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Song Stories

“Hey Ya!”

Outkast | 2003

Although this Number One single was released on an double album full of funk and hip-hop, Andre 3000 told Rolling Stone its guitar chords were inspired by the Ramones, the Buzzcocks and the Smiths. A playful, funky song that gave birth to the catchphrase "Shake it like a Polaroid picture" -- much to the Polaroid Corporation's delight -- "Hey Ya!" was inspired by romance gone bad. "When you've given love to someone and then take it away, that's terrible," Andre said, accepting responsibility for his own failed relationship with Erykah Badu. "I don't want to do nobody else like that."

Find out how the duo came up with its name.
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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

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