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Song Stories

“Foolish Games”

Jewel | 1997

The lyrics of this song about unreturned love began as a poem Jewel Kilcher wrote at age 16, when she first started keeping a serious journal. The verse was "about a relationship that I was dramatically involved in on paper," she said. "I'm sure he knew nothing of it." A year later, it evolved into a song. "I think the woman is looking at herself saying, 'Why am I involved in a relationship where I'm selling myself so short?'" Like with her earlier song "You Were Meant for Me," Kilcher rerecorded "Foolish Games" for radio, unhappy with the original.

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“Great Balls of Fire”
Jerry Lee Lewis | 1957
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“Louisiana Fairytale”
Jim James and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band | 2010

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

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