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Song Stories

“(Just Like) Starting Over”

John Lennon & Yoko Ono | 1980

Issued just in advance of John Lennon & Yoko Ono's Double Fantasy LP, "(Just Like) Starting Over" had a retro-1950s ballad/doo-wop feel with lyrics reflecting Lennon's renewed zeal for music after five years away from the record business. The song would reach Number One, but only three weeks or so after Lennon was shot to death on December 8, 1980. "All through the taping of 'Starting Over,' I was calling what I was doing 'Elvis Orbison,'" Lennon told Rolling Stone. "I'm a born-again rocker, I feel that refreshed, and I'm going right back to my roots."

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“Race With the Devil”
Gene Vincent | 1956
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“Bad Motor Scooter”
Montrose | 1973

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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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