.

Song Stories

“Danny's Song”

Loggins & Messina | 1971

Kenny Loggins had set out to write about ordinary people in typical situations when he wrote this song about his brother Dan. "A lot of the lyric is taken, rephrased, from a letter he wrote me when he and [his wife,] Sheila were deciding to move to Berkeley just after their son, Colin, was born," he told Rolling Stone. "He talked about the baby, and that they were going to Berkeley with no money at all, starting fresh." The line "Even though we ain't got money/I'm so in love with you, honey," sealed its inclusion on Best Love Songs lists for years to come.

prev
Song Stories Main Next

blog comments powered by Disqus

Song Stories

“Time to Pretend”

MGMT | 2008

Listening to MGMT’s breakthrough song, one might interpret it as being about the excesses of rock stardom, but it’s actually about the duo’s pet praying mantis. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden told Rolling Stone they got the idea from the insect's jerky movements. The mantis died, but the two bandmates kept the egg sack and allowed the hundreds of eggs to hatch. “We tried to name them all, but they died after a day,” said Goldwasser, with VanWyngarden chiming in, “But the praying mantis dance inspired us.”

More Song Stories entries »