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Song Stories

“The Heart Gently Weeps”

Wu-Tang Clan | 2007

On the 2007 Wu-Tang Clan album 8 Diagrams, group leader and producer RZA decided to go for something a little bit different. “The whole trick is, 'Will you be satisfied with the unexpected?'" he told Rolling Stone. In this case, that meant using the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” as the basis for a song called "The Heart Gently Weeps." RZA recruited John Frusciante and George Harrison’s son, Dhani, to play guitar on the track. "Dhani is super-professional," he said. “I try to explain that to the hip-hop people, because sometimes we all stuck on this money s---, but if you do music first, money is going to come."

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Song Stories

“Let My Love Open the Door”

Pete Townshend | 1980

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."

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