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Song Stories

“As Tears Go By”

Marianne Faithfull | 1964

With its gentle nostalgic theme and an arrangement that owed debts to both Phil Spector and classical music, "As Tears Go By" gave Marianne Faithfull her first hit in 1964. Originally titled "As Time Goes By" and retitled to avoid confusion with the song of that name performed in Casablanca, it was written for her by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards with some help from Rolling Stones manager Andrew Oldham (the Stones released their own version a year later). "We never dreamed of doing that ourselves when we wrote it," said Jagger in Rolling Stone. "We just gave it straight to Marianne."

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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