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Song Stories

“For Free”

Meat Puppets | 1995

A scrap of backward-tape sound gives way to one of the Meat Puppets' more conventional vocal harmony-driven rockers on "For Free," which vaguely alludes to a battle for the future that's been won, though the band doesn't sound at all thrilled with the victory. The song's been interpreted as a lament for the death of Kurt Cobain, a friend of composer Curt Kirkwood. "The title says it all," Kirkwood said. "It's not really for Cobain, per se. I did it because I've known a lot of people who've killed themselves in the name of this garbage scene."

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“As Tears Go By”
Marianne Faithfull | 1964
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“Walk Like an Egyptian”
The Bangles | 1986

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Song Stories

“The A Team”

Ed Sheeran | 2011

This debut track from the then-20-year-old British singer-songwriter has a dark story behind it. Sheeran says he culls songwriting inspiration from "viewing other people's situations," which, for the heroine in "The A Team," involves drug addiction and prostitution that began as a teen. Sheeran paints the woman's trials with haunting imagery such as "But lately her face seems/Slowly sinking, wasting/Crumbling like pastries." "I did a gig at a homeless shelter, [and the song] is about one of the women there. It's her story," he said.

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