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Song Stories

“Let's Go Trippin'”

Dick Dale | 1961

Though other surf songs would be more commercially successful, this track -- considered the first surf instrumental -- was actually inspired by the waves, as Dick Dale sought to parlay the feeling he had surfing onto tape. Yet Dale, who has bragged of causing 48 amps to explode, said the recording could never match his blistering live version. "When I heard 'Let's Go Trippin,' and all of those songs, I smashed the record against the wall," he said. "I never would play it at home because it wasn't the way I sound on stage."

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Song Stories

“(We're Not) The Jet Set”

George Jones and Tammy Wynette | 1973

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were still married when they recorded the tongue-in-cheek "(We're Not) The Jet Set." The lyrics, written by Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock, who also penned Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," make fun of the good life by declaring, "We're not the Jet Set/We're the old Chevrolet set." Braddock recalled that while writing the song, he needed the name of a city that evened out the rhyme he had with "Riviera" and "Missourah." “I got out a Rand McNally atlas," he said. "In the first part are the maps. The last part is an alphabetical listing of cities. I wanted a rustic, small-time sound. I went to the listing for Missouri. And I found 'Festus.' I loved the sound of it."

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