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Song Stories

“Werewolves of London”

Warren Zevon | 1976

After producing Warren Zevon's debut album, Jackson Browne started playing the Zevon-penned but as yet unreleased "Werewolves" in his own shows, so Browne's label assumed he planned to cut it for his next album. "When I told them it was for Zevon's second record, they thought I was crazy, because they believed I could have a hit with it myself," Browne said. "But that was wrong, and you can see it now. I mean, who wants to hear me sing 'Werewolves of London'? Warren spoke to your inner cynic. There was a dialogue that went on inside of him that's going on inside of everybody."

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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