Category Music

Deep Purple's Space Truckin' closed 1972's Machine Head. See how a Batman-inspired riff became a hard rock staple and a 20-minute live showpiece.

How W.C. Handy's 1914 blues became a jazz standard, and how Ella Fitzgerald sang it on Get Happy! and These Are the Blues for Verve.

Nana Mouskouri recorded the French classic Plaisir d'amour in 1971. Read how Martini and Florian's 1784 song reached her, and how others have sung it.

How Glenn Fredly's 2004 single Sedih Tak Berujung came to the repackaged Selamat Pagi, Dunia! album, what it is about, and where it sits in his career.

Grayson Hugh's Talk It Over came from his 1988 RCA debut Blind to Reason and reached the US Top 20. Here is the story of the song, the record and the singer.

Noel Nouvelet is an anonymous French carol from the late 15th century. See where it came from, how it became Sing We Now of Christmas, and its Easter hymn afterlife.

How Thomas Dolby's Pulp Culture, from the 1988 album Aliens Ate My Buick, grew out of band improvisation and became a funk-jazz oddity.

How Slim Gaillard and Slam Stewart's 1938 novelty hit Flat Foot Floogie (with a Floy Floy) was made, what it means, and the swing bands that covered it.

Bëlga's 2004 single Az a baj, from the gold album Jön a Gólem!, turns everyday awkwardness into a rapid, ironic list. Here is what the song is about.

How John Schumann's Vietnam War song I Was Only 19 became a 1983 number one for Redgum, and how it helped Australians understand returned soldiers.