 1972. Written following his promotional tour of America in early 1971, "Changes" was recorded at Trident Studios in London between June and July that year. Co-produced by Bowie and Ken Scott, it featured Strawbs member Rick Wakeman on piano and the musicians who would later become known as the Spiders from Mars: guitarist Mick Ronson, bassist Trevor Bolder and drummer Mick Woodmansey. The song also marks the first instance of Bowie playing the saxophone on one of his recordings.
At this point in his career, Bowie had experimented with numerous musical styles, all of which failed to earn him stardom. The lyrics of "Changes" reflect this, with the first verse focusing on the compulsive nature of artistic reinvention and distancing oneself from the rock mainstream. The second verse concerns clashes between children and their parents, urging them to allow their children to be themselves as teenagers, a topic Bowie had spoken out about before. Musically, "Changes" is an art pop song that features a distinctive piano riff. Upon release as a single, "Changes" flopped like its parent album. It wasn't until the success of its follow-up The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars that the song garnered success. RCA later chose it as a B-side for the reissue of "Space Oddity" in 1975, which became Bowie's first UK number-one single.
Retrospectively, "Changes" is regarded as one of Bowie's best songs, with many praising Bowie's vocal performance and Wakeman's piano playing. It has also appeared on several best-of lists. His biographers have viewed the track as a manifesto of his entire career, predicting a constant change of musical styles. Bowie performed "Changes" frequently during his concert tours; it was the final song he performed on stage before his death in 2016. The song has appeared on numerous compilation albums and is the namesake of several. Several artists have covered the song, including Australian singer Butterfly Boucher for the 2004 film Shrek 2, whose version featured new vocals from Bowie.
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"Hold On We’re Going Home" by Drake
Wednesday, August 23, 2023 • Duration 04:04
Song Lyrics Meaning - Hold On We’re Going Home by Drake
"Hold On, We're Going Home" is a song by Canadian rapper Drake, featuring the R&B duo Majid Jordan. The song was produced by Noah "40" Shebib, OVO Sound's Majid Jordan and Nineteen85, and it is the second single from his third studio album, Nothing Was the Same, and was released for digital download on August 7, 2013, following the 2013 OVO Fest. It was later released to mainstream and rhythmic contemporary radio on August 13, 2013.
The song peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart, as well as number five on the singles chart in his native Canada. The song received positive reviews from music critics and was named the best song of 2013 by Pitchfork Media as well as number 21 on its "Best Tracks of the Decade" list. In 2021, it was listed at No. 129 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
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"I’m Coming Out" by Diana Ross
Tuesday, August 22, 2023 • Duration 04:19
Song Lyrics Meaning - I’m Coming Out by Diana Ross
"I'm Coming Out" is a song recorded by American singer Diana Ross. It was written and produced by Chic members Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, and released on August 22, 1980, as the second single from Ross' self-titled tenth album, Diana (1980).
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"Mannish Boy" by Muddy Waters
Monday, August 21, 2023 • Duration 04:16
Song Lyrics Meaning - Mannish Boy by Muddy Waters
"Mannish Boy" (or "Manish Boy" as it was first labeled) is a blues standard written by Muddy Waters, Mel London, and Bo Diddley (with Waters and Diddley being credited under their birth names). First recorded in 1955 by Waters, it serves as an "answer song" to Bo Diddley's "I'm a Man", which was in turn inspired by Waters' and Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man". "Mannish Boy" features a repeating stop-time figure on one chord throughout the song.Although the song contains sexual boasting, its repetition of "I'm a man, I spell M, A child, N" was understood as political. Waters had recently left the South for Chicago. "Growing up in the South, African-Americans [would] never be referred to as a man – but as 'boy'. In this context, the song [is] an assertion of black manhood."
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"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" by The Smiths
Sunday, August 20, 2023 • Duration 04:36
Song Lyrics Meaning - There Is a Light That Never Goes Out by The Smiths
"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" is a song by the English rock band the Smiths, written by guitarist Johnny Marr and lead vocalist Morrissey. Featured on the band's third studio album The Queen Is Dead (1986), it was not released as a single in the United Kingdom until 1992, five years after their split, to promote the compilation album ...Best II. It peaked at No. 25 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 22 on the Irish Singles Chart. The song has received considerable critical acclaim; in 2014, NME listed it as the 12th-greatest song of all time. In 2021, it was ranked at No. 226 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".In 2005, Morrissey released a live version of the song as a double A-side with his cover of Patti Smith's "Redondo Beach", reaching No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart. In Ireland, the song was released alone and peaked at No. 45.
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