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Song Stories

“The Humpty Dance”

Digital Underground | 1990

The fictional Edward Ellington Humphries III — a.k.a., "Humpty Hump" — made his first appearance on the group's video for "Doowutchyalike." "While we were shopping for props ... we came across this box of bargain-bin noses," rapper Shock-G said. When he tried on a pair of Groucho glasses with a big brown nose, he was so amused, he decided to wear them in the video. In this whimsical counter to the grittiness of gangsta rap, Humpty reappears, noting that his odd looks don't inhibit his ability to get funky with the ladies as he hypes his eponymous dance.

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Song Stories

“Help Me”

Joni Mitchell | 1974

Joni Mitchell wrote and recorded this song for her album Court and Spark, but she had to switch from her regular band to make the song sound exactly the way she wanted. "I had attempted to play my music with rock & roll players," she told Rolling Stone. "They’d laugh, 'Awww, isn't that cute? She's trying to teach us how to play.'" Mitchell switched to a jazz band, Tom Scott’s L.A. Express, and scored the biggest hit of her career in the process.

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