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Song Stories

“Why Do Fools Fall in Love”

Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers | 1956

"Fools" was a Top 10 record for these five New York teens in the Fifties, with disputes over who actually wrote the song having raged since the Eighties. But what’s certain is this: Frankie Lymon was a boy soprano with a rare gift, he improvised some of his parts, and this arrangement of the group’s signature song influenced an entire generation of vocal groups, particularly its girl singers. Diana Ross took “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” into the Top 10 again in 1981, and Ronnie Spector of the Ronettes wrote in her autobiography, “I know exactly where I got my voice. Frankie Lymon. If he hadn’t made a record called ‘Why Do Fools Fall in Love?’ I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this today.”

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“Thinkin Bout You”
Frank Ocean | 2012
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“Do You Want To”
Franz Ferdinand | 2005

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Song Stories

“(We're Not) The Jet Set”

George Jones and Tammy Wynette | 1973

George Jones and Tammy Wynette were still married when they recorded the tongue-in-cheek "(We're Not) The Jet Set." The lyrics, written by Nashville songwriter Bobby Braddock, who also penned Wynette's "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" and Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today," make fun of the good life by declaring, "We're not the Jet Set/We're the old Chevrolet set." Braddock recalled that while writing the song, he needed the name of a city that evened out the rhyme he had with "Riviera" and "Missourah." “I got out a Rand McNally atlas," he said. "In the first part are the maps. The last part is an alphabetical listing of cities. I wanted a rustic, small-time sound. I went to the listing for Missouri. And I found 'Festus.' I loved the sound of it."

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