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Song Stories

“If I Die Young”

The Band Perry | 2010

This country-pop sibling trio made its debut with an uncommonly sad single. "We wanted to write a song about making the most of whatever time you're given — whether it's two years, 20 years or 200," eldest sister and singer Kimberly Perry said. But the song is more an elegy than it is a pep talk, with lyrics that confront death to an almost uncomfortable extreme. On it, Kimberly sings of a life that never knew love, lamenting, "Who would have thought forever could be severed/By the sharp knife of a short life" and "what I never did is done."

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“The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”
The Band | 1969
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“Help Me, Rhonda”
The Beach Boys | 1965

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Song Stories

“Let My Love Open the Door”

Pete Townshend | 1980

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."

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