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Song Stories

“Say Man”

Bo Diddley | 1959

Bo Diddley and his maracas player Jerome Green were fooling around in the studio trading good-natured insults to a blues-Latin beat when "Say Man" was taped, resulting in Bo's only Top Twenty hit. Although it sounds like a spur-of-the-moment jam, Diddley maintained it was written down long before it was recorded. "A lot of the things I did in the Chess studios, we were just goofin' around," he said. "They played it back, and it shocked all of us! Of course, they cut out all the dirty parts."

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“My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist”
The Decemberists | 2001
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“Is It True”
Brenda Lee | 1964

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Song Stories

“My President”

Young Jeezy | 2008

Young Jeezy teams up with Nas on this track, in which he compare his own success with the idea of an African-American winning the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2008 presidential election. "When I pulled up in my car, that s--- was unbelievable to people in my neighborhood because they were like, 'We grew up with him. How the hell did he accomplish this?'" he told Rolling Stone. "I feel like it was the same way with Obama. I grew up all this time, but I've never seen a black man this close to running this country."

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