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Song Stories

“Four Winds”

Bright Eyes | 2007

Bright Eyes leader Conor Oberst received a Four Winds ring from a mysterious stranger before setting off to Tepoztlan, Mexico, to have the relic blessed. "A Native American friend of mine did it for me during a visit to the Pyramid of the Sun," Oberst said about the ritual. "Now it feels extra-magical and I wear it all the time." The ring was inspiration for this song off his 2007 album Cassadaga. Driven by a deep-fried fiddle, “Four Winds” makes reference to a William Butler Yeats poem and ponders questions of biblical proportions.

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“End of the Road”
Boyz II Men | 1992
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“Rainy Night in Georgia”
Brook Benton | 1970

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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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