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Song Stories

“On the Road Again”

Willie Nelson | 1980

The Red Headed Stranger wrote his signature song for a movie he also starred in. "I was on a plane with Sydney Pollack and Jerry Schatzberg and we were talking about doing the movie Honeysuckle Rose," Nelson recalled. "They said, 'Can you come up with a song for the movie?' and I said, 'Oh, you mean something about, you know, "On the road again, on the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again"?' And they said, 'Yes, but where's the melody?' I said, 'Well, I'll find one.'"

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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