Kanye West and Bon Iver's 'Lost in the World' Leaks

Despite his best efforts to release new music on his own terms, with his "G.O.O.D. Friday" program, Kanye West's new album has suffered its first real leak: "Lost in the World," the track that samples Bon Iver's song "Woods" and features a spoken-word interlude by Gil Scott-Heron. West told Rolling Stone about how, after he first heard the track, he flew Bon Iver's Justin Vernon to Hawaii to re-record the song and contribute vocals to other tracks, including "Monster."

Kanye West's Surprise Visit to Rolling Stone

"I called [Vernon] and we ended up becoming like really good friends, playing basketball together everyday, and going into the back studio to record his parts," West said. "He's similar to me, like where he just does shit just so people would be like, 'Oh shit, how did you do that? How did that happen?' He's just a really cool guy to be around." In an August webchat, Kanye mentioned that "Lost in the World" was the frontrunner to become his new album's second single (after "Power") and that it would arrive in about "20 days." West, however, opted for "Runaway" as his second single.

Keep up with rock's hottest photos in Random Notes

Despite reports yesterday that Kanye had targeted November 22nd to release his still-untitled album, West took to Twitter this morning to say that the album was finished, but that no date has been set: "I'm still contemplating my album date... I'm finished with it but when should I drop?"

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Song Stories

“Tonight's the Night”

The Shirelles | 1960

The lead cut and title track from this girl group's debut album, "Tonight's the Night" was written by 19-year-old bandmember Shirley Owens, who sings lead, and producer Luther Dixon. The band from Passaic, New Jersey met in high school, first calling themselves the Pequellos. The song's frank thoughts about sexual and emotional surrender was racy for the time, but that didn't stop the Chiffons from cutting a similar version immediately after the original came out. "We were the first female group to write some of our own material," band member Beverly Lee recalls. "We did have some say-so in our writing."

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