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Song Stories

“All Star”

Smash Mouth | 1999

Smash Mouth guitarist Greg Camp was thinking about basketball when he wrote this motivating pep song, but as soon as it was recorded, singer Steve Harwell thought about possible licensing opportunities. "We were going, 'Gatorade, football, baseball, basketball — this song's going to be everywhere.'" And soon the song was everywhere: in movies, commercials and sports arenas. While some thought bands like Led Zeppelin were selling out by having their songs in commercials around this time, Harwell never had second thoughts about the concept. "I got into this to entertain, and, of course, make a living from it, and to be able to have our music heard in whatever way."

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Song Stories

“He Will Break Your Heart”

Jerry Butler | 1960

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."

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