Where Does Music Come From? Learn the Origins of 4 Classic Songs

If you’re a music lover like me, you have likely wondered “where did that song come from, what does it mean, or what is that about?”  Well, thanks to the good people at WNYC Studios, read on to learn about songs many of us have heard for years (if you are a Baby Boomer, you know what I mean: GenXers and younger, read and learn).

1. The Rolling Stones - “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”

The Rolling Stones’ hit song "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" almost never happened. It was by sheer chance that Keith Richards recorded the song's classic guitar riff during a booze and drug fueled bender.

When he woke up with a hangover, he didn't even remember recording anything. Luckily his humble cassette recorder captured the beginnings of one of the greatest rock songs of all times.

“The amazing thing about the Keith Richards story is that somehow the next morning it still sounded as good as it did the previous night—that rarely happens,” says John Schaefer of WNYC Studios.

2. Iron Butterfly - “In a Gadda Da Vida”

Released in 1968, “In a Gadda Da Vida” is Iron Butterfly’s one and only hit. And this 17 minute song was recorded when the singer was not completely sober.  In the mid-late 60’s, that does not come as great surprise.

“[The words] ‘in a gadda da vida’ occur at the beginning and the end—in the middle it’s mostly instrumental,” says Schaefer. “That’s a good thing because apparently the singer was drunk or high or both and slurred the words ‘in the garden of eden.’ What you’re hearing, in fact, wasn’t supposed to be recorded—this was a soundcheck. The producer had not arrived and the band was just kind of vamping in the studio, but the engineer was rolling tape. At the end of it he decided it was actually pretty good, whatever ‘in a gadda da vida’ is.”

The accidental hit and the true meaning of its groggy lyrics has undoubtedly sparked a number debates at bars and clubs throughout the years. Now we can finally put it to bed.

3. Talking Heads - “Burning Down The House”

Talking Heads lead singer and guitarist David Byrne often created songs with a “mumble track,” as he called it. And the 1984 hit “Burning Down The House” was no exception.

“He would just kind of mumble syllables, words—whatever kind of fit the line of the melody. It wasn’t necessarily to make sense,” says Schaefer. “In the case of ‘Burning Down The House,’ the mumble track worked so well with lines like ‘Three hundred sixty five degrees. Burning down the house,’ that they just kept it.”

4. The Beatles - “A Day in the Life”

The Beatles were often very deliberate and considerate about the music that they made. But there’s at least one exception: The 1967 song “A Day in the Life” was two songs that wound up coming together as one.

“It was a case of Lennon and McCartney each having half of a song and not knowing how to finish it,” says Schaefer. “They kind of stitched it together in the studio. The stitching, the stuff it weaves together—John’s tale ripped from the headlines and Paul’s tale of nostalgia for his commute to school—is the orchestra. But that’s not what it originally was. They didn’t know how they were going to weave these things together.”

McCartney and Lennon had their studio assistants count out the bars and set an alarm clock to signal that it was time to transition from John to Paul.

“All of that was supposed to come out—but the alarm clock stayed in because they couldn’t edit it out,” says Schaefer. “And of course it’s the perfect lead in to Paul’s line, ‘Woke up, fell out of bed…'”

Content from John Schaefer, WNYC Studios’ The Takeaway: https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/how-pop-songs-got-their-swagger