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Song Stories

“New Year's Day”

U2 | 1983

“New Year's Day,” U2's first real hit single, lifted the band out of the rock underground for good. The song was inspired by Lech Walesa, the persecuted leader of the Polish Solidarity movement. As Bono often did, he made up its lyrics on the spot. “We improvise, and the things that came out, I let them come out,” he said. “I must have been thinking about Lech Walesa being interned. Then, when we'd recorded the song, they announced that martial law would be lifted in Poland on New Year's Day. Incredible.”

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“Province”
TV on the Radio | 2006
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“One (Blake's Got a New Face)”
Vampire Weekend | 2008

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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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