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Song Stories

“Message in a Bottle”

The Police | 1979

"Roxanne" was the band's first bona fide hit, and Sting wondered if he could top it, which is where the genesis for the Police's second big hit came from. "Then I wrote 'Message in a Bottle,' which was better than 'Roxanne'," the Police frontman said. Sting admitted he developed the lyrics around the title. "I don't write the first line of a song. It's a mistake. Then you have to come up with a second. I had this 'Message in a Bottle.' What's 'Message in a Bottle' about? It's usually about some guy with ragged trousers and a beard on a desert island."

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“Heart in Your Heartbreak”
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart | 2010
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“Such Great Heights”
The Postal Service | 2003

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

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