The Beatles Songs: She's Leaving Home

Thursday, January 26, 2012 8:43am

The "she" in this weepy Sgt. Pepper ballad was a real person, and the story behind her leaving home was much as Paul describes it (with some help from John). Not only did a newspaper article lead to one of the band's loveliest, saddest ballads, but the result helped define the emerging "generation gap." And, as it turns out, Paul himself played a small part in this 17-year-old's story! Read more about "She's Leaving Home" in my latest Beatles fact sheet.

5 Instrumental Hits That Were Supposed to Have Words

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 10:24am

You probably know them as instrumentals, with few or no words, but these five top 40 hits were actually just skeletons of other songs, songs you could actually sing along with! As so often happened in rock's first golden age, however, the DJs stepped in to make themselves heard -- and silence a few lyricists in the process. Check out this list of hit instrumentals that started out as "real songs."

In the Spotlight: The Doobie Brothers

Wednesday, January 25, 2012 7:19am

They welded country-rock to biker boogie, gave it a polished pop sheen, and scored big with hits like "Black Water" and "Listen to the Music" before making a 180-degree turn and redefining blue-eyed soul with Michael McDonald. Learn all about the music and career of the Doobie Brothers in my latest profile....

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