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Song Stories

“Upside Down”

Diana Ross | 1980

After an absence of almost five years from the Top Ten, Diana Ross reasserted her superstardom with a vengeance on the chart-topping "Upside Down," whose irregular thumping rhythms and lusty vocals bridged funk and disco. The track was written and produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers of Chic, though Ross had the album from which it came remixed to make her vocals more prominent. "I was furious and got on the phone right away and called Motown," Rodgers said. "Then I had to say, 'Hey! I know where they're coming from. I understand what they're doing.'"

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“I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag”
Country Joe & the Fish | 1967
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“Mellow Yellow”
Donovan | 1966

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Song Stories

“The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie”

The Joy Formidable | 2011

The opener off the Welsh group’s The Big Roar album was an epic one, but the band was worried that track had polarized fans. “The first song is eight minutes long,” Rhydian Dafydd, the Joy Formidable bassist, said. “If you did that in the Seventies people would be, ‘Whatever.’ You do it now, people think, ‘Holy s---!’ Some people think it’s the f---ing greatest track on the entire album, and some people think it’s f---ing boring. It’s that element of needing to challenge people.” The band concluded through the song’s lyrics that love was the “everchanging spectrum of a lie.”

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