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Song Stories

“Bus Stop”

The Hollies | 1966

Using the haunting minor melody that typified Graham Gouldman's compositions, "Bus Stop" wound the Hollies' intricate vocal harmonies around a mini-vignette of a future husband and wife meeting when they share an umbrella while waiting for their ride. The opening lines that set the scene were actually suggested by Gouldman's father. "I used to stand at a bus stop every day going to work and I mentioned it to my dad," Gouldman said. "I came home one day and he'd written these lines ... He always used to help with words."

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Song Stories

“The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie”

The Joy Formidable | 2011

The opener off the Welsh group’s The Big Roar album was an epic one, but the band was worried that track had polarized fans. “The first song is eight minutes long,” Rhydian Dafydd, the Joy Formidable bassist, said. “If you did that in the Seventies people would be, ‘Whatever.’ You do it now, people think, ‘Holy s---!’ Some people think it’s the f---ing greatest track on the entire album, and some people think it’s f---ing boring. It’s that element of needing to challenge people.” The band concluded through the song’s lyrics that love was the “everchanging spectrum of a lie.”

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