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Song Stories

“I'm in Trouble”

The Replacements | 1981

The A side to the Replacements' first single, this Paul Westerberg song also showed up on their debut album, Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash. It was, according to Westerberg, the first song that he was proud of and a watershed moment in his songwriting. "It was an actual song with a beginning, a middle, an end and a bridge," he recaled. "Also, it was melodic and it rocked. It had everything I wanted and it was easy to write." Leaving in the "trash," the song was recorded live in the studio with few overdubs.

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“History Lesson — Part II”
The Minutemen | 1984
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“Louder Than a Bomb”
Public Enemy | 1988

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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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