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Song Stories

“The Rain Song”

Led Zeppelin | 1973

Thought to have been written in response to George Harrison's alleged challenge to John Bonham that Led Zeppelin didn't do any slow songs, this mellow change of pace from Houses of the Holy is a prime example of "the ethereal Page and Plant," as the singer put it to Rolling Stone. "Sometimes we have backing tapes of tracks worked out and somebody goes, 'Well, we got no bloody lyrics,'" Plant explained. "'The Rain Song' was just sort of a little infatuation I had. The next morning I'd scribble it out. If I had done it the day after, it would have been no good."

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Song Stories

“V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.”

Fishbone | 1985

Quite a few musicians have utilized initials for song titles -- Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T.," Abba's "S.O.S.," Donald Fagen's "I.G.Y.," etc. But the more curiously initialed tune has to be "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F.," short for "Voyage to the Land of the Freeze-Dried Godzilla Farts." Fishbone's original guitarist, Kendall Jones, explained to Rolling Stone, "When Norwood [Fisher] wrote it, he introduced it to the band saying, 'Man, I've been hearing about all these Nazi right-wing groups on the news saying the Holocaust was staged. So what if America said it never dropped two atom bombs on Japan, that it was actually Godzilla popping a couple off?' Only Norwood would come up with something that out." The same year "V.T.T.L.O.T.F.D.G.F." was released, the film Godzilla 1985 appeared in North America.

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